Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

How Long 'til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin

12 reviews

dreamerfreak's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Confinement, Classism, Infertility, Child death, Cursing, Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Murder, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Miscarriage, Sexism, War, Misogyny, Racism, and Violence

jayisreading's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

4.5

This surprisingly large collection of short stories really showcased Jemisin’s talent in storytelling and her control in crafting stories from different genres and timelines. Many of these stories aren’t particularly long, yet she managed to breathe so much life into them that made me want to read more about some of these worlds. (I’m also aware that a few of these stories were prototypes—of sorts—for actual novels, which I need to check out!) I was really taken to the pervasive Afrofuturist elements in many of these stories, the way they dreamed for something more.

Like most short story collections, I found some to be more compelling than others, but all-in-all, I know any fan of science fiction/fantasy will be able to find at least two stories that will stick with them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Body horror

Moderate: Violence and Animal cruelty

Minor: Misogyny, Classism, Slavery, Rape, Racial slurs, and Homophobia

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Death, Racism, and Murder

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Sexism, Police brutality, Misogyny, Classism, Infertility, Sexual content, Gun violence, Violence, and Bullying

Minor: Suicide, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Miscarriage, Homophobia, Child death, Slavery, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Drug use

bookishmillennial's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

I absolutely adored this collection of short science and speculative fiction stories! Some stood out to me or impacted me more than others, but that's just how short story collections go. NK Jemisin is such an excellent writer, and I will continue to read anything by her, even her grocery shopping lists!

My favorites were:

• The Ones Who Stay and Fight
• The Effluent Engine
• Cloud Dragon Skies
• The Trojan Girl
• The Storyteller's Replacement
• The Brides of Heaven
• The Elevator Dancer
• On the Banks of Riber Lex
• The You Train

I listened to the audiobook and I *highly* recommend that format. All of the narrators (Shayna Small, Gail Nelson-Holgate, Robin Eller, Ron Butler, Kevin Stillwell, Je Nie Fleming, Jeannette Illidge) were fantastic!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Body horror, Gun violence, Animal death, Rape, and Murder

Moderate: Police brutality, Slavery, and Racial slurs

Minor: Sexual content

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This is a powerful selection of works. Many I wish were longer but most are long enough to keep a reader satisfied. I recommend the audiobook edition but I will be seeking out a print edition to reread slowly and treasure every detail given life upon the page. There are dark topics within the works but they are not done in a graphic or offensive way. Their purpose isn't to jump scare or get a shock reaction. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Animal death, Violence, and Racism

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Police brutality, Slavery, and Racial slurs

queergoth_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This is my first book by N.K. Jemisin and it was honestly so good. I love the mix of sci-fi and fantasy in this collection and how much variation there was in the types of stories. Definitely going to be one of my favourites from

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death, and Violence

Minor: Slavery, Racial slurs, Police brutality, and Rape

mar's review against another edition

medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Death

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Violence, Sexism, Sexual content, and Animal death

Minor: Rape, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Bullying, and Racial slurs

queer_bookwyrm's review

adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

4 ⭐ CW: violence, racism, slavery mention, police violence, bullying, suicide, rape mention, child sexual abuse mention, natural disasters

How Long Til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin is a collection of her afrofuturist/speculative fiction short stories. Jemisin got the title for this book from one of Janelle Monáe's songs, so this was the perfect way to transition into reading The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monáe. 

All of these stories center Black people and people of color, and Jemisin has so expertly shown us how to include BIPOC into scifi/speculative fiction. She showed us a world that included and adapted for people with disabilities (even though it was done peripherally). She shows us a Utopia while criticizing those who can not conceive of a world without hate and violence. We see stories that clearly reflect some of Jemisin's other work about stone eaters (The Broken Earth trilogy) and cities becoming sentient (The City We Became). 

We get some wonderfully unique stories about cooking as a form of alchemy, digital worlds and digital people, alien worlds, winged lizards who bring hurricanes to New Orleans. Like all of Jemisin's work, she hones in on deep and layers themes. She has the kind of writing that I feel like I would only fully understand upon a reread. We get themes on bodily autonomy and reproductive rights, who is seen as valuable and who is disposable. 

It was refreshing to read something to so complex after reading so much YA. Jemisin gives you a lot to chew on. If you're new to Jemisin, this might be a good place to start. There was only one story I didn't care for, but I blame that on me on being smart enough to comprehend the genius of N.K. Jemisin 😆.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Racism, Bullying, and Racial slurs

Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Police brutality

readandfindout's review against another edition

adventurous reflective medium-paced

3.75

The Ones Who Stay and Fight: 4.5 stars
The City Born Great: 3.5 stars
Red Dirt Witch: 5 stars
L'Alchimista: 4 stars
The Effluent Engine: 4 stars
Cloud Dragon Skies: 3 stars
The Trojan Girl: 3 stars
Valedictorian: 5 stars
The Storyteller's Replacement: 2 stars
The Brides of Heaven: 4 stars
The Evaluators: 4 stars
Walking Awake: 3.5 stars
The Elevator Dancer: 3 stars
Cuisine des Mémoires: 4.5 stars
Stone Hunger: 3.5 stars
On the Banks of the River Lex: 4.5 stars
The Narcomancer: 4.5 stars
Henosis: 2.5 stars
Too Many Yesterdays, Not Enough Tomorrows: 3.5 stars
The You Train: 3 stars
Non-Zero Probabilities: 4 stars
Sinners, Saints, Dragons, and Haints, in the City Beneath the Still Waters: 4.5 stars

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Body horror, and Death

Minor: Racial slurs and Rape

questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This was a fascinating short story collection. I like sci-fi and fantasy but I don't read that much of it, so while I'm intrigued by N.K. Jemisin's work, I'm also a bit intimidated. I thought short stories would be a good place to start. There's a wide variety of stories here, covering many subgenres of fantasy and sci-fi and I was so impressed with the breadth of Jemisin's imagination. Some stories relied on concepts I couldn't quite get my head around but there were others where I felt I completely understood the world after a few pages. They all felt so different and I really enjoyed most of them. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence