Reviews

The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero Lacruz

simplevon's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

4.0

windowplant's review against another edition

The world was too complicated and it was hard to keep the characters straight in my memory.

helenateixeira's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted relaxing 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

3.25

spitfire's review

adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

kaelstrom's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

All the ideas were there, but none of it landed. I was apathetic to the characters the whole time. Javier’s reveal would have been better to have known from the start, though he didn’t have a robust personality either way.

becasaur27's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.25

The final quarter of this book really drew me in, but overall this one was just not for me. The pacing wasn't right for me. My reading experience was further complicated by having the physical book - it's a big, long, intimidating (?) book and I prefer my e-reader, especially for longer works like this one. I struggled a bit keeping characters straight due to the unconventional (to me) naming. And trying to figure out the relationships when the names were a bit tricky was even more difficult.

I felt that the ending, with Ches coming back into the picture, was a bit out of the blue. Reina had been serving Ches's rival and now suddenly she's the agent of Ches and has been all along, but she hasn't really been because she's literally been hunting down women and sacrificing babies? IDK just seemed like we needed to see some realization/more work on her part.

charlihammond's review against another edition

4.0

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advance copy.

I should preface this that I am only just starting to ready fantasy fiction so am by no means an expert.

The cover for this book is so aesthetically pleasing and drew me in. I was also excited by the setting of the story.

The first 25% of the book as we are getting know Reina and Eva I was quite confused. I struggle to picture characters and was struggling to work out what all the different types of forms they were. Also the names all being Dona or Don confused me. I found the glossary around this point which helped me picture them all moving forward.

I enjoyed the dual point of view throughout from Reina and from Eva. I definitely preferred Eva's point of you as I felt her character was more likeable.

The author does a great job of describing the action scenes especially the fights with the tinieblas.

Although the chapters are very long the story did pick up pace and I was intrigued to see where it went. I really liked how all the threads that had been weaved throughout came together at the end.

Overall it was a slow start but a beautifully written, enjoyable book.

percym03's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.25

corallydeer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Although the beginning was kind of slow for me I enjoyed this book by the end. The fantasy elements were unique and explored in a racial way that I don't see too often. The extent of the portrayals for racism and religious bigotry was often quite sobering and a bit tough to get through, but it felt worthwhile by the end. It was also a bit tough, at first, to sympathize or relate to the characters since many of their situations felt so dire and the choices they had to make so manipulated, but by the end of the book I really rooted for the main group. They all grew in really great ways and I wanted so many of them to achieve real happiness and freedom from their abusive origins.

I will say, as someone who doesn't speak/know a lick of Spanish, that I made sure to pair the book with the audiobook so that I could hear how words and names were pronounced and I definitely think that was a 10/10 decision. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Violence, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, and Gore

Moderate: Racial slurs, Kidnapping, Cursing, Murder, Grief, and Blood

Minor: Misogyny, Slavery, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, and Colonisation

Child Abuse

(young babies are used to check if someone is a reincarnated wife of Rahamagut by being abandoned on a mountain and potentially left for dead)

| Death (of Parent(s) & Child)

(Doña Laurel and her baby pass away in childbirth; babies left on the mountain as mentioned in first tag; various dead relatives mentioned from the past or experienced through the course of the book)

| Domestic Abuse

(Javier physically abuses his wife, Eva, once they're married and treats her poorly once they're legally and magically bound)

| Gore

(attacks, especially from the tinieblas, are graphic)

| Pregnancy

(Doña Laurel becomes pregnant and labor is described somewhat graphically)

| Racism

(Reina and Eva are both mixed-race characters who experience open and hidden discrimination regularly)

| Religious Bigotry

(Eva deals with religious bigotry related to the fact that she's part valco; bigotry against those that don't follow the human's religion of saints; Eva's curandera mentor is burned alive for being a "witch")

| Violence

(Reina gets attacked by monsters; sword fighting training; valcos are known to scalp antlers from other valcos they best in battle)

| Blood

(moderate depictions of blood, gore descriptions are worse)

| Cursing & Racial Slurs

(moderate levels of cursing around the fantasy racial slurs)

| Grief

(moderate depictions of grief over lost loved ones, choices made, etc)

| Kidnapping

(Reina and Javier kidnap young girls to help with reincarnating Doña Laurel, but the process isn't described in too much detail)

| Murder

(Don Enrique openly kills a witness to their plans; Reina kills her grandmother; Reina's grandmother murder's seven of the nine wives)

| Colonization

(it's mentioned in passing that humans colonized Venazia, taking nozariels as slaves, valcos as warriors, and eradicating yares)

| Gun Violence

(mentioned in passing as part of a story)

| Homophobia

(not really outright, but insinuated here and there, and explained to be a colonizer mindset brought in related to the ability to produce heirs)

| Incest

(valcos are mentioned to have inter-bred for breed purity in passing)

| Misogyny

(Javier makes some remarks to Doña Laurel about her role being for breeding)

| Slavery

(slavery of other races used to be legal, but was outlawed so it's mentioned in passing somewhat frequently)

britt_zonnebloempit's review

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.75