Posts Tagged: Diverse YA

Wednesday, November 08, 2017

Dark & Rich: Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi

Posted by 11 Comments

I received this book for free from Razorbill in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Dark & Rich: Beasts Made of Night by Tochi OnyebuchiBeasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi
Published by Razorbill on October 31st, 2017
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, YA
Source: Razorbill
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
four-stars

In the walled city of Kos, corrupt mages can magically call forth sin from a sinner in the form of sin-beasts – lethal creatures spawned from feelings of guilt.

Taj is the most talented of the aki, young sin-eaters indentured by the mages to slay the sin-beasts. But Taj’s livelihood comes at a terrible cost. When he kills a sin-beast, a tattoo of the beast appears on his skin while the guilt of committing the sin appears on his mind. Most aki are driven mad by the process, but 17-year-old Taj is cocky and desperate to provide for his family.

When Taj is called to eat a sin of a royal, he’s suddenly thrust into the center of a dark conspiracy to destroy Kos. Now Taj must fight to save the princess that he loves – and his own life.

I think there is this general conception that for a fantasy novel to be truly good, it needs to have about a 1,000,000 pages and at 304 pages, Beasts Made of Night is not a particularly long book. Do not and I repeat do NOT let that fool you. Tochi Onyebuchi packs a fucking punch in those 304 pages. World building? You got it. Adventure? You got it. A mother-fucking rebellion? YOU GOT IT. Beasts Made of Night isn’t just a great novel for fantasy readers but also for people too vary of the genre because of its reputation for long-winded novels that take lifetimes to get through.

Onyebuchi has a background in screenwriting and honestly, the high stakes and the quick pace of the novel really reflect this. For some people, this might be a bad thing because it might seem as a compromise on the world building but I definitely did not think that was true for the novel. The world of Beasts Made of Night is so incredibly rich and I felt myself being transported to it through detailed descriptions of foods, social settings, etc.

I think the only time the short length of the novel might have been a drawback is that it does mean we don’t get a leisurely introduction to the world that allows us to ease into a new setting that happens in so many fantasy novels but once I got used to being in the world of Kos, I found myself fascinated by the world Onyebuchi had crafted for his readers.

And perhaps my fascination with the world building shows because I’ve just spent two paragraphs talking about it but don’t you worry because Beasts Made of Night is also equipped with characters you want to root for. Taj is a complex character who is in flux like many teens (fantastical or not) and he is easy to relate to even if we may not always be stressing out about the same things. His internal struggles as he tries to understand the spectrum of good/bad is so real and I love how Tochi Onyebuchi writes his coming of age.

There are a number of secondary characters that aid Taj on his mission many who are worth mentioning but I won’t because I am lazy (but also because there are SO MANY of them.) I love that even though Taj has lone wolf vibes all over him, he still has friends? Who like him (most of the times)? And SUPPORT HIM? I know, so many surprises here.

There are so many reasons this book is worth reading and I honestly cannot even begin to formulate the words to really get these points across so I’d just like to kindly push y’all to read this book and join me in my little fangirl bubble while we wait to hear news about a Book 2.

Giveaway!

Three (3) winners receive:
One (1) hardcover copy of Beasts Made of Night

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Enter between 12:00 AM Eastern Time on October 2, 2017 and 12:00 AM on October 23, 2017.  Open to residents of the fifty United States and the District of Columbia who are 13 and older. Winners will be selected at random on or about October 25, 2017. Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received. Void where prohibited or restricted by law.

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four-stars

4 Hot Espressos

A Letter To Nic Stone: Dear Martin

Posted by on 10/25/2017 • 1 Comment

Dear Nic Stone,

I know you’ve had a lot of people already telling you this and my voice is no more important or valuable than theirs but thank you for writing this book. Thank you for giving this gift to the world.

You probably already know this but the world sucks right now and honestly, books like Dear Martin make it a little better. I am glad people will walk into a bookstore and pick this book up (and I know, I am going to be pushing it at literally anyone. I already got someone to check out a copy!)

This year has been chock full of amazing books (one of the few things that don’t suck about this year) and Dear Martin still stands out because it is so…

An Exhilarating Journey: Warcross by Marie Lu

Posted by on 09/07/2017 • 1 Comment

*exhales loudly*

Listen, this book is going to change everything. Are you a non-gamer and kinda wondering if this will really be your thing? The answer is YES. To be fair, I do play occasionally play multi-player Nintendo games with friends but, I am not a gamer and usually don’t have a long enough attention span to actually play anything on my own aside from Mario Kart. Warcross is amazing and has the ability to appeal to almost everyone (so it might not appeal to people who live under rocks and don’t know what books are *shrugs*)

The hype behind this book is INTENSE and honestly, that kind of hype is usually terrfiying to me and might even be terrifying to you but I read Legend by Marie Lu 6 years ago…

Author Interview: Sandhya Menon

Posted by on 06/02/2017 • 0 Comments

HELLO and welcome back to this fancy feature that Nick (Nick & Nereyda’s Infinite Booklist) and I are collaborating on! This month I am sharing an interview I did with Sandhya Menon! So PLEASE GIVE HER a virtual round of applause.

1. If Dimple and Rishi’s romance could be set to only one bollywood song, which one would it be?

Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, definitely. 🙂

2. What is one book you think the world would just not be the same without?

Ahhh, really, just one?! Hmm…I guess I’d pick The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.

3. If Dimple and Rishi were a food pairing, what would they be? (I AM JUST CURIOUS, OKAY)

Haha, this is an amazing question! I’d say…sea salt and…

Heartfelt Coming of Age Novel: That Thing We Call a Heart by Sheba Karim

Posted by on 05/12/2017 • 1 Comment

Sometimes there are books you read and you love and then sometimes there are books you read and FUCKING LOVE. As you might be able to gather given my subtle opening line, That Thing We Call a Heart falls into the latter category for me.

I honestly don’t even know how to express all the love I feel for the book into this review because I doubt that is even possible. Perhaps I might use this gif:

Or I could use words but as I told my prof the other day when he suggested I do a creative writing project, I am not a writer so if this review is completely incoherent, know that I honestly tried.

That Thing We Call a Heart is a book that needs to be in…

Diverse Books Out February 2017

Posted by on 03/02/2017 • 6 Comments

Hello and welcome to the February round up of diverse releases! Let me know if any of these have bad rep or if there are any books that I missed. We want this list to be as complete and accurate as possible while also making sure it doesn’t feature any books with bad rep. We will also be pointing out the books we know for sure are #ownvoices.

 

1. A Tragic Kind of Wonderful by Eric Lindstorm

Release Date: February 7th

Goodreads | Buy

Interracial romance + deals with mental health.

 

2. Wintersong by S.Jae Jones

Release Date: Feb 7th

Goodreads | Buy

Korean-American author

 

3. Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza

Release Date: Feb 7th

Goodreads | Buy

Filipino-American author + not-white main characters as cannon

The Infinite Variants of YA: Interview with Lilliam Rivera (The Education of Margot Sanchez)

Posted by on 02/16/2017 • 1 Comment

Hello and welcome to our first official post of THE INFINITE VARIANTS OF YA series! Today we have the absolutely lovely Lilliam Rivera on the blog answering a series of Would You Rather questions (which if you know me, I tend to ask really stupid qs sometimes so she was an absolute champ for putting up with me.)

SO, lets give it up for Lilliam Rivera!!!

A Game of Would You Rather with Lilliam Rivera!

Would you rather have a ginormous family or be an only child?

As much as I used to complain about growing up in a big, loud Puerto Rican family (three brothers, one older sister), I wouldn’t have it any other way. I loved it. You can always find someone to talk to and there are…

10 Non-Het Romance Books to Read on Valentine’s Day (or any other day of the year)

Posted by on 02/14/2017 • 9 Comments

Tired of all the het romances in the spotlight come Valentine’s day? Here is a list of 10 non-het romances to read instead + a bonus movie to watch! This list is by no means cumulative but the books have strong romance elements and HEAs (unless I seriously screwed up while researching.)

1. Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan

Interracial romance, QPOC, #ownvoices.

2. Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst

A fantasy world where society isn’t homophobic. #ownvoices.

3. When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore

Interracial romance, QPOC, #ownvoices.

4. Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

oreos.

5. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Latinx main characters. #ownvoices.

6. Ash by Malinda Lo

Cinderella…