Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

205 reviews

novella42's review against another edition

Life got hard. Library book returned early.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Suicide, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity

librarybookscene's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Multi POV

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Classism

jennireadsmaybe's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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

Black Sun has been on my radar for the longest time. I didn't know much about it going in, and I do think that's the way to go. Epic fantasy can sometimes fall prey to the dreaded info dump, but I think Rebecca Roanhorse did a phenomenal job of stretching out learning moments throughout the novel instead of all at once. Additionally, I genuinely enjoyed every point of view; not only was each POV necessary to the overarching plot, they were each unique and entertaining enough to jump between without wishing to skip one. I honestly couldn't pick a favorite character if you asked me to. 

There's a lot of moving parts in this. Between prophecies, politics, and magic of all kinds there's enough action and mystery to keep the pages turning. I definitely recommend an immersive reading experience with a physical and audio copy because it's got multiple narrators that capture everything so well. The world itself was so immersive and all the different settings throughout were easy for me to imagine; I could definitely see the similarities between the book and the Pre-Columbian Americas it's inspired by. I really liked the queer + trans representation and how normalized it was for our characters. 

Read this if you like epic fantasy, great world building, multiple POVs, political intrigue, ancient prophecies, magical worlds, and LGBTQIA+ characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, and Sexual content

clutterbooke's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I loved 2 of the four storylines - the other 2 were very predictable and one character just whined a lot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Xenophobia

Minor: Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

jjvaldezbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

it stops at the climax but I kind of forgive it bc I liked the build up so much. I love and hate all the characters and I will absolutely be reading the sequel 

READ THE TRIGGER WARNINGS bc good lord this one is dark and things pop up with no warning. i think they're well done and useful to the plot but if you have any triggers at all, check the lists first 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

cryosphinx's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

The strength of this book comes from the world building and the diversity of the characters. There's a complexity between the characters and the world and it tackles themes such as colonization in a high\epic fantasy setting. Where it loses is that it feels like a really long prologue to the next book. The pinnacle comes together at the end but the ending isn't super satisfying since it it does read like a prologue. The beginning was also slow especially after that first hard hitting first chapter. I've only read one or two short stories by Roanhorse but I do really love her writing story and I hope for more indigenous authors to enter the fantasy space.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal death, Vomit, and Alcohol

tommelisesofia's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

bisexualwentworth's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional

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

4.5

I'm glad I waited until the whole series was out to start this one because THAT ENDING!

I loved the worldbuilding and the characters. The multiple religions felt fleshed out and made sense for the setting, as did the conflict that sprang from those religions. I loved that there was no true villain and that both Serapio and Naranpa were simply following the path that had been set out for them and doing their best with it. I also loved that the cultures we encounter in the book had varying attitudes to gender and sexuality as well as other cultural differences. Fantasy is so often either based in a fully homophobic and misogynistic world or in a fully queernormative one, and this approach makes so much more sense.

I do wish that the supporting cast had been more fleshed out. Iktan is the only non-POV character who felt fully fleshed out. I think that was mostly down to length, though. This book could have been 100-200 pages longer, though that might have slowed it down too much. And I did like the group scenes we got a whole lot (the ones with Xiala's crew maybe being the weakest of the lot).

I was expecting Xiala to be my favorite character because she's the sort of character I normally love and cannot get enough of, but while I quite enjoyed her, Naranpa was far and away my favorite. I adored her and spent the entire book rooting for her -- not necessarily for the sun priests and co generally, but very much for Naranpa in particular. And they're both bi! Truly a win for us all.

Excited to continue with the series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, and Misogyny

kittybeemartin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

This is a multi POV fantasy with heavy religious themes, a heartbreaking childhood, and a diverse magic system. It took me a hot second to keep track of the characters and the timelines, but I really enjoyed this book. By the time I got to the end I was losing it that I had to WAIT to get the next two books from my library. And, of course, we love supporting BIPOC authors. 0.5🌶️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content

hannaws's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

There are only two kinds of men: ones who betray you sooner and ones who betray you later.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide