Scan barcode
A review by perpetuallyreading
Ginga by Daniel José Older
5.0
Older does a great job building a diverse and compelling world and characters in such a short story. The way Older describes the city is beautiful, even with the roughness that comes with living in a city. The way Older ties in descriptive imagery with a character's point of view does a great job of setting the mood throughout the plot.
I find new life in each moment like this: the midnight brownstones breezing past me, the siren song of something foul dragging me forward.
This work not only has an exciting, fantastical story, but it also brings up socially relevant issues such as Black Rights. Sometimes these little opinions could come off as irrelevant and can seem like the author just slapped it on for kicks. However, Older does a great job of making it part of a normal conversation and it didn't seem out of place. It was a great way of raising the issue, and giving Black characters their own point of view was a definite plus.
“Y’all brown folks don’t get got like us, C. You might get ya ass beat for being brown, especially gray-ass brown like you. But I’m black. Ain’t no kinda ambiguous either. Unambigously black. They shoot us for having a wallet or a sandwich or just walking down the street, how Imma roll with a medieval-ass ghost killing-ass dagger?”
This short story is a great way to see Older's prowess over urban fantasy stories, and I'll definitely look up more from him.
I find new life in each moment like this: the midnight brownstones breezing past me, the siren song of something foul dragging me forward.
This work not only has an exciting, fantastical story, but it also brings up socially relevant issues such as Black Rights. Sometimes these little opinions could come off as irrelevant and can seem like the author just slapped it on for kicks. However, Older does a great job of making it part of a normal conversation and it didn't seem out of place. It was a great way of raising the issue, and giving Black characters their own point of view was a definite plus.
“Y’all brown folks don’t get got like us, C. You might get ya ass beat for being brown, especially gray-ass brown like you. But I’m black. Ain’t no kinda ambiguous either. Unambigously black. They shoot us for having a wallet or a sandwich or just walking down the street, how Imma roll with a medieval-ass ghost killing-ass dagger?”
This short story is a great way to see Older's prowess over urban fantasy stories, and I'll definitely look up more from him.