Book: Blackout by Dhonielle Clayton, Nic Stone, Tiffany D. Jackson, Ashley Woodfolk, Angie Thomas and Nicola Yoon
Read From: 23rd September - 28th September
Rating: 2/5 stars
Summary: When a heatwave plunges New York City into darkness, sparks fly for thirteen teenagers caught up in the blackout. A first meeting. Long-time friends. Bitter exes. And maybe the beginning of something new. When the lights go out, people reveal hidden truths. Love blossoms, friendship transforms, and new possibilities take flight.
I'm in the MASSIVE minority here by not getting on with this book, I'm so sorry to those who adored it but it really just wasn't for me! I think it may have been because this is an anthology - giving me snippets of characters rather than having the time to fully connect with them and their stories. However, that being said I'm so glad, and it's so important, that this book exists for young black teens. And there was so much diversity within the various stores too - there's a wlw story, a mlm story as well as references to same-sex parents and a non-binary character. It was amazing to see this LGBTQ+ rep included so casually, especially considering the target audience for this book!
I haven't read any of Dhonielle Clayton's or Ashley Woodfolk's books, but I know first hand that Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas and Nicola Yoon are all amazing writers. I was aware before going in that several groups of interconnected teenagers all falling in love around the same time wasn’t going to be the most realistic, and it wasn’t this that I had a problem with. Instead, I think it was more the execution that didn’t hit the mark for me. Which was such a shame as I, like many others, had such high expectations going into this!
For example, I didn't like how the characters didn't come full circle at the end. It would have been so easy for a paragraph or even a couple of sentences to be included, especially as most of them were heading to the same place. The lack of this meant that some of my favourite stories within this anthology (such as Mask Off and Made To Fit) ended pretty abruptly. In contrast, The Long Walk was split up into 5 different acts, which not only made that story feel a little disjointed but also made me wonder why that specific story was getting more attention than the others. I thought that maybe if we kept revisiting The Long Walk, we would also be able to revisit some of the other characters too.
There were also a few questionable parts which didn't really make sense to me. No Sleep til Brooklyn was probably the most confusing of the bunch - I didn't really understand the need for such a pointless love square when that wasn't really related to the moral of the story. And the main character made such a big deal out of it, only to then resolve it after one small conversation which I guess just didn't fit with the build-up of the character we got to know. It's a shame this wasn't executed differently because I think the message of this story was so important, which makes me so sad to write because I LOVE Angie Thomas!
The Seymour and Grace story was also a little TOO insta-love for my liking where the character has a random 'epiphany' moment and the romance that blossomed as a result seemed more out of convenience than anything else. You all know by now that insta-love really isn't my thing, but there were some stories in this book where it was done really well and I could appreciate it (like Made To Fit which ended up being one of my favourites)!
Even though I didn't get on with this, I'd still recommend it. Like I said, I'm very much in the minority here and I think this reading experience has taught me to avoid picking up anthologies in future. It's an important read focusing on black love, with amazing LGBTQ+ rep. I'm sad I didn't love it but it goes without saying that I'm still going to read most, if not all, future books released (individually, of course) by these authors!