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Reclaim the Stars: 17 Tales Across Realms & Space by Zoraida Córdova
2 reviews
bookishaddictions's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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? It's complicated
3.0
This Latinx-written short story anthology focuses specifically on Latinx characters within sci-fi and fantasy; this addresses largely under-discussed sub-genres and representation problems while providing readers with various beautiful stories. I found that I struggled to get into the initial stories, as I’m not a sci-fi fan myself, but I loved many of the fantasy tales that were included. The anthology is broken into three parts: “To the Stars,” “The Magical Now,” and “Other Times, Other Realms.” I found myself primarily enjoying the stories of the final category, and I struggled to enjoy the stories from the first. I will acknowledge the skillful writing that is seen through every story included; the characters are complex, their worlds are detailed, and every story has a message that is relatable for readers. Important topics such as love, feminism, faith, independence, and much more feature throughout the anthology and make the stories shine. No matter my own feelings about this collection, it was one that I have no regrets about snagging off Amazon to add to my classroom library 🌙
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Sexual content, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Child death, Death of parent, and Physical abuse
rensreading's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
each and every single story in this was so profound and scratched the latinx magical realism itch i’ve had for quite a while.
the story that had me shaking as i read was “this is our manifesto” by mark oshiro. i took a small break halfway through it and came back with goosebumps raising up and down my arms again. it was THAT good. even in space, racism and classism still exist. in this story though, we are only in space due to those reasons. children in space jail for simply standing up for what is right, for supporting those who would not bite their tongues, for being a person of color at the wrong place and wrong time. in the long run, it isn’t quite different from what has been happening in real life. this is our manifesto served as a reminder that even the places we might sometimes wish to escape to won’t be as forgiving or free as we imagine.
there were so many different writing styles and i loved that. each author had their own voice that entranced me from the start and getting to read about so many queer brown people in space and our world with just a dash of magic was something i could not begin to explain correctly. not every ending was what i wished it to be and i did find it strange that there wasn’t even one achillean love story included here, but these are very minor concerns. it was very obvious that short stories are not what many of these authors are used to and yet that didn’t ruin anything about the book as a whole either.
mostly, this book served to remind me that we latinx people hold plenty of magic in ourselves and in the land we once respected before we assimilated. magical realism is not just a genre for some of us but a way of thinking. many of us grew up on folk lore and medicine from our abuelitas y tias y ancestros and never once questioned why. its always felt the most natural and that seems to be for a reason. whatever the reason might be, this book only further enables the mystical world view we were raised to have.
i need to run out and get a physical copy of this book for myself since it was definitely a 5 star read for me (:
the story that had me shaking as i read was “this is our manifesto” by mark oshiro. i took a small break halfway through it and came back with goosebumps raising up and down my arms again. it was THAT good. even in space, racism and classism still exist. in this story though, we are only in space due to those reasons. children in space jail for simply standing up for what is right, for supporting those who would not bite their tongues, for being a person of color at the wrong place and wrong time. in the long run, it isn’t quite different from what has been happening in real life. this is our manifesto served as a reminder that even the places we might sometimes wish to escape to won’t be as forgiving or free as we imagine.
there were so many different writing styles and i loved that. each author had their own voice that entranced me from the start and getting to read about so many queer brown people in space and our world with just a dash of magic was something i could not begin to explain correctly. not every ending was what i wished it to be and i did find it strange that there wasn’t even one achillean love story included here, but these are very minor concerns. it was very obvious that short stories are not what many of these authors are used to and yet that didn’t ruin anything about the book as a whole either.
mostly, this book served to remind me that we latinx people hold plenty of magic in ourselves and in the land we once respected before we assimilated. magical realism is not just a genre for some of us but a way of thinking. many of us grew up on folk lore and medicine from our abuelitas y tias y ancestros and never once questioned why. its always felt the most natural and that seems to be for a reason. whatever the reason might be, this book only further enables the mystical world view we were raised to have.
i need to run out and get a physical copy of this book for myself since it was definitely a 5 star read for me (:
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death, Deadnaming, Grief, Homophobia, Police brutality, Transphobia, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Sexual harassment, and Sexism
Moderate: Abandonment, Medical trauma, Car accident, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Infidelity, and Gaslighting
Minor: Religious bigotry, Slavery, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, and Adult/minor relationship
this is a collection of stories so a LOT happens. definitely tread this carefully! as for the pedophilia and adult/minor relationship: i actually don’t know if this one is 100% true or not because the mc never mentions her age but
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