I’m a sucker for retellings with a twist, and so I was instantly captivated by Anna-Marie Mclemore’s Cristal y Cerisa and Zoraida Cordova’s Longer Than the Threads of Time - the former being a Cinderella retelling, and the latter being a Rapunzel retelling. Both stories managed to surprise me with a twist to the fairytales that I know so well, and I know I’ll be thinking about Cristal y Cerisa - which more so reminded me of Roger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella than any other version of the tale, and Longer Than the Threads of Time for quite some time. Some other standouts for me were Dhonielle Clayton's The Weight, Natalie C. Parker’s The Silk Blade, and A Universe of Wishes by Tara Sim. Without giving too much away, The Weight left me with many questions to reflect upon when it comes to love. The Silk Blade was a wonderfully written sapphic romance which included a competition, and A Universe of Wishes was surprisingly moving.

On the other hand, there were a few shorts that were hard for me to get into. I think if they had been longer, with more chances for world-building and development, I would’ve enjoyed them more. Or maybe they just simply weren’t for me! There were also a few shorts that didn’t seem to fit under the theme of “wishes” as well, which left me a little confused.

While there were some stories that were continuations of other universes that I know very little of -- namely Libba Bray’s Gemma Doyle Trilogy and V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic series, I didn’t mind too much. The Gemma Doyle story was a little confusing for me, because I didn’t know anything about Gemma Doyle. Since the Shades of Magic story (which features Rhy/Alucard’s origin story) was set prior to the series, I didn’t have that same problem, and instead, found myself somewhat interested in picking up Shades of Magic.

Most of the short stories in this anthology left me shocked or wanting more, and I found a lot of them incredibly powerful as well. I’m excited to look into the authors I’m not as familiar with as well!

My only wish for this book is that some of the stories were longer! It was brilliant to have so many diverse stories thrust and combined into one remarkable anthology that is a must have in every classroom and library. As a teacher, I've found several that would be fantastic to integrate into short story units within the classroom just because of their diverse nature and brilliant storytelling.

Each is poignant, reflecting on issues we see in modern life, but adapting them into fantasy worlds and magical scenarios that stick with the reader well past the book's end. The only thing I would have loved to see is more cohesiveness in the stories within the anthologies. Most anthologies are clear in the theme they are addressing and how each story builds on that. With the exception of just a few, many stories felt out of place, as if they belonged to something else but were just included in this anthology because there were deadlines the authors were unable to meet. I know that wasn't the intent, but having read several other anthologies this year, it makes this one feel like it's missing its heart.

what a FANTASTIC collection of stories!! my favorites were by Tara Sim, Anna-Marie McLemore, Rebecca Roanhorse, Mark Oshiro, Samira Ahmed, Zoraida Córdova, and Tochi Onyebuchi. The Libba Bray short also made me want to give the Gemma Doyle series another try. :D

Rating: maybe 4.5 stars

Book Review
Title: A Universe of Wishes: A We Need Diverse Books Anthology
Author: Dhonielle Clayton & more
Genre: Fantasy/Short Story/Collection
Rating: ***
Review: This review will be similar to my other short story collections; I will be reviewing each story individually and then the collection as a whole. As a massive fan of fantasy books especially YA fantasy I was excited to see what some of my favourite YA fantasy authors had in store for me.
A Universe of Wishes by Tara Sim
A Universe of Wishes takes place in a city called Rastre where wishes can be made but the magic has to be harvested from the dead. We are then introduced to Thorn who is a street urchin, like Aladdin who has been robbing graveyards in order to harvest magic but now decides to break into an undertaker’s instead as it is less work for him. However, during the act of harvesting he is caught by Sage, the owner of the undertaker’s and he refuses to let Thorn go without an explanation. Thorn doesn’t believe that Sage is going to believe him, but he does after a demonstration and Thorn proposes that Sage lets him harvest magic and in return, he will give Sage three wishes.
Sage and Thorn spend a lot of time together where they eventually become closer even sharing a kiss when Sage accidently wishes to know who Thorn really is and the magic forces him to speak even though he doesn’t want to. He recounts a heart-breaking tale of how his parents discovered magic and wanted to share it with the world, but they were killed before they could, but he managed to escape and has been collecting wishes even since to try and bring them back without success. IN the aftermath, Thorn/Rowen flees and goes back to graverobbing only to be caught, Sage appears at the right moment making his final wish which changes everything. A Universe of Wishes is definitely a story I’d like to see in a full length novel, and it has opened my eyes to Tara Sim’s writing, and I will definitely be reading her books in the future.
The Silk Blade by Natalie C. Parker
The Silk Blade takes place in Everdale as Willador Mayhew is competing to win the hand of The Bloom of Everdale essentially the Prince. In this world there is no real difference between the genders as women like Willador can be more masculine and men like The Bloom can be more feminine and in addition to this both men and women are competing for The Bloom. Three competitors have made it to the final stage, one man and two women and Willador meets her female competition and finds herself instantly attracted to Arabeth “Rabi”. In the final challenge all 3 are given a vase with a flower to protect while the other two competitors attack them. While Rabi and the male competitor have their vases broken, Willador manages to protect hers meaning she has won the hand of The Bloom but she is torn since she wants to accept it for her family but she knows The Bloom would never have her heart. While the concept seems interesting to me it reminded me of two books I have read with polarising opinions. On the one hand, it reminds me of Empress of All Seasons which I loved and Girls of Paper and Fire which I hated, but I would be interested to read more from this universe.
The Scarlet Woman: A Gemma Doyle Story by Libba Bray
I haven’t read anything in the Gemma Doyle universe, so I was worried going into this story that I wouldn’t really understand anything since it takes place in an existing universe of Libba Bray’s. My suspicions about this story were correct, I have never read the Gemma Doyle series and I didn’t understand half of what went on during this story. I know there is a murder mystery element to it but everything else, the characters and the fantasy elements just didn’t come together for me because they references characters and events that happened in other books, I haven’t read so that was a disappointment. Let me know in the comments if I should pick up this series.
Cristal y Ceniza by Anna-Marie McLemore
Cristal y Ceniza is my favourite story so far in the collection as it is a Cinderella retelling with a twist. We are introduced to the protagonist who lives in a world where same sex couples are being separated and married off to the “appropriate” sex and her mothers live in fear that she will be taken from them and they will be separated from each other but there is hope as the royal family are holding a ball for their transgender son. At the ball, they meet and end up making a connection when she is propositioned by a rich woman to vanish at midnight so her daughter can “comfort” the Prince and she agrees. However, when she attempts to flee her magical slippers stop her so she can witness the same girl kissing another girl and returns to the ball to plead her case to the King and Queen where the decision is handed to the Prince who helps her and travels home with her to inform her parents of the good news. The representation in this story is flawless especially regarding trans men and things like binding and I would love to see this a full-length novel in the future.
Liberia by Kwame Mbalia
Liberia was a story I didn’t really get completely but I understood the concept of it. We are introduced to Kweku aboard the research vessel Liberia heading to the new colonies and the only people aboard are the young, people under 18 as they are the only ones who can survive the journey. This means everyone left behind family, but they are charged with protecting the plant life aboard as it will be the basis of the colony’s food supply. When the ship is damaged, Harry, the Captain orders Kweku to leave the plant behind but it isn’t possible and they do everything they can to save the plant, however, the end makes it seem like Kweku didn’t survive but it is ambiguous.
A Royal Affair by V. E. Schwab
V. E. Schwab is an author I have a love/hate relationship with as I loved City of Ghosts, but I didn’t really like A Darker Shade of Magic and I didn’t finish the Archived series, so this is going to be interesting to read. However, there is a warning at the beginning of the story about it contains the beautiful beginnings and tragic end of the affair between Rhy and Alucard which seems like it might hold spoilers for the rest of the series which I haven’t read yet so I decided ultimately to skip this story until I have finished the Shades of Magic series.
The Takeback Tango by Rebecca Roanhorse
The Takeback Tango was another story that had real potential to be a full-length novel. We are introduced to Violet “Vi” as she is heading to the Museum of the Conquered to steal artefacts from her destroyed homeland from the Imperium. However, during her scoping out of the place she is interrupted by a boy who also turns out to be a thief and helps her steal back the sacred artefacts before getting arrested to allow Vi to escape. Nearly six months later they meet again, and he introduced himself as Valerian and wants Vi to be his partner in stealing the jewels belonging to the Empress of the Imperium and she agrees. It was a short wholesome story with a surprising amount of rich storytelling and worldbuilding in such a short space of time.
Dream and Dare by Nic Stone
Dream and Dare was another story that I greatly enjoyed as it follows a girl called Dream who has interests that are much more suited to boys and is brought down because of it. However, we learn that Princess Dare who a woman who dressed like a man and disappeared before her 14th birthday and people have been looking for her ever since even if it is to only win her hand in marriage. When the story begins Dream is sneaking away to find the Princess as she has been following her for years and understands the meaning behind the monster in the woods. The ending of this story was beautiful and adds a nice twist on the Beauty and the Beast retelling.
Wish by Jenni Balch
Wish was a futuristic retelling of Aladdin which I found really interesting. We are introduced to Lane who is a Granter (read as Genie) as he is summoned but when he arrives at his destination he meets Ariadne on Venus and she has no idea how the process works which is strange to Lane as the previous Wisher should have told her what she needed to know. Ariadne gets Lane to explain the process but realises he cannot heal her of the illness that means she can’t return to Earth like other children so he decides to bend the rules and takes her to Earth but it only lasts a few moments before they are transported back to Venus. While Ariadne is unconscious Lane decides he is going to stick around for a while even if it is going to be a problem for him.
The Weight by Dhonielle Clayton
I have read the Belles but this author and loved it and The Everlasting Rose is on my TBR for next year, so I was really excited to read her short story. The Weight actually turned out to be far more than I was expecting. In the Belles Clayton looks at beauty and, in the Weight, she looks at love. We are introduced to Marcus and Grace a couple who have gotten an appointment at the Heart Scale Center where their love for it each can be measured. It goes through the process and the differences in the loves between Marcus and Grace, their old loves, new loves, current loves and much more but after they awake both are nervous about the results but as they come in, they only look at each other. While the ending was left open, I did really enjoy it and would love to see the themes expanded upon.
Unmoor by Mark Oshiro
I haven’t read anything by Mar Oshiro in the past, but this story is genuinely making me reconsider. It reminded me a lot of Adam Silvera’s writing as it follows Felix who is going through the Unmoor process. It is a magical process that allows people the unmoor memories from specific locations, the memories are still there but they don’t come forward everything the person enters a specific location. Felix is steadily unmooring all the memories linked to his and Arturo’s relationship since Arturo was cheating on him. However, at the final location, Arturo is also there, and Felix begs for the spell that completely erases a memory and it is given to him making him forget Arturo but at what cost.
The Coldest Spot in the Universe by Samira Ahmed
The Coldest Spot in the Universe was an interesting story, but it took a while to come together. The story bounces back between June 21st, 2031 and 3027 and it follows two girls. The first girl in on Earth as she witnesses the Earth rising up against them in the form of an ice age but we also get the perspective of another girl coming from another world to study the now reanimating Earth and collecting the stories of those that died there. We get to hear the final words of the final survivors of Earth as their lives come to an end even as she is searching for the cause and cure of the ice age but time is against her as the girl from another world learns her story and promises to carry it with her and not to forget what lead them there in the first place.
The Beginning of Monsters by Tessa Gratton
The Beginning of Monsters was a story I didn’t really understand despite it being one of the longer stories in this collection. We are introduced to Elir, a design from The College of Dedicated Renovation who has been hired to craft a male body for Lady Insarra because she is tired of being a woman. Throughout the designing process, Elir begins a relationship with Lady Insarra son, Irsu but he is a member of one of the warring cults and friend with the leader Lady Insarra has asked her to kill and the story ends with the cult rising and a final interaction between Elir and Irsu. Despite this the language of the story was difficult to follow and it seems all over the place because it needs more explanation. I feel that this story would work a lot better as full length novel where it could be given the depth of explanation that it needs.
Longer Than the Threads of Time by Zoraida Cordova
Longer Than the Threads of Time is another story I really enjoyed by an author I haven’t read anything from. We are introduced to Fabian who is a brujo with the gift of Sight, allowing him to see all the magical creatures in New York. We are also introduced to Danae a young girl trapping in a magical tower which has also trapped her in time, so she doesn’t age. One day Fabian decides to approach the tower and speak to Danae despite people warning him against it. Quickly they become friends and eventually begin to fall in love, but even true love’s kiss won’t break the spell binding Dane, the only thing that can break it is a willing exchange which Fabian unconsciously enters into. We learn right at the end that there was something strange about Danae which led her mother to locking her in the tower which now contains Fabian, but she promises to return for him after a family reunion. I will definitely be adding Cordova’s books to my TBR for next year and I would love to see this story expanded upon more in a full-length novel, but it was a great short story too.
Habibi by Tochi Onyebuchi
Habibi was the final story in this collection and again it was written by an author I haven’t read anything from. Habibi was a story I wasn’t really connecting with at first and then it hit me like a truck. It follows Omar and Quincy as both are in prison for different reason but can somehow magically transport letter to each other. Through the letters we learn more about theirs lives and the persecution both face in America and Gaza and through the letters they begin to fall in love with one another. However, it seems like Omar is dying and he begs Quincy to come and find him when he can, if he can and Omar refers to Quincy as Habibi which means beloved. The final letters are Omar’s explanation of the word to Quincy and Quincy telling Omar he is coming. I really want to know if the pair ever managed to meet and what happened to them after the last letter but it was an amazing story to end the collection on as it almost literally punched a hole in my heart and I will definitely have to read Onyebuchi’s books. If they pack the punch this story did then they are definitely going to make me cry more than once.
Overall, I had some mixed feelings about A Universe of Wishes. On the one hand, there were some outstanding stories in this collection and it opened my eye to a lot of authors I haven’t read from. However, on the other hand, there were a few stories that just didn’t make sense to me for various reasons and there were also two stories that I couldn’t read because I hadn’t read other books by those authors. One being The Scarlet Woman as I haven’t read the Gemma Doyle series and A Royal Affair by V. E. Schwab as it takes place in the Shades of Magic series which I have yet to finish and I don’t want to be spoiled. Due to these reasons I can’t give the collection 5 stars, and I debated for a long time between 3 and 4 stars. I ultimately decided on 3 stars because 4 and 5 stars for me mean that I would re-read the entire thing more than once which I wouldn’t in this case but I may re-read a select few of the stories.

I loved this anthology. It felt like episodes of Black Mirror or The Twilight Zone. The diversity was refreshing, and there were so many reps in this book my heart filled with screams of joy. Every story was tailored to each author, although one o two surprised me.

Seeing as these are short stories, the endings can feel a tad rushed. A Few of them I had to go back and reread the last pages of because I wasn’t prepared for it to end, and had to reset. One of them had me growing at 1 am because I wished it were longer. I’m looking at you Kwame Mbalia and Mark Oshiro.

If you’re looking for an anthology filled with badarse authors and looking to get your heart put into a vice, this is the one for you. I had the best time reading it, and I hope you all do too!

4.4/5 ☆ = 5+

I didn't actually expect to love this anthology as much as I did. To be honest, I haven't really read an anthology in years, so I was really excited to read this. And woah it did not disappoint.

Some of the factors that kept me from rating this anthology five stars: I didn't really feel like all of the short stories fit the description of diverse or within the theme of wishes. Also, some of them were a bit hard to understand, but maybe it's just my lacking English skills in analysing lol.


1. A Universe of Wishes by Tara Sim --> 5/5 ☆
Two boys, three wishes.
This one was super cute, even with the whole harvesting-hearts-in-morgues thing lol. Also, the development of the (m/m) relationship was wholesome. I loved the ending!

2. The Silk Blade by Natalie C. Parker --> 4.5/5 ☆
A competition to be the Blooms consort. But one contestant suddenly develops feelings for her competition.
Had a little problem getting into this story, but once I got used to the flow, I really enjoyed it. The development and pace were great, and the story wound up pretty well. Also f/f romance hehe.

3. The Scarlet Woman by Libba Gray --> 1.5/5 ☆
There's some magic world? Friends who kinda not hate each other but kinda do? Witches?
It felt like I was missing something while reading. Was I supposed to know who Gemma Doyle was? The author had no introduction or anything to this, and since I had never read any of her books, I was left clueless. Also, was there any representation in this? Was the feminist stance the diverse rep? Hmmm...

4. Cristal y Ceniza by Anna-Marie McLemore --> 4.5/5 ☆
A Cinderella-esque story where a Mexican girl arrives at the ball of the transgender prince with a desperate plea for her people. Magic slippers!
I really liked this one, and the sincere message behind it. Also, I'm a sucker for fairytale re-tellings, so there's no surprise I liked this one. The plot and characters developed well enough for me.

5. Liberia by Kwame Mbalia --> 3.5/5 ☆
A sci-fi story following a crewmember on a spacecraft with a deep connection to his plants, which have ancestral roots to their homeland.
The sci-fi aspects of this story were amazing! Unfortunately, I was left really confused by the whole plant stuff and that. My brain just didn't manage to comprehend what was really happening lol. Um, but I think this story is really deep and has a lot of symbolism.

6. A Royal Affair by V.E. Schwab --> 4/5 ☆
The forbidden romance between Alucard and Rhy, and how Alucard became the captain of the Night Spire. No prior knowledge of the Shades of Magic series is needed.
Reading this short story was just another sign for me to start reading the Shades of Magic! I promise I'm going to read it soon! At least now I'm really hyped. M/m romance.

7. A Takeback Tango by Rebecca Roanhorse --> 4.5/5 ☆
The captain of her own solo spacecraft lost everything, now she's out taking back the artifacts that belonged to her people. Meets a surprising ally on the way.
I really liked this one. And I could definitely see the parallels between this story and the real world. Maybe too short? I wish the author will write something similar to this in the future, cause I'm definitely in!

8. Dream and Dare by Nic Stone --> 3.5/5 ☆
Following two girls who have been affected by the gender and societal norms, as they struggle to be understood.
This was definitely empowering! Unfortunately, I had trouble keeping up with the story. Either way, it was really good. I just wasn't really in the right mood when I read this.

9. Wish by Jenny Balch --> 3.5/5 ☆
A wish-granter from a magic lamp meets a girl with an unusual condition. Does everything to grant her wish and help her.
I had a few problems while reading this, and wasn't really in the mood for this story, unfortunately. However, I did admire the sci-fi aspects and themes of loneliness.

10. The Weight by Dhonielle Clayton --> 3.5/5 ☆
Every heart tells a story. Weigh your heart to see how much you have loved.
This was...interesting. I did like it, but I was also confused for a long time. But the ending was quite good, and I got the message.

11. Unmoor by Mark Oshiro --> 5/5 ☆
A boy tries to remove/unmoor his heart-aching memories of his former love.
This was deep and powerful. Woah. It was painful but also so good. I was speechless when I finished it.

12. The Coldest Spot in the Universe by Samira Ahmed --> 4/5 ☆
In the future where Earth has become an uninhabitable planet, where an archeologist discovers the records of a bright girl who once lived.
Woah, this was powerful yet alarming too. Speaking of the climate crisis we're up against at the moment and the dystopian ending of the Earth and humans.

13. The Beginnings of Monsters by Tessa Gratton --> 3/5 ☆
I honestly don't know what was going on. Uhm, political intrigue, and designing new bodies? New technology and cults? Idk it was cool tho.
I was confused. But the story was alright, I guess. My English comprehension skills were really not with me when I read this one. Oh well. The ending was good.

14. Longer Than the Threads of Time by Zoraida Córdova --> 4/5 ☆
A Rapunzel reimagining with a twist. In a world filled with magic and fantasy creatures.
Oh, I liked this one. It was intriguing, and as I mentioned earlier, I'm a sucker for fairytale re-tellings. The ending was a little abrupt, and I wish this short story was an entire book because it left off with a lot of loose ends. I'm definitely down for this story becoming a novel.

15. Habibi by Tochi Onyebuchi --> 4/5 ☆
The exchanging letters between a black prisoner in America and a Palestinian protestor, where they discuss both lighthearted and intense but important themes.
I had a few problems with getting used to the letter-writing style. Either way, I really enjoyed how this was so rooted in our reality. As we're stepping out of an anthology filled with loads of fantasy, this ending short story ground us back to reality. Very relevant too. A great way to end this anthology.


CONCLUSION
Some of them were a little bit hard to understand, as they're short stories. They're supposed to leave readers either shocked or yearning for more. Most of the short stories were quite relevant and powerful, which I really enjoyed.

I'll definitely be looking at the authors and hopefully reading their works in the near future!

Over and out. -Nora<3

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A Universe of Wishes is an anthology of fifteen different diverse authors with stories that resemble the world we live in. I honestly requested this because I saw V.E. Schwab had a story in here but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the other authors works too.

These are some award winning authors in this line up and I found it to be a great way to find new authors to check out without dedicating your time to a whole book, though sometimes that's half the fun.

I will say the biggest surprise came from Tara Sim whose story A Universe of Wishes which is the first short story in the book and the title of the anthology. I didn't know what to expect getting into this, but the tone really caught me off guard. It's surprisingly dark, but I mean we know it's going to involve some grey area since V. E. Schwab is involved.

After reading the first short story I was there, I was settling in because I knew it'd be a great read. Though with any anthology there are weaker stories, but it's mainly down to preference and not really feeling connected to the author's writing style which happens. Still, I can't find a fault with this. I would recommend it to anyone looking to read from more diverse authors or even try out a little something from the authors in this anthology. You can't go wrong.

I adore a good short story. It is a great way to read everyday when personal free time can be close to zero! I enjoyed this collection of short stories! I read one every few days, which helped me feel good about reading something while also not taking up too much time. I was also surprised, in a good way, to find a short story by Libba Bray for Gemma Doyle!!!!! I remember reading the Great and Terrible Beauty trilogy as a teen, and I loved seeing Gemma on paper again! I wish there was more! Also, how can you not enjoy any story by V.E. Schwab. The other stories are amazing as well. This book is a great read for someone on the go, and for individuals looking to explore more of their favorite characters.

Now this is how you tap for an anthology. The authors are diverse, many of them well-established and popular in the YA scifi/fantasy scene; and the stories reflect their skills and their interests between embracing queer identities, freedom from oppression, the taking back of stolen/appropriated history, and sometimes just... existing and being magical. Below I have outlined individual reviews for each story, but standout faves are Natalie C Parker's and Tochi Onyebuchi's - for very different reasons. Though with nothing below a 3? This anthology gets a resounding Laura seal of approval.

-Tara Sim 4/5⭐️ - wholesome gay boys! Death and magic and curiosity and hope. A fun take on the "3 wishes" story - as we see Sage's wishes unfold to forward the plot, even as we follow Thorn from one day to the next. I would have liked a little bit more about the stones and their magic, but for a short story? Solid
-Natalie C Parker 5/5⭐️ First of all: short and simple with effective descriptions and am elaborate world where gender seems to have no bearing on status, role, or profession. Also, gay ladies! I literally threw down my kindle with a "YES!" when we got the genders of Rabi and Willador during their first encounter. But when the third contestant is a man, thus meaning the Blossom isn't straight? Sold.
-Libba Bray 3/5⭐️ I think I struggled a little with this one because I haven't read The Diviners. So these characters have an established relationship to each other, to these secret societies, to this magic... But I don't know any of it. It definitely succeeded in making me curious, but it ends unresolved and that just didn't do it for me. Though the writing was good enough
-Anne-Marie McLemore 4/5⭐️ an interesting twist on the Cinderella story, where our Cinderella has actual agency beyond a distaste for her lot in life. Plus the sheer magic of seeing queer characters out and accepted and free to make their own decisions (both as a reader and through the eyes of our MC) was truly amazing
-Kwame Mbalia 3/5⭐️ I had trouble following the conflict. There didn't appear to be a real... Change? Convincing Harry of the importance of the plants didn't seem to happen. He just conceded because multiple people were arguing against him. Which, doesn't seem like a particularly meaningful turning point for a story.
-VE Schwab 3/5⭐️ why are there always authors in anthologies that set stories in universes they've already written about at length? First Bray and now Schwab. Schwab's characters I at least know, but if you didn't know them, this wouldn't really be enough to satisfy you. It's the briefest moment and the characters don't get to shine.
-Rebecca Roanhorse 4/5⭐️ okay, I would definitely read more in this series. Roanhorse doesn't pull punches, immediately calling out genocide, theft, and the gross misappropriation of "artifacts" from smaller planets. I think I wanted a bit more in terms of conflict, especially once we made it into the museum, but for the length of the story, I'll take it
-Nic Stone 4/5⭐️ okay this one was cute. It got a little too sappy for me by the end, but I think it fits the kind of fairy tale vibe of the whole story. A story of acceptance and girls who ignore the blustering boys but watch the other lonely girls.
-Jenni Balch 3/5⭐️ I like that we're getting more scifi (ish) stories going, and I'm always down to put magic in a scifi setting (even if it happens so rarely) and YAY DISABILITY REP. But I didn't get a handle on Lane or the greater world and it didn't really feel complete when it ended.
-Dhonielle Clayton 3.5/5⭐️ I can't get over the moniker heartician... Kinda dumb, not gonna lie, but this is exactly the kind of thing that people would buy into. I actually like that the ending leaves us unresolved, but I kind of want to know what some of the details on the hearts meant.
-Mark Oshiro 3.5/5⭐️ I was really into this at the beginning. But by the end, I was like... Well, what was the point? Felix was being impatient and kind of whiny and the ending came out of nowhere and left me confused. What I did like was the way magic is handled so casually and by everyone, that it seems to be so deeply integrated into everyday life
-Samira Ahmed 4.5/5⭐️ the ending, as improbable as it was, gave me chills. Something about the direct way she addresses whoever came next... I wanted to know more about the future-people, what their goals are and where they're from and how their lives differ from ours.
-Tessa Gratton 4/5⭐️ The world was fascinating and I was so intrigued by the style, the mythology, the characters (4 genders! And we want to break from that and accept more!). I wanted to just walk around in this world and see everything. But the ending came too fast and we were left hanging...
-Zoraida Cordova 3.5/5⭐️ it felt like we got so distracted by magic that we forgot about plot. And when the plot kicked back in it was done in a flash, leaving us, yet again, without resolution. I always love a story where the magic hides just out of sight, though I would have liked to see more of the creatures rather than just a few snatches
-Tochi Onyebuchi 5/5⭐️ this one gave me chills. Comparing the school to prison pipeline in America to the Israeli/Palestinian border crisis... From the perspective of two boys the system is trying to kill, two boys on opposite sides of the world who, through some insane magic, can find hope in each other. Amazing, honestly.Now this is how you tap for an anthology. The authors are diverse, many of them well-established and popular in the YA scifi/fantasy scene; and the stories reflect their skills and their interests between embracing queer identities, freedom from oppression, the taking back of stolen/appropriated history, and sometimes just... existing and being magical. Below I have outlined individual reviews for each story, but standout faves are Natalie C Parker's and Tochi Onyebuchi's - for very different reasons. Though with nothing below a 3? This anthology gets a resounding Laura seal of approval.

-Tara Sim 4/5⭐️ - wholesome gay boys! Death and magic and curiosity and hope. A fun take on the "3 wishes" story - as we see Sage's wishes unfold to forward the plot, even as we follow Thorn from one day to the next. I would have liked a little bit more about the stones and their magic, but for a short story? Solid
-Natalie C Parker 5/5⭐️ First of all: short and simple with effective descriptions and am elaborate world where gender seems to have no bearing on status, role, or profession. Also, gay ladies! I literally threw down my kindle with a "YES!" when we got the genders of Rabi and Willador during their first encounter. But when the third contestant is a man, thus meaning the Blossom isn't straight? Sold.
-Libba Bray 3/5⭐️ I think I struggled a little with this one because I haven't read The Diviners. So these characters have an established relationship to each other, to these secret societies, to this magic... But I don't know any of it. It definitely succeeded in making me curious, but it ends unresolved and that just didn't do it for me. Though the writing was good enough
-Anne-Marie McLemore 4/5⭐️ an interesting twist on the Cinderella story, where our Cinderella has actual agency beyond a distaste for her lot in life. Plus the sheer magic of seeing queer characters out and accepted and free to make their own decisions (both as a reader and through the eyes of our MC) was truly amazing
-Kwame Mbalia 3/5⭐️ I had trouble following the conflict. There didn't appear to be a real... Change? Convincing Harry of the importance of the plants didn't seem to happen. He just conceded because multiple people were arguing against him. Which, doesn't seem like a particularly meaningful turning point for a story.
-VE Schwab 3/5⭐️ why are there always authors in anthologies that set stories in universes they've already written about at length? First Bray and now Schwab. Schwab's characters I at least know, but if you didn't know them, this wouldn't really be enough to satisfy you. It's the briefest moment and the characters don't get to shine.
-Rebecca Roanhorse 4/5⭐️ okay, I would definitely read more in this series. Roanhorse doesn't pull punches, immediately calling out genocide, theft, and the gross misappropriation of "artifacts" from smaller planets. I think I wanted a bit more in terms of conflict, especially once we made it into the museum, but for the length of the story, I'll take it
-Nic Stone 4/5⭐️ okay this one was cute. It got a little too sappy for me by the end, but I think it fits the kind of fairy tale vibe of the whole story. A story of acceptance and girls who ignore the blustering boys but watch the other lonely girls.
-Jenni Balch 3/5⭐️ I like that we're getting more scifi (ish) stories going, and I'm always down to put magic in a scifi setting (even if it happens so rarely) and YAY DISABILITY REP. But I didn't get a handle on Lane or the greater world and it didn't really feel complete when it ended.
-Dhonielle Clayton 3.5/5⭐️ I can't get over the moniker heartician... Kinda dumb, not gonna lie, but this is exactly the kind of thing that people would buy into. I actually like that the ending leaves us unresolved, but I kind of want to know what some of the details on the hearts meant.
-Mark Oshiro 3.5/5⭐️ I was really into this at the beginning. But by the end, I was like... Well, what was the point? Felix was being impatient and kind of whiny and the ending came out of nowhere and left me confused. What I did like was the way magic is handled so casually and by everyone, that it seems to be so deeply integrated into everyday life
-Samira Ahmed 4.5/5⭐️ the ending, as improbable as it was, gave me chills. Something about the direct way she addresses whoever came next... I wanted to know more about the future-people, what their goals are and where they're from and how their lives differ from ours.
-Tessa Gratton 4/5⭐️ The world was fascinating and I was so intrigued by the style, the mythology, the characters (4 genders! And we want to break from that and accept more!). I wanted to just walk around in this world and see everything. But the ending came too fast and we were left hanging...
-Zoraida Cordova 3.5/5⭐️ it felt like we got so distracted by magic that we forgot about plot. And when the plot kicked back in it was done in a flash, leaving us, yet again, without resolution. I always love a story where the magic hides just out of sight, though I would have liked to see more of the creatures rather than just a few snatches
-Tochi Onyebuchi 5/5⭐️ this one gave me chills. Comparing the school to prison pipeline in America to the Israeli/Palestinian border crisis... From the perspective of two boys the system is trying to kill, two boys on opposite sides of the world who, through some insane magic, can find hope in each other. Amazing, honestly.

A Universe of Wishes (Tara Sim) 2.5 stars

Thorn, a grave robber who steals magic, not possession from the dead. There’s hidden magic in each person, untapped potential, that he collects for its power to grant wishes. When he moves his operations over to the morgue, he’s caught red-handed by Sage whose family owns the funeral home. The two boys make a deal–Sage will give Thorn access to the bodies in exchange for three wishes of his own. Meanwhile, Thorn carries a secret wish of his own, one that requires the ever-growing universe of wishes he’s keeping in his back pocket.

The actual story is kind of whatever. I mean, it was fine, like I’d probably give it 2 stars, but it wasn’t not really my thing. The writing, though, was gorgeous. If I were rating this on the writing alone, it’d definitely be in the 4+ category. Sim’s descriptions are vivid and immersive. I mean, I’ve never heard a sunset described as “the sky deepening into a two-day bruise,” but my mind immediately supplied the image. It’s just a shame the actual story didn’t work for me.

The Silk Blade (Natalie C. Parker) 2.5 stars

Strength in the sight. Grace in the might. Willador Mayhew has made it to the final stage in the competition to become the Bloom of Everdale’s consort. There are only two others who stand in the way of her fulfilling her duty and securing an honored spot for her family. She has no time for distractions like Arabeth Caswell this late in the game, especially when she’ll be facing this particular distraction on the battlefield.

Again, the actually story was meh, but the world building was great. This is another story where I’d probably give the actual story a below average rating and the world building an above average one. I was expecting more of an action/fantasy kind of thing, but at its heart, The Silk Blade is a love story, and one I had no interested in.

The Scarlet Woman: A Gemma Doyle Story (Libba Bray) 1.5 stars

Libba Bray throwing it all the way back to the early 2000s. Two years after the events of The Sweet and Far Thing, Gemma Doyle is in New York City, trying to put the past behind her, but just as she finds some semblance of normalcy in her new life, a string of gruesome murders occur and a new threat emerges.

I honestly don’t remember much about the Gemma Doyle trilogy, but I got through this okay. It was an interesting enough story, but the gaping hole of an ending was a bit dissatisfying. The whole time I was reading, I kept wondering, “how is she going to tie this all together?” because the story kept building and I couldn’t figure out how she was going to tie it all up in the end. Spoiler alert: she doesn’t. This felt less of a short story and more like an excerpt from a new series. (Is Bray trying to make some kind of announcement?) Maybe if she’d at least tried to wrap this up, I would’ve given this an extra star, but I got to the end feeling like there were a bunch of pages missing from the story.

Cristal y Ceniza (Anna-Marie McLemore) 1 star

The prince who was born a princess is giving a ball. Though it may seem impossible, a plain country pumpkin from the kingdom next door with the hopes of winning an audience with the king and queen and plea for sanctuary. Her country has implemented “la corrección,” an edict that would ensure all households have one male and one female parent. With a little magic, a little luck, and some zapatillas de cristal, she might just pull it off.

Y’all know I love Cinderella retellings, and while I appreciated some of the variations here, I wasn’t a huge fan of the actual story. (I’m starting to feel like a broken record.) The messaging was really heavy-handed and was kind of off-putting. Soapbox stories aren’t my kind of thing to begin with, and this was done in a very up-in-your-face kind of a way. I also went into this anthology expecting fantasy and adventure and have ended up with a lot of romance so far which is probably why I’m being extra harsh in my ratings.

Liberia (Kwame Mbalia) 1.5 stars

As part of the newest batch of settlers heading to the Colonies, Kweku Aboah is responsible for overseeing the botany research that will help sustain the Colonies’ agriculture efforts. But when an unexpected tremor threatens the Liberia, Kweku must race against time and her commanding officer to save her prized cultivar, Nana.

If we compare the pace of the story to running a race, I feel like Mbalia ran a marathon during the 800 m. What happened during the first two acts of the story? I honestly can’t tell you. The story was set up in bits and pieces, but it took a while to get a sense of what exactly was going on, and by that point, I didn’t really care. Mbalia tried to make a whole “he lives in you” point, but it was too little too late.

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A Royal Affair (V. E. Schwab) 1 star

Confession time: I’ve had physical copies of the Shades of Magic trilogy for over a year that I got in a care package and have been super excited about reading but haven’t gotten around to. I was initially too sick to enjoy them properly and have subsequently been too brain-dead/overwhelmed with the pile of books I’ve requested to read. When I saw this short, I almost planned to skip it, read my way through the series, and come back to it, but then I decided not to because I wanted to see what the story would be like to an unfamiliar reader and because ain’t nobody got time for that.

I can safely say from experience that you don’t have to be familiar with the Shades series to read this (though I’m sure there are plenty of details and Easter eggs I missed.) It’s a fine story, but I can’t help but feel that it’s catered toward Shades of Magic fans. As someone who is unacquainted with the characters and world, A Royal Affair fell flat. If I didn’t know this was meant to be a prequel of sorts, I probably would’ve though this was a disappointing short story. It’s another romance, though a somewhat tragic one, of one who loved and lost, but I just didn’t care 🤷🏻‍♀️

The Takeback Tango (Rebecca Roanhorse) 3.5 stars

Meet Vi, a futuristic Robin Hood who steals from to rich to give to the poor, and since she’s the poorest of them all, well…she’s just robbin’. But when she attempts to reclaim what’s left of her people’s history, it’s not just business, it’s personal. When things don’t go according to plan, the little thief learns that sometimes it takes two.

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Maybe it was the Lunar Chronicle vibes I got from Evie the AI, maybe it was the fact that scene when Violet’s casing the Museum of the Conquered was reminiscent of the Killmonger scene in Black Panther, maybe I’ve finally given up and realized this anthology will, in fact, be full of love stories, but I actually kind of liked this one. Like it wasn’t anything super special and could’ve been fleshed out a little better, but if Roanhorse decides to turn The Adventures of Violet and Valerian into an actual book, I’d read it.

Dream and Dare (Nic Stone) 1 star

“There’s a monster in these woods. (Everyone knows that much.) And it needs Dream. She can feel it.”

Ever since Princess Dare, who dared to dress more like a prince than a princess, disappeared, the woods have been avoided but all but the most foolhardy, boys looking to be a hero. They all come back dead or unsuccessful, but Dream doesn’t care. She sneaks off into the woods to answer a call.

“Dream knows Dare doesn’t need to be rescued. Not in the least.
The monster does.”

If you’re the type of person who likes eating ripped up shreds of patriarchy for breakfast, you’ll probably eat this up. This isn’t so much a story as it is a treatise on the dangers of toxic masculinity thinly disguised as a modern fairy tale. The language was too dreamy for me and the imagery is so heavy, it’ll break seventy-five golden camels’ backs. Nothing about this really worked for me, unfortunately.

Wish (Jenni Balch) 3.5 stars

A Granter is pulled out of his LAMP and realizes things have changed since his last contract. Like the fact that his latest Wisher, Adriadne, is a girl from Venus. When Adriadne doesn’t immediately redeem her Wish, the normally easy transaction of Granting becomes more complicated as Lane gets to know his new client.

A Gen X genie, a girl in space, and a riff on Arabian Nights? It’s a weird combo, but it worked. I didn’t know I needed a story about teenager stuck in an ancient, supernatural body, but here we are. (Maybe if Edward Cullen had acted more like a sullen, pubescent boy instead of a creepy grandpa stuck in high school, I would’ve like Twilight more.) The story itself was pretty basic, but there was something sweet and endearing about it. And, I don’t know, it was just fun.

The Weight (Dhonielle Clayton) 5 stars

“Some questions didn’t need answers.
But for Grace, every question had one.”

Every heart tells a story. Marcus and Grace are childhood friends and high school sweethearts, and they know they’re in love. Still, there’s nothing wrong with checking right? When the two decide to get their heart weighed before going off to college, they a learn a little bit about life, a little bit about love, and a lot about themselves.

We’ve gotten to the point of this somewhat disappointing anthology where I’m not sure if my expectations are so low, I’ll like anything halfway decent, or if the stories I like are as good as I think they are, but I liked The Weight. There was just something unexpected and original about The Weight. It kinda reminds me of Wong Fu’s Everything Before Us (which I didn’t actually like that much,) in the sense that they both have similar vibes. I know I’ve been complaining about the lack of platonic stories in this collection, but Clayton managed to write a love story without writing a romance, and I kinda loved it (and not just because I’m on some weird surgical story kick right now.) This was a much needed breath of fresh air in an anthology I’ve mostly just been slogging through, and the ending was perfection. It’s hard to pull off a satisfying open ending, but Clayton did so beautifully. I actually loved the ambiguity because that’s how life and love work.

Unmoor (Mark Oshiro) 3.5 stars

They say time heals all wounds, but sometimes, time needs a little push. After breaking up with his boyfriend, Felix pays to have a mage help unmoor particularly painful memories from their associated locations in an effort to move on.

I wasn’t a fan of the relationship in this one (I don’t know if anyone was really supposed to be,) but I loved the overall concept and story. Unmoor is a great example of a story that clearly has a message but doesn’t feel the need to beat you over the head with it. I’m usually not a fan of magical realism, but I think it’s because authors force the magical aspect with lyrical prose or fairy tale motifs. But Oshiro kept his story grounded firmly in reality despite its magical element. In Unmoor, magic was matter-of-fact, a means of mental health treatment, and everything else about the world seemed to mirror our own. Between the detailed descriptions of Alameda county (I’m sure East Bay peeps will love the rep in this) and the no-nonsense approach to magic, Oshiro struck the perfect balance between the magical and the realistic.

The Coldest Spot in the Universe (Samira Ahmed) 4.5 stars

An alien and a human. Two sides of the same story. One is an invading conqueror, another a struggling survivor. There’s still live after the end of the world; the diaries they left behind are proof.

“June 21, 2031, First Day of Summer.
The bodies are all broken.
Stuck in the ice, all the color drained from their skin.”

The opening lines are chilling, but it took me a while for me to really get into the story (alternating POVs and a bunch of alien words don’t exactly endear me to a story right way.) But once I got past that, I was hooked. “The Coldest Spot in the Universe” definitely had a post-apocalyptic alien, The 5th Wave kind of vibe which isn’t really my thing, but Ahmed might be converting me. The storytelling, the pacing, the setting, the writing, and that ending, it was all so good. This was the kind of perfectly complete short story I always want in anthologies. I will say the climate change agenda was pushed a bit too hard, and it was a little too ra-ra “we are the world,” “be the change” for me, but still, one of the standouts from this collection.

The Beginning of Monsters (Tessa Gratton) 0 stars

“The College of Dedicated Renovation had agreed to make Lady Insarra a new body because she was tired of being a woman.”

The prodigy, Elir, is the assigned chimerical designer for the redesign of the small king’s body. When Elir meets Lady Insarra’s child, the budding relationship between the two makes the artist’s secret assassination mission that much harder.

I don’t even know how to tell you what happened in The Beginning of Monsters because it was just a mess of elements acting as a stand-in for world building. Words are thrown around without any explanation or context, I have no clue how the magic system works, and, for all the Elir’s talk of her intricate and detailed work, the actual story felt like a jumbled mess. I stopped caring a couple pages in and kind of just pushed through paragraphs to get to the end. The plot twist was pretty good, so I’ll give Gratton that, but other than the push for nonconformity at the end, I’m not really sure what the whole point of the story was.

Longer Than the Threads of Time (Zoraida Córdova) 3 stars

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Ah, the Big Apple. The Empire State Building, Times Square, and the Belvedere Castle in Central Park? Fabían Macías is one of the few that can see it because he comes from a family of brujas and happens to have the Sight. What he lacks in magical ability, he makes up for with curiosity. He climbs the tower, befriends the trapped princess Danaë, and, well, let’s just say this isn’t a Disney movie.

The story got off to a bit of a slow start. It was pretty much a pretty standard Rapunzel retelling with a quirky NYC setting. It got more exciting towards the end but then it, you know, ended. Overall, it felt like Córdova was building up to a fuller story–maybe the next Brooklyn Brujas? (I don’t know anything about the series, I just saw it under her name)–and I’m not sure how I feel about that. I signed up for an anthology of standalone shorts, not a mini-sampler of future works. Still, it was a decent story and, with my fondness for fairy tale retellings, an author will have to try to mess up for me to hate it.

Habibi (Tochi Onyebuchi) 3.5 stars

Quincy and Omar may be on opposite ends of the globe, but somehow manage to write letters to each other. Omar chews them up, and Quincy finds them when he needs to take a trip to the toilet. Quincy’s in solitary confinement, and Omar joins his fellow prisoners in a hunger strike to protest their living conditions. The only things keeping them alive are the letters they write to each other.

I’m not a huge fan of epistolary works, but I do have to commend Oneybuchi for giving her characters such distinct voices. I was surprised the anthology ended with such a heavy story, especially when it was filled with so much romance (okay, I’m still a little salty,) but this was an interesting way to wrap up the anthology. If I’d known what “habibi” meant going in, maybe I would’ve been less thrown off by the ending, but I thought we were finally getting a story about a good, old-fashioned friendship. I was wrong. What happened to all the platonic stories about friendship and camaraderie? Why does everyone need a love interest in YA these days?

This was such a fun and exciting read! I usually don't read anthologies, but I was more than happy to suppor these authors and will absolutely be buying a copy when this book comes out. A Universe of Wishes brings together a bunch of YA writers to tell stories diverse and necessary stories for every reader. With themes of social justice, romance, and self discovery, this is an incredible collection that deserves a space on every shelf.

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Netgalley. Trigger warning for depictions of homophobic, transphobic, sexist, racist, and colonialist violence, as well as child abuse.)

"In the far corner, more than twice as tall as the others, stood a single cassava plant. Deep green leaves the size of my arm fluttered in the manufactured breeze, and the thick stem dropped ramrod straight to a wide patch of soil all its own. Beneath it spread a tuber-and-root system that arched out of the soil like leaping dolphins frozen in time.
"'Nice to see you again, Nana,' I murmured."
("Liberia" by Kwame Mbalia)

"What makes Dream angriest is that she knows they’re mistaken. It’s why she’s in these woods. She’s going to prove them wrong. About Dare, yes, but also about herself. The townspeople, the suitors, they think of Dream as the dream girl. The dream wife. Pretty, sweet, compliant. Everything Dare was—is—not. But they are incorrect. They don’t know Dream, and they certainly didn’t know Dare. Dream, though, knew Dare. Knows her. Dream knows Dare doesn’t need to be rescued. Not in the least. The monster does."
("Dream and Dare" by Nic Stone)

"The New York Public Library is anything but a fossil. It is a living, vibrant thing, like being inside some time-traveling ship that is also a sea creature."
("The Scarlet Woman: A Gemma Doyle Story" by Libba Bray)

With tales from Anna-Marie McLemore, Libba Bray, Tara Sim, V.E. Schwab, Zoraida Córdova, Nic Stone, and more, this diverse collection of SF/F short stories is, in a word, magical. (I use that word a lot in this review, but humor me.) Anthologies tend to be uneven, in my experience, but A UNIVERSE OF WISHES is solid. A handful of stories are "meh" at worst (that translates to three stars for me), but there are some really marvelous and bewitching pieces in here.

Anna-Marie McLemore's "Cristal y Ceniza" is probably my favorite; no surprise there, since they're one of my favorite YA authors. (Do yourself a solid and read THE WEIGHT OF FEATHERS, if you haven't already.) Along with Zoraida Córdova's "Longer Than the Threads of Time," "Cristal y Ceniza" is one of two fairy tale retellings (Cinderella and Rapunzel, respectively), and I am nothing if not a sucker for fairy tale retellings.

You'll also find a nice mix of fantasy and science fiction, magic and time travel, monsters and villains (and they aren't always one and the same), along with two short stories set in existing series ("The Scarlet Woman: A Gemma Doyle Story" by Libba Bray and "A Royal Affair" by V.E. Schwab).

Though my expectations were ceiling-high, one thing I didn't expect was how damn flirty and downright sexy things would get. The prose in some of these stories is nothing short of sumptuous. For your consideration (and enjoyment!), may I present exhibits A through C:

"And then, somehow, they were crossing the small distance. The warmth of Sage’s mouth on his was another reminder that Thorn was alive, that he was made up of so many parts, from the wild pumping of his heart to the buzzing tips of his fingers. He felt as if he had been spooled out into the universe only to come back to a body that was lighter and more extraordinary than the one before it." - "A Universe of Wishes" by Tara Sim

"Her eyes are a golden honey brown, barely darker than the sun-warmed tan of her skin. Her round cheeks perch above lips pressed into a lopsided smile. Only her top lip has been painted in a dark berry purple to signify she is unpaired, and I don’t think I have ever been so grateful to see an unpainted lower lip. It is full and pale peach, and I immediately wonder what it would taste like between my teeth." - "The Silk Blade" by Natalie C. Parker

"Rhy furrowed his brow and drew his mouth into a pout, and even though it was a farce, Alucard found himself impacted, wanted to wipe the lines from the prince’s face, to kiss away the crease between his eyes, to make him smile. It was a kind of power, he thought, even if it was not magic." - "A Royal Affair" by V.E. Schwab

Anyway, what follows is a brief summary and rating for each story. I tried my best to keep things vague and spoiler-free.

"A Universe of Wishes" by Tara Sim - 4/5

"[W]ishes were granted only by the dead." When he's caught breaking into a funeral home to harvest magic from the ribs of a corpse, grave-robbing orphan Thorn makes a deal with Sage, the heir to the family business: in exchange for three wishes, Sage must give him free access to the bodies, and help Thorn capture their magic. But is a universe of wishes enough to raise the dead? The titular story features some great world-building, a super-sweet M/M romance - and an ending that promises justice, and hope. Such a lovely and magical start to an equally lovely and magical collection!

"The Silk Blade" by Natalie C. Parker - 4/5

Willador Mayhew is among the best of the best: an elite warrior, she's just one of three finalists competing to be the consort of the Bloom of Everdale. Should she win his hand, her family would be set for life. Willador arrived at the castle hoping to be married - but she didn't expect to fall in love. With lush language and sensuous imagery, Parker upends gender expectations and positively slays heteronormativity.

"The Scarlet Woman: A Gemma Doyle Story" by Libba Bray - 3.5/5 stars

Now living in New York City and attending Barnard College, Gemma is pulled into a supernatural mystery involving two dead Rakshana agents and a missing archaeologist. It seems a new, all-woman fraternity called the Order of the Scarlet Woman is fixing to rule the realms.

While the writing is delightful, I'm afraid it's difficult to fully appreciate this story without having read the Gemma Doyle trilogy. Most of the time I felt like I was missing out on some pretty important backstory, even if Doyle does a commendable job setting it up.

"Cristal y Ceniza" by Anna-Marie McLemore - 5/5

A swoony gif would sum up "Cristal y Ceniza" perfectly, but I wouldn't insult McLemore with such laziness. This is a positively enchanting retelling of Cinderella in which a brown-skinned country girl, with the help of some magical slippers from her local bruja, travels to a neighboring kingdom to crash the Prince's coming out ball. She's not in search of a husband, but amnesty: from the homophobic violence and family separations - la corrección - threatening LGBTQ families in the adjacent lands. Since they've been so supportive of their trans son, at least in public, she's hopeful that the King and Queen will welcome her family as refugees. Never in a million years could she imagine that her bravery would transform the lives of so many like her - or steal the heart of the Prince.

"Liberia" by Kwame Mbalia - 4/5

The young crew of the Liberia carry their ancestors with them, as they travel the 'verse to found the colony of New Africa. Their elders, whose bodies were too old and fragile to make the grueling passage, nonetheless walk beside them: they live in the recordings that give the pioneers knowledge and guidance (and hope!), in the seeds and plants that provide nourishment; and in the hearts of their children. So when the research level of the Liberia is threatened, it's up to Kweku - the ship's seventeen-year-old research officer - to rescue the crew's past, as well as its future. (Imagining Kweku's relatives signing off at the end? Reduced me to a puddle of tears.) This feels like part of a larger, more epic story, one that I'd love to see on the big screen some day soon.

"A Royal Affair" by V.E. Schwab - 5/5

The second and final story that takes place in an already-established universe, "A Royal Affair" is a Shades of Magic prequel story about the affair between Prince Rhy Maresh and budding magician Alucard Emery. Three years after being banished from London, Alucard is returning - and, as his ship brings him closer to the one he loved and lost, he reflects on his star-crossed romance. Sweet and sad, this story stands perfectly well on its own.

"The Takeback Tango" by Rebecca Roanhorse - 4/5

At just sixteen, the Imperium orphaned Vi twice over: first when they conquered her planet, and again when they murdered the pirates who took her in and made her one of their own. Now she's crashing their gala to liberate her ancestors' sacred artifacts from the Museum of the Conquered. But it turns out that she's not the only thief looking for a little justice. "The Takeback Tango" gives a heartrending glimpse into the indigenous experience in the Americas.

"Dream and Dare" by Nic Stone - 4/5

Under pressure to choose a suitor, Dream instead runs away into the woods - the same woods her mother forbid her from playing in, ever since a monster took up residence there a few years back. Dream hopes to succeed where many boys ("pursuers") before her have failed: finding the missing Princess Dare and rescuing her from the monster. Or vice versa.

"Wish" by Jenni Balch - 3/5

A teenage girl with immune thrombocytopenic purpura is stuck in stasis (of a sort) on Vale, a research station in Venus's clouds. Unable to attend school on Earth with her peers, and too young to work on the station, she is adrift. Bored and desperate, she finds a LAMP and eventually summons its genie ("Granter"). Though her wish cannot be filled - there are limits to these sort of things! - Lane does give Ariadne the next best thing: hope. While there are some charming details here - the Granter's amazement over space travel, for example - overall the story didn't quite grab me.

"The Weight" by Dhonielle Clayton - 3/5

A young couple undergoes a procedure at the Heart Scale Center to see if they should stay together when they head off to different colleges next year.

"Unmoor" by Mark Oshiro - 3/5

After Felix's heart is broken, he uses the money he and Arturo had saved for a trip to hire a magiquita. The goal? "Unmoor" his memories of Arturto so that Felix can live his life without being so easily triggered. But is he erasing a piece of himself in the process? Idk, maybe it's because I'm old and bitter, but this seemed a bit of an overreaction for a HS romance.

"The Coldest Spot in the Universe" by Samira Ahmed - 5/5

A thousand years in the future, explorers from another planet arrive on a long-dead earth to study its ancient civilizations (that's us!) and coax life back to the surface. A seventeen-year-old archaeologist, named after a mythic warrior woman, is drawn to her 21st century counterpart, a promising young scientist who saw her world end. This one is positively haunting.

"The Beginning of Monsters" by Tessa Gratton - 4/5

Elir is a young designer who's commissioned to craft a new, male body for Insarra, the King of Rivermouth. But she's got a side mission: her superiors at the College of Dedicated Renovation have recruited her to assassinate the King by sabotaging Insarra's body. The King is suspected of supporting the hope cult, you see, and they simply cannot abide by the cult's recklessness, no matter how noble the cult's goal (namely, improving humanity). Elir's mission goes sideways when she falls in love with the King's only child, Irsu. Also: why have four genders when you can have them all?

"Longer Than the Threads of Time" by Zoraida Córdova - 4/5

Another fairy tale retelling, this time of Rapunzel, "Longer Than the Threads of Time" is equal parts spellbinding, bittersweet, and unexpected. After seventy-five years spent locked in a magical tower, known only to the supernatural creatures that pass through Central Park, Danaë finally gets her first visitor. Fabían is a young brujo with the gift of Sight - which will ultimately prove his downfall.

"Habibi" by Tochi Onyebuchi - 4/5

Two young men - Quincy, locked in solitary in a Californian prison, and Omar, a Palestinian political prisoner - start a magical pen pal correspondence with letters swallowed and passed through their colons. (Weird, yes, but it works.) They find strength in each other - and perhaps more.

A universe of wishes Review
This is releasing 8 dec 2020

I have just finished this one today and as I’ve been in such a anthology kick the past few days! This one was so strong and what I needed!

Like I said in my stories yesterday, you are in for a treat with this short story collection! There were only really 1-2 stories that I wasn’t vibing with the most (that’s okay though as of course we all are not going to connect/love every single Authors work! We all have our preferences)

This is a anthology book that features some of today’s biggest authors, this book and the stories for sure proves even more why they are!!

The stories are a mix of Sci-fi/fantasy that are full of diversity and representation and so much more!! We have stories about a couple going to heart clinic to get their hearts weigh to find out if they still love each other and wether both of them are keeping secrets from each other! We have a story about This young man who wants to erase all memories of his ex boyfriend will that lead to consequences ?? You’ll find out!
We even get special stories from some authors biggest Series’s such as...a Rhys and Alucard story from V.E.Schwab (from the world of ADSOM) and we get a Gemma Doyle story from Libba Bray (from the world of A great and terrible beauty series!)

I don’t want to give every story away so that’s all your getting 😂 you need to for sure find out about the rest while reading! They are wonderful and some sad! But it’s so eye opening!

In the end this is getting a 4 stars by me as like I said there were 1-2 stories that were not floating my boat! The rest were “chefs Kiss”

This collection of diverse stories really hits different. Its diversity is not limited to female voices, but to women and men of color and Black teens being allowed to be teenagers, trans and non-binary individuals, sexualities all over the spectrum. It is incredible and amazing and it makes me so happy to see all of that representation in one book. I feel like no matter who picks this up, they will find themselves reflected in the pages, and if they can’t then they can feel inspired to write their own story because these ones paved the way for them. I truly will recommend this book to patrons and customers simply for its complexity and range. Thank you so much for approving me for this title.

This is the first anthology I've ever read and if all anthologies are like this one, I need to start picking them up more! I loved all of the stories, some more than others, but there wasn't a single story I finished that I didn't like.

One of the things I loved was the fact that there was such a great mix of sub-genres and representation, it made me so happy. Obviously this anthology is highlighting diverse stories, but the range of representation was wonderful. Every story brought something new to the table and were so different that it was like opening a new book every time. One thing I thought was interesting was the fact that some of the stories were set in books that the author had previously written, like V.E. Schwab writing a short story about Alucard from her A Darker Shade of Magic series. While the stories can stand on their own, I loved getting to relive the original story through these familiar characters. I honestly squealed reading them! And the original stories were amazing too. There were specific stories that got me to so intensely, I had to put the book down.

There wasn't a single story that I didn't like, but I noticed that the beginning had stories that I liked more than the middle to the end. I'm not sure if it was story fatigue, or if I genuinely liked the stories in the first half better, but it was something that I noticed and wasn't sure why.

Overall, I loved this anthology and I will be re-reading these stories! I can't wait for more anthologies like this one!

A Universe of Wishes; We Need More Diverse Books
An anthology in which we travel across many different types of magic and love! This book is written by multiple authors, some of which have works I’ve read and hold dear to my heart and some that from what I know will be new to me. I was thankful enough to be given an ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) so that I can read this book and review it! Now, when I write reviews I don’t usually go into this much detail; we’ve all read the summary and we know what it’s about, I don’t feel like I have to get into much detail over that stuff and go straight into how I feel about the book.
For this anthology I felt that it would be better to review by chapter, so that it’s easier to see what each individual story is about, and a title of the other books these authors have written!
• This is of no importance to the book at all and has nothing to do with anything; but this book marks the 500th book in my READ Goodreads column so that’s neat to me.
• Authors in this book that I have read previously include; Libba Bray, Victoria Schwab, Zoraida Cordova, Rebecca Roanhorse
• Chapter One: Tara Sim (has also written ‘Scavage the Stars’)
o We are starting out very strong with magic that deals with death and wishes, which I think is very good.
o I have never actually heard of the process of filling a dead body with cotton; it’s the first time I remember hearing about it.
o A body weighs so much when the person it belongs to has passed away so imagine the sheer force and panic it takes to shove a body off a table and then run away.
o Why not just make him like, an official employee, give him a salary and he can get his magic collected and have a steady income at the same time??
o I like the subtle hint that Thorn is a bisexual, as he was staying with a woman before she found herself a girlfriend and now his romantic interest is a male. It’s a very small but appreciated hint.
o The last few pages felt a little rushed to me, but it’s a short story and that’s okay. I would take this as the base book review of a bigger book even if we never got the bigger book. It was a cute little story that was a little sad but we got a good ending to it and all that anyone can ask for is a happy ending.
• Chapter Two: ‘The Silk Blade’ by Natalie C. Parker (Also by Parker ‘Seafire’)
o First person POV.
o I think this is going to be the first WLW story of the book, in which both women are fighting for the hand of the crown but in the end they run away together.
o I like the way this is being told but I can really go for more information instead of being thrown into what feels like the fourth of fifth chapter of a really cool WLW book in which they go from enemies to lovers.
o Please for the love of god just tell me what The Bloom is. Is it what we’re calling the crown prince or is it generally it’s own thing I don’t know.
o ‘While you were off being heterosexual, I was off learning the way of the sword’ I cannot believe I found a way to put this meme into a book review.
o I do have to admit that in a short story I do not care for action. It takes up too much time and we could likely be doing something else with the story and the allotted pages.
o So…neither of them really won? One of them could surely have taken the other as a mistress if they had more time…
• Chapter Three: ‘The Scarlet Woman’ by Libba Bray (Also by Libba Bray ‘The Diviners’)
o This is a Gemma Doyle Story and after some investigation I found out that Libba Bray has already written a whole book series about this woman and so this story is one that won’t make sense to anyone really unless they’ve read that series…which I have not.
o I really hope that this is a Sherlock Holmes type of story where our Sherlock character is a bisexual icon. I’m saying this because I genuinely don’t know anything about her Gemma Doyle series and now I feel like I have to read 3 books just to understand this one short story.
o She’s going on with her theme of putting things in NY and idk if this is because she loves the state or doesn’t know any other states exist really.
o “I love one man, but we really are not talking about that,” I mean we all have our issues but alright Gemma.
o I can see the cover of this book being a painting of The Tree of All Souls.
o Okay so at least one of the three is into women which is an interesting part of the story but are all three of them into women and men?
o That ending made no sense to me, I don’t understand this at all.
• I don’t mean to have a biased opinion on any authors in this series of work that I have already read, when you read someone’s books before and you love them your brain tells you that the new things they put out are easy to get excited about!! And so when I see something that an author I know puts out I know their style and I have a level of expectation, I know what not to get my hopes up for and what I can casually see in their worlds; but when I read a short story by an author I don’t know there’s a small part of me that wants to know more about everything. I feel like I hold these unknown authors in my mind to a higher expectation of what is to come from their stories and what they can bring to the table.
• Chapter Four: ‘Cristal y Ceniza’ by Anna-Marie McLemore (Also by McLemore ‘Dark and Deepest Red’)
o Cinderella vibes heck yeah baby
o I love that we got a king and queen who openly accepted their son, and then threw a ball for him that’s so great.
o I loved this story, it was such a nice Cinderella retelling that was possibly the most diverse in the series of work by now; we have a world where there are same sex couples more frequent than not even if there’s a law surrounding it, a trans prince, and the Main Character of this story was a girl of color with two moms.
o They ride off into the distance together at the end, I want to know how they live the rest of their lives even if they don’t end up together.
• Chapter Five ‘Liberia’ by Kwame Mbalia (Also by Mbalia ‘Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky’)
o From my experience about books like this, where they have to set up a colony in space, it never ends well!! But we can be wrong here and it’s gonna be fine.
o A love letter to your elders, and a nudge to people who don’t understand how important gardening is to small communities.
o It wasn’t the happiest ending but it wasn’t the saddest ending either, but it can bring further growth if Mbalia continues with this as a book later on!
• Chapter Six: ‘A Royal Affair’ by Victoria Schwab (Also by Victoria Schwab ‘The Archived’)
o The story of Alucard and Rhy’s love affair
o How do I really talk about this story? We know the base of it already from the second and third books of her ‘Shades of Magic’ series.
o I have missed Alucard and Rhy, they were a good comfort to me while I read the series for the first time.
o I have also missed Kell and Lila, they’re both absolute bastards and that’s why I love them so much.
• Chapter Seven: ‘The Takeback Tango’ by Rebecca Roanhorse (Also by Roanhorse ‘Black Sun’)
o ‘My Heart Will Go On’ is the best thing to name a ship, good for her. She’s doing fantastic.
o A pirate has to do what a pirate has to do
o People who steal ancient artifacts back from the people who killed them stay together.
o Use a metal straw as a weapon? Good for the planet and a cool weapon, good job.
o That was so cute, I love them.
• Chapter Eight: ‘Dream and Dare’ by Nic Stone (Also by Stone ‘Dear Martin’)
o Her name is Dream, how cute.
o Running away to be free to live the life she’s always wanted?
The Princess that they all thought they could tame turned into a monster and started to kill all the men who came to hunt her and I think that’s a good example of why women shouldn’t be viewed as trophies because you never know when the person you’re objectifying is going to turn around and crush you under their heel.
o Dare not killing Dream because she smells like a girl and she starts to remember things is the peak of wlw culture.
o Having a romance build in the woods really is the gay agenda, isn’t it? I love the concept of love being formed in the woods because it adds onto the natural behavior of love and loving whoever your heart tells you to love. You love someone like the woods; naturally.
o Honestly? My favorite story in this book so far, it’s charming and makes me smile like an idiot.
• Chapter Nine: ‘Wish’ by Jenni Balch (I believe that Balch is the winner of a short story contest, making this her first published work!)
o A magic lamp situation!!!
o I understand why this would be the winner of a short story contest; it’s unique and the characters are lovable in the short time that we have them.
o Him staying with her because he thought it was the best idea, you know, for Wish purposes, is the cutest thing I want to know more about them so much.
• Chapter Ten: ‘The Weight’ by Dhonielle Clayton (Also by Clayton ‘The Belles’)
o I believe this is the story about the weight of someone’s heart after they pass, which is part of the Egyptian culture if I’m not mistaken.
o You know, I would love to see what my heart says. If I can do this without a romantic partner, I think I would do it. I would be anxious about it - but I would like to do it.
o One fumbles, and the other catches, I think that’s a good sign for Marcus and Grace! To me, that means that when one of them fails the other is there to make sure they’re okay.
o That story made me so anxious, I need more of it. What do you mean it just ENDED THERE??? Please, Miss. Clayton can I just have more of this story?
• Chapter Eleven: ‘Unmoor’ by Mark Oshiro (Also by Oshiro ‘Anger is a Gift’)
o In the beginning, this story made no sense, and I looked up Oshiro and I found out he has a series where he reads Harry Potter and I want to read that instead…
o I have to give him props for making a functioning brain cell joke about Oreo’s, good job buddy.
o Don’t erase your memories of something that has hurt you, or the people who have hurt you because that means that you’ve given them an opening back into your mind!!! They can hurt you all over again!
o This one made me angry, and I can’t understand why.
• Chapter Twelve: ‘The Coldest Spot in the Universe’ by Samira Ahmed (Also by Ahmed ‘Internment’)
o 2031!! It is the future that’s only…10 years away and I hope that I don’t wake up one day and it’s suddenly 2031 for me.
o This one is maybe a little too accurate for us and I don’t know how I feel about it.
o That one has absolutely given me a panic attack, and I’m just going to think about it at 3 a.m. for a while.
• Chapter Thirteen: ‘The Beginning of Monsters’ by Tessa Gratton (Also by Gratton ‘Blood Magic’)
o Gratton has never been my favorite author, I couldn’t get through any of her books before so I am going to politely pass on this chapter.
• Chapter Fourteen: ‘Longer Than The Threads of Time’ by Zoraida Cordova (Also by Cordova ‘The Vicious Deep’)
o This takes place in the same world as her Brooklyn Bruja series, and if you haven’t taken the time to read it I recommend that you do; for me I get these books and I devour them as soon as I get them.
o A modern day Rapunzel story, and I loved it. I read all of this in one setting while I was doing errands so all I can say is that if she were to continue with this as a standalone book I’d take it.
• Chapter Fifteen: ‘Habibi’ by Tochi Onyebuchi (Also by Onyebuchi ‘Beasts Made of Night’)
o I like that it’s written in the form of letters between two people who don’t seem to know each other but know each other on a much deeper level.
o The quotes in this one are really good as well.
o Quincy and Omar speak to each other with so much mutual respect that it brings me joy.
o That ending absolutely wrecked me!! I loved it!!

A general review for the book as a whole? I think that there were two stories of this book that shouldn’t be in here, because if you haven’t read the books they go with you’re out of luck on getting context. Some of them didn’t resonate with me personally, I wouldn’t go back and read them to read them but I would get this as a gift for a loved one. I love that this was as diverse as advertised, that we had threads of diversity in every story. I think by my bullet points you understand how I feel about these stories, as those are the things I felt while I read it. I feel like that’s the best way to review an anthology.

I am not usually one for anthologies but this was hit!! I started and finished in a few hours and I could not put it down. This diverse group of stories is one of a kind. I would love to have some of these as fully fledged stories!! Each one stands on its own with empowering voices and wonderful real characters!

I don't usually care much for anthologies. In my experience there are usually one or two (maybe three if you're REALLY LUCKY) good stories, a few that are just okay, and several that are downright awful. NOT SO with this anthology! Of the 15 stories included, there were only TWO I didn't like at all. Most of them were on the good-to-OMG-SO-AMAZING scale. Every single author in this collection was new to me, with the exception of Libba Bray. Several of these stories sent me clambering to buy full-length books by the authors. I am SO GLAD I picked up this anthology - the stories are amazing and it let me to a lot of wonderful new-to-me authors.

A Universe of Wishes by Tara Sim - 4 stars
Such interesting world building, and the relationship in this... *sigh* Loved it. Just loved it.

The Silk Blade by Natalie C. Parker - 5 stars
BUT WAIT, WHAT HAPPENS?! Several of the books in this anthology leave it up to the reader to imagine what happens next, but none of them left me furiously flipping the last page back and forth desperately searching for more like this story did. Absolutely went and yeeted some of Natalie C. Parker's books onto my wishlist after reading this amazing story.

The Scarlet Woman: A Gemma Doyle Story by Libba Bray - 1 star
Why is this book even in this anthology? It doesn't really fit with the rest of them... Also, I think you need to have read the Gemma Doyle books/series/whatever to get anything out of this story (which I have not, so maybe that's part of why I hated it...) It reads more like the opening to a new book in a follow-up series to the original series than a stand-alone short story. Dislike, will not be reading any of the Gemma Doyle books, moving on.

Cristal y Ceniza by Anna-Marie McLemore - 3.5 stars
A Cinderella retelling, yes! Our Cinderella in this story goes to the ball to bed the King and Queen of a neighboring country to allow persecuted queer couples from her kingdom seek asylum in theirs. She's hopeful of their reception because of how accepting they are of their son, the prince, who is trans. I struggled with the liberal use of Spanish and had to keep looking up translations, which pulled me out of the story a lot. A lovely - and powerful - story, and one of the last lines had me bawling. "All those like us, we belong to each other."

Liberia by Kwame Mbalia - 5 stars
Another book that had me scrambling to find more by the author. This one is the first story in the anthology that is strongly sci-fi rather than fantasy, and I LOVED it. Immediately went and bought the first Tristan Strong book by Kwame Mbalia, because this is the type of book I want to be reading to my kids.

A Royal Affair by V.E. Schwab - 5 stars
HOW HAVE I BEEN SLEEPING ON V.E. SCHWAB!?!?! Immediately ordered the entire Shades of Magic trilogy after reading this short story, as well as adding several of her other books to my wishlist. This story made me sob, and is what had me starting to scream about this book as a whole to my friends as I realized ALL the stories are actually really great.

The Takeback Tango by Rebecca Roanhorse - 4 stars
Another strong sci-fi short story, this one about a heist! Yes!

Dream and Dare by Nic Stone - DNF
Princess Dare goes missing at the same time a Beast appears in the woods. Dream goes searching for the lost princess. Bet you can't guess what happens. Oh wait, you probably can. I just wasn't a fan of the writing style on this one, and it's the only story I actually DNF'd.

Wish by Jenni Balch - 4 stars
This story blends sci-fi and magic with a genie-type of character who is summoned to a space station off of Venus. I want more of Lane and Ariadne - more, I say!

The Weight by Dhonielle Clayton - 4 stars
I think this went over my head a bit? Because at the end I was left going "wait, but what... what does it MEAN?"

Unmoor by Mark Oshiro - 5 stars
Tears. Tears, pouring down my face. Why are so many of the stories in this book intent upon ripping my heart out of my chest and stomping on it? I love it, give me more.

The Coldest Spot in the Universe by Samira Ahmed - 5 stars
*unintelligible sobbing as I add everything Samira Ahmed has ever written to my TBR* Really strong speculative fiction vibes in this one - a warning that we can't keep on trashing the planet the way we've been.

The Beginning of Monsters by Tessa Gratton - 5 stars
This is just so beautifully written. Also, I love the an/ans pronouns. Definitely adding more by Tessa Gratton to my TBR.

Longer Than the Threads of Time by Zoraida Cordova - 5 stars
Oh my GOSHHHHHH, I am going to need the rest of this book in a novel (or at the very least novella) format. *grabby hands* Yes. All the yes.

Habibi by Tochi Onyebuchi - 3.5 stars
I didn't like this story much at first - I wasn't a fan of the epistolary format, and Quincy seemed so rough. Oh, my gosh, am I glad I kept reading though. This story had be sobbing at the end. What a way to end this book.

I give this book 5 stars as a whole because there are SO MANY AMAZING STORIES. Also because of reading this book I bought about half a dozen new books by these authors, and added at least a dozen more to my TBR and wishlists. I'll also be checking out some of the other We Need Diverse Books anthologies for sure.

Included as a top pick in bimonthly December New Releases post, which highlights and promotes upcoming releases of the month (link attached).

It takes a lot for me to enjoy a short story.

They normally do not have enough depth to keep me involved. And the kind without a true ending, that are supposed to let the reader come to their own conclusion? It's a no from me. But the authors in this collection were not to be ignored!

Just the story from VE Schwab (which was a spinoff of A Darker Shades of Magic involving the Prince and Alucard, if you didn't know,) make this book worth reading.

Since the stories are short I can't tell you much about them without giving anything away, but I enjoyed the sheer level of diversity in this book, of characters and story subjects. All fantasy, but all so unique. THIS is what I love about diverse books.