Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse | Spoiler-Free Review

“We have become a place of long weeping
A house of scattered feathers
There is no home for us between earth and sky.
—From Collected Lamentations from the Night of Knives”

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

    Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse is the first book in an epic fantasy trilogy inspired by Pre-Columbian Americas. As of now, the second book, Fevered Star, is out and in stores, but I have only just read book one. 

    We follow four perspectives: Naranpa, the newly-appointed Sun Priest, who is essentially the political figurehead of the city of Tova; Okoa, the son of the matron of Carrion Crow, one of the Sky Made Clans that make up Tova; Xiala, a Teek sailor who has been tasked with delivering a blind man to the city before the winter solstice; and Serapio, that very same blind man, who has a destiny that must be played out at all cost.  

    This world, like all epic fantasy worlds, comes with a plethora of new words, titles, and landmarks. Happily, there is a key at the beginning of the story to help keep all the terms straight (something I found myself flipping back to many times during my read). Although it is inspired by Pre-Columbian Americas, this world of The Meridian is something that is entirely Rebecca Roanhorse's invention. I found these maps on the Tor website to help visualize this world (the maps were created by Robert Lazzaretti).

    As I was reading, I found myself drawn to Xiala's story the most. I liked the sense of adventure that came with her life, and I liked the glimpses of the Teek world we saw through flashbacks and stories. Plus, Xiala is canonically queer. I don't know if she uses a specific term, but she is attracted to men and women. There are multiple queer characters in this story and there a couple of characters of a third gender that use xe/xir pronouns, something I hadn't seen outside of fanfiction, and that made me incredibly happy. 

     I also want to talk about Rebecca Roanhorse's writing style for a minute, because it's brilliant. It's not what I would consider flowery or purple prose, in fact it is rather straightforward, but it still manages to paint such a vivid picture. I especially loved the little excerpts before every chapter. They come from manuals, diaries, and treaties from the past, meaning that Rebecca wrote these pieces, too. I know plenty of authors that refuse to even think about legend and lore in their own worlds, and this woman not only thought about it, but she brought it to life and applied it to the story she's told. That's absolutely brilliant. 

“And Grandfather Crow said to First Woman, tell me your stories so that I might know who you are and what you value. If your stories are of the glory of war, I will know you value power. If your stories are of kinship, I know you value relationship. If your stories are of many children, I know you value legacy. But if your stories are of adaptation and survival, of long memory and revenge, then I will know you are a Crow like me.”

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

    Above all, this story is brutal, full of human sacrifice, murder, assassination, and war. But this is also a story about hope, and faith, and maintaining belief even as everyone around you tries to take it away from you. Our four perspectives all come from widely different backgrounds, and all have different and sometimes clashing beliefs, so much so that by the end, I had no idea who to root for. The cliffhanger ending left me with so many questions that I can only hope are answered in the next book. Because I will, absolutely, be continuing on. 

    I gave this book a four out of five stars, with a CAWPILE score of 7.57. I recommend this book to anyone who likes high fantasy, ritual magic, and secret plots.