Kalanak Academy, an African fantasy about a tribe of shapeshifters is a book you should do a review and it deserves to be in the African Fantasy book list.
A book with a "person good at finding things" but sci-fi (not sure you would like it): Finder, by Suzanne Palmer. The Main Character is gifted at finding things and finding his way out of things in the most far fetched way possible. As I said, not sure it's quite your style, but maybe someone coming across this comment could like it!
Raybearer was so good and Redemptor was one of my favorites of 2021. Another African-inspired world I loved was The Gilded Ones (sequel comes out in May!). Definitely going to check out Beasts of Prey and Son of the Storm.
I need to read more African inspired books so thanks for the recs. I did read rage of Dragons and enjoyed. I agree tho. I hope Tau gets better. Great video!
yo i didn't know raybearer was getting an adaptation! i'm excited but also a little nervous about how it'll be handled. i'm currently listening to redemptor. i also loved that there was some ace rep (just finished the part in redemptor where they talk about that character's feelings towards sex/bearing children and i loved it). last month i read the binti trilogy and also loved it. remote control is for sure on my list after reading binti
You made me want to read literally every single book on this list! Also, the Raybearer duology is one of my new favorite books! I just finished the second one the other day. Oh, and in We Hunt the Flame by Hafsa Faizal, one of the two MCs has the ability to find whatever she desires and is put into a situation where she has to use that ability and others are counting on her and/or taking advantage of that ability. However, she doesn't actually realize she has that ability until much later into the book.
This was an amazing selection of books; thank you so much. "Beast of Prey" was one of the first books that I sat down and read for hours, and I was itching for more like it. I'm so excited to start my reading journey. Thanks to you, I will have enough recommendations to last. ❤
WOW! You have an impressive breadth of knowledge, and then equally impressive backlist of videos! So Positive! After watching this, I scanned your backlist to see if you mentioned Charles R Saunders - the originator of "Sword and Soul" fantasy. In the 70s and 80s white writer dominated sword and sorcery, Conan knockoff world, Charles R Saunders was a lone voice for African based fantasy. The Imaro books are great. He deserves not to be forgotten, although I don't know if he will be as diverse and progressive as you like your books. I'd love to hear what you think!
Adding all of these to my TBR! I just finished Blood Scion, which is a Yoruba-Nigerian inspired YA fantasy, it was incredible, 5/5 stars!! The author, Deborah Falaye is Canadian-Nigerian.
These “European” fantasies are written by Americans and those “African” fantasies are also written by Americans mostly. Read actual translated works if you want Asian, African or European fantasy stories.l
I picked up Black Leopard Red Wolf recently and am super excited to get to it! SOn of the STorm was awesome, I read it when it came out and really ended up enjoying it!
I’m trying to world build for a world spanning epic fantasy series and the protagonist is from Southern Africa. His mother is an African Assassin and his father is a banished European prince. It’s on the back burner while I work on some shorter stories to build up the world, its history and my own writing chops. Also I’ve never read fantasy taking place in an African inspired world.
Really enjoyed the audiobook of Remote Control and can't wait to check out some of the author's other work! Same goes for NK Jemisin, I read her Dreamblood duology last year and loved it!
So many great book recs! My TBR gets a little longer after every video. I cannot wait to read all of Nnedi Okorafor’s books 😍. Thanks for another great video!
I liked Raybearer, I LOVED A Song of Wraiths and Ruin and right now, I'm reading Witches Steeped in Gold. It's really good :-) Thank you for all the recommendations, I'm adding almost all of them to my TBR ^^
For the trope of people having the ability to find things and being forced by circumstance to use it, I would recommend Zoo City by Lauren Beukes! It's an urban fantasy set in South Africa and features animal companions (main character has a sloth as her companion).
Diving deep into previously uploaded videos, and my reading list is growing unnecessarily. BUT, your enthusiasm in reading is also inspiring and encouraging me to continue working on my writing projects I've been sloooooowly working on.
Love this list and read a few off of it already!💖📚💖I have read the sequel Fires Of Vengeance and it was even better than the first book. Having also attended an online author reading featuring Evan Winter (and K. S. Villoso), it made me appreciate the book (and its flaws) more, because the author gave it all context.
Omg there's so many book rec videos I'd love, but the tropes you mentioned in this video I'm especially interested in! Trackers, caste system tropes, sibling rivalry, magical school, multi pov (my FAVE), and revenge arcs.
The rage of dragon was the reason why I started to read again , it was hands down my favourite book ,I couldn’t stop reading it, I had to buy the second one which I enjoyed it too
"Messy Jessy" ThAnk You Sweetie for not being afraid to tAlk about Africa, some of our people here in America like to talk about Fraunce (France) mocking the French language or London, and they fear mentioning where We come from Africa so I Thank You for thAt Baby
Oooh great recommendations! ❤😊 Some new ones to check out. The Final Strife is on my list of new releases to read for sure. I read Son of the Storm during Blackathon and thought it was excellent -- definitely eagerly awaiting the sequel.
What a great list!! Remote Control and A song of wraiths and ruin are two of my favorites. And the other ones are all on my list to read. It's refreshing to read books that are not staged in US/UK.
A lot of the books are on our shelves and we haven't read them yet. Fires of Vengeance was amazing, we've read Rage of Dragons twice, might have to dive back into that world soon. Also, Youneek Studios is another Nigerian comic book company. They have a pretty great world built that's supposed to be the equivalent of the Marvel Universe and they have a dedicated app where you can read all of their comics for $2.99 a month.
Thanks for all the recommendations!!! You have introduced me to so many great books in the past, and I am definitely adding several of these to my TBR!
Loved Rage of Dragon, i liked the sequel. 😊 i have son of a storm in my audible library, i will b listening to it soon, thanks for the recommendations.
I didnt know Raybearer was getting an adaptation! That's so exciting. Have you read The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden? It's a multi POV science fantasy book set in South Africa.
@@JesseOnRU-vid I haven't yet, but I plan to set a goal in the future to read more books by authors I only read one book or series by, and will definitely bump that up the list. The Cover is beautiful.
Have you read Black sun or Amari and the night brothers? I highly recommend these fantasy books and both book are getting sequels this year and I'm excited to read the sequels. I have Beasts of prey, The rage of dragons and Redemptor on my TBR shelf. This video reminded me that I need to read these books. I'm kind of shamed that I haven't read Redemptor yet because Raybearer was one my favorite books last year.
Raybearer is one that's on my tbr and I *really* want to read it this year! The Rage of Dragons is actually on my physical tbr and I'm so excited to get around to it! I've heard amazing things!!
Thank you for doing this video! I’m hosting a reading across Africa challenge on tiktok (booktok). Although I’ve read these all, it’s nice to see other appreciate African lit 💕
I would like to Shout out for "Daughters of Nri", which is Fantasy but the Maps is pretty much Nigeria :D It's a really good serie, honestly I didn't vibe with it but i'm drifting away from YA, but youger me would have LOVE that serie.
I LOVE Daughters of Nri. I read it when it came out and had a fabulous interview with the author. Such a special book. Can’t wait to read the second one!
I really want to read more african fantasy i know how important diversity is but Im a bit worried about writing diversity as a white aspiring writer since I dont want to overshadow black authors that need to be heard
Black leopard Red Wolf was a big disappointment from all the hype that was getting it was definitely a nun enjoyable read... Rage of dragons and its sequel are amazing to me. Very action-packed very satisfying.
am going to look more into this but currently don't have any suggestions outside of the popular names - Octavia Butler, Jewelle Gomez, Nisi Shawl, Samuel Delaney, Nalo Hopkinson. if you haven't already, check to see if they have anything in the public domain (I figure its a long shot but really hope u find somethings)
I finished Raybearer the other day--thank you so much for recommending it! uhh, so,, (spoilers) aaaaaah It's so good! Honestly, this book is fantastic. There was so much love for the side characters, the worldbuilding was riveting, the main character was written *gorgeously.* I loved the whole sequence in the Bush, how subtly horrific the spirits are, the big scene where Tarisai defies the Emperor is *breathtaking,* the way she's exposed as an infiltrator and the complex reactions of Sanjeet, Dayo and Kirah to it--one of my favorite "tropes" in stories is the cathartic moment when a protagonist is Seen by side characters, be it as "wow, she's really badass actually", "oh gosh, she's been hurting so much", etc. It's *so good.* I like it. it's neat. And if the happy-tears scene you referenced is the firepit scene, yes, yes, I loved that scene so much, it was so well-set-up. big fan. neat book. can't wait to get the sequel. I think I had mixed feelings about the Ray. That was one thing that made me uncomfortable, just with how it was introduced, how it compares to Tarisai's big conflict. The idea that one person can't belong to someone else is sort of awkwardly undermined by the inherent literal physical dependency of the Ray that she and the others give into. It was a little disturbing, at its worst, and at its best I just tried to tune it out and remember the author didn't mean it to be. A part of me expected the finale to involve getting rid of the Ray somehow. I hate to take fantasy too literally, but it just felt really... intense, I guess. (oh, also, as someone writing a fantasy YA story right now about a girl being taken from an unloving home to a castle of messy politics and found family, it was that wonderful mix of "god this is so good and giving me so many ideas" and "well, fuck, this is so good, I know I can't match this".)
@@JesseOnRU-vid I recently read the sequel--it's also fantastic, though it had a kind of "mandatory monogamy" vibe that felt weird with how poly-coded the whole Ray thing has always been, and the climax felt a little weak. But character-wise, theme-wise, absolutely fantastic. They really followed up on the first book's critiques of the society. This setting is gorgeous, and I'm not ready to say goodbye to it. 😭
