Black Sun by
Rebecca Roanhorse
My rating:
4 of 5 stars
I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I did however listen to the published version of the audiobook instead.
The audio narration of this was wonderful! I give the 4 narrators 5 stars in bringing the 4 perspectives to life in this wild fantasy. I think in a book like this where there are so many characters and several perspectives in a book, having 4 distinct voices in your audiobook really helps the reader to distinguish which character you are listening. The story relies on being told from each perspective so I think it was really important to get to hear each voice and I thought each of the narrators did a great job with their parts of the story. I hope they are back for future installments!
This is a book for fantasy lovers. If you aren't into complex fantasy, skip this. This is also not for the faint of heart as there is quite a bit of violence both self inflicted and amongst the characters. There is a lot going on and a lot to keep track of in this book. There are several different mythologies and religious systems at play and they are fascinating. This is told from the perspective of 4 characters each with their own roles to play in the story. Instead of political unrest we have religious unrest as a a prophecy, solar eclipse, and winter solstice all intersect. The magic system in this is really interesting as it is based in the mythology and seems to be individual. Each of the players wants what is best for their people and struggles with doing the right thing given the situations they are put in. This has everything you could want from an epic fantasy, an uprising, cool magic, prophecies, betrayal, interesting characters, and more. Oh and did I mention some of the warriors can ride on giant crows?
I really loved the world building and the character development that took place here. Normally I don't like multi perspective books because it tends to take away from the characters, but because Xiala and Serapio spend their time together we get alot from the two of them. I feel like Okoa was the least developed but he also got the least page time. I feel like he will be a bigger player in the future as the series moves forward. We also get quite a bit from Narumpa and how her progression through the ranks of the priesthood have put her where she is today. We also get to see how her progressive views within her own religion may not exactly fit with her peers. All four of them are interconnected in and Roanhorse does such a great job interweaving the characters.
I will say I wasn't a fan of the open ending. It does set us up for there to be more in the series, but no one really enjoys a cliffhanger ending. Several of the plotlines are left up in the air and the reader is left with lots of questions. It only makes me want the next book more, but I do prefer my books to end with some sort of closure.
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Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse