We had a really good post on Reddit yesterday:2020 Bingo Participants, Shill the Books You Read That No One Else Did. I remember this was fun to do last year too, so here go the unique reads from my card!

I think ones I’d most like to encourage people to try are Black Girl Unlimited, Planetfall and The Conductors, with a shoutout to The Farthest Shore, the third Earthsea book, that I’m guess is unique more because it’s a sequel than lack of recognition and The Tarot Sequence in general, but don’t start with the novella I read.

From my first card:

• Junkyard Cats by Faith Hunter – I’m ok with none of you reading this one tbh, not enough cats, too many guns, a meh for me

• Black Girl Unlimited by Echo Brown – This you should read, I loved it, it’s a YA contemporary fantasy about a girl discovery her magic power and dealing with all the trauma in her life. Very heavy but ultimately uplifting. A non-exhaustive content warning list would include repeated instances of rape, drug abuse, violence, car accident

From the second card:

• Maya and the Rising Dark by Rena Barron – Read this one if you’re into MG or recommend it to the kids in your life. The world/magic based on Orisha mythology is great, but I don’t think I was the right audience for it as I was far more into the grown-ups than the kids.

• A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney – Read this if you want a fun contemporary retelling of Alice in Wonderland meets Buffy the Vampire slayer.

• Demon Haunted by Ashe Armstrong – This is a sequel so read it if you read the first and if you’re into Wild West Orcs. Imo it has better characters and I LOVED meeting the orc family.

• Planetfall by Emma Newman – Read this for the depection of mental health in a sci-fi scetting, and the interesting premise of finding God on another planet.

My third, unplanned, card had most sequels and most uniques:

• The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco – Sequel to The Bone Witch, I liked it more than the first one because the two timelines were more balanced.

• The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin – The most dragony book in Earthsea so far, I liked it a lot and loved getting to see more of this world. Though I always end up reading Le Guin so very slowly.

• The Sunken Mall by K.D. Edwards – Lots of fun interlude novella between the two Tarot Sequence novels, a little shopping trip detour.

• The Conductors by Nicole Glover – A historical murder mystery set in post-cival war Philadelphia featuring a married couple as the main protagonists! Loved the main characters and all the twists and turns of the plot.

• Will Destroy the Galaxy for Cash by Yahtzee Croshaw – sequel, a fast, light, fun read with great narration

• FIYAH Issue 16: Joy – I really liked this number centered on joy, Interstate Africana by WC Dunlap was my favorite.

• Taina Sfinxului de pe Marte by Viorica Huber– Reminded me of Kalp Imperial, the story of a civilation told through short stories. Not a fan of the format tbh.

• A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott – A YA book very similar on premise to Kindred by Octavia Burtler, but set a little later. I liked it a lot.

• We Lie With Death by Devin Madson– Sequel to We Ride the Storm, I liked it a lot, it deals mostly with the aftermath of book 1 and learning new things about the world.