Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

12 reviews

yourbookishbff's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

The full-cast audio production of Black Sun is phenomenal and I highly recommend! Each character felt so distinct, making this large cast of characters in rotating POV easy to follow. I loved the pacing of this story, the slow-burn countdown to Convergence blended with character flashbacks. It created a unique tension and building sense of dread. The chapter starts and excerpts from fictional historical accounts were so well done and added depth to the world building. I particularly loved the dynamic between Xiala and Serapio and was so grateful I could immediately jump into book two after that ending! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Ableism, Body horror, Medical content, Murder, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Abandonment, Torture, and Grief

Moderate: War and Genocide

itsbrianascall's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Violence, Grief, Body horror, Xenophobia, Murder, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, and Ableism

that_boi_eliza's review

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Suicide, Alcoholism, Blood, Violence, Xenophobia, and Alcohol

Moderate: Trafficking, Classism, Misogyny, Rape, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Animal death, Cursing, Gore, Drug use, and Death

Minor: Ableism and Confinement

nicnevin's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I found the book very interesting but some bits more interesting than others. Xiala and Serapio were my favourites tbh. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Confinement, Death, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Ableism, Alcohol, Animal death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Genocide, Religious bigotry, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Violence, and Xenophobia

lolajh's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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

5.0

Such a beautiful and interesting book that had each chapter being in a different place of the world in the book and a different point of view for each character, with the point of views being shown being Xiala (a queer woman), Serapio (a blind man) Naranpa (another queer woman) and a few minor chapters from Okoa’s point of view. 

Xiala was an amazing character to learn about throughout this book. A pirate captain who had to work hard to gain the respect of her peers due to her being a female captain as well as a Teek, which is a female-only race in this world. She is targeted by racism, sexism and homophobia and is very confident and accepting of all her identities. There are minor flings and attraction between her and women throughout the book, and the highlighted romance being between her and a man. Seeing a heterosexual relationship with queer characters was really interesting because of how different love is experienced compared to typical heterosexual relationships. Xiala is also so strong independent from her love interest with her own goals and ideals. Her character arc was wonderful and relatable. Loved it 

Serapio’s chapters were of great interest because of how the author describes his perception of the world being blind. This is done so well that when the chapter ends and switches to a different character I am still experiencing Serapio’s blindness and get confused on why appearances of things are being described because of how immersed and realistic his blindness is conveyed. Serapio’s disability also does not in any way weaken him; he is a strong physical fighter often underestimated by his opponents and him being able to see again is never a goal of his - it’s just accepted which was lovely to see.

Then Naranpa, my beautiful underrated queer ball of sunshine. In many reviews she is described as naive, which she can come across as at some points, but I just think she is a person trying to see the best in everyone and just has a lot of bad things happen to her. I love her very much. Naranpa’s chapters were also interesting because of her assassin ex-lover Iktan who is nonbinary and goes by xe/xir pronouns that are never disrespected by the characters except for

at the end where Okoa describes xir as a woman which I personally think took away a lot of xir character and I can’t really understand why the author decided to put that in

Iktan is  my absolute favourite character of this book. Xir character was so interesting because of how badass and talented and feared xe is and if ONLY we got an Iktan pov so I could know how xe thinks and seeing xir having a character arc with different ideals that aren’t just what Naranpa thinks xe is thinking. There were also several more nonbinary and trans characters in this book going by they/them or xe/xir. One of these characters, Powageh, explained xir identity as being a “third gender” which wasn’t my favourite wording of it as it puts a binary onto something that is literally not binary. Something like “neither man nor woman” would have been better phrasing, but gender can feel different for everyone and if “third gender” feels like the right wording for xir then to each their own. Anyway, still loved this book and the diversity of the poc and queer characters all in a fantasy and science fiction world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Torture, Blood, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Violence, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Transphobia

drinaiscold's review

adventurous 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Religious bigotry, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Classism, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, and Grief

Minor: Ableism, Misogyny, and Murder

sailorpulsar's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Suicide, War, Alcoholism, Ableism, and Homophobia

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

I really enjoyed this book and recommend it. The world building is amazing and the characters are so much fun. It was super fun reading from several characters' perspectives and anticipating their paths colliding cataclysmically! Who do you root for when one of your POV characters is out to kill another? 

📘The Gist 📘: In legends, the crow god ate the sun. Now, he's on a journey to do it again. The story follows seafaring Xiala and her passenger Serapio as they make their way toward Tova for its solstice celebration. At the same time, the sun priest of Tova prepares for the festivities dedicated to renewal and finds herself embroiled in a political plot that could destabilize peaceful tribal alliances. 

📒Representation📒: Indigenous mcs and culture, bipoc mcs, neo pronouns, a-spec mc, nonbinary and trans sc, blind mc

💕 For readers looking for 💕: Epic fantasy, tribe society and characters, legends, scary gods, crows, multiple POV characters, LGBTQ+ characters

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Confinement, and Blood

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, and Suicide

Minor: Racial slurs

iridium's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Reading this made me realize that I don't actually read epic secondary world fantasy very often. If you're used to this kind of thing you'll like it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, and Confinement

yvonne_cl's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Homophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Ableism and Sexual content