Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction by Sheree Renée Thomas, Zelda Knight, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki

10 reviews

saint_eleanor's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Favorite stories: deification of igodo, rear mirror, the soul would have no rainbow, liquid twilight, once upon a time in 1967, a girl crawls in a dark corner, a soul of small places, star watchers, biscuit and milk.

Content Warnings

morgancvtherine's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Content Warnings

kylieqrada's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I don't like rating anthologies because some of the stories are gonna hit and some are gonna miss. There were some stories in here that I LOVED, some that I didn't like, and one I DNF'ed. Hence the 3 stars. But I love the project of this and the chance to find new African authors to read more from!

Content Warnings

mandkips's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

melaniegrace91's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.5

I loved many of these stories, but a few were duds for me, that’s the only reason I’m giving it a 4.5 and not a 5!

Content Warnings

jessies's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

NetGalley ARC

This is a great collection of mostly African SFF short stories. As with all short story collections, I connected more with some stories than others. These stories run the gamut from Afro Futurism, Sci fi, Fantasy, Mythology and everything in-between. There is definitely something for everyone. I loved listening to African and African Diaspora takes on the world. The audiobook narrators do an amazing job.

Some of my favorites were:

March Magic by WC Dunlap
Mami Wataworks by Russell Nichols
Door Crashers by Frank Zeph
Ghost Ship by Tananarive Due
Liquid Twilight by Ytasha Womack
A Girl Crawls in a Dark Corner by Alexis Brooks de Vita
The Papermakers by Akua Lezil Hope
Exiles of Witchery by Ivana Akotwaa
The Galoned Beast by Chinelo Onwualu

Content Warnings

amandadevoursbooks's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense

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

5.0

Thank you, NetGalley and Tordotcom for my access to the audio book of Africa Risen.

This anthology of science fiction and magical realism spans the breadth of Africa and the African Diaspora. In 32 stories, the authors paint vivid pictures of the future rooted firmly in African and Diaspora traditions, stories, and experiences. Each story invites readers to sit, listen, and absorb. Each one is unique, and taken as a whole, they show Africa as whole, vibrant, and powerful.

Collections of short stories present options for all types of readers. Not everyone will resonate with every story, and yet each of these stories is well crafted and is worth reading.

This book was easy to savor and appreciate. I know I will be haunted by some of these stories forever. Here are 10 that I am still thinking about.

Mami Wataworks - Why would a towns leaders lie to the town about rain clouds?
Rear Mirror - In a battle of traditional beliefs and Christianity, will the wishes of the Dead be stronger than the will of some of the living?
A Dream of Electric Mothers - If you could ask your ancestors one question, what would it be? Would it be them answering you?
Housewarming of a Lion Goddess - What happens when you live so long your memories become tangled up?
Cloud mine - If the only way you can get rain is to strip a person of their humanity would you do it?
The Sugar Mill - When your only property for sale is a sugar mill built on top of the bodies of your ancestors, will you listen to their ghosts or your own material needs?
Ghost Ship - What happens if you are on a ship with a mysterious package and everyone else goes missing?
A Girl Crawls in a Dark Corner - If you were enslaved and your enslaver forced you to hurt young children, what would you do if you had enough courage?
Exiles of Witchery- Your magical vehicle is acting up, when its doors open somewhere you didn't want them to, what will you do, find the girl, save the witch, kill the agressors?
The Taloned Beast - What if the housekeeper and you are both victims and prisoners of your cruel uncle? Would you run away or would you work to free her too?

It's hard to keep it to ten. Some are more haunting (A Soul of Small Places) others charming and relatable (Hanfo drivers), and more are beautiful and magical (The Paper Makers). Each chapter is new, thoughtful, and moving in its own way.

Audio Review: This audio book is well-narrated. The voices change off chapter by chapter so it makes it an easy and engaging listen. It is long, but it was perfect to listen to during my trips to town and doing chores around the house.

I loved it so much I bought a hard copy as a gift for a friend and a hard copy for myself. If you want to find new African and African Diasporic authors to follow, you should pick it up.

Content Warnings

amobrien's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

Thank you Netgalley for providing a digital ARC.

Africa Risen is a collection of 32 science fiction and fantasy short stories. There is something for everyone here and I would highly recommend it! Be sure to check content warnings before jumping into this read though because a lot of the stories contain dark subject matter.

Content Warnings

wolfinthestars's review

Go to review page

2.0

Content Warnings

sarrie's review

Go to review page

challenging dark funny informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

TL;DR: A super interesting collection, but with a lot of darker stories, especially in the second half.

It’s extremely hard to review an anthology of this size without just muddling through a bunch of individual reviews. There are, like with any anthology, weaker and stronger stories. The depth and aim of this collection is to highlight and feature stories from African writers using and from African lore/view/history. On that this succeeded fantastically.
The stories and authors were varied in style and type. A lot of these had some very interesting, fun, and not so fun nods to history and I was happy to have caught some of those as I’m working on educating myself more on those things. On the whole I enjoyed this, though the last half felt heavier and darker due to a few triggers that popped up, specifically for me. These are stories I did skim through to the next, so be aware there maybe stories here that you’ll find hard to read or disturbing. My favorite stories all came from the beginning of the collection - in fact my favorite story was the first story, The Blue House. This one was so vivid and grabbed me so intently I was lost in for the duration
I would recommend this one for anyone who is looking for more stories from the African voice. There were some weaker stories of course, but the whole of it felt strong and rich in tone and voice. Another fantastic collection for those of us who enjoy short stories.

Content Warnings

More...