A review by moxiegirlzriot
The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas

4.0

When educating myself about issues as important as race (sexuality, gender and more), I know I am learning the most important things when the learning makes me uncomfortable with my own unrealized prejudices. "The Dark Fantastic" isn't only an advocate for more literature told from BIPOC perspectives, but a critique on the characters that already exist and how we have treated them. How they are "othered" from the moment of their conception as black. And how that "othering" goes nearly unnoticed by many of us. A necessary read for those who are still working to educate themselves, and who believe that, "ultimately, emancipating the dark fantastic requires decolonizing our fantasies and our dreams. It means liberating magic itself. For resolving the crisis of race in our storied imagination has the potential to make our world anew."