The increase in YA Fantasy books with Black protagonists in recent years is a very very very good thing. I think it’s so important to read books from cultures and points of views different from your own, and it’s so so so important for every girl and boy out there to feel represented somewhere in books. It warms my heart to think of all the Black girls, boys, women, men, who are inspired by reading fantasy stories starring people who look like them. That’s the kind of power YA Fantasy books with Black protagonists can hold, ignite the imagination to new possibilities and reveal innate strengths.
If you are looking to read more YA Fantasy books with Black protagonists, I have some suggestions below on books with dynamic characters that will inspire you, thrilling plots that will keep you turning the page, and brilliant magic that will set your imagination on fire.
Children of Blood and Bone
By Tomi Adeyemi
The soil of Orïsha once hummed with magic. But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope. Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.
A Song of Wraiths and Ruin
By Roseanne A. Brown
Malik and his sisters seek a new life at the Solstasia festival in the prosperous desert city of Ziran. But when a vengeful spirit abducts Malik’s younger sister, Nadia, Malik agrees to kill Karina, Crown Princess of Ziran, for Nadia’s freedom. Karina’s mother, the Sultana, has been assassinated. Grief-stricken, Karina decides to resurrect her mother through ancient magic requiring the heart of a king, so she offers her hand in marriage to the victor of the Solstasia competition. When Malik rigs his way into the contest, they are set on a course to destroy each other. But as attraction flares between them and ancient evils stir, will they be able to see their tasks to the death?
The Blood Spell
By C.J. Redwine
Blue de la Cour must hide her magic while trying to turn metal into gold so she can help her city’s homeless. But when her father is murdered and a cruel woman claims custody of Blue, one wrong move could expose her. The only one who can help? The boy she’s loathed since childhood: Prince Kellan. Kellan must find a bride among the kingdom’s head families. But he’s surprised to discover that the one person who makes him feel like he can breathe is Blue, the girl who once ruined all his best adventures. When mysterious forces lead to disappearances, Blue and Kellan must work together to find the truth. What they discover leads them to the darkest reaches of the kingdom, and to the most painful moments of their pasts.
A Song Below Water
By Bethany C. Morrow
Tavia is forced to keep her siren identity under wraps in a society that wants to keep her kind under lock and key. She’s also in Portland, Oregon, a city with only a handful of black folk and even fewer with magical powers. At least she has her bestie Effie by her side as they tackle life together. But everything changes in the aftermath of a siren murder trial that rocks the nation; the girls’ favorite Internet fashion icon reveals she’s also a siren, and the news rips through their community. Tensions escalate when Effie starts being haunted by demons from her past, and Tavia accidentally lets out her magical voice during a police stop. No secret seems safe anymore—soon Portland won’t be either.
The Gilded Ones
By Namina Forna
Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. Deka prays for red blood so she can finally feel like she belongs. But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity. A mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. Deka decides to leave the only life she’s ever known. But as she journeys to the capital to train for the biggest battle of her life, she will discover that the great walled city holds many surprises. Nothing and no one are quite what they seem to be–not even Deka herself.
Kingdom of Souls
By Rena Barron
Heir to two lines of powerful witchdoctors, Arrah yearns for magic of her own. Yet she fails at bone magic, fails to call upon her ancestors, and fails to live up to her family’s legacy. She fears she may never be good enough. But when the Kingdom’s children begin to disappear, Arrah is desperate enough to turn to a forbidden, dangerous ritual. If she has no magic of her own, she’ll have to buy it—by trading away years of her own life. Arrah’s borrowed power reveals a nightmarish betrayal and a rising tide of darkness that threatens to consume her and all those she loves.
Legendborn
By Tracy Deonn
After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus. A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students hunt the creatures down. And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw. The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth.
Raybearer
By Jordan Ifueko
Tarisai has always longed for the warmth of a family. She was raised in isolation by a mysterious, often absent mother known only as The Lady. The Lady sends her to the capital of the global empire of Aritsar to compete with other children to be chosen as one of the Crown Prince’s Council of 11. If she’s picked, she’ll be joined with the other Council members through the Ray, a bond deeper than blood. That closeness is irresistible to Tarisai, who has always wanted to belong somewhere. But there’s a magical wish that Tarisai is compelled to obey: Kill the Crown Prince once she gains his trust.
Blood Like Magic
By Liselle Sambury
After years of waiting for her Calling—a trial a witch must pass to obtain their powers—the one thing Voya Thomas didn’t expect was to fail. When Voya’s ancestor gives her a second chance to complete her Calling, she agrees—and then is horrified when her task is to kill her first love. And this time, failure means every Thomas witch will be stripped of their magic.
Voya is determined to save her family’s magic no matter the cost. The problem is, Voya has never been in love, so for her to succeed, she’ll first have to find the perfect guy—and fast. Her plan is to join a new genetic matchmaking program, fall in love, and complete her task before the deadline. What she doesn’t count on is being paired with Luc—a guy who wants nothing to do with her.
Wings of Ebony
By J. Elle
When Rue’s mother is shot dead on her doorstep, life for her and her younger sister changes forever. Rue’s taken from her neighborhood by the father she never knew, forced to leave her little sister behind, and whisked away to a hidden island of magic wielders. Rue is the only half-god, half-human there, where leaders protect their magical powers at all costs and thrive on human suffering. Miserable and desperate to see her sister on the anniversary of their mother’s death, Rue breaks Ghizon’s sacred Do Not Leave Law and returns to Houston, only to discover that Black kids are being forced into crime and violence. And her sister, Tasha, is in danger of falling sway to the very forces that claimed their mother’s life.
Evidence mounts that the evil plaguing East Row is the same one that lurks on the island—an evil that will stop at nothing until it has stolen everything from her and everyone she loves.
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