A Universe of Wishes

A Universe of Wishes: A We Need Diverse Books Anthology by Dhonielle Clayton

This is a wonderful collection of stories. Some were from worlds and characters that were familiar to me, others I hadn't met before. Some had a distinct beginning middle and end, others read more like vignettes. Some were light hearted and others a bit heavier, but the thing they all had in common was that they made me happy reading them.

The diversity of characters and the representation from OwnVoice authors was a huge part of the appeal of this book for me, and in reading it I was delighted at how fresh and interesting each story felt. It's such a well-rounded collection in both writing styles and representation.

My personal favorites were probably the title story A Universe of Wishes, a moving love story between an orphan and a boy who works at a morgue with just a little bit of dark magic, as well as V.E. Schwab's A Royal Affair featuring Alucard Emery and Rhy Maresh, with a couple moments of Kell, of course. Obviously in an anthology like this, one of the best aspects is that everyone will have different favorites and stories that grab their interest. This is the first 'We Need Diverse Books' anthology that I've read, but I'm likely to seek out the others because it was just so perfect for quick little escapes into wonderful fantasy worlds AND for finding new-to-me authors to follow.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.