Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Sun of Blood and Ruin

Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Sun of Blood and Ruin by Mariely Lares

11 reviews

nina_rae_131's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Sun of Blood and Ruin takes place in a Spanish-colonized Tenochtitlan/Mexico City in the 1500s. Leonora, the mestiza daughter of the Spanish viceroy and a Mexica (Aztec) woman, isn’t fully accepted by either group. After disappearing into the jungle for many years, Leonora is back, but now she has magic and a secret identity.

Pantera is a vigilante protecting Indigenous people from the Spanish conquerors and their oppressive laws. She has a magic sword and skills to match it.

No one suspects that Leonora and Pantera are the same person.

Leonora is eighteen years old. She’s growing up and trying to come to terms with who she is. She struggles with her mixed heritage, feeling neither Spanish nor Mexica. She is the sister of the Spanish viceroy, who she loves, but who is also hurting her people. She has a secret identity and has to hide who she is when under the mask. She feels split in half, and I think the story explores this well.

The description says that Leonora is a respectable lady and Pantera is a powerful sorcerous vigilante. I didn’t get those vibes from the book. Leonora argues with her stepmother, and she speaks in Nahuatl and talks about Mexica prophecies and Gods in front of her Spanish family. I won’t fault her for what she believes in, but the Spanish are killing people and colonizing a continent in the name of their god, so it’s probably not the smartest choice. Pantera is not a very good vigilante. Every time she gets in a confrontation with the captain of the guard, they deul with words before she runs away. She lost her iconic sword for half the book. Did Pantera do anything significant for the Indigenous peoples of Mexico City? It didn’t feel like it.

I didn’t care about any of the characters, including Leonora. I didn’t care about their relationships. I didn’t care when a character died. They were all very flat and hard to differentiate from each other.

I thought that the writing was a bit choppy. Sometimes Leonora would have a flashback, but I didn’t notice when it started or ended, and had to reread several times to know what was happening. I also thought the action sequences were a bit rough. They happened constantly with no time to breathe, and the way the fight scenes were written was confusing. For example, Leonora would stop to talk to someone, but I thought enemy soldiers were still in the room.

I didn’t care for the romance. I don’t even know when they were supposed to go from enemies to lovers. The sexual attraction is fine, but I didn’t feel any spark between them for the duration of the book.

The world-building was interesting if badly explained. I enjoyed the setting and the Indigenous lore sprinkled in. I liked the descriptions of food and the legends Leonora told. The depiction of the loss of culture and language was really hard to read, but it was probably my favorite part of the book.

The world-building wasn’t explained well. I wish the glossary explained who the gods or mythical figures were in addition to the Nahuatl and Spanish translations. I found myself having to go back to figure out who a god was. While I liked the varied spelling based on the language the person was speaking, it also made it more confusing.

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jvbook_reader's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative 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

3.25

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bessadams's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative mysterious 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

4.5

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starrysteph's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

A Zorro-inspired vigilante who can shapeshift into a panther, torn between her role as the Spanish heir to the throne and her half-Indigenous identity? What a delicious concept.

The ideas in Sun of Blood and Ruin were phenomenal, but the execution unfortunately made it a very challenging story to read & enjoy.

Pantera is a warrior sorceress, but underneath that bold identity is Leonora, a charming young lady who is promised to the heir of the Spanish throne. While Pantera fights to protect the Indigenous people from Spanish tyranny on the streets, Leonora wages a war of politics inside the palace.

But Leonora knows she’s been prophesied to have a short life, and to die in battle. And when the earthquakes begin - signaling the changing of a Sun and tons of destruction - she is ready to fight until the bitter end.

There is so much happening here, from palace politics to fights in the street to ancient gods to promises of paradise to anti-colonialism escapades to a budding romance … and truly so much more. There are so many intriguing elements, especially when you bring in real (slightly and fantastically altered) history and folklore. But it turned into total chaos.

I love a large cast of characters, and mythology, and lots of different threads. Here it felt like the writing was bubbling with excitement and attempting to weave in every single brilliant idea. I just think it needed a lot more structure, more information around the main elements (most readers won’t know the intricacies of this mythology), and someone to cut some of the excess elements.

I was not in flow with the writing and not totally aligned with Leonora as a main character. She’s very immature and adolescent, and while she definitely has a bit of a coming-of-age journey, it just felt like she was too young & too flat to shoulder all the story elements. Her realization towards the end was just so simplistic, and much of the dialogue is cheesy.

I think I was far more into the first half, which had a lot less action, but more of a clear plot. When we get into the action scenes, people are just popping around and it felt impossible to envision what was actually going on half of the time. And then nonsensical plot twist after nonsensical plot twist after revelation after revelation after character death (!) where we’re just moving on. And the stuff between was all so murky. I wasn’t sure why this story was written and who the author’s intended audience was.

I am so bummed. I saw the vision!!

CW: death (parent), murder, religious bigotry, colonization, racism, genocide, xenophonia, grief, war, animal death, classism, guns

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(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

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bluejayreads's review against another edition

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Second book in a row with a fantastic historical setting but the writing just didn't do it justice. (I keep wanting to give historical novels a chance, but they're sure not making it easy.) I'm not against a good in media res but this story throws our protagonist into "hero of the people" scenarios without ever establishing that the people care about her, or even know about her. The writing was simplistic, the characters were bland and felt more like cutouts wafting through an admittedly interesting plot than real people with emotions and desires and flaws. For a supposedly anti-colonialism story, the protagonist has a lot of positive words for her colonial-ruler father and so far nothing but criticism for the Indigenous resistance movement. She seems to be doing Zorro-style, Mesoamerican-superhero kind of things without any real motivation to do so - it's cool, to be sure, but I never get the sense that she has any reasoning to do so. And it seems an awful lot of harm to put oneself in the way of without having some very clear reason, either emotional or moral, to go to all the trouble. Which is disappointing because the world is interesting and South/Central America is woefully underutilized as a fantasy setting, especially when history provides so many rich opportunities for mythologies and/or historical events to integrate into the narrative. Unfortunately, it ends up being very much like Neferura - a great idea with mediocre execution.

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blakeandbooks's review

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adventurous mysterious 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

2.75

Thank you to Harper Voyager and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had such high hopes for this book. A fantasy novel set in 16th century New Spain with Mexican history and Mesoamerican mythology?! Along with the stunning cover?? I had to know! Sadly, it didn’t live up to my hopes. The pace felt very confusing, and the plot holes made it even more difficult to follow. I also felt that the romance was… nonexistent? They had no compatibility or connection whatsoever that it felt forced. I will say I really enjoyed Leonora as the FMC, and I felt like she was definitely a badass that fit her role well.

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khakipantsofsex's review

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adventurous inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes

4.0

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belleanndthebook's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging fast-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

I want to very emphatically recommend this book to avid fantasy readers! We have all been sleeping on the goldmine of a historical setting that was historical Mexico with all of the politics between indigenous nations, the Spanish settlers, and Spain itself. Although the writing had its flaws at times, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend the overall story. I found the characters endearing in a “they’re flawed, and annoy me at times, but I also kinda vibe with their quirks” way. (And no, I don’t mean quirky as in code that nuerotypicals use for nuerodivergent, I just think that the characters’ backstories were often fairly complicated, and that lent itself towards each character having something about them that was extremely unique.)

I would really look forward to any other books in this series, and I think that I would have the potential to enjoy future installments more now that the multifaceted aspects of the world-building have been fully explained in the first book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for an arc!

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rowanhill's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Features:

Gender bent retelling
Indigenous mythology and folklore
Realistic historical setting with a magical twist

The promise of a gender bent retelling of Zorro with a Mesoamerican twist drew me immediately to this book. Taking place around 20 years after the Conquest of Tenochtitlan, this book not only managed to immerse me in the culture and mythology of the region, but also provided an honest snapshot of a very dark and complicated period in Mexican history. The magic system introduced into this otherwise realistic historical setting was intriguing and really felt like it belonged. Unfortunately, the strength of the setting did not carry over to the characters of the book. I was looking forward to a more modern and complex exploration of a ‘Zorro’ character, but was left a little disappointed. I had a good time reading the book, but a mix of relatively flat characters and pacing issues makes it far from the perfect read for me.

Summary

Ever since the fall of Tenochtitlan, the Indigenous people of Mexico have suffered under the tyranny of Spanish rule. Things are only getting worse as the Spanish continue to tighten grip on the once powerful empire. Standing between her people and the brutality of the Spanish is the mysterious masked vigilante Pantera. A skilled warrior wielding ancient magic, Pantera represents everything the Spanish are trying to wipe out for good. Little does anyone know that behind the mask is Leonora de Las Casas Tlazohtzin, a noblewoman who might soon become the future queen of Spain. Balancing a double life only becomes more complicated as prophecies of the end of the world as they know it and her own early demise seem to be coming true. The powers of Leonora and Pantera alone might not be enough this time.

An Immersive Setting and Magic System

I have always been a sucker for a good historical setting and this book definitely delivers. Despite having some magical aspects, this feels like an accurate representation of 16th century Mexico and manages to be both sensitive to native cultures and unforgiving in its depiction of Spanish colonization. The cherry on top is definitely the magic system. Where not overly complicated, it melds so well into the mythos of the region and enhances the culture aspects being explored. My one complaint is that there are multiple times where Leonora ‘sets the stage’ through exhibition rather than allowing us to immerse in the setting more naturally. However, as someone previously unfamiliar with this slice of history, I found most of the information interesting and helpful rather than distracting.

Lackluster Characters and Uneven Pacing

In addition to being Pantera, Leonora is an individual of influence trapped between two worlds. She is mestizo (a person of mixed Spanish and indigenous descent), and though she is more connected to her indigenous culture, her life outside of being Pantera takes place amongst the Spanish elite. These aspects of her identity along with the time period opened the door for a really intriguing and complicated character. Unfortunately, I feel like almost none of these opportunities are taken. Though Leonora contemplates the various masks she must wear, it never seemed like there was an authentic and deep struggle to reconcile the various pieces of herself. I definitely think there were attempts to do so, but it just doesn’t come through for me. Unfortunately, there is even less development of the side characters and the somewhat stilted dialogue fails to create any sort of chemistry (positive or negative) amongst them.

This book is a debut novel and like many, it struggles with some pacing issues. There is fast paced action and high stakes as we enter the story, but then the story seems to come to an abrupt halt for the better part of the first half. I don’t mind a shift from high adrenaline action to the slow burn of political intrigue, but without proper development, it just falls flat. However, more than that I think it was the sense that Leonora/Pantera is just kind of floundering for quite awhile. Pantera comes across as somewhat clumsy in a way that goes beyond just compensating for an injury sustained at the beginning. Likewise, Leonora fails to come off as clever or savvy in the political world and I have a hard time believing that others would fall for her charade. Their respective failures make it difficult for either to find direction in this story and this, along with a little too much exposition, makes for odd pacing.

Overall

Overall, I had a good time reading this book and would recommend it to people I know would appreciate the vibes and overarching themes. However, it definitely has some flaws that could make or break the reading experience for some readers, so I would carefully consider these before investing in this read.

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lisashelves's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny tense slow-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

5.0

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