This book was a much needed addition to the library's literary criticism section. I have recommended it to students doing papers on race in literature.

This wasn't as amazing as I wanted it to be, but I would recommend it to anyone interested in sci-fi/fantasy books and how they reflect our reality.

A fascinating analysis of race and 'the other' in popular fiction. This is an important book which should be taken into account by anyone looking to create fantasy and imaginative stories. Wholly accessible at all times but leaves a lasting impression.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Amazing book, plan on buying at least 2 copies, one for me, one for my dad its that good!

Dark Fantastic is a very unique read for me. It is not easy to read a book that is as insightful as this one. But after a multiple reading attempts, I finally finished this book and my God, what an experience it is! The language is rich and I really feel like an academic after finishing this. I will update this review after doing a third reading.

Insightful book. I have always tried to keep my children's collection at my library diverse. There's the new argument I've been hearing made lately, that folks of of given race cannot write about other races, as they truly cannot can understand the others, or their experiences. And it's only been about a year since I read this one. I appreciate reading about all the views everyone is having in the past few years. This was a good addition to the other books I have been reading and educators I've been listening to.

Excellent for our specialized collection. Our community frequently requests titles focusing on speculative fiction and speculative fiction by writers of color.

Very thought-provoking. We need books like this - those that explore the relationship between culture and representation, identity and narrative.

A big thank you to NYU Press for allowing me to read a review copy of this marvellous book. It took me longer than expected to get to it but once I started, I devoured this with only some breaks in between because of important stuff.

My review on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3183278030

I could rave for hours. This book is an experience. From start to finish, it's an absolute blast. I knew from the start that I was in good hands because Thomas writes beautifully, her prose engaging, smart and easy to understand.

In The Dark Fantastic, Thomas analyses how Black girls and women are portrayed in popular media, choosing four franchises and her decades-long experience with the fandom: The Hunger Games' Rue, BBC Merlin's Gwen, The Vampire Diary's Bonnie and Harry Potter's Hermione and Angelina.
After establishing the theoretical approach, Thomas goes from story to story and shows how these Black girls and women were portrayed within the universe and how fans reacted to the characters.
It becomes evident that these Black characters repeat the Dark Fantastic cycle, wherein their Blackness it at once their defining characteristic but also cause for their invisibility. They are relegated to the realm of "darkness and monsters" and are usually given roles that support the White main character.
But how Thomas shows, these figures are more, like Rue who is demonstrably the first and real Mockingjay or Gwen, who is the actual true Queen of Camelot, but their impact and abilities are never fully mentioned or explored within the narratives.

Thomas also analyses fan reaction to these Black characters. To say that the negative responses are filled with racism and misogyny (or misogynoir) is an understatement. Thomas carefully and meticulously explains how the Dark Fantastic cycle and our real-world racial politics influence how fans react to these Black characters. The fact that these characters have significant, often impactful roles outside of their usual racialised repertoire (like slavery, servitude and other supportin roles), is enough for many (White) fans to, pardon my French, lose their shit completely.
For our society, which is predicated on White supremacy and thus also on Black inferiority, the fact that a figure in popular media is Black AND innocent or beautiful or powerful is seen for many as a transgression and the reactions are explosive and violent. Many don't or can't see why or how their reactions are so vile but the fact is that suspension of disbelief for many fans stops at disenfranchised groups.
A newest example would be the three Star Wars sequels, where any woman or person of colour is taken seen by many fans (usually White fans) as "identity politics", "shoving diversity down our throats" and other ridiculous things.
Just remember how Kelly Marie Trans was treated by certain militant (anti-feminist and fascist) fans: harassed, doxxed, verbally abused through all social media platforms, etc. Same for Boyega and Ridley. Or remember when Poe does a reckless thing in the movie and his commanders, all women, reprimand him, and the men exploded in absolute blind rage because how dare these women and feminism is cancer, yadda yadda?

Anyhow, the point is that for many fans the presence of Black characters is seemed as negative, especially when they have roles outside of their prescribed narratives (even when said narratives aren't always that free of the usual traps, like in all the cases Thomas discusses in her book). Even a minor deviance from the usual script ellicits anger, resentment and fear.

I could go on and on about this book.
It's magnificently written. I love non-fiction anyway but Thomas writes in such a clear and engaging way that even those who never or only seldom read non-fiction, will have a blast reading this. I was hooked after the first few sentences. I love smart and deep analysis of popular media (and I've done some myself) and this book is an example on how to do it, not only good but excellently.
I mean, I've started reading Comics and Stuff about the same time and I was done after less than a page into the book for various reasons I will explore in a more in-depth review of both books (The Dark Fantastic and Comics & Stuff). But let me tell you: there is a HUGE, nay, CHASMIC difference in quality between Thomas' book and Jenkins'.
Honestly, Jenkins can't hold the candle to Thomas in every way - academically, stylistically or just basic level writing skills.

I could write pages upon pages of analysis and prais every single thing in this book and quote like 75% but I don't have much time now so let me finish by saying this:
GO BUY AND READ THIS BOOK NOW!
It's interesting, engaging and so freaking good. Thomas will expand your horizon and make you look at popular media in a new light, hopefully inspiring you to think more about what you consume. I've always been a critical thinker re: popular media and what I watch so this was right up my alley but I think that even absolute beginners can have fun with this book.

It was super interesting, albeit very rushed in certain places. Nevertheless it gave me a new perspective

I tried to read this as the premise sounded super interesting and I liked the idea of a post-colonial reading of popular texts but I just found the writing style a bit too dry and even though what was important and interesting I never really wanted to carry on reading this as i wasn't hooked by the writing.

Important topic and accessible writing! Definitely recommend it for everyone interested in analysing fantasy literature and race representation.

This is such an important contribution to the field of literature on children's literature, fantasy and representation. Full review to come.

This is NOT an easy book to read. Because it questions and guides and enlightens you on ideas you have never thought of in this light of race and it's effects. I had to paise more often than I had ever before. And it made it hard to even finish the book soon. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad .. but a fair warning that this brilliant essay style book will need a lot of concentration to get hooked. And yet it is a little lacking in a way that the ideas get a little lost in too much theorizing. But I appreciate the chance to read this. I will have to take multiple readings to understand this all and how it is relevant to a non white reader like me. But this sure has inspired me to read more regional literature and stories.

THE DARK FANTASTIC by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas has an absolutely beautiful cover. Thomas, who is an Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education, has produced a thought-provoking work regarding the portrayal of race in children's literature. Unfortunately for our students, the tone and content is extremely scholarly. We are in the midst of a multi-year process to make our collection even more diverse, but THE DARK FANTASTIC is not practical enough to address our needs. It is designed for a more academic audience.

I really enjoyed The Dark Fantastic. It is very readable, well researched literary criticism. If you are an avid fantasy reader and enjoy non-fiction as well I would recommend it.

This was really, really good! A collection of thoughts to put together an academic work that explores the creation and development of Black characters in young adult literature is authentic and definitely sparks a discussion for the progressive set of readers, as well as act as a realization of how such literature is being consumed. From Rue in Hunger Games to Hermione in Harry Potter, it states but also provides a hopeful narration for the future of ethnicity and better representation in books that are meant to inspire the younger and the older generation alike. It was impressive to see how clearly points were made and references were used from the quoted books to better make those points. They definitely compel the reader to view the aimed characters in a different, more ethnically focused manner and detect the presence of racism and oppression in the responses these characters have got. Like the tweets that were displayed to show the outrageous reaction The Hunger Games fans had when Rue was cast as a Black character for portrayal on the screen. The Dark Fantastic is worth reading, for sure. However, I couldn't really relate or understand points made in regards to the other two works that the author commented on: Merlin and The Vampire Diaries, so that's where one star had to go off.

“The Dark Fantastic” by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas is a non-fiction book about the representation of black women in fantasy. Thomas focuses on four examples of popular fantasy books and television series that feature a black female character. Thomas presents her theory of the Dark Other as a lens through which to understand how black women are marginalised, even in magical worlds. Exploring the themes of spectacle, hesitation, violence, haunting and emancipation, Thomas analyses “The Hunger Games”, “The Vampire Diaries”, “Merlin” and “Harry Potter” in depth while making mention of many other examples of afrofuturism and black fantastic stories.

This is a meticulous and thoughtful book that gives characters like Rue, Bonnie Bennett, Gwen and Angelina Johnson the attention and analysis that they often did not receive in their own stories. There were some very compelling arguments in this book, particularly Thomas’ discussion of hesitation and the rationale behind why readers, writers and publishers find black characters so disconcerting – even in fantasy worlds. I thought that the idea of waking dreams and the hypocrisy of how the idea of magic doesn’t break the illusion but an empowered black woman does was particularly piercing. Thomas is very frank about her experiences in fantasy fandom, and this first-hand knowledge and response enriches this structured and well-researched book.

I think the main question I have after reading this is who is the intended audience? Although softened y the autoethnography parts of the book, as well as the appealing subject matter, Thomas nevertheless has a very scholarly writing style that indicates her significant academic experience and qualifications. While I highly doubt anyone could fault her theories, research or conclusions, part of the advantage of writing non-fiction books is to bring complex yet important concepts to a broad audience and I think that some parts of Thomas’ book could be a little too intellectual for the average reader.

A fascinating and academic work about a phenomenon that any pop culture consumer has been exposed to but most probably haven’t even noticed.

In The Dark Fantastic, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas discusses how people of color have been excluded from popular young adult fantasy works (or sidelined as the victim or villain), and how racism works to make even the idea of black characters anathema to some fans. She talks about what it means when children and young adults don't see themselves or their lives reflected in popular culture and examines the way that black characters - particularly black girls - have been depicted in recent TV shows and movies, including Rue in The Hunger Games, Gwen in the BBC's show Merlin, and Bonnie in The Vampire Diaries. She shows how these characters get stuck in cycles, and how they are ultimately failed by showrunners, movie makers, and white fans. I haven't seen Merlin or The Vampire Diaries, but that didn't matter - I found Thomas's analysis really engaging and interesting. I especially liked her conclusion, in which she talked about young people imagining themselves into stories and thus remaking them - and the entire genre. I was lucky enough to see Viet Thanh Nguyen speak recently, and this book brought to mind his argument that we need narrative plenitude; that is, everyone needs to see themselves in works of art and culture, and not just as a supporting player, but as the hero or heroine. The Dark Fantastic is recommended to anyone who likes literary or cultural criticism, but also any fans of fantasy works.

This book is a really fascinating investigation on the way race is handled in children and young adult fantasy books and tv. It’s quite academic in the way it’s written but it’s worth taking the time to concentrate on because it highlights and examines many aspects of these popular fandoms like Harry Potter and the Hunger Games which I think many people will have simply, unfortunately, not thought about at all. Very much worth reading.