Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

16 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

mr_ryancowboy's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Classism, Abandonment, and Religious bigotry

lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious fast-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

4.0

Overall, I enjoyed this book.  I liked the 4 character POVs we get, and was rooting for them all, even though some of them were opposed to each other.  I felt a bit sad for a couple of them.  But I don't think I really loved any of them.  They felt like full characters, but I don't think they really changed much from beginning to end.  The pacing was a little bit odd.  The ending is pretty abrupt; this is definitely 1st in a trilogy, so don't expect any resolution.  I do give props to the world building here, it was very interesting setting (a fantasy world inspired by Pre-Columbus Americas).  For me personally, I was into the book when reading it, but often forgot about it when not reading.  I will definitely pick up the sequel at some point.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Misogyny, Murder, Self harm, Classism, Death, Child abuse, Suicide, Violence, Gore, Abandonment, and Alcohol

tinysierra's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

An amazing epic fantasy with intriguing diverse characters. Wow. Also… mermaids! Giant crows!

There was a mix of character driven and plot driven moments. I felt like there was a lot of slow/medium paced moments where there was more focus on character development/interactions but it did pick up in some places with more plot related aspects. It kept my attention either way. 

The timeline hopped around a bit, jumping back into the past and then forward into the present. Slowly putting the pieces together. The chapters had the date along with experts from in world media (like journal entries), which really added to my immersion.

I liked Xiala and Serapio’s chapters the most. It was nice to see the story through a blind characters perspective. I hope to see more about Xiala’s powers in the next book.

In this book, queer characters are accepted in some of the societies but not others. There are characters that use neopronouns (xe/xir)! Xiala mentions that she takes pleasure with “men, women, and other genders” which I assume means that she’s bi or pan. 

The ending was fast and admittedly a little anticlimactic but I don’t find myself feeling disappointed. I’m curious about where the story is going.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Addiction, Blood, Violence, Body horror, Classism, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Drug use, Biphobia, Lesbophobia, Confinement, Homophobia, Suicide, and War

Minor: Infidelity, Abandonment, Animal death, Vomit, and Sexual content

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

This is one of the first books that I've read that had multiple points of view and I had to read this a little slower than I normally read books. 

I want to like aspects of the blind representation but upon a closer look the blind main character kind of falls into the "magical disabled persons" trope and I don't like that very much. 

"Typically, the disabled characters are limited to four types: the “magical cripple,” the “evil cripple,” the “inspirational cripple” and the “redemptive cripple.” Magical cripples transcend the limitations of the human body and are almost divinelike. They make magical things happen for able-bodied characters."

- PBS.org

I really liked Xiala, I like how relatable Serapio was, the queerness, and the addition or introduction of a third gender. 

This was a really good read and I can't wait to dig into the next book in the series. 

I'm giving this 4.5 stars out of 5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, Confinement, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Violence

drlove2018's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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? No

4.75

One of the most intense and compelling fantasy/speculative fiction books I’ve ever read, incredible world building and detailed cultural context. The beginning has some body horror, but once you get past that the violence is not as graphic/explicit (except for one scene near the middle), and it never feels gratuitous or sensationalist. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, Genocide, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Sexual content, Suicide, and Xenophobia

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

andromeda_1998's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

Black sun is different from most books I read before. This adult fantasy novel has a different flow, a different feeling than most books in its genre and it does it’s job splendidly. But why does this book work?

Characters 
Through the book we follow 4 different characters. A sun priest, a pirate, a chosen one and a warrior. 
The sun priest, Naranpa, is a 33 year old woman devoted to the sungod. She once to make the temple into a place of healing and power for Tova (the city she lives in). I didn’t really like her point of view. I found her to be a bid bland and boring. Her POV was necessary though to tell the story and I would not have liked the book without her. 

A pirate, Xiala, Xiala is my favorite character. She’s bi, wild and fierce. She is a woman you don’t want to cross. 

A chosen one, Serapio, his story is an interesting one. I cannot tell you if this character is the hero or the villain of the story and that is why I like this book. I like that he is morally grey. 

A warrior, Okoa, we get to know him later in the story and while I didn’t not hate him as a character, I also didn’t like him. I find his type to be a bit boring but I know that he is the kind of character that others will love. 

Worldbuilding 
The worldbuilding is done splendidly. Throughout the book and by different pov’s we get to know this beautiful meso American inspired world. The world has magic but it isn’t a common practice. 

Writing 
The writingstyle takes some getting use to. The book stars slow and doesn’t follow the western way of pacing. I would recommend to not dnf this book in a early stage. Just read through it. 

I would recommend this book to adult readers (years 20+) the story isn’t necessarily brutal but the book has some adult themes better fitted to this category. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Body horror, Death, Gore, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, Blood, and Confinement

scam_lark's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Violence, War, Abandonment, Misogyny, Body horror, Blood, and Kidnapping

Minor: Torture, Alcohol, and Murder

lynneliu's review

adventurous dark emotional 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, Death, Gore, Murder, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Bullying

Minor: Death of parent and Sexual content