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bisexualwentworth's review against another edition
- 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 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!
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide, and Death of parent
Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, and Misogyny
apersonfromflorida's review
- 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
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide, and Death of parent
Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, and Sexual content
casdelvo's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Xenophobia and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide attempt, and War
sophiesmallhands's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Genocide, and War
Minor: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Death of parent
lavenderhimbo's review
- 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
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
saucy_bookdragon's review
- 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
Black Sun is almost a perfect epic fantasy! A world based on the Americas' pre-Columbian societies, the story had me captivated the entire time. I finished the entire book in only three days, only two of which I was actually reading it, I could not put it down any time I picked it up! Its a twisty game of gods and magic with a cast of characters that had me wishing they could live in better situations, I wanted to hold them in my hand and feed them nice treats.
Serapio is my son. Xiala is such a good execution of a character whose badass and rough who has a vulnerable soft side, I also loved the lore behind her and the Teek! Naranpa had such an intriguing plot and world building, a priestess unraveling a dangerous mystery. This plot and world mainly work because there's such an enduring cast at the reins of it, giving ample reason to care. I also adored how effortlessly queer this book is, practically every character is queer in some way and there are even two who use xe/xir pronouns!
What kept me from giving this a full five stars were mostly small things. I didn't care much for Okoa's POVs, not that I disliked him or his chapters, I just felt he came in too late for me to really connect like I did with the others. The cliffhanger ending makes the overall story feel incomplete, so my feelings won't be complete until I read the sequel or maybe even the entire series. But overall, this was an extremely promising start to the Between Earth and Sky series!
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Death of parent
Minor: Homophobia
ash_ton's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Homophobia, Suicide, Vomit, and Alcohol
casdelvo's review
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Homophobia, Death of parent, and Alcohol
chatongriffes's review
- 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? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Homophobia
tinysierra's review
- 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.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Biphobia, Confinement, Drug use, Homophobia, Suicide, Lesbophobia, and War
Minor: Animal death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Vomit, and Abandonment