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About Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

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.

Crafted with unforgettable characters, Rebecca Roanhorse has created an epic adventure exploring the decadence of power amidst the weight of history and the struggle of individuals swimming against the confines of society and their broken pasts in the most original series debut of the decade.

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Review of Black Sun

Black Sun is a highly original story of prophecy, honor, revenge and power.  Told from the view point of several pivotal characters, the story weaves through a timeline, back and forth.  The chapters are each headed with an indicator how long before (or after) the convergence.

The convergence is an eclipse.  The mythology surrounding an eclipse in pre-Columbian America native cultures plays heavily in the story, making this fantasy stand out from the typical Euro-based fantasies.  The crow is a symbol used in this society.  There are also giant crows, or corvids, that people fly on.  Corvids are smart and loyal.

Intelligence and steadfastness are present in some of the characters too.  But in Black Sun, no character has the moral high ground.  This almost made me wish I had not started reading it.  (I later changed my mind.) While I like to sympathize with a deserving hero or heroine, these characters are neither good, nor evil.  And they are both good and evil.  There are likeable characters that do terrible things.  This makes them more approachable and keeps the reader interested in their fate.

Black Sun features a matriarchal society though, for the most part women and men are treated equally.  The imposition of a religious order, the Watchers, maintains a balance between earth and sky, but the Watchers grip is weakening and threatened.

Perhaps my favorite character is Xiala Teek.  She appears to be in over her head in her friendship with the blind man Serapio.  The book blurb says “As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain.”  It seems portentous.  Having read the book, I can say that it is…..and is not.

There are dark moments in this book.  Serapio is an agent of change and change often breeds violence.  Or is it the other way around?  Serapio’s journey is both tragic and heroic.

Good/evil, tragic/heroic, likeable/terrible.  Black Sun is full of contradictory characters, long-reaching intrigue and fascinating mythology.  The expertly written story managed to convince me not to down-star my rating because of the frustrating cliff-hanger ending.  Black Sun will appeal to fantasy readers looking for a fresh treatment of the genre.

Through NetGalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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