5 Must-read fantasy books by Black Authors
As you more than likely will have noticed, it is Black History month in the United States. Meaning the internet is overloaded with lists of books that better help us understand racism, white privilege and what it means to be an anti-racist ally. Which is important reading in its own right, and should be taught in schools if you ask me.
However, more and more voices have recently echoed the crucial sentiment that we shouldn’t just be reading non-fiction books to help us understand racial issues. Fiction, more specifically fiction with Black characters provides us with a unique opportunity to gain a deeper appreciation for the black experience, it allows us to empathize. It gives us a window not only into black suffering but the joy, the accomplishments, the families, the highs, the lows – everything that matters, everything that makes up the human experience.
Additionally, by supporting a wider network of Black artists we can collectively ensure their voices get heard. We can guarantee this group of creatives who, historically, have been vastly underrepresented, no longer get overlooked.
Given the above, I wanted to share with you 5 amazing fantasy books by Black authors.
Published: 6th of May 2018
Publisher: Henry Holt Company
Synopsis: ‘Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.
But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.
Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.
Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers and her growing feelings for an enemy.’
My thoughts: Oh to be back in 2018 when I first stumbled upon this gem. Tomi Adeyemi gripped me from the very first page and refused to leave me be until I had finished the book. I was utterly incapable of tearing myself away from this phenomenal piece of art. Zélie is such an interesting character, who feels all the more real because of her flaws and hesitations. Combine this with a kind of magic, heavily infused with African culture and folklore you end up with a masterpiece. I loved Children of Blood and Bone so much that I have its younger sister, Children of Virtue and Vengence pre-ordered from the moment it was announced. Now they both stare at me from my bookshelves as I am writing, begging to be re-read, just one more time.
Published: 5th of February 2019
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Synopsis: ‘Tracker is known far and wide for his skills as a hunter: "He has a nose," people say. Engaged to track down a mysterious boy who disappeared three years earlier, Tracker breaks his own rule of always working alone when he finds himself part of a group that comes together to search for the boy. The band is a hodgepodge, full of unusual characters with secrets of their own, including a shape-shifting man-animal known as Leopard
Drawing from African history and mythology and his own rich imagination, Marlon James has written an adventure that's also an ambitious, involving read. Defying categorization and full of unforgettable characters, Black Leopard, Red Wolf explores the fundamentals of truths, the limits of power, the excesses of ambition, and our need to understand them all.’
My thoughts: Black Leopard, Red Wolf has been on my to-read list for quite some time now and truth be told, writing this post has made me move it up a few places. I remembered what had originally intrigued me so much about the book, an African inspired fantasy setting, a rich and complex world, political, magical and mythical powers all trying to out-do one each other whilst ultimately keeping each other in check. The book feels like the kind of epic fantasies that don’t come around too often. Once every 5 to 10 years maybe, if you are extremely lucky.
Published: 13th of February 2018
Publisher: Grove Press
Synopsis: ‘Ada begins her life in the south of Nigeria as a troubled baby and a source of deep concern to her family. Her parents, Saul and Saachi, successfully prayed her into existence, but as she grows into a volatile and splintered child, it becomes clear that something went terribly awry. When Ada comes of age and moves to America for college, the group of selves within her grows in power and agency. A traumatic assault leads to a crystallization of her alternate selves: Asụghara and Saint Vincent. As Ada fades into the background of her own mind and these selves--now protective, now hedonistic--move into control, Ada's life spirals in a dark and dangerous direction’
Thoughts: As I am yet to read this book myself, I thought I would share someone else’s thoughts. Thoughts that immediately made me purchase this book.
’A stunning and disorienting story about a broken woman trying to overcome the pain of her human life while straddling 'the other side.' It interweaves Igbo religious myth with a story of overcoming mental illness — floating between the corporeal and metaphysical. ... Freshwater is unlike any novel I have ever read. Its shape-shifting perspective is radical and innovative, twisting the narrative voices like the bones of a python." - The Toronto Star
Published: 16th of July 2019
Publisher: Orbit
Synopsis: ‘The Omehi people have been fighting an unwinnable fight for almost two hundred years. Their society has been built around war and only war. The lucky ones are born gifted. One in every two thousand women has the power to call down dragons. One in every hundred men is able to magically transform himself into a bigger, stronger, faster killing machine.
Everyone else is fodder, destined to fight and die in the endless war. Young, gift-less Tau knows all this, but he has a plan of escape. He's going to get himself injured, get out early, and settle down to marriage, children, and land. Only, he doesn't get the chance. Those closest to him are brutally murdered, and his grief swiftly turns to anger. Fixated on revenge, Tau dedicates himself to an unthinkable path. He'll become the greatest swordsman to ever live, a man willing to die a hundred thousand times for the chance to kill the three who betrayed him.’
My thoughts: It is quite telling when a book is originally self-published and then gets scooped up by a publisher, Orbit in this case, due to its success. Well deserved - if you ask me. With Tau, Evan Winter has created one of the greatest characters in recent fantasy history. His unbreakable determination, his righteous fury, his all-consuming anger all feel so real you can’t help but burn with passion as you read his thoughts. He sweeps you up in his emotion and leaves you exhausted for it by the end. Pair that with a painstakingly crafted universe, magic, swordfights oh and how can we forget dragons, it is a true tour-de-force.
Published: 2nd of August 2016
Publisher: Doubleday Books
Synopsis: ‘Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood—where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned—Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.’
My thoughts: I feel I wouldn’t be able to do this book any justice with my opinions. So instead, I’ll leave one much more eloquent than myself explain truly how important this piece of writing in.
‘Like the protagonist of Gulliver’s Travels, Cora encounters different worlds at each stage of her journey—hers is an odyssey through time as well as space. As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the unique terrors for black people in the pre–Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is at once a kinetic adventure tale of one woman’s ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a shattering, powerful meditation on the history we all share.’
Have you read any of these books yourself, what where your thoughts? Let me know in the comment section below! Oh, and if you can let me know about more kick-ass fantasy books by Black authors that would be great too! Until then - just one more page!