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Black Sun, by Rebecca Roanhorse
Jun. 8th, 2021 07:50 pmA fantasy novel inspired by pre-Columbian cultures of the Americas. It's one of the Hugo Award finalists for this year, and deservedly so!
When I first picked up this book, I thought it was a futuristic scifi book, based on the reference to ship travel in the blurb -- I misunderstood it as spaceship travel for some reason. I will admit to being a little disappointed I was wrong about this! But on the other hand it's excellent as is, so I can't be too disappointed. (But come on! This exact same book, but IN SPACE. It would be even better!)
The book follows several different characters in the time leading up to the Convergence: a complete solar eclipse taking place on the winter solstice, which has religious significance. The Sun Priest, Naranpa, is dealing with various factions who don't think she should be the Sun Priest. Xiala, a ship's captain, has been hired to get a specific cargo to a specific place before the Convergence, in an unrealistically short time frame. Serapio is a strange young man who was shaped by his mother with the intention of reincarnating the crow god in him.
Each of them has their own priorities and their own sense of what's right and wrong, their own degree of callousness. I was deeply interested in all of them, though not all of them are exactly likeable.
I was deeply interested in the whole book, in fact! The depth of the worldbuilding, the amount of casual queerness of both gender and sexual orientation varieties, the forward momentum, and just the way that the author's style had me hooked from the start. A truly excellent book.
My only complaint is about the ending: ( Read more... )
When I first picked up this book, I thought it was a futuristic scifi book, based on the reference to ship travel in the blurb -- I misunderstood it as spaceship travel for some reason. I will admit to being a little disappointed I was wrong about this! But on the other hand it's excellent as is, so I can't be too disappointed. (But come on! This exact same book, but IN SPACE. It would be even better!)
The book follows several different characters in the time leading up to the Convergence: a complete solar eclipse taking place on the winter solstice, which has religious significance. The Sun Priest, Naranpa, is dealing with various factions who don't think she should be the Sun Priest. Xiala, a ship's captain, has been hired to get a specific cargo to a specific place before the Convergence, in an unrealistically short time frame. Serapio is a strange young man who was shaped by his mother with the intention of reincarnating the crow god in him.
Each of them has their own priorities and their own sense of what's right and wrong, their own degree of callousness. I was deeply interested in all of them, though not all of them are exactly likeable.
I was deeply interested in the whole book, in fact! The depth of the worldbuilding, the amount of casual queerness of both gender and sexual orientation varieties, the forward momentum, and just the way that the author's style had me hooked from the start. A truly excellent book.
My only complaint is about the ending: ( Read more... )
