Reviews

I started off having a good time with this. The writing was pretty good and while the world building was fucking confusing to me at first, I was intrigued. But as this story progressed, I was over it.

The plot was slightly convoluted to me. Do not ask me anything about it.

The characters. What can I say about them except for the fact that they all make stupid decisions. This entire book is them making stupid decisions. I can excuse naivety, especially if a character has had a hard life and they’re lonely and desperate for family but my god Reina use your fucking brain for once. Actually, does anybody here even have a brain?

I also do not buy any of the relationships. Which is sad because I was so excited for a sapphic love triangle. But I did not feel any chemistry between Reina and Celeste.

Which makes sense of course because it’s revealed that they’re actually cousins! Which is just weird as fuck? I did not sign up for surprise incest but whatever I guess.

And then there’s Reina’s relationship with Maior. Which is also just there. Absolutely nothing to even say about that one because of how bland it is.

I will say I am absolutely in love with the fact that Eva is now able to control Javier and that she seems to have some of Rahmagut’s power. The only interesting thing in this entire book.

I’m also not the biggest fan of the writing. This felt very ya and I almost dnfed it several times because of it and honestly I should have. So that’s on me. The bad guys were just so over the top and little reveals throughout were so obvious.

Anyway, this unfortunately ended up being a waste of my time. For once, the goodreads average is correct.

meigothic's review against another edition

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2.0

Disclaimer: I received a review copy for free via NetGalley, but I am voluntarily leaving my honest review. Many thanks to the publisher, Orbit Books, and the author for the opportunity!

The Sun and the Void has a LOT going on here, and depending on how much worldbuilding and plot threads and characters you like in a read, that can be good or bad. For me, I love a lot of worldbuilding -- but I'm a firm believer that worldbuilding needs a strong cast to further bring it to life and see things through. Maybe it was just me, but I just couldn't really connect with a majority of the characters. And since I didn't connect with the characters that much, I also didn't really feel the romance subplots for any of them either. There wasn't really great buildup or chemistry, imo. Reina and Eva also felt a bit similar to each other, even if they definitely have different trajectories here.

I love a lot of the ideas present here, but the density of everything and the pacing in the execution kind of made this a hard read. We get plenty of details about the history and personalities of our main cast, and side characters as well. But even with all that, it couldn't quite grip me into the story and actual events that were playing out in the book. It's a shame because I do think this is a world I would absolutely love, and the magic seems pretty cool too! If things were a little tightened up, I think that would've made it more fun to read.

Overall, I loved the inspiration, aspects of the worldbuilding. The actual plot just didn't work for me, nor was I really invested when it came to the characters. But I would definitely try out another book by the author in the future.

phobis837's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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