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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!
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
graculus's review against another edition
medium-paced
5.0
This year looks like being a good one for new books and Black Sun is no exception to this rule. To be perfectly honest, it had been on my radar for a while and I'd been waiting to see if my library would pick it up, since I can't possibly buy all the books I'd like to read (and have also been burned a lot by buying books I'll never want to read again) - so far, I've been pretty lucky.
The basic premise of the book is that it follows three main characters - a man we first meet as a boy while being scarred and blinded by his mother for religious purposes (not massively graphic, given my issues with eye trauma, I'm glad to say), a female sailor with a magical relationship with the waves and another woman who's become the Sun Priest but whose lowly background leads to her underlings scheming against her. The man is, as we discover, the vessel for a god whose followers were killed in an act of genocide, led by the Sun Priest at the time.
All of this and it's only book 1, with everything converging in the city-state of Tova at the time of an eclipse. Well written, with excellent world-building and strong characterisation, which meant that I blew through it in pretty much one sitting. Yes, it's that good. I can't wait to see where the rest of the trilogy takes us, as this book ends with a massive cliffhanger for at least one of the main characters.
The basic premise of the book is that it follows three main characters - a man we first meet as a boy while being scarred and blinded by his mother for religious purposes (not massively graphic, given my issues with eye trauma, I'm glad to say), a female sailor with a magical relationship with the waves and another woman who's become the Sun Priest but whose lowly background leads to her underlings scheming against her. The man is, as we discover, the vessel for a god whose followers were killed in an act of genocide, led by the Sun Priest at the time.
All of this and it's only book 1, with everything converging in the city-state of Tova at the time of an eclipse. Well written, with excellent world-building and strong characterisation, which meant that I blew through it in pretty much one sitting. Yes, it's that good. I can't wait to see where the rest of the trilogy takes us, as this book ends with a massive cliffhanger for at least one of the main characters.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Medical trauma
thechiaraface's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.5
This is a multi-POV high fantasy novel inspired by pre-Columbian Americas civilization history & mythology. It is hard to setup the premise for this book, so I'm not going to try (google the book if you need more, the above description is basically all I knew going in and it worked well for me), but I will say this book has a dark, mysterious, adventurous vibe in my opinion.
This book has *chef's kiss* level amazing world-building. I was a little intimidated when at the beginning of the book there was a list of the cast of characters essentially, but I definitely didn't need it – the author does a great job of orienting you to the characters and the world. The book never felt info-dumpy to me (like some other fantasies). The plot while not exactly fast-paced and action-packed like the author's other (Sixth World) series it definitely kept a good pace. Instead this book had really interesting and well-developed characters that drove the story. was intrigued by all of our POV characters stories. The book also does this unique thing where I am not totally sure who the 'bad guy' is, there are a lot of political machinations going on that make me wonder. My only critique is I was not 100% satisfied with the ending, I was hoping for something more explosive (in my opinion). There was a lot of build-up to this one moment and then things seemed to wrap up too quickly for my preference, BUT it does setup for the next book nicely so I can't complain too much. Very excited for the continuation of this series and see where it goes. I also want to note the diversity in this book. First, it is so casually queer – we have a bisexual MC/POV and multiple non-binary secondary characters (xe/xir pronouns). It also has disability representation – one of our MC/POV is blind. I think this book is nuanced and just so fascinating and well-written I definitely recommend this book, and will happily read pretty much anything Rebecca Roanhorse writes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Confinement, Medical trauma, and Violence
body mutilation, allusions to suicide
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