Anthology /short story books are always hard to rate as a whole. But overall I really enjoyed each story and the diversity it brought.

This is one I will pick up from time to time to reread a short story when I'm in the mood.

A Universe of Wishes is such a beautiful and compelling anthology! It feels like there is something for everyone , ranging from fantasy to sci-fi settings. One of my favorite things about this anthology was the absolutely delightful LGBTQ representation. Whether the story featured a main or side character, almost every story had a thread of LGBTQ rep woven in. This made me so incredibly happy! Reading stories with positive and well-written LGBTQ rep is not as easy to find in fantasy or sci-fi as one might think, much less in such a lovely collection of short stories.

While some stories brought me to tears, others made me smile, and several sparked creative inspiration. I wished that many of these short stories would become full books! Every story is woven by a master storyteller. You can feel the writing craft and strength in these words, making it a joy to read. A Universe of Wishes contains retellings, sci-fi, fantasy, modern twists, and nods to stories that we assume we know. However, trying to pick a favorite is an impossible task on par with some of the tasks posed to protagonists in this book! I will say that Habibi (Tochi Onyebuchi), Longer Than the Threads of Time (Zoraida Córdova), and Cristal y Ceniza (Anna-Marie McLemore) were three of my very favorites! The raw emotion in Habibi, the bewitching modern retelling of Rapunzel, and the acceptance found in Cristal y Ceniza stole my heart.

However, I truly treasured and enjoyed each story. I would highly recommend this anthology to anyone! I’m looking forward to buying a finished copy. A Universe of Wishes releases on December 8, 2020. Thank you so very much to Dhonielle Clayton, all the participating authors, Crown Books for Young Readers, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on the publication date and I will publish it on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble etc.

This book had great character development and world building. I highly recommend for people new to fantasy!

Hello Gemmies! I have a new book review to share with you today. Please note: I received a digital ARC of this book (via NetGalley) from its publisher in exchange for an honest and fair review.

A Universe of Wishes is an anthology of fantasy short stories by some of today's most popular YA authors including Zoraida Cordova, V.E. Schwab, Rebeca Roanhorse, Libba Bray, Tochi Onyebuchi, Kwame Mbalia, and more! I really enjoyed this collection. There was a varied mix of tales full of magic, spaceships, castles, witches, and everything else in between. Some of the stories made me laugh, some had me on the edge of my seat, others were engaging entertainment. There is a little something to appeal to a variety of readers. But the most magical part of this anthology is being able to find characters that look like me.

I was originally interested in this anthology because it included a lot of my favorite authors like Zoraida Cordova, Dhonielle Clayton, Rebeca Roanhorse, and V.E. Schwab. So it's no surprise that those were my favorites tales in the book. If I had to pick one overall favorite, it would have to be Longer Than The Threads of Time by Zoraida Cordova. This gem is set in the world of the Brooklyn Brujas and is great! Partly a Rapunzel retelling and part origin story, we meet two new characters...Fabian and Danae. Fabian a brujo meets Danae a bruja who is locked away in a tower in Central Park. Falling in love he aims to find a way to free her. Despite being a short story the characters are well developed and I quickly fell in love with both of them. The moment Danae eats a platano chip for the first time is pure joy! It is these tiny details that make this story feel authentic and real. For readers up to date on the Brooklyn Brujas series, there are tie ins to Angela Santiago and The Knights of Lavant. The story ends on a cliff hanger and I really hope we get a full length novel continuing the tale. This is a must read for fans of Zoraida Cordova and the Brooklyn Brujas!

There were other gems that I really enjoyed like A Royal Affair by V.E. Schwab. This story follows Alucard Emery, and the origin of his relationship with Prince Rhy. We also find out how he came to Captain the Night Spire. This is a must read for fans of the Shades of Magic Series. Or if you want a story that will rip your heart out....read all about Grace and Marcus in The Weight by Dhonielle Clayton. I thought all of the stories were well written with interesting characters. The different writing styles, world building, time frames, and tone was also very refreshing. This is the true magic that anthologies bring to the reader. It gives you the opportunity to read the work of authors you may not have been exposed to previously. A Universe of Wishes is a delight and a nice distraction from current events.

This gem published by Crown Books For Young Readers is available for pre-order from all major booksellers. A Universe of Wishes releases on December 8, 2020. I give A Universe of Wishes 4 out of 5 gems. I enjoyed this anthology and hope to read more diverse collections like this in the future. Happy Reading!

A Universe of Wishes by Tara Sim- 3/5 Interesting concept, didn't really care about the characters.

The Silk Blade by Natalie C. Parker- 2/5
I didn't care for the writing or the story.

The Scarlet Woman (A Gemma Doyle Story) by Libba Bray-3/5
Maybe if I read the Gemma Doyle trilogy I would've liked this more.

Cristal y Ceniza by Anna-Marie Mclemore 4/5
I think this one is my favorite.

Liberia by I wake Mbalia- 3/5
I liked the writing and the story was ok.

A Royal Affair by V.E. Schwab- 3.5/5
I've only read the 1st book in the Shades of Magic series, so I don't know,anything about Alucard. I liked the characters and writing, but I think I need to read the 2nd book to understand and care more about it.

The Takeback Tango by Rebecca Roanhorse- 3/5
This seems like a good start to a longer story.

Dream and Dare by Nic Stone 2.5/5
The writing wasn't for me.

Wish by Jenni Balch 3.5/5
I liked it, but it seemed to rushed.

The Weight by Dhonielle Clayton- 4/5
I really liked this story.

Unmoor by Mark Oshiro- 4/5
Some of the magic felt unnecessary and confusing, but other than that I liked it.

The Coldest Spot in the Universe by Samira Ahmed-4/5
I liked the alternating perspectives.

The Beginning of Monsters by Tessa Grafton 2/5
I was confused the entire time.

Longer Than the Threads of Time by Zoraida Cordova- 3.5/5
I really liked the ending.

Habibi by Tochi Onyebuchi- 4/5
I liked that this was written as letters and I really liked the ending.

Overall, I don't think the 2 stories that are apart of series should have been included in this collection. I think that this was an average collection of stories. I'd recommend it to anyone that likes short stories and is interested in reading something by these authors.

This was absolutely wonderful. Each story was beautiful and had me wanting more and more. This anthology had a wonderful line up of authors from many many different backgrounds, identities and the like, and each story was, obviously, filled with diverse characters and stories and experiences.
I would like to label all of the short stories as my favorites, but instead, I’ll only name a few;
A Royal Affair by VE Schwab was a wonderful addition to the Shades of Magic series, and into Alucard’s life before the events of the trilogy.
The Coldest Spot in the Universe by Samira Ahmed was haunting, and a beautiful tale of legacies, remembrance, and the imprints we leave behind
The Beginning of Monsters by Tessa Gratton was full of stunning visuals, prose and characters, and left me wanting even more.

What first drew me to A UNIVERSE OF WISHES, admittedly, was the cover; black, skulls, keys, all of it, suitably goth, but it was the list of authors and quality of stories inside that kept me reading. Out of the entire collection, my favorites ended up not being from the most established authors, but from the lesser known. Anna-Marie McLemore’s “Cristal y Ceniza”, Tara Sim’s “A Universe of Wishes”, and Rebecca Roanhorse’s “The Takeback Tango” are my stand-out favorites, and I was over the moon to find a Rhy/Alucard story within! Thank you, Victoria Schwab, for this delightful prequel story.

I love the queerness represented, the beautiful prose—not a single story made me lose interest as sometimes happens with anthologies—and richness of diversity in each story. I look forward to receiving my finished copy so I can feature it in my Bookstagram account! Thank you so much to the publisher for this free review copy.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
A Universe of Wishes is a delightful ownvoices collection, bringing together magical stories by authors of color and LGBTQ+ authors. While it is like the typical anthology in its mix of highs and lows, I still find this to be a solid collection. Favorites include the immersive “The Coldest Spot in the Universe” by Samira Ahmed and VE Schwab’s charming Rhy/Alucard prequel tale, “A Royal Affair.” However, in including works from established series, there is that risk of alienating a reader that is new to an author’s work. For example, while I have an interest in the Gemma Doyle series, I never read it, so the Libba Bray contribution, and a couple others were a bit lost on me.

Thank you, Netgalley, for this free review copy!
A Universe of Wishes is a #WeNeedDiverseBooks short story collection, featuring a wide array of authors and an even wider array of stories. Before I officially get into the review, I’d like to make a quick disclaimer: I had to skip two stories because they were from series that I either haven’t read, or haven’t read in completion yet. One of which was the A Darker Shade of Magic short story that everyone was so excited about. Sorry!
Every story in this collection is either fantasy or sci-fi and, even though I’m not generally a fan of sci-fi, I found even those stories to be incredibly charming. Every author they chose is so talented, telling diverse stories that are either about the struggles of the minorities featured, or just about people who are PoC and/or LGBTQIA and just happily going about their lives. With so many stories, I’d struggle to review each one, so instead I’m going to review four select favorites.
It opens with “A Universe of Wishes”, the short story the collection took its title from, by Tara Sim. It’s morbid, it’s dark, it’s weird, but it’s heartfelt and quietly romantic. Sim is never anything short of amazing, and this is no exception. Her prose is more beautiful than I’ve ever seen it before.
“Cristal y Ceniza” is by Anna-Marie McLemore. The author is nonbinary, so please remember to respect their pronouns in discussions and refer to them as they/them! Their story is a retelling of Cinderella, which was unexpected but very welcome as I love Cinderella retellings, and this one was different from any other one I’ve ever read. It handles undocumented immigration, gender identity, and the pain of being forced to live in the closet with the type of raw reality such subjects, which is an amazing feat for such a short number of pages.
“The Takeback Tango by Rebecca Roanhorse” is one of the sci-fi stories that thoroughly charmed me. It’s about a young woman from a conquered and colonized planet stealing back the artifacts of her people, which were stolen and put on grotesque display in museums. It’s a shorter story, but you fall in love with the main character and her charming snark within a page. I’d cry in excitement if Roanhorse wrote a full series about this character.
“The Weight” is by Dhonielle Clayton, the editor of this collection. While Clayton has a few books under her belt, I confess I’ve only read The Belles duology, and the basic aesthetic of morbidity underlying beautiful visuals and mind-bendingly weird rules holds true between those books and this story. Clayton shamelessly breaks the rules of romance and drama, creating something wholly unique here.
While those were the standouts, don’t think for a moment that the rest of the stories are in any way lackluster. They all employ poetic prose, different storytelling techniques, or heartfelt emotions, or any combination of the three. Sexuality, gender identity, and skin color are all played with, challenging the idea that any of them can make you lesser than anyone else and letting everyone shine no matter what. I’m so excited to look into the other works by all of these authors.

DISCLAIMER: I was gifted a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own

Let me just start by saying I will never not be impressed by short stories. Somehow an author has the ability to build a world, create a whole life for a character, and break and fix a heart in just a few pages. A Universe of Wishes is truly an astounding collection of short stories that do just that. Be prepared to dive into stunning worlds, fall in love with characters, have your heart broken, and be forced to think about and connect with some really difficult topics all while surrounded by magic and whimsy. This is a book to cherish and one I will most definitely be returning back to time and time again.

A Universe of Wishes by Tara Sim
5🌟
Not only does A Universe of Wishes have an incredibly unique premise, the writing is also absolutely stunning. Honestly, I am completely blown away by this story. The author manages to develop a world in five pages, build an epic romance in 20, and tear my heart out in 10 more. This story is an outstanding start to this anthology and I will most definitely be reading more of Tara Sim’s work in the future.

The Silk Blade by Natalie C. Parker
3🌟
Parker’s writing is truly beautiful in the world she built is gorgeous and thought-provoking, but there were a couple things that were not so great about the story. A significant portion of it is just descriptions of people and clothing with not much thought towards character and plot development. Also I always hate the insta-love trope so the romance didn’t appeal to me. I did really like the concept for the plot, though.

The Scarlet Woman by Libba Bray
4🌟
This short story feels like being dropped into the middle of a book without context. Though this causes the plot to be a bit confusing, the characters are well-developed and I am very intrigued and just have to know more. I’m sure fans of Gemma Doyle will love this story.

Cristal y Ceniza by Anna-Marie McLemore
5🌟
So this is the best and most original Cinderella retelling I’ve ever read and it’s only 22 pages?!?? The writing is beautiful and the plot is incredibly interesting and it addresses some very important topics. McLemore quickly pulled me into the world they created and oh my god I want more.

Liberia by Kwame Mbalia
4🌟
I fully did not expect a sci-fi story in this anthology and I love it! The story is intriguing and based around an amazing metaphor that was so interesting to read and attempt to decode. I also enjoyed the characters in this tale.

A Royal Affair by V.E. Schwab
5🌟
Welp. My heart is broken. Thanks, Schwab. seriously though, I’m the biggest ADSOM fan and I am always in awe of Schwab‘s writing and storytelling, this being no exception. I am so glad to have this chance to dive back into my favorite world and gain new insights on these characters, no matter how painful those insights may be. I’m just sad I had to leave so soon.

The Takeback Tango by Rebecca Roanhorse
3.5🌟
This story is so much fun! I mean empowered space criminals? Yes please! While the premise is really interesting, it doesn’t have much of a plot and seems a bit unfinished. The characters are great, though!

Dream and Dare by Nic Stone
5🌟
This is a refreshing, feminist tale in which the princess is the monster and the Lady saves the day. Stone shines a light on the importance of originality and independence despite a world that would cast one out for it. The story is also packed with sweetness to warm your heart and an absolutely adorable romance.

Wish by Jenni Balch
4🌟
This is such a cute and fun take on the traditional idea of a genie. I love the uniqueness and the message behind it and thoroughly enjoyed reading this one!

The Weight by Dhonielle Clayton
5🌟
Whoa. The level of creativity in this story is unbelievable. It’s also such a deep and intricate story that really gets you thinking, I feel like I could analyze this in English class and have fun doing it.

Unmoor by Mark Oshiro
4🌟
For a story about fixing a broken heart, this sure is heartbreaking. This tale of the importance of memories and the process of healing is truly fascinating and the way it’s written is unique and beautiful. I was a bit confused by the ending but I mostly enjoyed the plot.

The Coldest Spot in the Universe by Samira Ahmed
4.5🌟
This futuristic story is fairly terrifying in that it could be real and is surely a cautionary tale. I really love how it shows that there is always hope, even when the future looks bleak. Also, Ahmed’s writing is seriously stunning.

The Beginning of Monsters by Tessa Gratton
3🌟
The concept of the story is incredibly interesting and Gratton and has created such a vivid world I can practically see it. In all honesty, I was very confused by the plot. Maybe you’ll enjoy this more than I did if you can actually understand it but I found myself struggling. I also found that the romance had very little basis aside from physical attraction, which I didn’t like.

Longer Than the Threads of Time by Zoraida Córdova
4.5🌟
I am in love with Córdova’s writing and I’m in love with Rapunzel retellings so I am really in love with this story. It’s very different from every retelling of this that I’ve heard before, so I would’ve liked a bit more backstory. Also, the plot twist is a bit mind-boggling. The romance moved a little too quickly but was overall super sweet.

Habibi by Tochi Onyebuchi
5🌟
Damn. What a way to end this book. Onyebuchi’s story shines a bright light on some of our worlds biggest problems and is such an important tale that so many people need to read. I truly have no words other than please, if nothing else in this anthology, read this story.

Big thanks to Terminal Tours and Random House Children's for the ARC of this book!

A Universe of Wishes is a We Need Diverse Voices anthology that includes some of the best in YA fiction right now. The stories are magical fantasy and interesting sci-fi, all including a diverse cast of characters that kept me turning the page for the next story.

There are truly some really amazing gems here. Every story is well written and interesting. The themes range from a dystopian story where humans have destroyed the earth (Samira Ahmed) to a Dominican rapunzel retelling (Zoraida Cordova). V.E. Schwab revisits her ADSOM world with the telling of the rise and fall of Rhy and Alucard, and Libba Bray beings us a new Gemma Doyle mystery. There's a Cinderella retelling with a trans prince by Anna-Marie Mclemore that was such a good read, and a story by Rebecca Roanhorse about a girl with a spaceship who takes back the ancient artifacts of her people that have been stolen from them to be put in the museums of the elites.

I think my very favorite story is the last one in the book by Tochi Onyebuchi. It's formatted as letters between two boys, one a black prisoner in California and one a protester in prison in Gaza. They're able to exchange letters by some magical happenstance. What comes of it is emotional and heart-wrenching, and left me with chills by the end. It was the perfect way to end the book.

There were a couple I wasn't crazy about, but overall I loved this anthology. There are a few here I would love full books on! If you love YA fantasy and Sci-Fi, this is definitely a must-read!

A delightful anthology of fairytales, futuristic adventures, and what-ifs, "A Universe of Wishes" is a wonderful distraction on an otherwise boring day.

This is one of the best YA anthologies I've ever read. I love speculative fiction and getting to explore all these cool diverse worlds was really awesome. Of course, there were some stories I enjoyed more than others, but there wasn't anything I disliked enough to skip it, which is something I've found myself doing with past anthologies I've read. I did end up skipping a couple of the stories by bigger-name authors like Libba Bray because they were written in universes I'm not familiar with which was a little bit frustrating, but I think the rest of the stories being generally good made up for it. I would totally recommend this anthology, especially for anyone who is looking to explore further into YA speculative fiction.

I greatly enjoyed this read! Anthologies are a weird read for me because some stories are true winners and some are skips. I enjoyed more of this anthology than I thought, and will highly recommend it to anyone working to read more diversity and more inclusive reads. Reviews for each story are listed below!
The
A Universe of Wishes 4/5
A fun, quick story of family and happiness, and what is truly the most important things in life. M/M romance, but very brief. This feels like the opening chapters to a novel, rather than a full story. Very good, but leaves me wanting more.

The Silk Blade 2/5
A very brief blink-and-you-miss-it story of fighting for love, no matter how unrequited. This story drops in the middle of the action, leaving a lot of world building up to the imagination. A fun, quick story, but not one I connected with.

The Scarlett Woman 3/5
While a rejoining of friends seems like it should be a joyous time, there is something brewing in New York to keep it from that. There is so much more to the story here! This stands well enough alone, to someone who has never read the trilogy, but there are so many layers to someone who has.

Cristal y Ceniza 2/5
The royal family holds a ball for the prince to meet suitors, while a girl tries to save her troubled society. This story just didn’t resonate with me. There was so many Spanish terms thrown in that I felt a little lost. The story itself, though, is a beautiful testament to how far people are willing to go for family.

Liberia 4/5
The story of a love for family and ancestors and the marks they leave behind. There were echoes of many great science fiction stories. There wasn’t romance between partners, but rather love of family and I think that is something that many people will resonate with.

A Royal Affair 5/5
A whirlwind, magical romance that weaves threads of Schwab’s ADSOM series while standing independently. Enough details are fleshed out, while there is still places to creatively fill in the rest. A fantastical magic system balancing with a beautiful, dramatic, doomed romance.

The Takeback Tango 5/5
A short tale of robbery and romancing. I loved this story so much’ it was short and cute, and while there was fun moments of cute flirting, the dynamic and drama of the heist took center stage. It was such a fun and quick romp!

Dream and Dare 2/5
A romp of princesses and monsters. This story just wasn’t it for me. While the story itself he’d a lot of promise, the writing style just wasn’t great for me. There was so much repeating of the two girls’ names that I was annoyed! Great concept, not in love with the execution.

Wish 3/5
What people want, and the lengths they are willing to go to get it. This was a cute little story of helping people figure out what they truly want. While it was adorable and I will probably read it again, I just didn’t 100% get it. Cute, but not a showstopper.

The Weight 5/5
Science meddles with love. What a weird and unusual story! Hearts are removed to discover how much love is in them. The unique twist on a love story has me so intrigued and I am wishing this one was longer.

Unmoor 2/5
Magic heals deep wounds. I’m a little lost in the concept here. I like the idea of magical mental health, but I got a little lost. I don’t think the follow through on the magic system is quite there. It was an interesting concept, but just slightly week.

The Coldest Spot in the Universe 2/5
Diary entries chronicling one person’s end of the world. This was such a creative idea and I love that it really brings humanity to a character, but the stories didn’t resonate with me. I couldn’t easily flow from one entry to the next.

The Beginning of Monsters 3/5
Magic and science meddle in humanity. There was a lot of build up here with very little payoff. It felt like the first chapter or two in a new series where you are trying to figure all of the new terms and concepts out.

Longer Than The Threads of Time 3/5
A modern retelling of Rapunzel with a touch of magic. This was such an interesting take on a classic story! It was easy to slip into the story, but nothing so captivating that I had to keep reading. A fun read, but nothing mind blowing.

Habibi 2/5
A prisoner and protester are magical pen pals. What a great concept, but I just didn’t connect with the story. I was almost forcing myself through it. Great concept, great emotions, just not for me.

Wow, this was definitely worth the read! I requested this book by mistake on Netgalley because I didn't think I would like a short story anthology but I was wrong!! This was so good. So if you're like me and used to ignore anthologies, take a chance on this one. It had really good representation and I was really excited about that.

I liked a lot of the stories but my favorites were #2 The silk blade by Natalie C Parker and #6 A royal affair by V.E. Schwab ... I'm shocked at how much I loved them ahah. Some of the others I didn't love but discovering the ones I enjoyed was really worth it. Many times, I found myself wishing for a longer story because I didn't want to leave the characters already.

Overall, this was really interesting and I'll have to pay more attention to anthologies from now on!
To finish this review, I'll just make a quick list of the stories starting from the one I loved most to the ones I liked less.

- A royal affair by V.E. Schwab
- The silk blade by Natalie C Parker
- The weight by Dhonielle Clayton
- A universe of wishes by Tara Sim
- Dream and Dare by Nic Stone
- Cristal y Ceniza by Ana Marie McLemore
- Unmoor by Mark Oshiro
- Longer than the threads of time by Zoraida Cordova
- The takeback tango by Rebecca Roanhorse
- The coldest spot in the universe by Samira Ahmed
- Wish by Jenni Balch
--------------------------
- Habibi by Tochi Onyedbuchi
- The beginning of monsters by Tessa Gratton
- Liberia by Kwame Mbalia
- The scarlet woman by Libba Bray (didn't read this one since this is a Gemma Doyle story and I only read the first book which I didn't like)


(Thank you for letting me read and review an ARC via Netgalley)

A Universe of Wishes brings together a rockstar group of diverse authors who deliver a collection of short stories that is a testament to the beauty of pure imagination. These fifteen short stories are filled with magic, gladiators, space ships, monsters, true love, and an inclusive cast of characters of all races, gender identities, sexual orientations, classes, and cultures. Not only does this anthology give voice to individuals and communities who are criminally underrepresented in literature, but it’s also a fun, binge-worthy read. As one would expect from these award-winning authors, the writing is sharp and the worldbuilding is outstanding, which only makes it easier to dive into these worlds and become invested in the journeys these characters embark on. This is the kind of anthology that has the power to leave young readers saying, “I want to see more stories, heroes, and heroines like this,” and encourage them to come together to forge a more open-minded and tolerant world where diverse perspectives and voices are always welcomed, seen, and heard.

Favorite Stories
“The Coldest Spot in the Universe” by Samira Ahmed
“A Universe of Wishes" by Tara Sim
“Liberia” by Kwame Mbalia

This was a great YA short story collection! Like any short story collection, some stories were hits and a few were misses, and I'm sure which ones are which would be different for everyone. I was most excited to read Libba Bray's, and was doubly excited when I realized it was a Gemma Doyle story! Teens who love fantasy will definitely love this book.

A Universe of Wishes is an anthology from "We Need Diverse Books", an organization that is exactly what it says on the tin, featuring a variety of short stories from prominent "diverse" (usually meaning non White Male here) authors in SciFi/Fantasy writing today and edited by author Dhonielle Clayton. I've enjoyed a few of the authors listed on its manifest - Tochi Onyebuchi, Mark Oshiro, Zoraida Córdova - among others, so I was excited to give this one a try when I saw it pop up on NetGalley.

The result is however, even more uneven than I'm used to from short fiction anthologies, with some pretty great stories spread out alongside some pretty big whiffs. Some of the whiffs mind you are because at least two of the stories take place in their authors' preexisting worlds (only one of which I've read), and thus don't feel complete outside the context of those worlds. The anthology also doesn't, oddly to my view, provide an explanation for the background of each author to demonstrate to the reader where their voice comes from (and what makes it "diverse,"), leaving me a bit confused about a few of the authors who were selected for this collection.* Still there's enough good stuff here from really great writers to be worth your time, especially for YA-age readers, even if it's not my favorite anthology of the year.

*It is usually not an author's obligation to explain their background to the reader - it's their private business whether they may in fact be mixed race or queer despite their appearances on the surface for example, and questions to them about these things are kind of icky. But when the anthology is based upon voices being from not the dominant group - a diverse group - it's weird to me when there's not even an attempt at this, especially given at least a few of the authors included seem to be white women, who I don't count myself as "diverse" in the space of genre anymore.*

As always, reviewing anthologies is tricky, because well this one contains 15 separate stories, all independent of each other and by different authors, and all of the stories are short enough that giving summaries of each would lose some of the wonder of what they contain. This one is even trickier, because aside from the 15 authors within containing no white cis men, there really isn't a common theme to the stories other than being (mainly) YA-appropriate genre fiction. Some stories speak about preserving ones own heritage, or their sexuality, or just who they are (a combination of a lot of things) in the face of others who would try to eradicate it or just adversity in general - but not all. Some stories here deal with love, some deal with loss. It's a hard group to grasp as a single collection with a single message, because there really isn't one.

Again, this is not to take away from some of the high quality of some of these stories. The anthology opens with a strong story of love (M-M) and getting over loss, combined with magic in Tara Sim's "A Universe of Wishes" and continues with a cute F-F story by Natalie C. Parker in "The Silk Blade" - in general its queer-love stories are done incredibly well and really strong - Cristal y Ceniza, a riff on Cinderella/The Spanish Inquisition/Fighting for the rights of queerness in a Latinx world by Anna Marie McLemore is another winner, with Dream and Dare by Nic Stone being another lovely story on similar themes.

Real highlights for me include the aforementioned Cristal y Ceniza, along with:
Liberia by Kwame Mbalia (A young man among a group of young people, trained to be experts and carrying supplies from Earth to another colony having left behind the older adults, fights to preserve what's left of his/their heritage);
Unmoor by Mark Oshiro, (about a young man hiring someone to use magic to unmoor his memories of his now ex-boyfriend from the places he might go, only to find the process more traumatic than anticipated for everyone);
Also working well is Samira Ahmed's bittersweet The Coldest Spot in the Universe, (featuring a young woman at the end of a dying world and a future visitor from afar rediscovering her life and discoveries and how much she meant)

I could go on - there's at least 2-3 other stories here that are up there with those 3, including Zoraida Córdova's spin on a modern day Rapunzel, Longer than the Threads of Time, and Tochi Onyebuchi's devastating epistolary tale of two oppressed men in different prisons, Habibi. There's a lot of great quality here, well worth your time.

That said, there's a couple of stories that just feel incomplete and thus miss the mark. Libba Bray's "The Scarlet Woman" and "A Royal Affair" by VE Schwab for example are both part of pre-existing universes by the author - the Gemma Doyle trilogy (which I haven't read) by Bray and the Shades of Magic trilogy (which I have read) by Schwab and neither really feels like a complete story without prior knowledge and justifies its inclusion. Rebecca Roanhorse's "The Takeback Tango" by contrast is an original story (afaict) and a clever take on Indigenous people stealing back their works of their heritage from the Empire that took it - but in space - but just ends at a weird point, leaving me wanting. None of these are bad, but they just left me feeling more, which made them stand out among the truly strong stories in the anthology I mentioned above.

So yeah, this is an anthology worth your time, especially if you're in the YA age group, and its best stories are absolutely worth anyone's time and hit hard. I do however wish it was more tightly focused as to what it was aiming to be, so that its weakest points were shored up, despite all that.

To be honest, I’m here mostly for the Rhy+Alucard story, A Royal Affair. I’m not sure how exactly to review an anthology. I definitely enjoyed some stories more than others. Some were full stories and others felt a little incomplete. Take the Gemma Doyle story, for instance. It felt more like the setup for a sequel rather than a short story. There was no resolution. A Royal Affair doesn’t really have a resolution either but I makes more sense because it takes place in between books 1 and 2 of Shades of Magic. I think my favorite might be The Weight by Dhonielle Clayton. And I’m not just saying that because she’s the editor of the anthology. It felt like a Black Mirror episode, and I thought it had the best writing out of the stories. I also really enjoyed Zoraida Córdova’s and Tochi Onyebuchi’s stories. All the pieces in the collection did a good job with telling stories with diverse characters, and that was the goal of this anthology, so I call it a success.

This collection comes from We Need Diverse Books, and it definitely doesn't disappoint in that regard. There is something for everyone in this collection, though calling it all fantasy-related is a little bit of a stretch. Some of these stories definitely fall into the science fiction genre, which was fine with me, but may not work for all readers.

Some of the stories were definitely better than others; however, I enjoyed most of the stories. Stand outs to me were Mark Oshiro's "Unmoor" and Zoraida Cordova's "Longer Than the Threads of Time." There were a few stories I could not get into at all, but I'll leave those nameless here and give you a chance to check them out and form your own opinions.