Reviews

Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction by Sheree Renée Thomas, Zelda Knight, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki

dembury's review

4.0

A hefty and diverse collection that celebrates and explore African and Afro-Diasporic stories and ideas. Like any short story collection, there were some works I enjoyed more than others: I could spend a whole novel in the world of "A Dream of Electric Mothers" by Wole Talabi, while I struggled to even finish "A Knight in Tunisia" by Alex Jennings. But I absolutely think this is one where any SFF reader could pick it up and find something that vibes with them, plus, it's just a really fantastic project that highlights such a broad range of African-centric writers and voices!

tbdaniel_111's review

5.0

i really loved this anthology! while there were personally a couple misses, that's to be expected in an anthology as wide-reaching and varied as this one. an easy 5/5 stars for me, Black speculative fiction is very cool and magical.

my personal favorites:
- "The Blue House"
- "Rear Mirror"
- "A Dream of Electric Mothers"
- "Housewarming for a Lion Goddess"
- "Peeling Time (Deluxe Edition)"
- "Ghost Ship"
- "Liquid Twilight"
- "A Girl Crawls in a Dark Corner"
- "The Lady of the Yellow-Painted Library"
- "When the Mami Wata Met a Demon"
- "A Soul of Small Places"
- "Hanfo Driver"
- "Biscuit & Milk"

ourkive's review

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

iku978's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This is one of the best book I’ve ever read this year. Wow, shout-out to every author who contributed you are all so talented and I’m eternally grateful for finding this book 

mallory510's review

It was a library book and needed to go back. Would pick it up again later!

filosophicfoton's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

grag's review

adventurous challenging hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

This was a mixed bag (for me) of short stories - some incredibly intriguing and/or fun to read and others that I really struggled to get through. Interesting perspectives though, for sure.

caffeineauthor's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

rayekp's review

emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

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

3.5

remigves's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective medium-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? Yes

3.0