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A review by rg9400
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
adventurous
mysterious
medium-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? Yes
3.0
I loved this book's opening, and as it progressed, my interest started to fizzle away. The book's setup is fantastic, and it promises a lot of interesting political intrigue, complex character motivations, and some dark fantasy occult magic, set against a unique pre-Columbus Mesoamerican queernormative setting that suggested interesting themes around gender, class, and prejudice. And yet, I feel like the book somehow failed to live up to all of that. There is some occult magic, and when it occurs, it is excellent. But the book seems to eschew any thematic focus outside of whatever comes packaged by virtue of its setting, and I feel like it fails to flesh out any character outside Serapio and to a degree Xiala.
Serapio's backstory wasn't very engaging or compelling compared to his introduction chapter in my opinion. Xiala, on the other hand, is great, but it's frustrating to see her mostly tied to a sort-of romance plot. There are some interesting elements with how she interacts with people from different regions, but the book quickly moves on from these dynamics, quickly resolving them to thrust her back into the central romance dynamic. To be honest, that's a lot of what the book ended up feeling like to me, the interactions between Xiala and this other character, and I simply did not care enough about this romance and felt like it hampered the development of these characters. We do focus on two other characters, Naranpa and Okoa. Okoa just shows up and disappears randomly, only being introduced like halfway into the book. He barely gets screentime, even though I feel like the book hints at a mystery in his storyline, it never explores it again. His motivations seem complex, but we never get to understand why he feels the way he does. Finally, Naranpa is arguably the second main character next to Xiala. I again loved her introduction, seeing both her past and where she ends up at the end of the book. Yet the story never focuses on how she ends up with such a change in circumstances, and though her storyline is the most political, it often feels incredibly simplistic, with her opponents making incredibly straightforward ploys that never seem like they should work.
Finally, the ending of the book sort of just ends, without delivering on the buildup that even the epigraphs in the chapters keep reminding us of. I get there are sequels, but the book itself has an arc that should have at least a somewhat satisfying conclusion.
I do have to give props for the setting and worldbuilding, which feels fresh and fascinating. But I do wish we get to see how the different factions ended up where they are, getting some more answers to what's happening. Overall, a lot of this book feels like it has all the elements I am very invested in, but it fails to deliver on them, instead focusing on elements that I did not care much for.
Serapio's backstory wasn't very engaging or compelling compared to his introduction chapter in my opinion. Xiala, on the other hand, is great, but it's frustrating to see her mostly tied to a sort-of romance plot. There are some interesting elements with how she interacts with people from different regions, but the book quickly moves on from these dynamics, quickly resolving them to thrust her back into the central romance dynamic. To be honest, that's a lot of what the book ended up feeling like to me, the interactions between Xiala and this other character, and I simply did not care enough about this romance and felt like it hampered the development of these characters. We do focus on two other characters, Naranpa and Okoa. Okoa just shows up and disappears randomly, only being introduced like halfway into the book. He barely gets screentime, even though I feel like the book hints at a mystery in his storyline, it never explores it again. His motivations seem complex, but we never get to understand why he feels the way he does. Finally, Naranpa is arguably the second main character next to Xiala. I again loved her introduction, seeing both her past and where she ends up at the end of the book. Yet the story never focuses on how she ends up with such a change in circumstances, and though her storyline is the most political, it often feels incredibly simplistic, with her opponents making incredibly straightforward ploys that never seem like they should work.
Finally, the ending of the book sort of just ends, without delivering on the buildup that even the epigraphs in the chapters keep reminding us of. I get there are sequels, but the book itself has an arc that should have at least a somewhat satisfying conclusion.
I do have to give props for the setting and worldbuilding, which feels fresh and fascinating. But I do wish we get to see how the different factions ended up where they are, getting some more answers to what's happening. Overall, a lot of this book feels like it has all the elements I am very invested in, but it fails to deliver on them, instead focusing on elements that I did not care much for.