Cover Image: Gaia School of Awakening

Gaia School of Awakening

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Member Reviews

Oh, honey, no.

This... Is a train wreck. DNF.
The author is a (very) white woman. So, it comes across as pretty awful to have the first chapter written in a terrible approximation of AAVE.
Look, having people of colour in your books is great. We need more diversity in books, especially fantasy. Everyone should be tired of the same white farm boys going on an adventure. But whilst the author gets a pat on the back for trying, it comes across as a middle class white woman's idea of what people of colour would say. And that's where the bad starts.
It's almost a form of institutional racism. Of course a black boy from the Bronx would talk like a 90's rap video, right? Wrong. It's unfair to assume so, and doubly weird to try and write that experience when you have no idea what it's like a) to be black b) to live in a deprived area.
Its just bad. I am a very white woman myself, and I was cringing trying to read the first chapter. It's a stereotype gone mad.
Then, chapter two, we swing into... A latina girls pov. And it's just as cringe worthy.
At this point I stopped. Any chance of enjoying the plot just withered up.
This reads like a first time NaNoWriMo manuscript. It's poor.
Yes, please include more people of colour in fantasy. But research, research, research it first! Even better, I'd suggest taking your fledgling chapter and asking multiple PoC to read it. If you're stereotyping, that's the best way to find out.
Time to go back to the drawing board, I think.

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