Reviews

I loved Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse and was hoping to get something else to love. I did however not love this novella. The setting is a sort of steampunk wild west in which the ruling class are Divine Virtues, and they are exploiting the Fallen. The Fallen in turn are their miners as they can find Divinity, a source of power, in mines. So far interesting enough. However, that's about all the world building you get. This could have been amazing fully fleshed out, but with the little exposition you get, it mostly left me frustrated and confused. On top of that the main character Celeste was irredeemable for me. Celeste can pass as a non-Fallen and works at a saloon, together with her sister Mariel. But Mariel is found with the body of a dead Virtue. Celeste gets permission to be the diabolus advocatus for her sister because she believes she's not guilty.

In the course of her investigation, Celeste does a lot of frustrating things, and I just could not get behind it, even knowing that this is Roanhorse's attempt a playing with the 'tragic mulatto' trope. Interesting concept, but fell flat for me.

meganstreb's review

Go to review page

slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Some great elements in here for fantastic world building, so I might check out her other stuff, but this novella is too short to explore them (or she packed too much in and went for breadth over depth). I feel like this would be a good .5 book once a series is established.

dvmz00's review

Go to review page

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

sandgoblin's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i WILL be reading this again and again because 1 it's a beautiful bite sized treat and 2 i would like to punch about half of these people

huntea's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

plandocalrisian's review

Go to review page

4.0

This is a fantasy murder mystery story focused on morality and self-destructive devotion. It raises the question of "how far would you go for a loved one?" - when it might mean to stop living your own life even when your perception of the loved one might be skewed because of who they are to you and what you think you might owe them. I found this very relatable, especially since it's centered around sisterly love. The ability to explore unconditional love, loyalty and the hierarchal structures of love in a novella was amazing. Celeste might have made purposeful excuses to get out of a relationship she never truly wanted (up for interpretation), but she put her sister in front of her own happiness when her sister might not have returned that consideration.

The world is centered around angels/demons and the class politics and prejudices that surround it.

I also enjoyed some greek myth tie-ins/references.

For fans of Good Omens, wild west fantasies, and stories with antiheroes/antiheroines.

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for the chance to read this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

chrisleesounds's review

Go to review page

4.0

This novella was so interesting. Without knowing Rebecca Roanhorse’s background, as I was reading this book, I knew one thing was true: she had to have a vast Judeo-Christian biblical knowledge. Then I found out in the acknowledgements that she has a masters from a theological seminary, and I wasn’t shocked.

This is a quirky mythical narrative that uses lots of deep cut Biblical references. While I was very interested even before this book’s release, I gave it 4 stars. It’s probable that I gave it 4 ⭐️ simply out of preference—there were times it was just a little dark for me. That’s is a little funny to say because the blurb is clear what I was getting into. However, still worth the read.

More...