Review: Women of Resistance

Read if you like: celebrations of femininity and diverse experiences & poems that make you equal parts understood and unknowable.

Women of Resistance: Poems For A New Feminism | Various Authors

Series: N/A

Genre: Poetry
Released: March 13th 2018
Pages: 204
Format: Ebook
Source: Publisher

A collection with a feminist ethos that cuts across race, gender identity, and sexuality.

Creative activists have reacted to the 2016 Presidential election in myriad ways. Editors Danielle Barnhart and Iris Mahan have drawn on their profound knowledge of the poetry scene to put together an extraordinary list of poets taking a feminist stance against the new authority. What began as an informal collaboration of like-minded poets—to be released as a handbound chapbook—has grown into something far more substantial and ambitious: a fully fledged anthology of women’s resistance, with a portion of proceeds supporting Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Representing the complexity and diversity of contemporary womanhood and bolstering the fight against racism, sexism, and violence, this collection unites powerful new writers, performers, and activists with established poets. Contributors include Elizabeth Acevedo, Sandra Beasley, Jericho Brown, Mahogany L. Browne, Danielle Chapman, Tyehimba Jess, Kimberly Johnson, Jacqueline Jones LaMon, Maureen N. McLane, Joyce Peseroff, Mary Ruefle, Trish Salah, Patricia Smith, Anne Waldman, and Rachel Zucker. 

A rousing collection of poems. As much a celebration of womanhood as it is a call to arms.

5 stars

Review: Wild Embers

Read if you like: poetry that will touch your heart and heal your weary soul.

Wild Embers | Nikita Gill

Genre: Poetry
Released: November 16th 2017
Pages: 160
Format: Ebook
Source: Publisher

They have lightning in their souls, thunder in their hearts, chaos in their bones.

Nikita Gill's poetry has captured hearts and minds all over the world; her inspirational words have been shared hundreds of thousands of times online, been plastered across placards on international women's marches and even transformed into tattoos. This collection will showcase mostly unseen poetry and prose, delving into ideas about passion, identity, empowerment and femininity.

Equal parts haunting and inspiring. I love these poems of self love, healing, and trauma. This is an essential book for anyone who has ever been broken or bruised. It will mend your heart and help you rebuild yourself

4 stars

Review: The Bloodprint

The Khorasan Archives: The Bloodprint | Ausma Zehanat Khan

Published by: Harper Voyager, October 3rd 2017

Genre: High Fantasy, Feminism

Pages: 448

Format: Ebook

Source: Harper Voyager, via Edelweiss

A dark power called the Talisman has risen in the land, born of ignorance and persecution. Led by a man known only known as the One-eyed Preacher, it is a cruel and terrifying movement bent on world domination—a superstitious patriarchy that suppresses knowledge and subjugates women. And it is growing.

But there are those who fight the Talisman's spread, including the Companions of Hira, a diverse group of influential women whose power derives from the Claim—the magic inherent in the words of a sacred scripture. Foremost among them is Arian and her apprentice, Sinnia, skilled warriors who are knowledgeable in the Claim. This daring pair have long stalked Talisman slave-chains, searching for clues and weapons to help them battle their enemy’s oppressive ways. Now, they may have discovered a miraculous symbol of hope that can destroy the One-eyed Preacher and his fervid followers: The Bloodprint, a dangerous text the Talisman has tried to erase from the world.

Finding a copy of The Bloodprint promises to be their most dangerous undertaking yet, an arduous journey that will lead them deep into Talisman territory. Though they will be helped by allies—a loyal ex-slave and Arian’s former confidante and sword master—both Arian and Sinnia know that this mission may well be their last. 

I had no idea what to expect of this, but it was about feminists against the patriarchy in a fantasy world so of course I was on board. But this book has so many facets, and I loved every one of them. 

Religion in a positive light! The Claim is written so well - both how it makes the people who use it feel and the wording itself. Such a clever way to fuse religion and magic. The characters didn't let me down either - the main character has dedicated herself to freeing women from slave chains, by using her magic and status as First Oralist, and I loved her so much for that. There's romance as well, which I love (Daniyar is so sweet, honestly, he'd better be okay in book two!) and Sinnia, another female character, is awesome too. I love how the ladies of this book interact.

There's so much to praise and talk about - the world, the writing, the politics, different inclusions of race, tribes, culture, gender, the patriarchy, and especially the treatment of women. It had the right amount of fantasy and magic too - everything was balanced. I want to read the next book!

Characters ★★★★☆

Setting/world ★★★★☆

Writing ★★★★☆

Review: Bone

Bone | Yrsa Daley-Ward

Published by: Penguin Books, September 26th 2017

Genre: Poetry

Pages: 176

Format: Ebook

Source: Penguin, via Netgalley

From the celebrated poet Yrsa Daley-Ward, a poignant collection of autobiographical poems about the heart, life, and the inner self. 
 
Bone. Visceral. Close to. Stark.
 
The poems in Yrsa Daley-Ward’s collection bone are exactly that: reflections on a particular life honed to their essence—so clear and pared-down, they become universal.
 
From navigating the oft competing worlds of religion and desire, to balancing society’s expectations with the raw experience of being a woman in the world; from detailing the experiences of growing up as a first generation black British woman, to working through situations of dependence and abuse; from finding solace in the echoing caverns of depression and loss, to exploring the vulnerability and redemption in falling in love, each of the raw and immediate poems in Daley-Ward’s bone resonate to the core of what it means to be human. 
 
“You will come away bruised. 
You will come away bruised
but this will give you poetry.”

I love this so much. This is one of those books I'm going to go back and read again and again. It's just so ... visceral, so real. It cuts right through the bullshit to the heart of everything - family, sex, relationships, femininity. I knew I would like this book but I really, really love it. It's one of those books that touches your soul. (Plus it's queer poetry, which I am ALWAYS looking for.)

Writing ★★★★★