I participated in the Tarot Sequence Black Lives Matter book bingo challenge – highlighting Black speculative fiction books, and  I loved it! Found some great new favorites and a lot of authors that made it to my auto-buy list. Here are my mini-reviews for the entire card.

The Tarot Black Lives Matter book bingo is presented by The Tarot Sequence fandom and run primarily by Kathy @pages below vaulted sky.

This card has some overlap with my two r/fantasy bingo cards, so some mini-descriptions might seem familiar.

FOOL: Middle Grade The Jumbies Tracey Baptiste – this was great, it’s set on an island and there’s a conflict between the Jumbies who are native to the island and the human settlers. I really liked the different kinds of Jumbies and the kids seemed very realistically childish while being fun to read about. Review to come

MARTYR: change, surrender or letting go  Emergency Skin (h) N.K. Jemisin This won the Hugo award for best novelette this year and I fully agree. It’s hard to describe without giving too much away, and I wouldn’t want to to that as it was brilliant being in the character’s mind as he figured stuff out. I loved how is story managed to be very hopeful in the future it imagines, and a stark and depressing critique at how improbable it is due to our fucked society. Review

MAGICIAN: set in a secondary world Queen of the Conquered Kacen Callender Queen of the Conquered is set in a secondary world, inspired by the US Virgin Islands under colonial rule. We’re in the head of Sigourney, who through a mix of circumstances and scheming is the only one of the islanders allowed to participate in high-level politics. The story has a lot of manipulating, some mind-reading magic, and a classic murder mystery story. Sigourney is interesting, but she’s not a likeable protagonist. Review

CHARIOT: memoir Black Girl Unlimited Echo Brown A powerful book that, at first, I didn’t think I would like because of how dark it was and how much trauma was in it, but I ended up loving it for its strong message of hope. Review to come

JUSTICE: based on or inspired by real life injustice Riot Baby Tochi Onyebuchi I wasn’t expecting to like this one very much because it deals with real-life awful stuff, and I tend to avoid that if I can. I ended up loving the book though. It’s very gripping, it’s told through a series of vignettes that build a sort of very strong fury and then the ending works so well. Review

HIEROPHANT: coming of age or YA contemporary Legendborn Tracy Deon OhMyGoshYes! A YA contemporary retelling of King Arthur legend mixed with Southern Black Girl Magic that I absolutely loved. So many things going and so many great things, but I’ll just mention how well this book dealt with the death of a parent, which I found rare in fantasy. Review

TEMPERANCE: set during the 1920s-1930s Mem Bethany C. Morrow 2 A very interesting short novel exploring the idea of personhood through a Mem, a removed memory stored in a mirror image of the source. The main character is a mem like no other and the book is very much focussed on her own struggle to figure herself out. Review

HIGH PRIESTESS: mystery The Haunting of Tram Car 015 P. Djèlí Clark Completely loved it. This is the second mystery novella set in alternate history clockwork+djinn Cairo, in this case investigating the haunting of a tram car. It’s a fun mystery, with cool characters, on the background of the women’s suffragette movement. I really enjoy this series and am very much looking forward to the full-length novel.  Review

TOWER: building or structure on the cover The City We Became N.K. Jemisin 2 What if cities came alive? What if something from another dimension were trying to kill them? I really recommend the audiobook for this one if you can, the narration is great and it has nice sound effects. I liked all the borough characters and was really interested in getting to know them, but I got confused somewhere along the plot. Review

EMPEROR: father MC or father-child relationship Maya and the Rising Dark Rena Barron – I thought this was a great middle-grade book, I loved the Orisha and the portal fantasy aspect. But, I was not the intended audience, and I kept wishing to spend more time with the adult characters than the kids. Review to come

MOON: explore mental health The Deep Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes  The Deep is about a race of mermaids born of pregnant women thrown overboard to their deaths from slaver ships. Initially, I didn’t want to read it, because it sounded too dark for me, but I’m very glad I did. I loved how the story talked about how history and memory are such an important part of identity. Review

SUN: optimistic, hopepunk book Redemption in Indigo (h)  Karen Lord  Very much enjoying how it was like a storyteller telling me the story out loud, audiobook helped too. Really liked the way magic worked and the magical beings we met. Review to come

MISFIT: featuring found family The Vanished Birds Simon Jimenez a very thoughtful found-family sci-fi that I enjoyed, despite how dark it often was. Review

LOVERS: featuring strong friendships or romance A Song of Blood and Stone L. Penelope  Lovely romance in a world where magic users are feared and discriminated against. The world was great and I’m very curious to continue the series. Review

STRENGTH: action-adventure Dread Nation by Justina Ireland Another book I loved and read as fast as I could. It also helped me through one of my shittiest moments on 2020. It’s about teenage girls fighting zombies just after the American Civil War. It’s quick, fun and engaging and I loved the main character. Review

HERMIT: biography Zami: A New Spelling of My Name Audre Lorde This is one of the few squares I couldn’t find a SFF suggestion for. I really liked it, though I read very little non-fiction so I kept thinking how odd it is that I’m enjoying a book about someone’s personal troubles and pain. Review to come

WHEEL OF FORTUNE: theme of “actions have consequences” Brown Girl In The Ring Nalo Hopkinson sort of near-future dystopian I guess. It took me a bit to get used to the language, but I ended up liking the book, especially how it drew on powerful Caribean folklore. Review

DEATH: book published after 7/1/2020 Raybearer Jordan Ifueko Another new favorite a YA Fantasy in a vivid West-African inspired world. The world-building was gorgeous and the found family awesomeness was the best. Review

JUDGEMENT: book wtih an overused trope A Princess in Theory (h) Alyssa Cole super fun contemporary romance that starts off with an African prince stuck in the spam folder, I laughed a lot. Review to come

DEVIL: book you’ve been putting off The Fifth Season N. K. Jemisin 3 – another case of love at first sight. I was a bit worried about the 2nd person narration but I needn’t have been, turns out it works great for me. I loved the world, the characters and figuring out all their connections. Review

EMPRESS: mother MC or mother-child relationship LaGuardia Nnedi Okorafor A story about immigration, acceptance and aliens, all while worrying about a future baby. The ending was very sweet. Review to come

STARS: set in outer space The Galaxy Game Karen Lord This is really pleasant to listen to, but I keep ending up zoning out. I’ve got a bit of the audiobook left and I’ve just been unable to focus on the bigger plot of it at all. The main characters are nice but the background greater galaxy politics is beyond me. Review to come

New Atlantis: urban fantasy A Song Below Water Bethany C. Morrow a very contemporary YA novel, featuring the Black Lives Matter movement and sirens (and other mythical creatures). Really enjoyed it, the main characters are two found sisters so it was great seeing their relationship. Review

WORLD: set in a country that’s not your own Rosewater Tade Thomson near future alien-contact story set in Nigeria, it was fun and had great ideas, but a bit complicated to follow in audiobook. Review