Reading Recommendations: Black Fantasy Reads

A new month means another batch of reading recommendations! This month’s theme is Black Fantasy Reads!

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Invulnerability is a pretty useless superpower if you’ve only got a one-hundred pound frame to back it up. That’s what Quinton West’s life became when he went from small guy who got beat up to small guy who can’t get hurt after the meteor shower dubbed “The Event” gifted him the power of invulnerability but no other powers to compliment it.

But there’s more to Quin than meets the eye, and after some encouragement from his new mentor—a local New Orleans–based superhero named Glow—Quin realizes that he can use his quirky hobby of creating Rube Goldberg devices to outsmart the opposition. But being a hero paints a target on your back, and Quin’s got to risk it all to join the ranks of the superheroes he looks up to. It’s a good thing he can take a punch.

For the most part, this story is grounded for a superhero tale. Quinn is a teenager who’s nerdy, trying to fit in, has a good heart, and wants to make a change. He’s tired of seeing the world’s divisiveness around him, and I appreciated the social commentary of real-world issues tied into the story. The story is relatable and touches on socioeconomic disparities, race, crime, and more. It can be heavy at points, but I felt like Barnes balances the story out as there are as many action scenes, quiet moments of reflection, and witty side quips. (Review)

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“Make a way out of no way” is just the way of life for Rue. But when her mother is shot dead on her doorstep, life for her and her younger sister changes forever. Rue’s taken from her neighborhood by the father she never knew, forced to leave her little sister behind, and whisked away to Ghizon—a hidden island of magic wielders.

Rue is the only half-god, half-human there, where leaders protect their magical powers at all costs and thrive on human suffering. Miserable and desperate to see her sister on the anniversary of their mother’s death, Rue breaks Ghizon’s sacred Do Not Leave Law and returns to Houston, only to discover that Black kids are being forced into crime and violence. And her sister, Tasha, is in danger of falling sway to the very forces that claimed their mother’s life.

Worse still, evidence mounts that the evil plaguing East Row is the same one that lurks in Ghizon—an evil that will stop at nothing until it has stolen everything from her and everyone she loves. Rue must embrace her true identity and wield the full magnitude of her ancestors’ power to save her neighborhood before the gods burn it to the ground.

This novel was an exciting narrative full of adventure, magic, and new worlds while also seamlessly blending in commentary on poverty, systemic racism, and police brutality. There is a lot to unpack in this novel and I appreciated how Elle uses allegory and metaphors to comment on issues in our society under the lens of fantasy. You can definitely see the mirror between our world and the injustices that are happening in Ghizon being kept under wraps. (Review)

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Ever since her mother’s death, Kela feels every bit as broken as the shards of glass, known as “mermaid’s tears,” that sparkle on the beaches of St. Rita. But when she discovers a different kind of treasure, she accidentally summons an actual mermaid—the wrathful Ophidia.

Ophidia makes Kela a bargain: her ancient comb, in exchange for a wish. And though Kela knows that what she wants most is her mother back, a wish that big will exact a dangerous price…

I love fantasy stories of any kind so the cover and synopsis really drew me in at first sight. Stringfellow’s descriptive writing draws the readers in with details of the sandy beaches of St. Rita, the beautiful yet treacherous waters of the ocean, and creatures that lie beneath the surface unbeknownst to us. I felt like I was going on the adventure with Kela as she makes her wish from the heart and races to fix the ramifications it causes. I enjoyed the fantasy elements and the rich Caribbean folklore as a whole. (Review)

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Sixteen-year-old Portia White is used to being overlooked—after all, her twin sister Alex is a literal genius.

But when Portia holds an Egyptian scarab beetle during history class, she takes center stage in a way she never expected: she faints. Upon waking, she is stronger, faster, and braver than before. And when she accidentally touches the scarab again?

She wakes up in ancient Egypt—her sister and an unwitting freshman in tow.

Great.

Mysterious and beautiful, Egypt is more than they could have ever imagined from their days in the classroom. History comes alive as the three teens realize that getting back to the present will be the most difficult thing they’ve ever done. Stalked by vicious monsters called Scorpions, every step in the right direction means a step closer to danger.

As Portia and the girls discover that they’re linked to the past by more than just chance, they have to decide what it truly means to be yourself, to love your sister, and to find your way home.

There is a lot of world-building that happens within the first installment of this series. At times it was a bit confusing to keep track of the magic systems and the characters, but nothing that made it too hard to read. There is also a coming-of-age narrative within the novel as Portia realizes that she wants to shed her twin image and become more independent from Alex. All of her life she’s just been following her sister’s path, but now she wants to create her own journey which causes a bit of sibling rivalry. (Review)

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At Vista Apartment Complex, life drastically changes for four of its residents when they decide to do business with Crazy Jade—the supposed voodoo witch that can grant your wish for a price.

Shemeya wants the confidence to stand up against the girls bullying her at school, but she soon has to choose between keeping her dreadlocs or living a normal life. After catching her boyfriend cheating, Latreece just wants to have the same curves as all the other girls. Ashley will do whatever she can to have “White Girl Flow”, but takes her pursuit too far when she steals from Crazy Jade.

Everyone who comes into contact with Crazy Jade soon learns the true price of her magic—and how horribly wrong it can go.

Black Beauty acts as a sort of prequel novel to The Everleaf Series which I’m excited to continue reading. Centered around an apartment complex in the city the story folloes the tenants and their lives. Some wish for straight hair, others wish to be more confident, but the narrative overall has a message of being careful what you wish for. When Jade is said to grant these wishes, they soon find out to come with severe consequences. It has cool fantasy elements mixed with the supernatural and I liked the twists in the story that caught me off guard.

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As a conductor on the Underground Railroad, Hetty Rhodes helped usher dozens of people north with her wits and magic. Now that the Civil War is over, Hetty and her husband Benjy have settled in Philadelphia, solving murders and mysteries that the white authorities won’t touch. When they find one of their friends slain in an alley, Hetty and Benjy bury the body and set off to find answers. But the secrets and intricate lies of the elites of Black Philadelphia only serve to dredge up more questions. To solve this mystery, they will have to face ugly truths all around them, including the ones about each other.

It was definitely an interesting reading experience while reading The Conductors. I really enjoyed the fantasy elements and the fact that the magic system is tied into constellations made it unique from other historical fiction murder mystery novels I had read before. Hetty and Benji make really solid lead characters. I liked seeing their development as well as their lives in the present and in the past and seeing how their work as conductors. They are so revered by others but they constantly struggle with those that they couldn’t help save. (Review)

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That concludes my reading recommendations for Black fantasy reads! What books do you recommend or what are your favorites? Comment below!