Title: Black Sun

Author: Rebecca Roanhorse

Publisher: Gallery 2020

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 464

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Winter Seasonal TBR

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.

I borrowed this from a friend as multiple head recommended it for me. And boy, were they right! This was a beautiful complicated story of struggle and identity set in not our world, but one related by so many cultures and stories. We meet a wonderful cast of characters all with their own agendas, secrets, and ambitions. I loved following each one as they came closer and closer together in the city of Tova. Xiala was my favorite character of the lot. She was a fascinating person with such an interesting background. The writing keeps pushing us forward to what we know is not going to be happy ending (at least in this first book), but we are kept wanting to turn the pages until the end. I was right there along for the ride and couldn’t wait to see how the characters all come together. As to the creation of the story, I loved reading Roanhorse’s author note at the end discussing the inclusion of a variety of cultures and myths and legends. I can’t wait to see what she does in the second book.

Next up on the TBR pile: