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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.
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 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.
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
yourbookishbff's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
The full-cast audio production of Black Sun is phenomenal and I highly recommend! Each character felt so distinct, making this large cast of characters in rotating POV easy to follow. I loved the pacing of this story, the slow-burn countdown to Convergence blended with character flashbacks. It created a unique tension and building sense of dread. The chapter starts and excerpts from fictional historical accounts were so well done and added depth to the world building. I particularly loved the dynamic between Xiala and Serapio and was so grateful I could immediately jump into book two after that ending!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Genocide and War
graculus's review against another edition
medium-paced
5.0
This year looks like being a good one for new books and Black Sun is no exception to this rule. To be perfectly honest, it had been on my radar for a while and I'd been waiting to see if my library would pick it up, since I can't possibly buy all the books I'd like to read (and have also been burned a lot by buying books I'll never want to read again) - so far, I've been pretty lucky.
The basic premise of the book is that it follows three main characters - a man we first meet as a boy while being scarred and blinded by his mother for religious purposes (not massively graphic, given my issues with eye trauma, I'm glad to say), a female sailor with a magical relationship with the waves and another woman who's become the Sun Priest but whose lowly background leads to her underlings scheming against her. The man is, as we discover, the vessel for a god whose followers were killed in an act of genocide, led by the Sun Priest at the time.
All of this and it's only book 1, with everything converging in the city-state of Tova at the time of an eclipse. Well written, with excellent world-building and strong characterisation, which meant that I blew through it in pretty much one sitting. Yes, it's that good. I can't wait to see where the rest of the trilogy takes us, as this book ends with a massive cliffhanger for at least one of the main characters.
The basic premise of the book is that it follows three main characters - a man we first meet as a boy while being scarred and blinded by his mother for religious purposes (not massively graphic, given my issues with eye trauma, I'm glad to say), a female sailor with a magical relationship with the waves and another woman who's become the Sun Priest but whose lowly background leads to her underlings scheming against her. The man is, as we discover, the vessel for a god whose followers were killed in an act of genocide, led by the Sun Priest at the time.
All of this and it's only book 1, with everything converging in the city-state of Tova at the time of an eclipse. Well written, with excellent world-building and strong characterisation, which meant that I blew through it in pretty much one sitting. Yes, it's that good. I can't wait to see where the rest of the trilogy takes us, as this book ends with a massive cliffhanger for at least one of the main characters.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Medical trauma
thechiaraface's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
4.5
This is a multi-POV high fantasy novel inspired by pre-Columbian Americas civilization history & mythology. It is hard to setup the premise for this book, so I'm not going to try (google the book if you need more, the above description is basically all I knew going in and it worked well for me), but I will say this book has a dark, mysterious, adventurous vibe in my opinion.
This book has *chef's kiss* level amazing world-building. I was a little intimidated when at the beginning of the book there was a list of the cast of characters essentially, but I definitely didn't need it – the author does a great job of orienting you to the characters and the world. The book never felt info-dumpy to me (like some other fantasies). The plot while not exactly fast-paced and action-packed like the author's other (Sixth World) series it definitely kept a good pace. Instead this book had really interesting and well-developed characters that drove the story. was intrigued by all of our POV characters stories. The book also does this unique thing where I am not totally sure who the 'bad guy' is, there are a lot of political machinations going on that make me wonder. My only critique is I was not 100% satisfied with the ending, I was hoping for something more explosive (in my opinion). There was a lot of build-up to this one moment and then things seemed to wrap up too quickly for my preference, BUT it does setup for the next book nicely so I can't complain too much. Very excited for the continuation of this series and see where it goes. I also want to note the diversity in this book. First, it is so casually queer – we have a bisexual MC/POV and multiple non-binary secondary characters (xe/xir pronouns). It also has disability representation – one of our MC/POV is blind. I think this book is nuanced and just so fascinating and well-written I definitely recommend this book, and will happily read pretty much anything Rebecca Roanhorse writes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
body mutilation, allusions to suicide
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