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A review by ayvie
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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
This book can get incredibly dark. The book starts with a mother (CN: abuse) scarring and drugging her son, making him stare into an eclipse, and then sewing his eyes shut . All to make him the avatar of a god for revenge. There are other descriptions of abuse and violence throughout the book, but nothing felt gratuitous. It happened, it occurred, and then the story moved on, letting the characters deal with it and move on as well.
Black Sun is set in a world inspired by civilizations of Pre-Columbian Americas. The world is incredibly vivid and deeply fleshed out.
We spend time with three (primary) point-of-view characters, and one occasional POV character, and honestly I love them all. Even more on re-read. Xiala and Serapio remain my absolute favorites though.
It's becoming more common lately to casually include gender and sexually diverse characters in books - a fact of which I can only be thankful. Sometimes it's done well, and sometimes it feels forced. Here, it felt casual and beautifully comfortable.
Characters are just who they are. Nonbinary (Xe/xir and they) and third genders are casually mentioned, identified as, and accepted without issue. There’s a character who is reintroduced to another from his childhood and says “But now you are a woman,” without judgement, and when she replies “But I was always a woman,” it’s accepted as absolute truth – a real truth that has no alternative.
Black Sun is set in a world inspired by civilizations of Pre-Columbian Americas. The world is incredibly vivid and deeply fleshed out.
We spend time with three (primary) point-of-view characters, and one occasional POV character, and honestly I love them all. Even more on re-read. Xiala and Serapio remain my absolute favorites though.
It's becoming more common lately to casually include gender and sexually diverse characters in books - a fact of which I can only be thankful. Sometimes it's done well, and sometimes it feels forced. Here, it felt casual and beautifully comfortable.
Characters are just who they are. Nonbinary (Xe/xir and they) and third genders are casually mentioned, identified as, and accepted without issue. There’s a character who is reintroduced to another from his childhood and says “But now you are a woman,” without judgement, and when she replies “But I was always a woman,” it’s accepted as absolute truth – a real truth that has no alternative.
It’s incredibly refreshing to experience a story, a world, that is so accepting of these characters – whether they’re pansexual, genderless, gender-fluid, nonbinary, or anything else that a person can be. They – and we – exist in the world. Except in this world, they are accepted without injury to their souls, without questioning their truths, exactly as they are and always have been.
Also - the audio narration for this book is fantastic and I'd highly recommend it. I listened to this book while I did all my chores, worked, and took my showers because I couldn't stop listening.
Also - the audio narration for this book is fantastic and I'd highly recommend it. I listened to this book while I did all my chores, worked, and took my showers because I couldn't stop listening.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Child abuse