So I walked away from this having similar feelings as I did when I finished The Other Black Girl and Children of Blood and Bone. This book was clearly something the author just wanted to do and a publisher picked it up. That is confirmed in the author's note which I do wish I had read sooner or that it was in the front of the book but I digress.
The plot and the main twist don't work without it being set in the U.S. but you can tell the world is built off a combination of television worlds. I don't like when you can tell the author is writing about something they don't know. So I could never fully sink my teeth in and suspend my disbelief that Chiamaka and Devon weren't completely tipped off that something was up as the only Black people period in this whole school off top. I guess that that was too trusting for me and I didn't ever believe that Chiamaka had made it to the top, besting all those rich white kids, because of anything she'd done. She definitely believed it though and she was supposed to. Devon had the right energy for the most part but again, I couldn't fully believe that it took until senior year for him to perk his antennas. Though it did make more sense for him to keep his head down considering his former school and neighborhood situation to be fair.
With these things being so intertwined and my main problems with the book, I couldn't give it more than 3 stars. It's not a bad book and the writing is fine. I knocked it out in a couple days so I'd say it's very readable in that regard. I wouldn't read another YA thriller set in a U.S. high school by Àbíké-Íyímídé but I read something else!

Content Warnings

Ashes of Gold by J. Elle

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adventurous challenging mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I never recovered from the whiplash and disorientating pacing in the prologue and 1st chapters. I kept waiting to get the information we needed to make Rue's new attitude and passion make sense. It eventually came but waaaay too late for me. Overall, I liked the story, themes and writing okay. It's just that it felt so different from book 1 for at least 70% of the time. With so many fight scenes and such, I still got bored. And I think that that's because we, the readers, didn't get to experience Rue's moment of "truth" along with her. Instead, we reunite with her after she's been in the trenches with her people for a minute gaining an understanding of who they are and what her parents died trying to ensure she knew about. That created a disconnect for me. All that said, I'm hype for Elle's middle grade and I'd likely read another book in this Wings of Ebony series if she put one out. I had hoped to like this one a lot more than I did but it was still a good read for Black SFFathon 2022!

When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

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deidra_shadetreereads's reviews 332 reviews

deidra_shadetreereads's reviews
332 reviews