Besides being the nicest author online, she also writes super exciting books. I really loved the different spin on magic provided in Wings of Ebony.

I had the pleasure of being apart of the street team for this book and I’m beyond excited for what this book has done

Yes, yes, yes!

This book was a perfect Fantasy! The author was able to combine modern culture with fantasy effortlessly. Everything was done so well, the world building, the plot pacing, character development.

Finished it for the sake of finishing it.

There were some moments that kinda grabbed my attention, mostly when Rue interacted with her father. But nothing really stuck with me. I powered through it but I've thought about putting it on the DNF pile so many times. I felt like I was zoning out for most of it. If you ask me to talk about this book/describe the magic or the world, I will not be able to tell you anything and I really tried to focus.

The main character has so many issues to deal with and there's suddenly romance? It was RIDICULOUSLY UNNECESSARY and I'm one of those who, most of the time, enjoys romance in YA Fantasy novels.

I love flashbacks. It doesn't matter if I'm reading about it or watching it, I just love flashbacks. However, I felt no enjoyment with the flashbacks in Wings of Ebony. They just felt out of place.

I will not be reading the next book.

“Moms raised diamonds.”
“And diamonds don’t crack.”

This book was such a fun time as well as a bit emotional as I connected to a tough part in it. I liked Rue as a character, who’s constant thought was to always protect her sister. There were times when her character flaws of being stubborn or not communicating well upset me but thinking of her age and what she had been though, I did sympathize with her. That still didn’t stop the thoughts that some of her problems would have been solved with better communication. She was a flawed character who at times infuriated me but she tried to do what she thought was right and didn’t lose sight of who she was.

I thought the side characters were well written with one my favorites being Rue’s best friend, Bri. Bri was a rule follower, although she did tip toe that line at times. My love for her grew when something she’d always believed to be true was outed as a lie, and her reaction to it was emotional yet true.

One of my favorite parts of the book was the stand that was taken to the blatant racism many of the characters faced. This wasn’t something shied away from and I liked that.
I also enjoyed the magic system the Ghizonians had although I would have loved to delve more into it. There are so many questions I have about that that hopefully will be answered in book 2.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster, Denene Milner Books, and Netgalley for a copy of the book!

This was a very unique genre. The book was well written with characters that made you turn every page. I can’t wait to read more from this author!

I received a free electronic copy for honest review from the publisher. Thanks so much to them for letting me read it. I read a physical copy through my library.
I didn't really like this. I feel a little bad, because I wanted to like this, but I just didn't really have a fun time.
One of my big problems was the order in which the story was told. The synopsis has the way the story should have played out, in my opinion. We meet up with Rue, her mother is murdered, she meets a father she's never known, she learns she's half-magic, she's whisked off to her father's world of Ghizon, and then the rest of the plot continues. That makes sense to me. That would have made for a more enjoyable story. Instead, we begin a year after everything has happened with Rue sneaking back to her old neighborhood to secretly check in with her sister. Rue is given rules that she's not to let her sister know she's there, and she can't touch her sister or the secret of Ghizon will be revealed to her, which would put her in danger. Rue proceeds to not follow any of these rules and then everybody's in trouble.
We never really got to know any of the ins and outs of Ghizon because there wasn't really any world-building there.
I didn't really enjoy Rue. She's very impulsive, which causes a lot of problems in this book. She can also be a little useless. She thinks her way is the only way. She's not very nice to the people that are trying to help her. She definitely doesn't give her father a chance. It seems like the whole year she was in Ghizon, she skipped all her classes and just listened to her earbuds all the time. I just wasn't that impressed with her.
She was unfair to her friend Bri, who spent the whole book just trying to help her.
It does have a fast-paced plot that was interesting to follow.
There's an evil Chancellor guy. There's secrets when it comes to Ghizon.
I didn't really, fully understand everything about the magic, because it wasn't explained. It was just kind of there.
I don't know if there's supposed to be a love triangle thing happening in this. It was rushed.
The ending was pretty abrupt. It just felt like a set up for the next book.
This book had some cool ideas, I just didn't like how it was executed. I wanted to like this more than I actually did.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3/5
ehh

Wings of Ebony was a surprise read for me because I have read a lot of YA fantasy and, they have earthier, been basic, or amazing. For me, Wings of Ebony was unique, and I enjoyed it.
Rue is half-god, half-human, and is desperate to see her sister on the anniversary of their mother’s death. In a world where leaders protect their magical powers at any cost even thrive on human suffering. Rue breaks the rules of Ghizon to go see her sister, only to find that black kids are being forced into crime and violence. And her sister could be in danger. The evil that is threatening her sister, and the humans, is the same that is lurking in Ghizon. Rue must embrace her roots, to not only save her sister but the neighborhood before the gods burn it.
At first, I wasn't sure where this story was going but after the first part, I fell in love with this one-of-a-kind world. Rue is a strong, stubborn, yet passionate character who develops throughout the pages.
This book covers many topics like colonization, racism, stereotypes, and more important issues. Even though I love this world, I know it is not fully fleshed out but, I had enough into that I easily understood what was going on and didn't feel like anything was missing.
This is a mashup of contemporary and fantasy, hard-hitting, read with an intense ending.

I am disappointed with this book. I was expecting one thing and received another. It had potential but it was not well written.

Wings of Ebony is an YA and Urban fantasy novel with social commentary.. After her mother is shot and killed, Rue is taken by the father she never knew and forced to leave her little sister in order to live on a hidden island known as Ghizon where magic is real. Rue is a fierce Black female character who stands up for her community and her people. There's concepts in the book such as loss, corruption and racism.

This is a solid debut. The strengths of the book are that it is unapologetically Black and gets better and better as it goes on. The weakness is mostly in the world building: this is hardcore in media res and it's tough to build a world when so much is happening fast, AND add in a main character who is very angry at being pulled from her life, reluctant AND othered in her new world? It's a lot. About 40% in, it's pretty clear what Rue knows and doesn't about magic, but that's a long time for readers (especially ones who like magical worlds laid out for them); I can see why you've got some pretty polarized reviews going on with this title. But I do think it's worth jumping in and letting yourself not know till you know. The book gets there and the story itself more than makes up for a little initial confusion. Looking forward to the second.

I can see why most readers would find this book appealing, but it stressed me out almost immediately. I'd definitely recommend it to teens and adults looking for unique fantasy books, but not for me personally.

This book was on my radar since I read the Rights Report for it. All I needed to see were the words, “Wonder Woman” and “The Hate U Give” together and I was done for. I had so many high expectations for this, and it almost met them all.

Rue and her sister were just girls when their mother died on their front stoop. Rue’s father comes out the woodwork to take her back to where he’s been, the magic island Ghizon. As it turns out, Rue is half god half human and nearly everyone there possess magical powers. But Rue is still upset that she left her sister behind. She goes back to visit and opens up a can of complications she was never expecting.

I had some issues with this, but overall it was still a great read. Even the things I didn’t like about it were small. For instance, I wasn’t a fan of the plot. It seemed to be EXACTLY what it said on the synopsis. If you know me, you know I’m not a fan of that. It just basically tells me what the entire book is about. And for this one, it basically does, until the end.

I also wasn’t a fan of the world-building. It just didn’t stand out to me. I wanted to see the difference between worlds and it just wasn’t shown. And there was so much potential. Especially when the magic was being explained… It was a bit of an info-dump. It could have been a setting for telling a bit more about the other world besides the onyx balls. I just thought there could have been more about the world we could have learned.

As for everything else, I thought it was pretty cool. The magic system was the most interesting. The orbs and the cuffs, they were a little confusing at some points, but they way they worked was pretty cool. It really made me want to see how they would actually be fused to the wrist as well as how big they were, etc. I definitely want to try using some of those onyx balls myself.

I also really liked the underlying message of this. As a matter of fact, this is what made this book. It’s not everyday that you find a fantasy book with African American characters or one that incorporates racism with the magic world. In all the time I’ve been reading, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. This was so unique and I loved that about it.

The ending itself was crazy. It had so much going on. I had to go back and rewind a couple of times to make sure I didn’t miss anything. The next book will be crazy because the one person that they’re looking for was a major player in this one. I can’t wait to see if they are brought to justice soon!

This book wasn’t exactly everything I imagined, but it was close enough. It was an interesting start to this series. It’s going to be so hard to wait for the next one to come out!

I loved this sorry of *literal* black girl magic! It was unlike anything I’ve read before, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I have already purchased this book for the library. I personally didn’t love it. The writing felt a bit unedited and rough but the story is very good. Very happy to add this to the library collection.

I really enjoyed the characters but unfortunately the exposition was too quick so I felt thrown into the fantasy world without understanding it. I was confused for a lot of my reading time due to the rushed and spare world building. Still a great book, which I enjoyed largely due to the characters and sister relationship, but the fantasy was underwhelming.

Wings Of Ebony is a fun read that really takes you on a journey. I love the Black Girl Magic element of the book and the plot and characters!

Wings of Ebony was a fast-paced read with magic and Black Girl Magic! The beginning was a bit confusing as you grew accustomed to the new magical rues and world along with Rue, and the end was a bit too rushed and left open-ended (hopefully or a sequel). Rue's character and voice were distinct and full of life, feeling like the realistic thoughts of a teenage Black girl. I really enjoyed the book overall and hope to read more of the world in the future.

It took me a hot second to get into this but once I did I couldn't stop. I love how J.Elle mixes the real life and fantasy aspects of the story. I love Rue and the bravery she shows even when she has doubts about herself and her place in the two societies she is straddling.

3/5 Stars

** I received this as an E-ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review, Thank you!**

So this took me a while to get through. I couldn't seem to connect to the story. I kept putting it down and then not wanting to pick it back up. The book itself just wasn't grabbing my attention. This being said it had nothing to do with the writing because I did enjoy it, I just didn't love it. This is very much a personal issue, I just don't think I was focused enough on the book. I do think this is still a creative and interesting idea. I will for sure be giving this a re-read in the future, I feel like I would really enjoy this in the right mood. I can also see people loving this book. Overall I would say if you are interested give it a read!