Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse Review

Black Sun is an adult fantasy novel inspired by civilizations in the Pre-Colombian Americas, making for a beautiful world, intriguing plot, and vivid characters, all revolving around turbulent political standings and ominous prophecies. The reader follows three main characters; an unexpected priest, a captain who can calm the sea with just her voice, and a blind cultist desperate to fulfill a prophecy, no matter the price.

While I loved this novel a lot, it also comes with quite a few trigger warnings, so take a look at the bottom of this post if you want to give those a look before diving into the book yourself.

What I enjoyed about this book:

- The worldbuilding! A large portion of the book is dedicated to travel and I loved reading about all the little towns along the way, as well as how the politics and religion from Tova (the major city that the book revolves around) seep into all of the other areas. The stories, magic, and religion of the world were also fascinating and constantly kept me guessing and excited to see what was coming next.

- The characters! The story is told by three different main characters and I absolutely loved each of them. In books with split narration, I think it's easy to fall into the habit of favoring one character over another, but in this case I really did love each of them and what their individuals storylines had to offer.

- The plot! It just keeps twisting, even when you don't think it can anymore. Every moment of the book is building towards the ending and the last 100 or so pages are incredibly tense and deeply compelling.

- The writing! Rebecca Roanhorse's writing is gorgeous, which is absolutely essential in a book like Black Sun, where most of the book is filled with rising action and a number of slow-burn elements both in the context of plot and character arcs.

Aspects of this book that weren't for me:

- I wanted to see more of Naranpa, the Sun Priest and one of the major narrators of Black Sun. I suppose this is less of a criticism and more so just evidence that I'm very excited to eventually read the rest of this series. Naranpa's story feels shorter than the other two because Xiala and Serapio interact with each other regularly, which means they're both frequently in the other's sections. As much as I loved their story, Naranpa was also a compelling character and I kept wanting just a little more from her sections of the story.

Black Sun was a five star read for me and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone looking for a good adult fantasy novel that isn't Euro-centric (as much adult fantasy is). While it definitely isn't historical fiction, this book is incredibly well researched and I really enjoyed looking up and learning about the real life counterparts to some events and characters within the book. That along with the compelling characters, beautiful writing, and vast world makes me incredibly excited to see what else will come of this series.

TW: Suicide, murder, body mutilation (some of which is with razors), parental abuse and negligence, discussions of human sacrifice, religious conflict, ableism directed towards a blind main character, homophobia (this shows up in a couple of scenes and is always spoken and not physically violent).