Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

20 reviews

jo_lzr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• 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

3.75

I liked reading this book and I'd definitely like to read the second one, especially for Naranpa's story as she is my favorite. Iran and Xiala are also characters I care about. I like Serapio and I hope that he can find a way to escape his destiny, but I don't like The Crow God,

though I am grateful that he killed Abah and Eche!

The worldbuilding and the magic system are very intriguing and well built, even though there is more to the magic system that we haven't seen yet and I'd definitely like to see more.

I want to see Iktan's perspective about what happened after xe realized that Naranpa was kidnapped. I like xir as a character, especially after seeing that xe wasn't like the rest of the traitors. 
I also thought it very ingenious how the traitors ended up unknowingly saving Naranpa's life by scheming against her. 
Furthermore, I loved the scene when the Crow God realized that Eche didn't have the sun's essence and that the real Sun Priest was somewhere else. I would love to see Naranpa discovering her potential, though I'm guessing that she might have to share the same fate as Serapio.

 
TW: If you're sensitive to images of body horror, please read with caution as they are graphically described.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

erebus53'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

4.25

This is a book I picked up because I got a recommendation of the second one and then realised I needed to read this one to catch up. Oops. 

There are three main characters. In a harsh world, a young boy is taken from his life to be turned into the vessel for a Godform. The whole story starts in abuse, physical mutilation, and sacrifice, and that's pretty harsh. Although his life is harsh it is not without love. At least the kid has his crows.

A young girl is brought up in poverty in the back streets, and through savvy and devotion she is elevated to the head of her religious sect, but her underlings aren't happy about it.

A woman of an Amazon-like minority culture, and who are said to have magical powers, is the captain of a ship that takes a strange cargo on a tight deadline,  at the wrong time of year, and she has to deal with an unruly crew, and dangerous weather.

The plot is just an underpinning though. The characters are really fun, and through the narrative there are many characters of many different genders and sexualities. There are at least two obviously NB characters with xe/xer pronouns and one side character is a trans woman. It's normalised, but not all cultures have the same attitudes toward sex, gender roles, or even nudity.

Although there is some combat and training-montage type scenes I was not bored and it was not blow-by-blow or glamorizing. The pace was good, the character interplay was fun and I bought in, and I've always been a sucker for prophecy stories... This one is hopped up on monk juice, scary mermaid energy and seriously full of crows (and crows are cool). Some of these babies are riding size.
Where's MY crow mount?? ok I'm off to read the second one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lavenderhimbo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

This book is incredible. I only have a few critiques and they're not a big deal. The characters are consistent and unique, and they are clearly being set up for interesting arcs and growth. The worldbuilding is awesome so far and I can't wait to see where the plot goes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Self harm, Suicide, and Xenophobia

Minor: Homophobia, Sexism, and Sexual content

ebp'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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: War

itsbrianascall's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Murder

blakeandbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, and Torture

Minor: Sexual content

samseyz's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was so unique and I really was hooked on the last half. I initially was intimidated looking at the contents page and seeing all the different POVs but I thought it was actually pretty easy to follow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Genocide, Suicide, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death and Alcohol

Minor: Kidnapping

jaynovara's review

adventurous mysterious fast-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Sexual violence, and Religious bigotry

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

This is one of the first books that I've read that had multiple points of view and I had to read this a little slower than I normally read books. 

I want to like aspects of the blind representation but upon a closer look the blind main character kind of falls into the "magical disabled persons" trope and I don't like that very much. 

"Typically, the disabled characters are limited to four types: the “magical cripple,” the “evil cripple,” the “inspirational cripple” and the “redemptive cripple.” Magical cripples transcend the limitations of the human body and are almost divinelike. They make magical things happen for able-bodied characters."

- PBS.org

I really liked Xiala, I like how relatable Serapio was, the queerness, and the addition or introduction of a third gender. 

This was a really good read and I can't wait to dig into the next book in the series. 

I'm giving this 4.5 stars out of 5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

pendletca's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Genocide, and Death of parent

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, and War