The Black Mage

I loved how strong of a message this book has with a slew of fun bits and action. Highly recommended.

Arc provided by Netgalley!

This was so EPIC! This was a story of Racism, Slavery, and Injustices towards people of color with a Harry Potter twist. It was funny and action packed while also being some what educational.

Pros

— The art style reminded me of the old manga i used to read when I was younger.
— The characters, Tom and Lindsay were so RAD! But my fave has to be Tom's Crow.... JIM. He came in clutch a lot.
— The humor!! I L A U G H ED by butt off while reading this. The little bit of sarcasm sprinkled in by Tom were truly hilarious.
— The action scenes WERE SO RAD YOOOOO!
— I loved the historical twist it had, come on it had Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglas whoopin' some KKK butt!!

Cons

— I personally wished we would've gotten more of the back story and more world building. It felt like it was volume 2 in a series. It didn't explain the world much at all. I loved the action scenes but I wished we would've gotten more time in the school. This would've been better if it was a bit longer to build the story up a bit more. Which is why I'm settling on giving this a 3.5/5 stars. A great a solid story over all.

Final Thoughts

All in all I really enjoyed my time reading this and I will be making my siblings read it too lol. I think its a fun way to teach a kids/teens about how awful racism is. Also for black kids to see themselves as the hero of a story which is SUPER important.

Arc provided by Netgalley!

This was so EPIC! This was a story of Racism, Slavery, and Injustices towards people of color with a Harry Potter twist. It was funny and action packed while also being some what educational.

Pros

— The art style reminded me of the old manga i used to read when I was younger.
— The characters, Tom and Lindsay were so RAD! But my fave has to be Tom's Crow.... JIM. He came in clutch a lot.
— The humor!! I L A U G H ED by butt off while reading this. The little bit of sarcasm sprinkled in by Tom were truly hilarious.
— The action scenes WERE SO RAD YOOOOO!
— I loved the historical twist it had, come on it had Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglas whoopin' some KKK butt!!

Cons

— I personally wished we would've gotten more of the back story and more world building. It felt like it was volume 2 in a series. It didn't explain the world much at all. I loved the action scenes but I wished we would've gotten more time in the school. This would've been better if it was a bit longer to build the story up a bit more. Which is why I'm settling on giving this a 3.5/5 stars. A great a solid story over all.

Final Thoughts

All in all I really enjoyed my time reading this and I will be making my siblings read it too lol. I think its a fun way to teach a kids/teens about how awful racism is. Also for black kids to see themselves as the hero of a story which is SUPER important.