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A review by rubeusbeaky
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
4.0
This book gets a HUGE score for representation, let's get that right out of the gate! Very few fantasy stories out there are inspired by Central America and the pre-colonial Americas, or if they are they rely on something hokey like "Ancient Mayan Ruins" or "Mayan Prophecy"... A lot of leaning on the Mayans, when there are SO many other cultures to explore! And the discussion of queer relationships and identity goes hand in hand with cultures that don't have stigmas about more than two genders.
It was a dense read at first, keeping all of the religions, ruling clans, towns and peoples straight. But that's par for the course with a big fantasy story, and once I was deep enough in I didn't have to flick to the glossary or map for reminders anymore. But one thing that held me back from /getting/ far enough into the book to be comfortable was pronunciation. Me and my dumb, ignorant, sheltered, stupid, cis, white girl brain didn't know what to do with double "aa"s or "xir". I admit my own failing here, not the book's; I clearly need to better educate myself. But it was a learning curve for me, being able to "say" the words on the page in my imagination, and my stuttering inability to do so made it hard for me to sink into the book.
There were some moments when the topics the book wanted to discuss were forced. Like, a trans character shows up, and offers her history... even though she's a supremely minor character and is never seen again after that one scene. Or a boy who was abused and sold to sex-traffickers is introduced, and in his first scene he offers up his twenty-year-spanning sob story, even though the topic should /definitely/ be too painful to lead with. I don't feel like people offer their past, their pain, their truths, to strangers (or near strangers) so easily. I think the author wanted to talk about these topics, and just used the characters as mouth pieces, instead of being genuine with their characterization. It was preachy moments like these which pushed me out of the book further. Yes, I want to have a mature conversation too! But not at the expense of the storytelling.
And by the end of the book that was sort of my general takeaway, and why I knocked a star off: Yes, cool, necessary fantasy world, cool and necessary conversations... But do I care about these characters? Do I like them? Do they have enough facets? Do I care about this plot? I know this is book 1 of a trilogy, and judging a series by its first book is a big mistake (see my undying love for the Grishaverse), but I'm not sure that I'm invested in the /story/ so much as I am the world and the message. Time will tell if I change my tune. But the sequels need some character arcs, some twists and turns... Some spice. Something. I don't /feel/ for these people, yet.
It was a dense read at first, keeping all of the religions, ruling clans, towns and peoples straight. But that's par for the course with a big fantasy story, and once I was deep enough in I didn't have to flick to the glossary or map for reminders anymore. But one thing that held me back from /getting/ far enough into the book to be comfortable was pronunciation. Me and my dumb, ignorant, sheltered, stupid, cis, white girl brain didn't know what to do with double "aa"s or "xir". I admit my own failing here, not the book's; I clearly need to better educate myself. But it was a learning curve for me, being able to "say" the words on the page in my imagination, and my stuttering inability to do so made it hard for me to sink into the book.
There were some moments when the topics the book wanted to discuss were forced. Like, a trans character shows up, and offers her history... even though she's a supremely minor character and is never seen again after that one scene. Or a boy who was abused and sold to sex-traffickers is introduced, and in his first scene he offers up his twenty-year-spanning sob story, even though the topic should /definitely/ be too painful to lead with. I don't feel like people offer their past, their pain, their truths, to strangers (or near strangers) so easily. I think the author wanted to talk about these topics, and just used the characters as mouth pieces, instead of being genuine with their characterization. It was preachy moments like these which pushed me out of the book further. Yes, I want to have a mature conversation too! But not at the expense of the storytelling.
And by the end of the book that was sort of my general takeaway, and why I knocked a star off: Yes, cool, necessary fantasy world, cool and necessary conversations... But do I care about these characters? Do I like them? Do they have enough facets? Do I care about this plot? I know this is book 1 of a trilogy, and judging a series by its first book is a big mistake (see my undying love for the Grishaverse), but I'm not sure that I'm invested in the /story/ so much as I am the world and the message. Time will tell if I change my tune. But the sequels need some character arcs, some twists and turns... Some spice. Something. I don't /feel/ for these people, yet.