So last year I did a post about a color trend in Asian young adult books (I will say pink and pastels are still present but I want to focus on the darker colors this year). I went in with a mind this year to look at cover trends that goes beyond color but a new color trend was calling to me.
Darker
& Gold
Star Daughter
Forest of Souls
These Violent Delights
The Tiger at Midnight
~there is a lot of illumination that happens with dark specifically black book covers
&Blue
We Hunt The Flame
Light at the Bottom of the World
Aladdin: Far From Agrabah
Spin The Dawn
The Silence of Bones
The Kingdom of Back
Rebelwing
&Grey
I Hope You Get This Message
Girl King
The Boxer
~grey is not common but blue is
&Red
The Beautiful
Shadow of the Fox
Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix
Caster
The Chosen
&Purple
Wicked Fox
Butterfly Yellow
Girls of Paper and Fire
Thoughts/Realizations
~There is a lot of intersection so some books are not purely black & x color
~Most of them are fantasy not surprising since most fantasy books are dark while most contemporaries are light
~Only a few of these books are 2020 releases -most of the covers are from 2019
~Silver and gold are popular font colors on black/darker book covers (then again these may be popular cover font colors in general)
People lived because she killed. People died because he lived.
Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the king. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways.
Both are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya—but neither wants to be.
War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the king on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds—and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.
Set in a richly detailed world inspired by ancient Arabia, We Hunt the Flame is a gripping debut of discovery, conquering fear, and taking identity into your own hands.
The Good
~World & fantasy in Theory- is interesting.
I’ll say this is the most I have actually looked at a fantasy map ever and I don’t mean that as a bad thing. I was invested in making sure I understood the world.
~Alastair- my favorite character and probably the only character that made me happy: dragged people, funny, had interesting personality
~Writing~ lyrically I think she is a good writer.
-There are a few really good writing moments for example when you see the epigraph come to its meaning in the end you can tell the author put thought into the world. I will also admit that the twists were interesting (not revealed well) but interesting.
The Bad
~Did not build emotional investment for reader to care when things happened.
~Did they build this story to be something it is not? Did they make it seem like Zafira dressing up as boy was going to actually be something more than it was? I feel they built Zafira dressing up as a guy to not only be this feminist point but also as being more present in the story than it turned out to be.
~Wastes setting, wastes fantasy
A. It could have been a good series (with the world potential) but it’s not structurally written well
B. There is barely any fantasy- and the fantasy present is defeated anticlimactically.
C. Nothing happens for large parts of the story- This book is way too long for nothing to be happening. Noticing a trend of a book that should have been/ could have been a standalone being stretched by nothingness happening so it can be a series.
~Reveals that was always told by someone instead of discovered.
~Short chapters, repetitiveness, and the multiple point of views that says the same things. This issue reminded me of Children of Blood and Bone
~Feminism
I definitely don’t have problem with messages in books but when it is poorly done, gets in the way, and feels hollow… There is a bigger discussion that needs to be had about how feminism is being done in ya fantasy. One of my status updates sums up my issues:
Remember when they made it seem the ground was going to shake with Zafiras supposed strong action girl feminism. All of it for her to cower and spend pages and pages on a guy. For her to be incompetent and stupid for plot. For her to be rescued by men 99% of the time. Listen this whole talk authors got they characters doing about feminism this feminism that without action hate to see it.
-me, 241 pgs (aka 51%) in
~ Style over substance- the author has flowery writing which is not bad necessarily but the fact that it is overused and is around structurally bad writing is ugh. The flowery writing got in the way of the story a lot.
I think people (imo) are focusing on the Arabic words seeing them as the thing that is alienating them in the story when it is the writing.
~ Monologues on monologues
A. Info dump that amounts to nothing?
B. Like she said goodbye to her friends and family like fifteen times (I’m serious)
C. So much repetitive useless dialogue!
~Needed to be shortened
A. snip Deen from entire story
B. The beginning 125 pages was too long for reader to wait for the meat =for the plot to get started
Thoughts
I realized more pet peeves I have in fantasy/ current waves in ya fantasy I don’t like:
Trend of fantasy books doing nothing/barely anything for an entire story just to be able to stretch book(s) into a series/another book.
Trend of basic/not well done feminism.
I also realized what type of reader I am and how that can possibly (more than likely) not translate well to fantasy.
Stories that did it better…
Lyrically rich fantasy filled~ The Star-Touched Queen (series)
Barely having fantasy ~ The Ring & The Crown
Pacing & fantasy ~ Spin The Dawn
I hope this review was not an all over the place mess like I feel it is.
Having a black girls and guys be apart of this Cinderella fairy tale world.
The author came through with gowns and fairy tale for me.
Fantasy- when we finally got to the fantastical it was very interesting.
The world it was fascinating to read about.
Queerness- One of my favorite parts of the story because the message about queerness is shown layered into the story and not heavy handed. There is an added layer to story because the conformity is also about not presenting queerness.
The little bit of adventure aspect to the story.
That the story had a definitive ending- there are threads for a series but this book can be a standalone.
Cons
Feminism is weak- there is no argument this is my least favorite part of the story.
A. Feminism is heavy handed & not explored deep enough
B. Is this feminism black feminism or white feminism applied to black girls?
For example, I don’t like the damsel in distress being seen as a bad thing when being applied to black girls because black girls have never been allowed to be damsels in distress…
C. I’m over the whole character telling me they are feminist without characters being about it- actually showing their feminism
D. Main character veers into not like other girls and girlie girl-ness is bad
E. This was built up to be this hardcore take down of patriarchy (look at the cover and the marketing) when it is not.
There was not enough fantasy.
Telling not showing is bunk- bunk=wack
Convenience- the king seemed to not be trying that hard to find Sophia because she would be in the most obvious places, the story wrapped up too easily
Angry girl- I’m not feeling this new trend of the girl who is angry as a personality trait. I am seeing characters who are brash without the proper characterization to back up their anger/brashness. What makes it even worse is they seem to be missing common sense (for lack of better word) that would make them more intriguing characters to follow. It just seems they go from plot point to plot point based on either convenience or stupidity.
Stories that did it better…
feminism, messiness of fairy tales~ Ever After High Series
showing different type of characters in fairy tale world, messiness of fairy tales~ Princeless
A Song Below Water Sneak Peek
Liked: Idea of the supernatural creatures (gargoyles and etc), there is a message that is being shown through the sirens about violence against black girls/women that is important
Disliked: Telling instead of showing, messages are heavy handed- they are too blatant its like the message is the story- almost to the point there is no story other than the message, the story is everywhere instead of streamlined, I already feel the fantasy is going to be weak and take a backseat to the #message. Also, all these messages are coming out in small quarters (27 pages)
Analogy of police brutality to super-powered people (this is a trend I do not like that I first noticed in Children of Blood and Bone) it is an entire rant but to keep it simple I don’t think it meshes well as a analogy to oppression.
Is the black girl references try hardy?
Conclusion: I’m disappointed by black ya fantasy books because it feels like they are not delivering on that adventure, journey, magic that teens ( specifically black) want/need. It is like they are more about the message than anything else.
Conclusion 2: Don’t take my opinion as an endorsement to not read these two black books read them yourself (at least sample them) before you preemptively decide not to read them based on my thoughts.
I want to thank Bloomsbury YA and netgalley for letting me review Cinderella is Dead.
Art: Liked the texture of the donkey it seems like it would have feel of chalk, I liked the details- did you notice that the mice stole the carrots then turned orange too.
What is your favorite color little donkey turned into? I think mine is green.
Story: Could be a message about eating with variety gives you different colors
Noodle Bear
Art: Reminds me of cartoon network art style (could see this as a series or a short film at least)
Story: It was okay story. There was not anything wrong with it but I found myself not really in love with it. I think I liked the beginning when bear was with the animals the most probably because the latter half was that traditional person gets rich story and I like the forest animals a lot.
I’m Afraid Your Teddy Is in the Principal’s Office
Story: It was okay. It could be seen as reconnecting with childhood when it was fun and about not being rigid. It was just a interesting picture book about wild stuffed animals.
Lemon Child
Art: Cover got me like why is lemon hanging? And I like that the lemons nose is pointy. Also the background of the cover the orange yellow reddish offset the lemons colors
Story: Fun. I liked the ending. The story was a escapist adventure that was fun to read.
Pugtato Finds a Thing
Art: Spin on animals appearance hybrid of fruit and veggies with animal that is not limited to Pugtato
Story: All the animals are fruits and veggies which was not only visually fun to read but also was fun & cute to read. I can see parents (or teachers) getting the kids to create their own animal/veggie hybrid.
Time for Bed’s Story
Art: Like the details
Story: The story could be seen in the vein of when the crayons quit – basically the story that can make kids (and older) think about how they treat bedtime and their bed/furniture.
I want to thank Candlewick Press and netgalley for approving me to review Little Green Donkey, Noodle Bear, I’m Afraid Your Teddy Is in the Principal’s Office.
I want to thank North South Books and netgalley for approving me to review Lemon Child.
I want to thank Zonderkidz and netgalley for approving me to review Pugtato Finds A Thing.
I want to thank Kids Can Press and netgalley for approving me to review Time for Bed’s Story.
themollyweather 