Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Summary from GoodReads
From the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Resistance Reborn comes 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.
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.
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
I received an e-ARC from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
Now this is a book worth adapting to a tv series as it touches a period not known to much with a thread of magic, mystery and vibrant civilizations!
Black Sun takes place in the pre-Columbian city or Tova where political intrigues among the priesthood and the clans may cause a revolution while at the same time a ship begins its trip to Tova where Xiala has a very strange passenger. A blind man, Serapio, whose powers hide a deadly destiny.
I don't want to spoil this, but as someone who did a prehistoric course in uni I have to tell you that Rebecca Roanhorse manages what an archeologist difficulty can. To deliver the realism of this world, with its gold and jewels, cacao and spices, boats and mysticism which still is shrouded in mystery even today.
I would say that Rebecca takes her time to build upon her characters, with their backstories, and how these seemingly unrelated POVs come together in the end in one of the most epic revelation scenes I've read in a while.
I enjoyed Serapio and Xiala; she is strong (reminding me the drunk version of Okoye for a reason) and my heart ached for Serapio, whose destiny is quite the dark one.
You will definitely to read this when it comes out; it's history, fantasy and adventure altogether in a balanced mix with a soft thread of romance in it.
Rebecca Roanhorse delivers an astonishing new series which I hope will astound you all too!
About the author:
Her novels include TRAIL OF LIGHTNING, STORM OF LOCUSTS, STAR WARS: RESISTANCE REBORN, and RACE TO THE SUN. Her upcoming novel BLACK SUN is set to release 10/13/2020.
She lives in Northern New Mexico with her husband, daughter, and pug. Find more at https://rebeccaroanhorse.com/ and on Twitter at @RoanhorseBex..
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