Hi guys, I hope you are all well. Awful things are happening in the world right now and I’ve been educating myself on the events. I realised that I haven’t read a whole lot of fantasy books by black author. I need to read more books by black authors in general but since I read primarily fantasy books and I think a lot of you guys read a lot of fantasy too, I wanted to post about a TBR of fantasy books by black authors. I need to do better, not just now but in the future too, to read more diversely. Let’s get started.
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The Rage of Dragons / book 1 of the Burning series / Evan Winter – African inspired epic fantasy
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Rosewater / book 1 of the Wormwood trilogy / Tade Thompson – science fiction story set in Nigeria
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The City We Became / N.K. Jemisin / book 1 of the Great Cities series – five New Yorkers must come together to protect their city
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Redemption in Indigo / Karen Lord – retelling of a Senegalese folk tale
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Everfair / standalone / Nisi Shawl – a steampunk alternate-history set in the Belgian Congo
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Akata Witch / book 1 of the Akata Witch series / Nnedi Okorafor – middle grade/YA fantasy based around Nigerian myths
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A Taste of Honey / Kai Ashante Wilson – fantasy novella
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Parable of the Sower / book 1 of the Parable series / Octavia E. Butler – a dystopia story centered around a young woman who feels the pain of others
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The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark – set in an alternate Cairo where humans coexist with otherworldly beings
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Dread Nation / book 1 of the Dread Nation series / Justina Ireland – follows a black woman who is trained to fight zombies to protect the white people in the community
More books on my radar: Given by Nandi Taylor, The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle, Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden, Do You Dream Of Terra-Two by Temi Oh, Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler and The Kishi by Antoine Bandele.
thelittlebookowl 
I really have to read all of these as well! Especially excited for The rage of dragons and Akata Witch!
(www.evelynreads.com)
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Yeah they both sound great. I hope you enjoy them when you pick them up.
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Yet another timely reminder that I need to get off my procrastinating butt and give The Rage of Dragons a read. Jemisin is near the tops of my TBR as well, but for her Inheritance Trilogy. I’ve tried some Octavia Butler but something about her style makes it hard for me to get into the read.
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Yeah I’ve heard really good things about the Rage of Dragons so I can’t wait to read it.
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I’ve reviewed 2 of the books on your list. And, another thing, please read a book because you want to read it and not due to the race/ethnicity/religion/sexuality of the author.
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I want to read all of these books – they all sounds great. I hope you enjoyed the two you reviewed.
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Great list! I haven’t read any of these yet (shock!) but I am really excited for The City We Became–I loved The Broken Earth trilogy so much.
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I have to admit I struggled to get into the Fifth Season and I put it down in the end. I struggled with the writing and pacing. Maybe I should try it again. I have read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms which I enjoyed.
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It’s a different style from her previous work for sure. I think that’s one of the reasons I loved it so much, but I can see how that style also won’t be for everyone.
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