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plutosorbit's review against another edition
4.0
Such an insightful and eye opening book, I could only read it and enthusiastically agree. The book can be quite abstract at times, but I believe this is an important topic to stretch in multiple directions.
Definitely the kind of book I would recommend!
Definitely the kind of book I would recommend!
lsmith36's review against another edition
5.0
A great collection of essays. I enjoyed reading them and think it really helped frame the way race is portrayed in fantasy. The authors conceptualization of the dark fantastic was really intriguing and is something easily seen once she lays the groundwork for it.
lunaliz's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
In this book, Thomas is putting forth her case to finally emancipate the dark fantastic. She explains how four stories - The Hungergames, Merlin, The Vampire Diaries and Harry Potter - fail to do the black girls and women in them justice, and instead carry the mistreatment of BIPoC from the real world over to the fantastical.
As someone who grew up devouring one fantasy book after the next and has only recently made an effort to read more diversely, this book made me realise how lacking all those stories by people who hold the same (or similar) privileges as me (a white cis woman) really are. The Hungergames, for example, is a book series I have read countless times - yet every time I failed to notice the part Rue was playing in the story and how it did her a major disservice. It is of course not enough to diversify the casts of books, movies and tv shows - the stories being told about these diverse casts need to be diverse themselves, instead of (at their core) the same again and again (as is the case for the dark fantastic).
A note on the writing: This book is structured like a scientific paper - it is not only is academic, it also feels that way. In an audiobook, I found this very confusing and it definitely took some time to get into. I imagine this writing style to be off-putting for people who aren’t used to or expecting it, but would recommend sticking with it for at least one of the story-centred chapters where Thomas’ train of thought is easier to follow.
apatrick's review against another edition
4.0
Very good, even though I haven't actually watched the TV show the author covers, Merlin. Maybe I will, even with spoilers. I haven't read much about race and fantasy, particularly not anything scholarly. This analysis is very good, and definitely increased my understanding of how pervasive racism is in white culture. I read this about a month ago, and I can see now that I'm thinking more critically about my reading now.