Been trying to read this book for months and just can’t get into it. Hopefully I’ll like the movie better.

Couldn’t connect to the writing style

I thought the book was great, it was just too much for me to take. Very heavy with no respite.

Loved the action, but I was sooooo confused. There were a million fantasy words with no context as to what they meant. I had to flip to the glossary every page. 

Should’ve been way shorter. I was over halfway done with the book and barely anything had happened. Just a lot of running around in circles. There should’ve either been important subplots to the story to fill it out OR it should’ve been way shorter. It’ll probably be better as a movie, but I don’t like that the casting is white-washed so🤷🏽‍♀️

I was incredibly bored!!!

     Reclaim the Stars is a collection of science fiction and fantasy filled with unapologetically Latine stories!

     I was so excited to read this collection! It was full of so many great story ideas and authors who I’ve been wanting to read from! Sadly, I was disappointed and couldn’t finish this book. 

     First, I just want to say that I really enjoyed the stories The Tin Man by Lilliam Rivera and This is Our Manifesto by Mark Oshiro! I gave both of those stories four stars individually. That being said, I got through eight stories in this collection and those are the only two I enjoyed at all. For the other six I read, I gave them either two stars or below or I just couldn’t make myself finish them. 

     I spent almost every story confused. Nothing was explained. The world building was just not there. I don’t expect the same amount of world building that would be in a 500 page fantasy novel, but I do expect to be able to picture what is going on in the story. Most of the stories I read were just not fleshed out very well at all. I’ve been trying to read this since January and I just don’t think I can try anymore. 

     I am not at all trying to discourage anyone from reading this collection. I think people should at least give it a try because I absolutely love the idea of a collection of SFF Latine stories. The execution wasn’t for me, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not for everyone. So give this a try if you don’t mind less explanation  in your stories and more vibes and atmosphere! And don’t forget, I did really enjoy Lilliam Rivera and Mark Oshiro’s stories! I’ll definitely be reading more from them in the future!

1.5 stars rounded up to 2.

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this arc. All opinions are my own.

DNF at 13%. I am so damn tired of trauma porn. The only Black books that get labeled as classics are all about hardship and I am sick of it. Yt ppl have romance classics like Pride and Prejudice and horror classics like Frankenstein, but this is all we get. 

The writing in this book is very pretty, but I refuse to make myself read a book with a scene explaining how a man raped and impregnated his daughter just because it’s a classic. 

The problem is that we let yt school curriculum choose our classics, so they try to make sure the only books we read are about us are books about slavery, poverty , racism, and just being downtrodden.

Sorry about the mini rant. I’m sure that this book is good, hence why I didn’t rate it poorly. It’s just not for me. I can’t take the trauma porn any more. I see it enough on tv, I don’t need it in my books too.

One of the major plot points is an incestuous relationship that’s meant to be okay. Not my type of book.

I just couldn’t do the oppressor x oppressed romance. Writing was good and everything, but that’s just not my trope.