Reviews

Black Sci-Fi Short Stories by Temi Oh

indigo78180's review

adventurous reflective medium-paced

3.5

morganlefay's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I love this imprint and I was excited to see them add this collection to their other titles.

I was impressed at the scope of stories they found, including 19th and 20th century authors.

A great collection.

dybbuk's review

funny inspiring slow-paced

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

3.0

I loved most of the modern stories, but there were very long older stories that I really struggled to get through. They have their value, but I was somewhat disappointed in how much of the book they took up.

rainbowpatootie's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? No

3.75

mandareads1690's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.25

vedemsie's review

challenging slow-paced

2.5

whitneyt's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

cerilouisereads's review

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs

bookivore's review

challenging slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

There are some really good stories in here, but this is not a book of short stories, as the title suggests. Four of the older tales are novel, or at least novella length, and as a result take up well over half of the book. The remainder are actual short stories, and nicely varied, although some I would have categorised as fantasy, or under the more broad definition of speculative fiction.
I do enjoy anthologies that showcase stories from different eras, but the long, older stories in this just don't fit. I'm not denying their importance in Black speculative fiction, but they're too long. They're also harder to read than the contemporary pieces, and at least some take a long time to get to any sci-fi or speculative content.
Overall, fans of sci-fi and/or speculative fiction will find satisfying content within this book. There are some wonderfully original pieces. But, I feel a little cheated. It's just a tiny taste of what's out there. An anthology with this number of pages should have so many more short stories. Those stories are out there. To use four pieces way too long to be considered 'short' has denied a lot of stories a place in what should be an important doorway into Black sci-fi short fiction.

sebrittainclark's review

challenging slow-paced

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

4.0

This was a super interesting collection. I loved all the modern short stories. The classic short stories were longer, and more difficult to read, but I really enjoyed looking at the sci-fi of the past.