Book Review | BLACK SUN by Rebecca Roanhorse

  

BLACK SUN by Rebecca Roanhorse
Publication: October 13, 2020
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Imprint: Gallery / Saga Press
Genre: Historical Fantasy / YA
Rating: ★★★★★

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. -Goodreads

BLACK SUN is so immersive, I came up fully soaked in awe!

The worldbuilding is vast and vivid. This book is the first in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, wherein the readers are introduced to Meridian, a continent so unique yet also very familiar -from the clothes down to cacao as currency. Although the book is Pre-Columbian Americas inspired, hints of Polynesian culture are present too. Since Polynesians share the same origins as the indigenous peoples of the Philippines, it’s fascinating to see familiar things –seafaring, knife and pole fighting, and the sun-eating bird.

The plot is taut and fast-paced. The storyline kept me engaged throughout, from the propulsive opening to the cliffhanger ending. Every scene awakens and builds emotional connections. And Roanhorse certainly knows her political maneuverings very well. They evoke the primal instinct to react for self-preservation and social justice.

The ensemble is very inclusive –race, gender, status, impairments. Intriguing, social stigma has no place in this book. Each character is fascinating, representing a strategic purpose. Like the plot, they are manifold, continually unfolding to give the reader a broader image of the premise. Here, romance can be abstract, but not unsatisfying, nor less heart-rending.

Every detail of this book reveals in-depth research and rumination. Rebecca Roanhorse wrote a very powerful starter and the best book I have read this year. Kudos to John Picacio for this lovely cover I am shamelessly coveting for my bookshelf. Lastly, I want to point out that this is not “a little closer to great.” THIS IS GREAT, Ms. Rebecca. Congratulations! 

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About the Author:

Rebecca Roanhorse is a NYTimes bestselling and Nebula, Hugo and Locus Award-winning speculative fiction writer and the recipient of the 2018 Astounding (Campbell) Award for Best New Writer.

Her novel Trail of Lightning (Book 1 in the Sixth World Series) won the Locus Award for Best First Novel and was a Nebula, Hugo and World Fantasy Finalist. It was also selected as an Amazon, B&N, Library Journal, and NPR Best Books of 2018, among others. Storm of Locusts (Book 2 in the Sixth World Series) was a Locus Award Finalist and was longlisted for the Hugo Award. It also received starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Booklist, and was named an Amazon, Powell’s, and Audible Best of 2019. Her novel, Resistance Reborn, is part of Star Wars: Journey to The Rise of Skywalker and a USA Today and NYTimes bestseller. Her middle grade novel Race to the Sun for the Rick Riordan Present’s imprint was a NYTimes Bestseller and received a starred review from Kirkus. 

She lives in Northern New Mexico with her husband, daughter, and pup. She drinks a lot of black coffee. Find more on Twitter at @RoanhorseBex.

*Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the uncorrected proof in exchange for this unbiased review.
*This post is a part of the monthly linkups organized by Lovely Audiobook! You can click here to check it out and be a part of it.

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Wednesday Spotlight | HAMARTIA by Raquel Rich

August 15, 2018
Words Matter Publishing

About the Book:

Grace’s nine-year-old son, Jordan, is dying. First, the Metagenesis disease will tear his soul from his body, and then it will kill him. Desperate for a cure, Grace agrees to take part in an illegal clinical trial cloning souls. Supported by her best friend Kay, the two embark on the ultimate “Vegas Vacation” to the past in search of the right soul to clone, racing against time to save Jordan’s life. But someone is trying to stop them and when they discover why, Grace must make a choice: let her son die or kill her husband. If she kills her husband she triggers widespread Metagenesis, sealing the fate of the human race with a new plague. Humanity is counting on Grace choosing to let her son die.

“Rich spins an ambitious and imaginative concept into a plot that’s full of fantastically complicated twists. . . . Throughout, the narrative raises and resolves questions at a brisk pace, making for a compelling page-turner.” – Kirkus Reviews 

“Hamartia is a huge success on all levels, including the unpredictable plot, the strong characters, and skillful handling of the themes of life and death and an imminent plague.” – Readers Favorite (five star review)

About the Author:

Raquel Rich is a sci-fi author and occasional blogger. She loves to travel, suntan, walk her dog, and is obsessed with all things Beauty & the Beast. She despises cold weather, balloons, and writing about herself in the third person but noticed all the real authors do that. Born and raised in Canada to Brazilian parents, she lives in the Toronto area with her family. She's married to the guy she’s been with since she was fifteen (her baby daddy), and her superpowers include being a mom to their two awesome grown-ass boys and one fur baby.

Raquel Rich is a proud member of Broad Universe: an international, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, encouraging, honoring, and celebrating women writers and editors in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other speculative genres.

*Content sent by the author for this blog's publication. This is a free ad.

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Book Review | LOST AND FOUND by Orson Scott Card

September 10, 2019,
Blackstone Publishing

Master storyteller Orson Scott Card delivers a touching and funny, compelling and smart novel about growing up, harnessing your potential, and finding your place in the world, no matter how old you are. - Goodreads

Orson Scott Card is a staple name in the Science Fiction and Fantasy arena. He is a diverse writer who captured both the adult and younger audiences.

I’m not here to review OSC as a writer. I’m stating all this because he is more than justified in writing LOST AND FOUND. I understand that it’s not an Ender’s book –no space battles, no aliens. And I totally get why he low-keyed the characters as micropots (people with micropowers). He literally dragged us away from admiring superheroes into looking deeper at the most probable, odds-on, overlooked human gifts.

Ezekiel had been ostracized as a thief since grade school because of his gift to recognize lost things and the compulsion to return them to the owners without a credible reason. And he has a standing mistrust of the Police Force after his many heated brushes with them. But his trudge on anti-social life was halted when Beth decided to walk with him to and from school every day and when a desperate (but broad-minded) detective asked his help to find a missing girl.

“It means that I trust you and you can trust me. It means that if something goes wrong for you I help as much as I can. It means that if you’re not where you’re expected, I look for you. It means that if good stuff happens I’m happy for you. It means that no matter what you say to me I still care about you. It means that when nobody else will tell you shit that you have to know, even if you’ll hate hearing it, I’m the one to say it."

I love the snarky dialogues Card employed. It helps in many ways to soften the hard subjects of the story (kidnapping, white slavery, death, etc.) And the pacing of the story was apposite, it enables to both pad out the characters and ties concepts together. The whole book is replete of wisdom in understanding family, people, and what works from what doesn’t. It simply says that everybody may look ordinary or nonspecial until they are not. The last 15% of the book sort of slowed down for me (maybe there’s a sequel in the works) and there are some descriptive terms I may not agree with, but overall this book is legitimately remarkable.

Book details:

Title: Lost and Found

Author: Orson Scott Card

Publication: September 10, 2019, by Blackstone Publishing

Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy

Rating: ★★★★

*Thank you, Blackstone and Edelweiss for the DRC in exchange for this unbiased review.

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Project 17 by Eliza Victoria

Girl X

     

I had the pleasure of receiving this from Lynai last Christmas. It’s a fast-paced Sci-fi mystery. Written in short chapters, it’s very easy to breeze through the book. The plot is imaginative, and it’s obvious that Ms. Victoria made good research. The dialogues fun and I totally dig the story setting, too.

The characters were interesting; I just hope that they were fleshed out more. It would be fun knowing the characters more than their contribution to the plot.

It was exciting reading about the futuristic Philippines, all those advanced science and technology is awesome to imagine, very believable. Some scenes probably felt flat or rushed, but the story was justly narrated. The reader in me just wishes for a protracted conclusion. On the whole, this is a read that will tweak your love for science and mystery.

“Justice can only be delivered by someone who doesn't care about how much he's paid, or where he is in the chain of command. Someone who's ego won't be inflated by grandeur or power. Someone who won’t be influenced by this guy's being a CEO of this or his being a Mayor of that. And let's face it: that someone couldn't be human.”

Book details:

Title:   Project 17

Author:  Eliza Victoria

Publisher:  Visprint, Inc.

Published:  September 7, 2013

Genre:  Science Fiction

Rating:  ★★★★

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