Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

I enjoyed Trail of lightning and when I saw all the hype around Black Sun I purposely stayed away from reviews to avoid spoiling it for myself. I went in blind so to speak.

BEST DESCISION EVER

What an absolute delight. Reading Black Sun is an absolute experience. It has popped straight to the list of books I wish I could read again for the very first time.

The characters, the lore, the way the multiple pov’s weave in around each other. Each and every aspect of Black Sun is a masterclass on how to do epic fantasy.

Synopsis –

A god will return
When the earth and sky converge
Under the black sun

In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world.

Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain.

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From the very first page Rebecca Roanhorse sets the tone; it’s dark, complex and fascinating. It packs a punch.

The setting was brilliant, I loved all the different aspects of the world. The religion, the magic, the politics and the lands themselves. It was so rich and full of fascinating elements. I loved discovering the lands and the history as we got to know the characters. I am excited for the next book as I want to discover more about the places. Xiala’s home sounds awesome and scary and I hope we get to visit there.

This is such a character driven book. I thoroughly enjoyed delving into the characters minds and working out how they had gotten to this point. Their backstories are weaved throughout in such a way that you never feel bogged down, it all moves along at a great pace. I was kept on my toes the entire way through. I was desperate to know what was going to happen and had to force myself not to skim read.

I loved that the crows were basically another set of important characters. The way they interacted with Serapio was my favourite. I love crows in general.

I obviously haven’t read all the fantasy, but this story felt truly fresh and new. I was constantly on edge, waiting for everything to go to hell and I wasn’t disappointed. I adored this book. I think it far surpasses what Roanhorse has done before and I think epic fantasy is where she belongs.

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Goodreads  –  Amazon

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