Black Sun

This book is magnificent - the characters, the plot lines, the pre-Columbian mythos, all amazing and move away from the more traditionally told European mythos of many fantasy novels.
Serapio is introduced to us at age 12, at a solar eclipse, where his mother finishes the process to create in him the perfect vessel for the return of the Carrion Crow god. This process is brutal as Serapio is blinded and physically scarring, As I discover now the meaning of Serapios' name could be bright or solar and fitting for his narrative.
Xiala is a female sea captain of Teek descent - these women have a close affinity with the Sea and through their Song are able to charm men, calm waters, lighten winds but always framed as a request.,
Xiala is hired to get Serapio to Tova (home of the Sky Made clans and the Sun Priest) before the next convergence of earth, sun and moon. At this time the god spirit which lies within Searpio can become manifest and fulfil his mother Saayas obsession for revenge.
Saaya was a member of the Carrion Crow Sky Made clans and escaped a brutal culling of the clan by the priests of Tova. Seeing loved ones murdered fueled her desire and seals the destiny of not just Serapio but also Tova and its priests.
I devoured this story in two days (would have been faster if pesky work hadn't interfered!), and my thanks to Netgalley and Rebellion publishers for the opportunity to read this ARC. Highly recommended - go read!

I first came across Rebecca Roanhorse when reading the anthology book A Phoenix First Must Burn, and was really impressed with her short story collected there. Later I saw that she'd contributed to the ongoing new Star Wars canon with Star Wars: Resistance Reborn, and thought she did great work within that universe, so when I saw that she was coming out with a new trilogy of books partly inspired by and based upon the Pre-Comlubian Americas I knew that this was going to be a project that interested me; and I wasn't wrong, as Black Sun was an absolute joy to read.

The story follows a handful of characters in the weeks building up to the winter solstice, and the solar eclipse that will take place at the same time. There's Naranpa, the Sun Priest in the city of Tova; a woman who has worked her way up from the bottom of society, both literally and figuratively, to become one of the four high priests of their society. During the build up to the winter solstice Naranpa has to deal with the machinations of the other priests, and discovers that there is a secret plot to try and remove her from power, by violent means if necessary.

Heading into Tova during this difficult time is also Xiala, a ship captain with mysterious magical abilities, who has been hired by a wealthy merchant to transport a very special cargo, making sure that it arrives at Tova before the eclipse. This cargo is another of our lead characters, Serapio, a blind young man, covered in ritualistic scars. But, there's a lot more to Serapio than there first appears, and his arrival at Tova will mean not only the fulfilling of his destiny, but could change the world as we know it.

The three lead characters of Black Sun are a great collection of people, all of them are outsiders in their own ways, all of them seen as different and undesirable by those around them, and all of them thrust into important roles in this story. The narrative will shift between the three of them, and a fourth character who plays a smaller role, and we're provided with unique perspectives because of this, with each other them having very different outlooks on the world. Naranpa and Serapio are two of the most interesting, as their positions and the journeys that they are on should put them both at odds with each other, but Roanhorse never makes one of the other the hero or the villain, and its easy to identify with and agree with characters that should in theory be enemies.

Roanhorse manages to walk this line wonderfully throughout the narrative, and you find your opinions on characters and ideas shifting a lot during the course of the book. People that you thought were nice will end up looking like villains, and some people who are set up to look pretty bad early on are revealed to be more victims of circumstance who are demonised simply for having the will to survive. The narrative and the way you see the world of Black Sun feels so real because of this, and the book seems more grounded in reality because of its complex moral nature, despite the fact that it deals with magic and gods.

There's also been a lot of love and attention given to the world beyond the characters, and the various locations we visit over the course of the book feel varied and different, yet still feel like part of the same world. Roanhorse has managed to craft a world with variety and wonder, but never goes to extremes that could draw you out of the narrative, and even when the amazing or wondrous happened I never felt like it didn't fit with. Even without the main narrative this is such a well crafted universe that you'd still want to read about it, to learn about the various peoples, their homes, and their histories.

The only downside to the book is that because this is the first part of a trilogy I came to end and desperately wanted to jump straight into the next one, but instead I have to wait for the second book to come out. Other than that, there wasn't a single moment where I wasn't enthralled by the journey, enchanted by the world, or falling in love with the characters. Black Sun is the start of a series that I know is going to do well, one that will win over a lot people, so make sure that you're not one of the ones who misses out.

I have an on-off relationship with epic fantasy. Done well, it can excite, move, and entertain me, as well as providing the perfect setting to test conceptions of duty, loyalty, love, endurance and more.

But so often we go to that world - you know it, that world with animal skins, snow, nobles and hordes. And I'm so wary of that place. But I will look up for a fantasy that happens somewhere else - and happily, there are more and more of these, like Roanhorse's. And, also happily, I know from reading her Trail of Lightning and Storm of Locusts that she is a cracking writer, which is proved again in Black Sun.

The book hinges on an event referred to as "Convergence", with each chapter dated in relation to it - whether years or mere days before. What it is, and why it's important, are only revealed slowly, although you will quickly guess that the characters we meet will come together then.

There is Serapio, who we meet first as a boy, about to undergo a cruel rite at the hands of his mother. We see this, then follow his life after as he grows into a strange purposes. There is Naranpa, high priest of the Sun. She's low born, trying both to establish herself in her role and to restore what she sees as the lost glories of the office. And there is Xiala, a ship's captain. We meet her first in jail after a drunken episode with somebody else's wife. Xiala was for me the easiest characters to get along with. She has a contempt for those who don't go to sea ('indwelling bastards, all of them') and at first, it seems as though she wants nothing much beyond a ship to sail, a drink, and company and her adventures are immediately readable with little need to understand any background.

Roanhorse does, however, give Xiala plenty of background (There was something else deeply wrong with her, something she had no desire to examine with any rigour...'), an origin and abilities that mark her out as different and suspicious and discovering exactly who she is and what it means as she - almost, perhaps - falls in love with the mysterious passenger who's booked on her ship is both intriguing and actually moving. There's a definite current between the two, a taste of an attraction that can't be, less because of what they are than because of what her friend must do, the duty he sees upon him.

I found Naranpa less easy to relate to initially, and partly because she seems in such high peril - nominally in charge of the Watchers, the orders of priesthood (healer, assassin, historian and oracle) in their ancient tower, but surrounded by danger and somewhat hapless in its face. I suspect the time for her to really show what she's made of won't come till another book, but even so, Roanhorse again weaves a convincing and complex background for this character - a rise from the impoverished district of the Maw, a brother who's one of the local crime bosses, the sneers and condescension of the Sky Made clans.

Those four clans, with their totem animals and their rivalries, the gods served by the four orders of priesthood, the fantastical city of Nova in which all live - a city of deep rocky gorges, mesas and caves, bound together by a skein of top bridges - the games of chance, the clothes, the ships made from reeds and the astral navigation of the captains - make for an unforgettable setting to Black Sun. Drawn from pre-Columbian America, this all pays tribute to the sophistication of those societies, in the service of a story that hits all those notes I referred to above. Different conceptions of duty - Serapio's, Naranpa's - colliding with the realities of life and of love. Endurance, both of suffering and of injustice - with a flame of hope for vengeance kept burning. Characters juggling inner and outer lives, personal flaws, secrets and desires. And with a clear-eyed view of some of the classic schemes and setups: 'They promise you a saviour, but that saviour ends up eating babies or kicking puppies or something, and the poor gull who's the prophesied one ends up dead.'

Skillfully blended together by Roanhorse, all this comes together in a compulsive story that I simply didn't want to end. This is a series I know I'll eagerly follow, and I'm counting the days till the next part is out.

The story is told from 4 perspectives which can make it complicated but they are all very different and see the world very differently which sets them apart. I never got confused with who was narrating which to me is a big plus!

The world-building is a bit steep in the beginning but it's needed. There is a lot to talk about and for the first three chapters, I was confused. But as the story pulls you through it all comes clear. By 30% in I felt steady within the story and was thoroughly enjoying it. I didn't question the twists and turns as they all seemed logical and fitted into the story.

I loved how one part of the story was travelling while the other part was mostly political and behind the scenes. But I preferred the sea voyage. Maybe I'm just partial to stories set at sea...

Is it LGBT+?
Yup! There are characters with xe/xir pronouns and both main and side characters who are not straight :)

Rebecca Roanhorse's writing is on point. I had no issues with spelling or sentence structure.

I can't wait to see where things going in the future and I look forward to the next instalment.

Also, I'm so surprised that it's January and I might have found my favourite character of 2021 already. I didn't even have a favourite character in 2020! This is nuts! Xiala forever!

I loved this book so much! The world and the characters were so incredible and complex and I just loved everything about it.

I had no idea what to expect when I started reading but this book crawled into my heart and burrowed itself in and made itself at home. From the storytelling to the world building to the characters, every single thing about this book is absolutely phenomenal.

The story starts with a line that had me completely hooked and I knew this book would hurt me. The first chapter is set 10 years before the events in this story and it creates an ominous start for the book with hints as to the darkness to come. I loved seeing this before we start as it gave us some important insight without giving away the entire story and plot. The story slowly builds us up to the finale where the separate stories of each of the characters start to merge and we see how the different parts we saw in the book fit together. And what a finale it was, it had me completely enthralled and worried for the lives of all the characters hoping for an outcome where they all survive yet having that sinking feeling that will that even be possible and being left on an ending that had me screaming.

Usually, when someone describes a man as harmless, he ends up being a villain.

The characters are all so complex and we see how none of them are clear cut good or bad. They have been shaped by their circumstances and events that took place even before they were born. They have to deal with the consequences of those that are no longer there to be taken account of and it was so interesting to see which of these characters were truly the villain or even if there was a single villain. Rebecca did this so well and I was rooting for each character even though they each had their flaws they were all working to make things better for their people or trying to survive and yet not seeing how their decisions impact others outside of who they consider their own.

Xiala was such a wonderful character and I just loved slowly learning about her and the people she came from. The Teek are so interesting and the things she even learns about herself along this journey made me love her even more. I loved her confidence and how she cared for the people she was in charge of and that her skills and ability had made her somewhat respected even though the men didn’t generally accept women as captains. Her relationship with Serapio was also so wonderful. I just loved their tentative friendship and how they found comfort in each other and how it slowly grew to something more. I just love them.

A man with a destiny is a man who fears nothing.

Serapio is fascinating, he is truly been shaped by others and has been honed to be a weapon to seek vengeance for an injustice that happened before he was born but he has no say in whether he wanted that or not. His destiny is all he has known and lived and breathed and seeing what happens at the end my heart felt for him but I also wanted to scream at him to not do it.

Narampa was another interesting character, she has fought her way to the top to become the sun priest but despite this she is never truly accepted by her peers because of where she came from. She is trying to make things better for them but they don’t want to accept what she is doing and yet while she works tirelessly for those who scorn her, her family and people she grew up with are ignored and continue to suffer and even she looks down on them. Yet when she needs help she ends up turning to those she left behind. It was really interesting to see how no matter how high you rise those in power won’t accept you, if you aren’t one of them.

I am the only storm that matters now, and there is no shelter from what I bring.

One of my favourite things in this book was that it was inspired by Pre Columbian America and the whole world and mythology that Rebecca has created was so stunningly beautiful and honestly a breath of fresh air. It had so much depth and the culture and the way of life, I loved it so much. Indigenous cultures are so beautiful and wonderful and truly I hope we get more books with their cultures showing just how rich these cultures are.

This book had me completely enthralled and while I loved all the characters, Xiala and Serapio stole my heart and I just need to know more about them and see more of them. This is a book that will have you mesmerised by the world and falling in love with the characters and you will be left thinking about this book long after you have finished it.

Thanks to Netgalley for a digital copy in exchange for an honest review :)

The first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas and woven into a tale of celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic. This is a unique book for the fantastical aspects and the inspiration. I have never read anything inspired by these civilizations and their mythology. It is so interesting and fascinating.

The whole idea of the celestial prophecy and the gods involved in this world is one of my favourite aspects of this story. There were aspects that terrified me for sure, but everything was done to perfection. I am so intrigued by what happens next.

The political issues were a little harder to understand from the beginning because there so many clans, new cities, different groups, different religions, different believes - that it made it hard to understand which were just political movements and which were related to the magic. But by the end, when I could make the connection properly, I could look back at some moments and enjoy the beauty of that political movement.

The characters are so well done. Not sure if I can say the book has a villain and a hero, it is way more complex and intertwined than this and I really appreciated this. You follow 4 main points of view: Nara (a Sun Priest who wants to help the people), Serapio (blind and stuck with a prophecy he hasn't properly chosen - he is the character that raised the most philosophical questions), Xiala (captain of a ship with some interesting magic of her own, very strong, stubborn and my favourite character in the book) and Okoa (lost his mother and is caught in a political plot). All of them have very interesting backgrounds and are incredibly complex.

It was a surprise and it will stay with me for a while. I cannot wait for the next book in the trilogy!

I loved this book!

It’s been a while since a new author (to me) has captured my heart, but Rebecca Roanhorse did.

Black Sun had everything I love in an epic fantasy. It’s going to be hard not to spend this review gushing, but just know it’s a definite recommendation!

Xiala is my favourite character. A captain of a ship with a mistrusting crew thanks to her magical heritage, she doesn’t roll over for anyone. She’s strong and tough, but we see her vulnerabilities and caring nature.

Serapio is a mystery: marked for destiny since a small child, even he isn’t aware of how deep his power runs. He has a mission to complete, and his determination makes him instantly likeable. But he’s not above emotions either, and his inner turmoil makes him human.

Nara has carved a path for herself from a childhood of poverty. She’s not as strong as the others, but she does find her strength as she develops, and you want to protect her from her own naivety at times.

As relationships ebb and flow and the fate of the world rests on magic and alliances, you root for all of them at the same time.

Black Sun works so well for me because of the intricate world-building. It’s pure fantasy, but you glimpse the deep history behind this place. There’s conflicting beliefs, magic and opinions, and it creates an in-depth world. As a reader, you accept what you’re told: you understand the boundaries of this world, and it makes it real.

There’re also various forms of magic, depending on your ancestors and beliefs. It adds an almost-spiritual element to the world: the physical danger is bad; the magical danger is even worse. Mixing religious beliefs and magic is always going to be an explosive mix.

Roanhorse is a new author to me, but I adore her writing style and would love to read more. Despite the fantastical elements of this world, you’re drawn in to both the places and the people with ease.

The narration is split between two time-lines and four points of view. After the first few chapters, you’re immersed in these stories and there’s no confusion what’s happening at any time.

This book is full of tension. The pacing is strong throughout and the changing narration builds suspense as each story-arc unfolds and builds. Not one you can put down with ease.

In case you haven’t guessed, I loved this! A high recommendation for anyone who is a fan of epic fantasy, but also those looking for good character development, strong world-building and a gripping plot. Black Sun had everything I enjoy in a fantasy book, and I look forward to more.

In the holy city of Tova, the city is preparing for winter solstice celebrations. It's a time for remembering the past sacrifices of their ancestors, and recognising the absolute rule of the Sun Priest. However, this year the celebrations coincide with a solar eclipse - an event that has been prophesied to bring about the end of times. As we count down to the eclipse, we see several characters move into place as their destinies interweave and powers emerge.

This blew me away with its originality and inventiveness. Roanhorse manages to bring to life several distinct characters that all have their own agendas and plots, yet interweave flawlessly. We have Xiala, the pirate Captain with a magical secret. A lover of life and stories, she bounces from one deadly situation to another, surviving by the skin of her teeth. She has such a joy for living, and being by the water, that you can't help to warm to her. Alongside her we have Serapio. A tortured soul with a preordained destiny, he has a lot on his shoulders and a dark secret of his own. I loved his interactions with Xiala. The pair are almost like two sides of a new coin, and this familiarity and their shared love of stories draws them to each other. It's full of tension, and angst and just wonderful scenes that I can't wait to reread. For me there's nothing like a tortured soul who can't express how they feel.

Our other main character is also just as exciting. Naranpa, the unorthodox Sun Priest who came from nothing to be the most powerful figurehead in the world is deeply facinating as a character. She's plucky, determined and progressive and in her heart she only wants to do what's best. Growing up in the poorest part of the city, she has the grit and willpower to succeed. However she's also rather naive in her handling of the underhanded fellow Watchers, who are desperate to dispose her, often falling on the help of former lover Itkan for support. Itkan is suitably mysterious in their feelings towards Naranpa. You're never quite sure what they are planning or thinking, and this only added to the build up of tension and drama for Naranpa's story. She goes through a lot of growth throughout her character arc, and I'm excited to see where she goes in the next one.

The way the story is set out lends itself well to a build up of tension and atmosphere. We start with a countdown towards the eclipse with events building and building towards an epic ending that you know is coming, yet still takes you by surprise. It's by no means fast paced, preferring to introduce the reader's to these complicated characters first, making you feel really invested in them, before building on the plot and action. The world building, as a result, is really well done. We have several sections of the world that we explore here, concentrating mainly on the city of Tova which is separated into different clans with their own leaders and lore, living within separate islands. The magic system is also subtle yet effective. We have mermaids, giant crows and water beasts, and forgotten Gods reborn. By unveiling bits of this knowledge and lore in small doses over the course of the novel it adds substance to the world, adding a richness to the stories Xiala tells, or the history Naranpa knows. It's their to enhance the characters and the world they inhabit, but it never overshadows the story arc.

I cannot recommend this highly enough. Unique magic system and world that is well written with highly complicated and morally ambiguous characters that come to life on the page. I haven't even touched on the amazing representation that is prominent in this either. One do the best fantasy books I've read in a long time.