Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

20 reviews

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 

---

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

jo_lzr's review

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.

---

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

calmk's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A wonderful indigenous-inspired fantasy world, full of intrigue and unique, flawed characters.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Genocide, Infidelity, Slavery, and Abandonment

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.

---

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

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

mr_ryancowboy's review

adventurous challenging dark 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? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Classism

lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

4.0

Overall, I enjoyed this book.  I liked the 4 character POVs we get, and was rooting for them all, even though some of them were opposed to each other.  I felt a bit sad for a couple of them.  But I don't think I really loved any of them.  They felt like full characters, but I don't think they really changed much from beginning to end.  The pacing was a little bit odd.  The ending is pretty abrupt; this is definitely 1st in a trilogy, so don't expect any resolution.  I do give props to the world building here, it was very interesting setting (a fantasy world inspired by Pre-Columbus Americas).  For me personally, I was into the book when reading it, but often forgot about it when not reading.  I will definitely pick up the sequel at some point.  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

tinysierra's review

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

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

---

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

drlove2018's review

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. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Abandonment