This is a wonderful collection of short stories with latin flare. The thought provoking themes keep things interesting as well and I enjoyed the mix of culture, fantasy, and science fiction.

There are 17 stories in the book. The authors of all of the authors are published Latin American writers. You thus get a taste of their writing skills as well. Well-written short-stories. I wouldn’t mind reading a couple of them twice. A diverse mix of storytelling with something to cater to every taste.

This anthology is one of the first I've read that varied so much in genres. It was a fun switch from fantasy to sci-fi and then even sprinkling in some romance. There were a few stories that I felt lacking but my overall enjoyment of the others made up for those few. I enjoyed the diversity each store lent as well as the messages portrayed. Some felt a bit forced but most were meaningful and rendered well. This was my first anthology and I've already picked up another to read now!

A great collection of stories. I enjoyed them all..Fantasy lovers will enjoy these thoroughly. Highly recommend.

Reclaim the Stars is a short story collection of science fiction and fantasy tales by Latin American authors, featuring Latino & Latina characters in fantastical and futuristic settings, many of which are inspired by Latin myths and culture. Zoraida Cordova has assembled an all-star roster of Latin American writers, with a few other talented authors making their published debut. The stories are divided into three sections - “To the Stars,” a group of futuristic sci-fi tales mostly set in space, “The Magical Now,” a group of fantasy stories in a contemporary setting, and “Other Times, Other Realms,” a group of stories in historical or high fantasy settings.

I especially liked “Flecha” by Daniel Jose Older, “The Tin Man” by Lilliam Rivera, “Eterno” by J. C. Cervantes, “Color-Coded” by Maya Motayne, “Rogue Enchantments” by Isabel Ibanez, and “Sumiko Y La Sirena” by Vita Ayala, but my favorite was the final story, “Tame the Wicked Night,” by the collection’s editor, Zoraida Cordova.

CW: parental rejection and abandonment, slavery, teenage girls receiving unwanted attention from adult men, teen pregnancy, abortion

Representation: Latino/Latina authors and characters, Black characters, LGBTQ characters and relationships, non-binary characters, polyamorous relationships

As this is an anthology, I will only talk briefly about my opinion of the book as a whole.

Now, the word I would use to best describe this collection of stories would be lacklustre. The vast majority of them didn't stand out to me at all, and I found that it took me a while to make my way through the book because I just wasn't all that interested by what I was reading. I didn't realize that this collection included fantasy stories as I thought it was just sci-fi, but even the fantasy stories did nothing for me. As such, this will be getting no higher than three stars from me, and that is a generous rating.

I found that the best stories in this collection were: This Is Our Manifesto, Rogue Enchantments, and Tame the Wicked Night.

In terms of the format of the book, it was separated a bit oddly. I wasn't aware that this was divided into three sections, so when I got a blank page with only a title on it, I was a bit thrown off. It would have been better if it was a bit clearer, like adding in parts, in order to clear up any confusion. Another thing that might cause confusion that I would keep in mind is that, due to the nature of the collection, there is frequent use of non-English vocabulary with no translations.

If you are looking for a good anthology, I would suggest that you pick up Córdova's other collection instead, Vampires Never Get Old. If you are looking for some short stories to read, I will direct you to the Tor books website, as they release monthly lists of speculative fiction to read. I would like to make a note though that I read this book before seeing comments that some of the authors were problematic. So, you might want to do your research before deciding to pick this up.

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books for allowing for me to review this in advance.

This collection was not what I hoped it would be. A lot of the stories felt hastily written, and a lot of the sci-fi stories only made vague nods to the science fiction aspect, without really exploring anything. Additionally, a few of the stories felt like they were written just to push an “agenda”. I hate saying that, because it makes me sound like a conservative white man, but it’s unfortunately true. I’m thinking specifically of “The First Day of Us”, which was poorly written, and lacked any story beyond shoving three characters together.

However, my main issue with this book is the length and the quality of the stories. This book is over 400 pages long, yet so many of the stories feel rushed and unfinished. If this collection featured only 4-5 authors, and gave them more pages to work with, I think the stories and the collection as a whole would’ve been much stronger.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me an arc. I hope this book finds its way into the right readers.

This was my introduction to anthologies, and I'd say it was a fantastic start! There was a lot to love but I especially loved the dabbles into horror (on brand for me)

This anthology has lots of fun sci-fi and fantasy stories! I enjoyed most of them and particularly loved Anna-Marie Mclemore's story about princesses being forced to fight to the death in space and Romina Garber's story, which is set in the same world as Lobizona. I cried at Mark Oshiro's story and the fact that it's a sci-fi story that mentions pupusas because I am not used to seeing my culture get included in science fiction. Also, the two debut authors fit right in with these well-known authors!

Note: I did not read the stories by David Bowles, Isabel Ibañez, and Sara Faring due to their history of anti-indigeneity. Their inclusion in the anthology is why it's four stars instead of five.

I enjoyed some of it, but not enough of it held my attention long enough to really rate this book highly.

I loved the variety and all of the stories within. I'm not much of an anthology reader, so this was different for me. I was so invested. These stories also used a lot of culture and ethnicities that I am not usually used to reading about. I was able to learn more and get a feel for the different family dynamics within. I honestly just want more from each of these stories. I want these to be full length books and to really see them come to life and go on this huge adventure. I really enjoyed this anthology and I am going to keep a look out for these authors and other anthologies as well!

**5/5 stars for a great job well-done and lovely stories!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free review copy. I am voluntarily leaving this review.

Reclaim the Stars is an anthology of seventeen short stories of Latin American diaspora in fantasy settings. It is edited by Zoraida Córdova, who also contributes a story. The other featured authors are Vita Ayala, David Bowles, J.C. Cervantes, Sara Faring, Romina Garber, Isabel Ibañez, Anna-Marie McLemore, Yamile Saied Méndez, Nina Moreno, Circe Moskowitz, Maya Motayne, Linda Raquel Nieves Pérez, Daniel José Older, Mark Oshiro, Claribel A. Ortega, and Lilliam Rivera.

I enjoyed some stories in this anthology more than others. This is overall a solid and interesting read. I was very pleased to see Romina Garber write a new story of the Wolves of No World.

"Reclaim the Stars" features seventeen young adult science fiction stories by Latin American authors; as with any anthology, some are stronger than others, but on the whole I found this a solid collection with diverse, interesting stories. The collection is divided into three parts: "To The Stars" is traditional science fiction short stories, The Magical Now" featured present-day magical realism, and "Other Times, Other Realms" aims toward more-traditional fantasy in different time periods.

The stories themselves are diverse, with lots of LGBTQ+ representation. My favorites involved two warring princesses, a daughter of Death, and Zoraida Cordova's excellent "Tame The Wicked Night". There were a few that I felt were weak, but no particular story was too long or took up too much space; it was easy to plow through this collection and be utterly charmed. Recommended for fans of YA and speculative fiction of all kinds.

What a lovely collection of stories! A rich variety of stories that vary in setting, theme, tone, story, and character, but all have a connection to Latinx culture. This book of short stories is a fantastic #ownvoices collection, and I particularly love the sci-fi stories, because science fiction is a genre that looks to the future, and a future without diversity is simply unrealistic.

I enjoyed it so much I pre-ordered a copy for a friend as a (late) Christmas gift!

This is a book of sci-fi and fantasy short stories by Latinx authors. It’s broken into 3 different sections grouped by subsets of the genres. I absolutely love the idea of this book and am so glad that it exists in the world!

I generally enjoyed reading this, but short stories are just not my genre and are hard for me. Some stories were better than others, I heavily preferred the fantasy ones over the sci-fi ones. The chapters can be long because some of the stories were longer than others. That was hard for me because I don’t like to stop in the middle of a story but sometimes didn’t have 45 minutes to read a full one. If you like short stories I would definitely recommend this!!

Despite the format not really being for me, this anthology really has everything. Space, magic, love, lgbtqia characters and rep, diverse characters, and so so much more. Love that this book is out there and would recommend to any short story fans!

The synopsis for this book got me so excited to see what was in store in this anthology. "From stories that take you to the stars, to stories that span into other times and realms, to stories set in the magical now, RECLAIM THE STARS takes the Latin American diaspora to places fantastical and out of this world."

This collection is full of such cool stories and the writers do a great job of enfusing their culture with that fairy tale feeling. I don't think I could pick a favorite story within the collection, but I enjoyed these quick glances at Latin culture through these authors views full of magic and science and love and sometimes set in space.

My thanks to the publisher for a review eARC on NetGalley in exchange for a review.

This anthology is sorted into "To The Stars", science fiction short stories, "The Magical Now" current day speculative or magical realism short stories and "Other Times, Other Realms" sort of historical fantasy.

Reign of Diamonds by Anna-Marie McClemore: Two princesses of ice and fire who must fight to the death, but they're in love and so make their own rules, as rulers are wont to do.

Flecha by Daniel Jose Older: Earth is a flooded ruin and all that's left is a ship of school children and to protect them? The RamBo, a crew of two in a ship built like a unstoppable flying death fortress.

The First Day of Us by David Bowles: Mar Mostrenco, Atzimba and Diego Quispe come together in a relationship and must also fight off pirates while on a school field trip on their station.

The Tin Man by Lilliam Rivera: After a plague leaves behind only a sole survivor, a robot and a ship are sent before the Earth swallows her last hope.

This Is Our Manifesto by Mark Oshiro: A manifesto message reaches a prison colony work station and sparks revolution for minorities against corrupt law.

Creatures of Kings by Circe Moskowitz: Vada is a daughter of Death and a mortal woman, dying they enter the Under where she brother and father dwell on a broken kingdom that must have a new king.

Eterno by J.C. Cervantes: Sabastián holds the memories of the dead as messages, he is not a angel, like his siblings he is a child of the unseen moon a Eterno, who eats the Dark as people die, but he fell in love and now must make a terrible choice.

White Water, Blue Ocean by Linda Raquel Nieves Perez: What if you could see the smell and see the little white lies your family makes? Once the ocean loved the García family, and will again, and sometimes a curse isn't what it seems.

Leyenda by Romina Garber: Zeybet is a water witch, a rare Leyenda of her class, the best, and alone among a school of witches and werewolves she searches for a Coven to free witches from a oppressive system.

Color-Coded by Maya Motayne: All girls are magical, Flor just hits her magic early, her body flushes like a mood ring but more worrying is if she'll go mad and fly away as her mother did.

Magical Offerings by Nina Moreno: Luz knows magic, it's always seemed to follow her until she ends up home, with grandfather who's makings a swamp into a kingdom themed golf course, and real magic and a mystery from her past comes to hunt her.

Rogue Enchantments by Isabel Ibanez: A market of enchantments is just what Graciela Mamani needs to be a merchant like her abuelita before her, left with a stall she must prove her place among vendors who do not want her there with help from the dead who wander there at night.

Sumaiko Y La Sirena by Vita Ayala: A mermaid who's lost her scales and can't go back to the sea meets and falls in love with another mermaid while a man thinks to make them his playthings.

River People by Yamile Saied Méndez: Malena loves the Paraná and speaks to ghosts, her brothers -one dead, two living, are all the family she has and when the Devil comes with a deal she must risk it all to prevent their fall.

Moonglow by Sara Faring: A strange story of ghostly brothers, ladies and ranch hands, and a father nearly killing his family for a mistress that becomes friend to them in the end.

Killing El Chivo by Claribel A. Ortega: Three witch sisters go up against something very like the devil.

Tame the Wicked Night by Zoraida Cordova: A farmer boy who's got a magical gift for growing things goes on a quest and accidentally finds a goddess from times before who devoured souls of trespassers but together they may find love and freedom.

I'm usually not into anthologies because I find the stories to be so hit and miss but I heard about some of the great new debut authors being featured in this one so I took a chance and decided to support. Circe Moskowitz's story really stood out to me and she has a lot of promise as a writer. I liked how each story had it's own unique vibe. Some were definitely stronger than others but overall it was an enjoyable read.

I've been wanting to get into more short story anthologies and this one didn't disappoint! My biggest complaint is I found myself wanting more of some stories. This collection has something for everyone. It's a diverse collection with characters of different backgrounds and hopes and dreams. I'm looking forward to being able to see more work from many of these writers and highly recommend it if your looking to branch out in your read.

I've been enjoying the increase of anthologies recently, but was somewhat disappointed by this one. It felt like there was very little flow to the stories and the pacing seemed very choppy. It wasn't an easy book to continuously read and feel invested in, it just felt like a collection of unrelated stories where I've read anthologies that have more continuity.

I respect that the idea behind this was Latinx diaspora, magical tales, and diverse stories, and I won't comment on specific plotlines as I'm not Latinx nor have a good background to their culture and legends. However, several authors who are included in this anthology have been called out for problematic behaviors or stories on social media by natives of the country they would write about. I think it's just important to keep this in mind and do your research.

Something I noticed across many stories included here was the whimsical nature of the writing and descriptors for the story - and I loved it. Those stories were a joy to read, including the science fiction stories specifically, those spoke to me the most. My favorite story was likely the poly romance in space, which was towards the beginning of the works.

**Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review**