Black Sun

Early on, this felt like a 3-star book with above average writing, but it got better as I kept going.The stories of Serapio and Xiala hooked me from the beginning, but I had a much harder time getting into the stories of the other characters. A lot of it felt like religious drama and I had a hard time caring about it all outside of basic sympathy for the victims.But as it went on and I began to understand how Serapio’s/Xiala’s stories connect to the rest, I started to appreciate the book as a whole much more.I would still say all the other characters felt a little flat, whereas Serapio and Xiala were much more dynamic, but this was still an enjoyable read overall.I enjoyed it enough that I will probably read Book 2 of the series at some point, though I wouldn’t say I’m in a hurry to do so.

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse is a queer fantasy inspired by the civilizations of Pre-Columbian Americas and the first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy.I did a blended read for Black Sun and borrowed the audiobook from my local library. There are four main characters in the book, and each have their own narrator. I honestly love this kind of structure; having different narrators for different POVs really helps my brain parse high fantasy. Even so, each character is very distinct from the others just in their personality and how they are written, which was even better for my brain to follow along!Though the plot is established pretty early, this is really a character-driven story. There's also a ton of political stuff happening within a group of high priests. I really liked the world building and magic system here, too.I found the pacing to be pretty great; I inhaled this book within a day. When I'm reading longer books, this is really important to me, and I was really glad to not feel like it was dragging.There's also great representation here. Other than characters of color, there is a lot of casual queerness and one of the main characters we follow is blind. One of our main characters hails from a civilization of women sailors (sirens? mermaids?) and she's pretty rad and queer.As this is the first book in a trilogy, it's unsurprising that Black Sun ends on a pretty big cliffhanger. But now all the books are out, (Mirrored Heavens just came out last month) so I can read them at my own pace!

Roanhorse's world inspired by Pre-Columbian Americas is intersting and compelling. A refreshing difference from the usual European inspired fantasy. Our cast of characters:A young boy is carved by his mother's blood sacrifice and forbidden sorcery into the avatar of the Crow God.A woman from the slums of the greatest city in all the lands has risen to the highest position of the priesthood, The Sun Priest and hopes to root out the corruption among them.A sea-captain from the Teek island - a land of only women - whose Song is a magic that can calm, beguile, or kill.Somehow all these people will find themselves embroiled in a war of gods, revenge, class-struggle, and forbidden magics. All are powerful, all are haunted by their pasts, and none of them are in control of their fates - fates likely promising death.This is one of the most unique and enthralling fantasy worlds I've immersed myself in for some time. If you love fantasy, I definitely recommend this one.

I discovered Rebecca Roanhorse through her middle grades novel Race to the Sun, which I loved. So, when I spotted this book which also highlights Indigenous Pre-Columbian peoples, I snagged a copy. Having finished listening to it, I have now decided that if Rebecca Roanhorse writes a book, I will read said book. I think you should join me in that, but since you probably won't just take my word for it, let me tell you why.The book follows four main characters, though two of them definitely outshine the other two. I think the lesser two will get more time in the next book, though, which should help balance out the characters. As the book starts, we learn about a prophecy that is poised to come to fruition as there is going to be a solar eclipse on the same day as the winter solstice. According to the Sun Priest, this event will cause an imbalance in the world.The four characters who all play major roles in this prophecy are Serapio, a blind man who describes himself as a vessel, Xiala, the captain of the ship charged with transporting Serapio to Tova for the festival to be held on the solstice who also happens to be a mermaid, Naranpa, a sun priestess who is struggling to stay alive while others attempt to see her dead, and Okoa, who recently lost his mother and is accused of killing the Sun Priest.Throughout the book, there is a steady increase in the tension brought about by the events, which was really nice. Still, even with the tension steadily increasing, I was not ready for that ending. I don't know how anyone could be ready for that ending. It was just *chef's kiss*. I loved the complexity of this story and this world. There was so much intrigue, with plotting, back-stabbing - sometimes it was front-stabbing with no subterfuge - and danger that added to the story, I frequently found myself listening to various parts again - either because I couldn't believe I'd heard it right and wanted to hear it again to make sure or because it was so good that it deserved to be listened to more than once.I have already added the sequel to my TBR, again because I will now read anything written by Rebecca Roanhorse, but also because I HAVE to know what happens next. For those of you who also listen to audiobooks, this book was narrated by Cara Gee, Nicole Lewis, Kaipo Schwab, and Shaun Taylor-Corbett. Though I don't often listen to books with more than two narrators because I think too many narrators can lead to the book getting lost in the mess of all the narrators, I thought this book was very well done. Though there were four narrators, at no point did those narrators get in the way of the story. As such, given the opportunity, I will listen to Fevered Star as well.

My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley, I did receive a eARC in August 2020. I have between that time and now also purchased it in Kindle edition, still I apologize for the lateness of my review.I did not plan to have read & reviewed so close to Fevered Star's April 2022 release rather than in 2020. I have to say these past two years of the pandemic I have worked in healthcare and now find I have little patience or taste for violence or death in books. So much so I had recently become frustrated with myself and my rate of eARC tbr reading seemingly piling up with no results.So the opening with a mother intent on sacrifice and blooding & blinding her son was put away until I felt I could get though it chapter by chapter if it was all violence. Yet I fell in love with the characters, especially Xiala and the fates of Serapio and Naranpa enthralled me, yesterday I was at 40% -and today I am finished! It feels so good to read again!So Black Sun is a gift, I have a love of the ancient Americas that goes back to the beginning of my love of myth and it's so rarely done well or touched upon with respect or genuine kindness.I would love a whole Teek spin off series, so fascinated was I with Xiala and her people who are mothered by the sea, are lovers to the fickle wind and siblings to the creatures of the sea, who are all women and strange eyed and sometimes gilled & fish tailed.We get to know the cruel tutors who trained Serapio, who raised him to be the vessel of the Crow God, a sacrifice to vengeance, but Xiala sees him as more than a tool or a god.Naranpa, Sun Priest, was raised not as one of the four nobles of the Sky Made, but in the Coyote's Maw of the Dry Earth, with her brother Denaochi - now a slum lord. She denies all ties to the past before she became a dedicant and walks a careful line of power as Sun Priest among her fellow priests and the clan matrons. It is her life Serapio was raised to end, even though she had as little to do with the massacre of his clan as he had.Among the priests is her once lover Iktan, a knife or tsiyo, xie wants to spare Naranpa and is not bothered by using bloodshed to do so saving Naranpa from two assassination attempts. The Sun Priest is not the only one being targeted, when Crow matron Yatliza is killed, at her funeral her son Okoa the Shield of his sister who is the next matron to be, is nearly killed by Iktan.So all is to be gambled and win or lose, the world will be changed after the convergence, a eclipse of the sun, the crow swallowing the sun, or the sun reborn anew through the fires of the Sun Priest. It's a game not all want to play, but prophecy has made patol players of them all.