Gorgeous imagery, intriguing storyline, with an eye-opening look at what beauty truly means.
This book has been high on my radar ever since it started making its rounds on social media. A fantasy in a market that’s already saturated with books and ideas and it’s immediately clear that Dhonielle Clayton is bringing something new and fresh to the table by offering not only a fresh perspective in terms of the message(s) this book promises to convey, but also because the main character is someone that readers don’t see nearly enough in mainstream YA fantasy - a woman of color.
Diversity has long been a hot-button topic in the world of YA, with many, many of us championing the need for inclusion of characters other than white characters, and most importantly - PoC as MAIN characters. Young adult books are so incredibly important for teens and young adults because they give teens an opportunity to find themselves in a book, to finally see someone like them on the pages, and I’m thrilled that slowly, but surely, authors of color are finally getting the opportunities and the attention they should have been getting from the beginning in order to bring books to young adults that include the diversity we so badly need.
Just from this tiny sample, I can see Dhonielle’s gorgeous writing and her beautiful imagery jumping off the page. The only thing better than a well-written, diverse book is one with prose that mirrors the beauty of the story, and I have high hopes that The Belles will deliver exactly that. I’m also thrilled to see that this book also dives into to real world issues, such as gender equality and racism, and all of the above have made this book one of my most-anticipated 2018 releases.
Diversity has long been a hot-button topic in the world of YA, with many, many of us championing the need for inclusion of characters other than white characters, and most importantly - PoC as MAIN characters. Young adult books are so incredibly important for teens and young adults because they give teens an opportunity to find themselves in a book, to finally see someone like them on the pages, and I’m thrilled that slowly, but surely, authors of color are finally getting the opportunities and the attention they should have been getting from the beginning in order to bring books to young adults that include the diversity we so badly need.
Just from this tiny sample, I can see Dhonielle’s gorgeous writing and her beautiful imagery jumping off the page. The only thing better than a well-written, diverse book is one with prose that mirrors the beauty of the story, and I have high hopes that The Belles will deliver exactly that. I’m also thrilled to see that this book also dives into to real world issues, such as gender equality and racism, and all of the above have made this book one of my most-anticipated 2018 releases.