Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Black Sun

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

23 reviews

tinysierra's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“Today he would become a god. His mother had told him so.” pg 1

An amazing epic fantasy with intriguing diverse characters. Wow. Also… mermaids! Giant crows!

There was a mix of character driven and plot driven moments. I felt like there was a lot of slow/medium paced moments where there was more focus on character development/interactions but it did pick up in some places with more plot related aspects. It kept my attention either way.

The timeline hopped around a bit, jumping back into the past and then forward into the present. Slowly putting the pieces together. The chapters had the date along with experts from in world media (like journal entries), which really added to my immersion.

I liked Xiala and Serapio’s chapters the most. It was nice to see the story through a blind characters perspective. I hope to see more about Xiala’s powers in the next book.

In this book, queer characters are accepted in some of the societies but not others. There are characters that use neopronouns (xe/xir)! Xiala mentions that she takes pleasure with “men, women, and other genders” which I assume means that she’s bi or pan.

The ending was fast and admittedly a little anticlimactic but I don’t find myself feeling disappointed. I’m curious about where the story is going.

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sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

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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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drlove2018's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense 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

4.75

One of the most intense and compelling fantasy/speculative fiction books I’ve ever read, incredible world building and detailed cultural context. The beginning has some body horror, but once you get past that the violence is not as graphic/explicit (except for one scene near the middle), and it never feels gratuitous or sensationalist.

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nicnevin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I found the book very interesting but some bits more interesting than others. Xiala and Serapio were my favourites tbh.

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andromeda_1998's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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

Black sun is different from most books I read before. This adult fantasy novel has a different flow, a different feeling than most books in its genre and it does it’s job splendidly. But why does this book work?

Characters
Through the book we follow 4 different characters. A sun priest, a pirate, a chosen one and a warrior.
The sun priest, Naranpa, is a 33 year old woman devoted to the sungod. She once to make the temple into a place of healing and power for Tova (the city she lives in). I didn’t really like her point of view. I found her to be a bid bland and boring. Her POV was necessary though to tell the story and I would not have liked the book without her.

A pirate, Xiala, Xiala is my favorite character. She’s bi, wild and fierce. She is a woman you don’t want to cross.

A chosen one, Serapio, his story is an interesting one. I cannot tell you if this character is the hero or the villain of the story and that is why I like this book. I like that he is morally grey.

A warrior, Okoa, we get to know him later in the story and while I didn’t not hate him as a character, I also didn’t like him. I find his type to be a bit boring but I know that he is the kind of character that others will love.

Worldbuilding
The worldbuilding is done splendidly. Throughout the book and by different pov’s we get to know this beautiful meso American inspired world. The world has magic but it isn’t a common practice.

Writing
The writingstyle takes some getting use to. The book stars slow and doesn’t follow the western way of pacing. I would recommend to not dnf this book in a early stage. Just read through it.

I would recommend this book to adult readers (years 20+) the story isn’t necessarily brutal but the book has some adult themes better fitted to this category.

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