ARC Review – A Universe of Wishes

From Goodreads:

From We Need Diverse Books, the organization behind Flying Lessons & Other Stories, comes a young adult fantasy short story collection featuring some of the best own-voices children’s authors, including New York Times bestselling authors Libba Bray (The Diviners), Victoria Schwab (A Darker Shade of Magic), Natalie C. Parker (Seafire), and many more. Edited by Dhonielle Clayton (The Belles).

In the fourth collaboration with We Need Diverse Books, fifteen award-winning and celebrated diverse authors deliver stories about a princess without need of a prince, a monster long misunderstood, memories that vanish with a spell, and voices that refuse to stay silent in the face of injustice. This powerful and inclusive collection contains a universe of wishes for a braver and more beautiful world.

AUTHORS INCLUDE: Samira Ahmed, Libba Bray, Dhonielle Clayton, Zoraida Córdova, Tessa Gratton, Kwame Mbalia, Anna-Marie McLemore, Tochi Onyebuchi, Mark Oshiro, Natalie C. Parker, Rebecca Roanhorse, Victoria Schwab, Tara Sim, Nic Stone, and a to-be-announced debut author/short-story contest winner

This is a fantastic mix of fantasy and sci-fi with romance and magic, disasters and joys. Honestly, each of the stories are so unique packed with interesting worldbuilding, intriguing characters. We have a real diverse mix. We have diversity from all spectrums, which can be safely assumed as it is a collection from We Need Diverse books.

We have extra stories from well known series from Libba Bray and V.E Schwab. Exciting sci-fi stories that jump into the action and really made me smile. There are heart-breaking stories of love and loss that were really emotional. Fantastic retellings of Cinderella and Rapunzel, dystopian and climate crisis nearfutures and others that were beyond fantastical exploring gorgeous worldbuilding.

Some favourites of mine: Liberia – Kwame Mbalia – So emotional Sci-fi about family, love and tradition Take back Tango – Rebecca Roanhorse – Space heist! Wish – Jenni Balch – Sci-fi djinn Unmoor – Mark Oshiro – very emotional, love and memory magic A universe of Wishes – Tara Sim – beautiful world building and romance