H. D. Hunter

I'm a fan of this middle grade sci-fi novel's cover art (front and back!), and although I forgot exactly what I read in the book blurb last year, I knew I'd found this story's premise intriguing.

The memory of my intrigue kept me going when my interest dipped during several chapters. A story can start to lose me the longer it takes for me to get a strong sense of "what" and "why it matters." About a third of this novel went by before any of the theme park's main attractions and their purpose became clear enough to keep my interest steady.

Then I gradually became more engaged as the story became creepier, like a bad dream. (And I mean that in a good way.) Also, I really liked the illustrations spread throughout the book when, here and there, the action turned all graphic novelly!

However, perhaps partly due to the fact that I did indeed used to have creepy childhood dreams resembling Cam's challenge here, I found it unbelievable that it took so long for him to realize what a certain major problem was. Especially given the fact that he's been around artificially intelligent creations his whole life.

And regarding the AI elements, I couldn't share Cam's emotions for a lifelike computer/robot (a creation called a "rev") friend of his. Nor did a late but key aspect of the story concerning "humanness" and AI creations vibe with me. So, while I was all in during the climax, I didn't connect with the ending.

Still, I appreciate it when stories depict young people in more than passive roles—when they're thinkers who stand up and take positive action as they're able.… (more)

A collection of short stories and poems by black authors who love speculative fiction/SFF! I found that the majority of these stories leaned closer to the modern/urban fantasy side, but I feel like each one was poignant and thematic. Some highlight the struggle between Africans beliefs and the spread of Christian ideals, others focus solely on the embrace (good or bad connotations) of the myth. The poetry chosen is beautiful - the last one likely the most powerful. Amongst the others I think my favorites were the poem 'Blackman's Flight in 4 Parts' and the story 'A Missile Against the Darkness'.

I'd recommend this to anyone who's interested in Afrofuturism and discovering new black authors. Each story and poem ends with an author biography, which I love, because it gives you a better idea about who they are and many have their twitter handles available if that's an avenue you like to use to keep up with authors.

Thank you netgalley for the advanced copy.… (more)