Written by contributor Uma Shankari
One of the best things that has happened in the bookish world over the past couple of years is the boom in diverse fantasy and I am so here for it! As a huge supporter of #weneeddiversebooks, I’m here to shake you hard, call upon you gently, and shove these books in your face in an attempt to make you read these wonderfully diverse YA fantasy novels!
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
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Set in an alternate 1800s Paris, The Gilded Wolves features a complex magic system and an incredible history! The writing is delectable and readers will be a nervous trainwreck throughout the whirlwind of robberies, heists, and constant danger. Doesn’t that sound fun?
Still unconvinced? Well the book also features a group of disaster children who come together to be an adorable but found family. Bonus point is there is diversity here, there, and everywhere. There is an Indian dancer with a hidden ability, an autistic Jewish prodigy with ambitions of her own, a chaotic bisexual Slytherin, and a Filipino/Spanish bisexual history geek. Can you hear my heart explode with happiness?
Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo
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There are badass females, wonderfully written female friendships, dialogues with 300% sass, and action scenes that will make the reader jump around!
Leigh Bardugo being an absolute queen can write so much diversity into a single book and not have it feel like diversity for the sake of ticking the boxes. The Amazonians themselves are so wonderfully diverse. Then there’s Alia who has a Greek father and an African-American mother, Nim has Indian roots and is bi, and Theo is a nerdy Mediterranean guy who is just so endearing.
As the rule is with any Bardugo book, this book will make you laugh, cry, and all the while root for the lovely band of misfits.
Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker
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Mooncakes is a perfect mix of magic, witchcraft, casual diversity, warm fuzzy feels, and adorable art. Books with modern witches are the aesthetic the whole of Tumblr is screaming for. The lovely graphic novel delivers all that and more; the cherry on the top being the beautiful art.
The main character Nova is Chinese-American, queer, and lives with her badass and super sweet grandmothers who are a couple. And they’re a family of witches! They run a bookshop that also sells witchcraft books. There are books that bite, archdemons, spell inventing, cute spirits in the forest, and more!
Tam is Nova’s non-binary Chinese-American crush from her childhood and they’re just super adorable and cute. Also Nova has a hearing disability and wears hearing aids and I loved how the book acknowledges the trouble she has with them.
Witches of Ash and Ruin by E. Latimer
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Here is another book with modern witches, but one that is a lot darker than Mooncakes. An urban fantasy with Celtic mythology, it mainly follows Dayna who suffers from somatic OCD as a result of being outed as bisexual in her conservative Irish town where her father is the Reverend.
Buying potion ingredients after school, discussing schoolwork while brewing potions, wearing good luck charms to school; the modern witch aesthetic speaks to my soul.
The story deals with a lot of different friendships and relationships; both good and bad and it has multiple morally grey characters making the character dynamics all the more interesting. It is a super diverse and witchy book replete with badass females, found families, and a fair share of mythology.
Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova
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Once again we have another witchy novel, this time with brujas, Deadthday celebrations, and magical lands between the dead and the living. Most, if not all, characters are PoC plus we have a bisexual protagonist and a lesbian main character.
There are so many characters in the story and each had their own voice, you could never mistake one for another. The imagery is beautiful and the world building is on point. The world of Labyrinth Lost is so interesting and complex that you’d get sucked in at page one, right off the bat.
It’s a well written wonderfully diverse story with memorable characters who’ll stay with you long after you’ve closed the book. If you love adventures across new realms and enjoy reading about sassy and interesting characters, this book is for you.
Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis
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Fun fact – the author, Corinne Duyvis, is the one who first came up with the term and the hashtag #OwnVoices on Twitter!
This book deserves applause for the beautifully diverse characters the author has created. There is so much racial, sexual, and ethnic diversity in this book, but this is not an “issue” book. This is a book with well-written characters who just happen to be wonderfully diverse.
Amara, the female protagonist is mute (due to having her tongue removed as a child). Nolan, the male protagonist, has a prosthetic leg and suffers from ‘seizures’ when he is sucked into Amara’s world. They are uniquely bound to each other despite living in two different worlds. The plot is about how they deal with this connection while also handling their respective problems in their own worlds.
Unique, diverse, and engaging, it’s a standalone that’s not to be missed.
Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older
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This is an urban fantasy about an artist finding out about her family’s magical history and trying to understand her powers. The best part of the book is undoubtedly the magic using which art can be brought to life.
Sierra Santiago finds the street art around her locality fading and moving, making her dig a little deeper into what happened to her grandfather all those years ago before he became almost comatose. There is Caribbean magic, Spanish customs, and all the diversity that comes with being in a cosmopolitan Brooklyn.
The book is fast-paced; like breakneck fast and the plot jumpstarts from literally the first line. It’s a solid first book introducing us to a diverse cast of characters, a wonderful magic system, and leaves readers asking for more.
Elysium Girls by Kate Pentecost
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A walled city surrounded by the desert of sand and steel, watched by Life and Death. That would be an underrated and simplistic way of describing it. Elysium is the city the two sisters, Life and Death are betting over. They are betting over it’s survival in the harshest conditions trying to tip the scales in their favour by using their wildcard.
Author Kate Pentecost plays with tropes, teases us with the idea of cliche tropes but before we can groan about it, she reinvents the whole trope and gives us something unique. There is Sal, the orphaned main character who is something of an outsider within Elysium. There is Asa, the demon in human form, something of a chosen one, a wildcard who appears pretty much out of nowhere at the Elysium. There is so much chance this could have been “orphan girl meets mysterious stranger boy and goes lovey eyed”. Readers almost expect that to happen but the brilliant story teller that is Pentecost turns it all around and if you want to know exactly what she does; READ. THE. BOOK.
Scavenge The Stars by Tara Sim
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Scavenge The Stars is a genderbent retelling of the Count of Monte Cristo! The protagonist Amaya is Indian and has been sold into servitude on a debtor ship but, when she accidentally rescues a stranger, she becomes entangled in a dark mystery; one that might just help her exact revenge for the way her family was wronged. The other protagonist, our hot mess Cayo is East Asian and as the author mentions in her mood board on Twitter; a chaotic bisexual.
Tara Sim takes a classic story and turns it into something altogether new. Scavenge the Stars may be a story of revenge, but it deals with so much more. If you love diverse characters, flawed protagonists, endearing secondary characters, and a dash of political intrigue, this is the book for you.
Dark and Deepest Red by Anna-Marie McLemore
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A retelling of both the age old fairytale Red Shoes and the very real historical epidemic of 1518’s dancing plague, this is a super unique and utterly enchanting story of prejudice, knowing your roots, and friendships.
The story switches between Strasbourg in 1518 and the current day, exactly five centuries later. In 1518, Lavinia and her little family fall under the suspicion of having caused the dancing plague and in the current day Rosella Oliva is stuck with red shoes that make her dance and won’t come off her feet.
As with all of Anna-Marie McLemore’s books, this too is beautifully diverse in every which way. Rosella and Emil in current day are dealing with their family histories and Romani culture in their own way while Lavinia and Alifair and dealing with being Romani and queer in 1518. The story deals with a lot – racism, oppression, and seclusion of those whom the society deems as “other”, but it also deals with staying true to who you are and standing up against a society that tries to erase you.
