This is pitch perfect epic fantasy. Everything works so well together — propulsive pacing, exceptional characters, excellent world-building, and a fascinating mix of cultures, politics, religion, and lore.

The story builds and builds as each chapter moves us closer to the ill-omened “Convergence” (a solar eclipse). I could not stop turning the pages until the explosive finale, which does not disappoint. It also leaves a tremendous amount open-ended, which makes me excited for the future of this series, as it feels like Roanhorse has barely scratched the surface of where to go with these characters and this world. Altogether, this is one of the best books of 2020.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! This is stunning-- I feel so lucky to have read it so early. I will be posting a much more thorough, gushing review on Goodreads, but thank you so much to Gallery Books for granting me the "wished" ARC!! This is definitely one of my favorite reads of the year so far and I will be purchasing a physical copy (comes out on my wedding ani!) and raving about it to everyone I know!

UPDATE: Full review not live: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3456979709

This is the best epic fantasy I have read in a long time. I love the world that Roanhorse depicted. This novel is set in a secondary world inspired by the not too distant past (pre-Columbian) America’s with a complex and beautiful society. It follows a few different point of views that really illuminate the scale of this world. I felt fully invested in all of their lives. This was truly magnificently portrayed. I can’t wait for the next book in the series!

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher (Simon & Schuster) for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Disclaimer: I am giving feedback on this book without finishing it.

This is a beautifully written book set in a fictional fantasy world with cultures based on pre-Columbian American cultures (which is awesome). It also has LGBTQ+ representation which is really nice to see, including a non-binary character.

Anyway, the plot is focused on the tension between a religious cult that seems to be regaining popularity and its tension with the prevalent religion in the world. This is very slow-burny which isn't an issue but the combo of slow-burn and religious tension being the main drive just isn't something I'm super interested in.

The highlight of what I read was the chapters from the perspective of Xiala, a badass lesbian(maybe bi?) captain who is sort of broken out of jail to help with an important mission related to the main plot. She's an awesome character and I would have gladly read an entire book about her.

Like I said, this is a well-written book, it just wasn't for me. I still wanted to write a review for it since the publisher was kind enough to send me a copy through NetGalley. I'd recommend it to people who enjoy high fantasy with a focus on religious tensions/religious cults.

This is a brutally stunning first novel in a trilogy, with masterful world-building. Told from multiple perspectives, Roanhorse combines pre-Colombian myths and gods at the same time as issues relevant to today’s world. The language is violent, yet the imagery is evocatively beautiful. I was a fan of Roanhorse’s Native American second worlds before, but she has reached another level in this newest saga

OMG! Banging my heads against the door! Why I didn’t notice this remarkably creative author’s work before! ( Right now I’m adding her previous works to my monstrous tbr and I’m not afraid of any eruption!)

The world building already blew my mind with its refreshing view which is inspired by Pre-Columbian Americans (indigenous people)! The story centered on 4 characters: Crow God vs Sun priest is one of the most anticipated encounter I was waiting on for the beginning : breathing heavily, sweat pouring out from my forehead, pumps up, clock is ticking and I’m flipping the pages to find out what is going to happen!

I mesmerized to know about Serapio whose back story intrigued me from the beginning how his eyes are carved and sacrificed by his mother for a greater good and how the crows turn into his only accomplice by turning into own his eyes, protectors and after his training process with the most dangerous and skillful instructors teach him the secrets of defeating the most power enemies.

And Xiala, sailor, mysterious sea creator who gains her magical powers and rules the sea world as she opens her mouth and begins to sing.

Those two characters’ paths crossed as Xiala is discharged from the prison with the help of powerful and mysterious lord and offered a job to reach holy city Tova less than a month, conducting a sheep with misbehaved sailors, carrying a spectacular cargo: yes, you may imagine, Serapio is the cargo who needs to arrive to Tova before the eclipse as the moon gets dark and he can accomplish his longtime plan.

We are also introduced with Nara: sun priest, ( her back story, dysfunctional family relations, her unfinished business with her criminal brother peaked my interest) oracle and Okoa, who recently lost his mother and he is accused to be the murderer of Sun Priest ( he got involved a few chapters later but I think we will learn more about him at the next books).

I have to say: their parts of the story were intriguing but I wished I wanted to turn the pages to read more about Seropia and Xiala ( powerful, entertaining, alcoholic, sea creature who is abused by her own mother just like Serapio, and yes she’s bisexual, living her own life without thinking further, drinking to death, preparing herself for more rejections and betrayal) Their intimate chemistry and their exciting and whirlwind sailing trip was most enjoyable thing about the book.

Overall: two characters beat the hell of the other two and the cliffhanger made me bite the rest of my nails, kept me on my toes! This is fascinatingly promising, dazzling, riveting beginning of the series!

I’m giving 4.5 stars ( because I wanted to read more parts about Xiala and Serapio who definitely stole the show) rounded up to 5! I started to cross my fingers for getting the second book’s arc ASAP because waiting too long could be torturous!

So much special thanks to NetGalley and Gallery/ Saga Press for providing this amazing ARC which was at my wish list in exchange my honest opinions.

This made me realize that Roanhorse really is one of my favorite authors right now. At least in the top three. Everything she touches is gold. Most epic fantasies, even when I enjoy them, feel like long slogs where half of it could be cut. Here, I end this reading wanting about a hundred pages more. I adored the politics, religions, and characters of this world and can't wait for the sequel. (Still waiting on the third Sixth World book, too!) Well, I'll be sitting here reading everything Roanhorse writes until the end of time.

(trigger warnings for: body horror)

This book is, simply put, amazing. As a first book in a series, Black Sun is the perfect blend of world-building, character development, and plot progression that keeps the story exciting, immersive, and unforgettable. The cast is wonderful-- from a siren who is also grumpy sea captain to the host of a god who feels the pull between human connection and duty to a high priestess seeking political power-- each character draws the reader in with their motivations, agency, and depth.

Pulling from Aztec, Pueblo, Mayan, and Polynesian inspiration, Black Sun is an epic fantasy of breathtaking proportions that draws the readers into the magical world inspired by pre-Columbian Americas.

Possible Content warnings: consumption of alcohol, attempted murder, some graphic violence, self-inflicted bodily harm, and mention of forced prostitution/sexual abuse.

A huge thank you to Netgalley and Gallery Book for granting my wish so I can read this wonderful book!

A fill review will be published on armedwithabook.com on August 29th.

This was an excellent read. It shows Ms. Roanhorse's impressive talent for drawing readers into an enchanted land with her elegant prose. Her three main characters are magical beings who suffered significant trauma while raised in their separate lands. One is blind and sees through the eyes of crows. Another is a seafarer who was cast away from her land at a young age and has the power to calm the surrounding waters as she sails the seas. The third came from poverty to become the powerful head of a religious order. In this first novel of a trilogy, warriors care for and ride giant crows. There's also a promise of warriors riding eagles and insects. In this land, giant water-striders power passenger and cargo barges up river. Great world building and intriguing plot lines. I can't wait for Ms. Roanhorse's next novel in the series. Ms. Roanhorse is an author to watch.

4.5 stars. A very cool premise and main character, along with a quite unique world that is inspired by pre-Colombian America. I flew through this book because I really wanted to see how it finished. The ending felt a little rushed to me, and some of the characters didn't grab me as much as the main couple, but I really thought this book was very strong.

I find this author through some Twitter controversy bUt was pleasantly surprised by the magic, intensity, and violent beauty of this fantasy works. Unexpected and powerful

This book is filled with magic. The story is rich and enticing, leaving you wanting more and more as the timelines converge. The world is rich with detail and promise. I love the journey that the reader is taken on and I am eagerly awaiting the next installment. Please order this book. Please read everything that Rebecca writes. This jump to high fantasy was extremely successful and I feel like each book is a level up.

(4.25 stars to be mega specific)

Thanks to Netgalley for the book.

<blockquote>So much of epic fantasy is set in analogs of western Europe that I think most readers believe that all fantasy must be set in a fake England in order to even be considered epic.</blockquote>

This book was spectacular. This is the first novel I've read written by Rebecca Roanhorse, and I love her way with words. In her acknowledgements, Roanhorse says she wanted to draw inspiration from the indigenous cultures of the Americas because there is a "persistent myth that the indigenous cultures pre-conquest were primitive and had little to offer, when the opposite is true. Here were master architects who built massive pyramids that rivaled anything in Egypt and created citywide sewer systems when London was still tossing its waste into the streets."

In this vein of an ancient, developed culture, Roanhorse delivers a masterful epic. In the world of <i>Black Sun</i>, the people are split into various tribes and cultures. The main for Sky Made clans that we follow all answer to the Sun Priest who lives at the heart of the culture. Each tribe is intricately linked to a specific animal, such as a large water skeeter or giant eagle or crow, the remnants of old gods who once walked the earth. These large animals exist in plentiful numbers and serve in various aspects as horses or oxen do in our world--transportation primarily of people or items.

The story is split between four POVs, a member of Carrion Crow, the Sun Priest, a mysterious man, and an outsider. Each character is well-developed within their own narrative and, while meeting some of the other main characters, they tend to stay predominately in their own area of the world. The world is well-developed with common styled-politics that can be seen in many other stories, but it is well-done here, a good base for the series that will build off of the political turmoil and backstabbing. There are various legends and lore written throughout the story, and little snippets of books or records included at the beginning of every chapter. Those aren't necessary to read, but they're interesting and are, at most, a paragraph long, so it doesn't feel like the worldbuilding is being lazily set aside to only develop in side notes.

After having read fantasy for so long that is Euro-centric, it's been beyond refreshing to read fantasy written about cultures from all over the world, like the Middle East (<i>City of Brass</i>) or African-inspired (<i>Rage of Dragons</i>), but there has been a serious lack of Pre-Colonial/conquest fantasy or stories in general, and it's nice to see this start to change and to see a story that doesn't villainize indigenous people. If you have the interest, it's a small-ish book. I say read it. It's really good.

As a voracious reader, it is always exciting to find a book with a novel plot or theme. This fantasy novel fits that bill. Set in pre-Columbian Latin America, the story explores a time and place in history that is often overlooked by contemporary authors. Rebecca Roanhorse skillfully weaves Latin mythology and legends with themes of magic and supernatural elements, tracing the journeys--both literal and figurative--of four main characters in a world filled with dark and mysterious magic. Roanhorse's writing is rich and authentic, infusing the story with a reverence for the cultural backdrop of the story, as well as the histories of the characters. The story was gripping, especially when following the two main characters, whose destinies align early in the story. I found myself wishing these characters could have been explored even more than they were. The other characters were fascinating, but their importance to the story seems likely to be explored further in the next novel in the series. My one issue is with the ending. After a lengthy buildup to the climax, it seemed to occur without a bridge from journey to denouement, exploding suddenly, and without the personal touch that infused the rest of the story. Nevertheless, it was an excellent read. The cliffhanger ending left me wanting more, and I am looking forward to the sequel to this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for giving me a copy to review!

This was a wild ride... for a major adult fantasy this flew by.

I read the first 30% a few weeks ago and just finished it within the last few days, so I don't remember EVERYTHING, but I do remember enough to say I did really enjoy everything. It is amazing character work because I was attached to characters that ended up barely having any screentime and my heart dropped when other characters got hurt.

The world was developed and it was developed so that all of the lore and legends made sense. It is obvious Roanhorse put a ton of effort into this book and you can tell every chapter. Even with the great world building, the characters also feel fully realized and I'd be totally down to learn more about basically any and all of the characters. Which by the way, all the chapters fly by which is rare for an adult fantasy so bonus points for that.

There is such a rich world for sequels and so many potential plot points that could be addressed in the sequel, I'm excited to see where it all goes!

So, Rebecca Roanhorse is a rock star.

Seriously, this is one of those straight up, beginning to end, five star books.

In Black Sun, Roanhorse takes us on a dark and epic journey to a world filled with magic, betrayal, and a rich tapestry of culture. The book is vibrant, the descriptions vivid, and our characters practically live and breathe.

This is the first book in the series, and as always with this author, I’m already fully engaged and ready for the next book.

Exceptional!

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

Black Sun is the start of a new epic fantasy series by Astounding Award winner Rebecca Roanhorse. Roanhorse's prior novel work has been fascinating - SF/F inspired by her Native (Navajo/Diné) heritage, whether in her dark hybrid SF/F "Sixth World" series or in her Middle-Grade work "Race to the Sun." It's all been really great stuff from a background not typically used in the field (although it's getting better). Black Sun takes a different tack - it's epic fantasy inspired not by Roanhorse's native heritage, but instead by the pre-Columbian cultures of the Americas. It's Roanhorse's first venture into epic fantasy and I was really excited to see what she'd do with it.



And it's really an interesting start to an epic fantasy, taking some very familiar devices of the genre and using them in some rather different ways. So you have multiple character viewpoints, magic, gods, and religions of various kinds with different levels of power, and a cast of characters acting in very different places of a very large world all leading up to a major impact everywhere by the climax....what you might expect in an Epic Fantasy, it's all here. But the cultures shown are very different from the classical European or Tolkien-inspired epic fantasy stories, and while the book has characters as deep and as enjoyable as the beset of any of those, it also has a story that manages to be both interestingly dark and grey without actually being grimdark. It's not perfect, but it's a strong start to a new series and I definitely look forward to its continuation.





-----------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------

Ten Years ago, Serapio's mother carved the iconography of the Crow onto Serapio's body, stitched shut his eyes, and sacrificed herself to imbue her god into his body, for a grand destiny.



Ten Years later on the Day of Convergence, Naranpa, the Sun Priest who leads the religion of the city of Tova, lies immobilized, wondering how it all came to this.



Twenty days earlier, a Teek woman named Xiala is rescued from prison by a mysterious Noble benefactor with a simple mission: Use her sailing skills - and her hidden Teek magic - to carry a single passenger over an incredibly dangerous route to Tova. But the passenger, a strange blind man who seems to have the presence of a crow, is far more than he seems, and Xiala can't help but be drawn to him, as she desperately attempts to keep in line a distrustful crew on a voyage where a single storm could lead to disaster.



At the same time, in Tova, Naranpa struggles to maintain her authority because of her origins not coming from noble stock, among other priests who have their own agendas, even as she desperately tries to reassert her religion's relevance and importance with the people. And Okoa, the son of the leader of the Carrion Crow clan, returns to Tova upon discovering his mother had been murdered, only to find the Crow Cult that challenges the Sun Priesthood has been growing, along with general unrest like the one that led to a massacre by the Priests years ago.



When the Day of Convergence comes, the actions of Naranpa, Okoa, Xiala, Serapio and others will have massive repercussions. And the world will never be the same.....

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"Epic Fantasy" is sometimes tricky to define as a "subgenre" - as most fantasy novels feature something that could be considered "epic" in scope, and yet not every one of these novels would consider itself to be "epic fantasy." And many books that don't contain what we often think of as the classic tropes of "Epic Fantasy" do consider themselves as part of the genre, even if they focus on a small world and a single group of characters. It's not an easy thing to define, and I usually hate using the term.



I start this review with this because Black Sun is unquestionably "Epic Fantasy" - it may contain a very different world than the type usually seen in the genre, but it definitely has the structure of what we're used to in the subgenre. So we have a plot that jumps back and forth between a number of characters' viewpoints, with the characters frequently being in far off places and in different social/racial statuses (and nationalities). Even further, the plot jumps back and forth in time, with each chapter helpfully opening with a datestamp to make it clear when things are happening. Add in a world of multiple races, magics, traditions, and gods, and well, you very clearly have all the formatting tropes common in an Epic Fantasy here for better or worse. And well, those formatting tropes work really well in the hands of a good author, which is why they keep on being used, and they can work really well even when the setting/characters don't fit the "classics" of the genre.



Roanhorse is absolutely one of those good authors, and in her hands the formatting works really damn well. It helps that she does a masterful job showing a world unlike the typical Euro-centric, or Tolkien-centric at the least, worlds we see in typical Epic fantasies. We have a number of counties with very different cultures and sensibilities - for better and for worse of course - and all of them are interesting and diverse. Some are tolerant about personal choices of gender and sexuality - in one country, women are discriminated against and non-hetero relations are forbidden, whereas in Tova, gender and sexuality differences are utterly ordinary, with non-binary, trans, and queer characters being utterly commonplace.



Of course the cultures and peoples show more differences than that, and none are more simply morally better than others. So we have a major religion in the Priests of the Sun in Tova who still want to impose power, but are still socially discriminating and reluctant to try to do more to obtain acceptance other than through brute force. And I call them priests, but they genuinely are against any worship of gods, and insist their studies of the Sun and sky are based upon reason, not magic or the supernatural. You have a people in the Carrion Crow clan who were once massacred by the Priests of the Sun and have resorted once again to worshiping more and more openly their alternative god; to say nothing of having a matriarchal culture in which they fly giant crows around. You have the Maw, a slum-filled district of the Crow that is ruled by crime, and practices perhaps darker things in secret, which the nobles would like to pretend doesn't exist. And this is to say nothing of cultures like that of the Teek - of whom we only see one character at present, and thus remain more mysterious and unrevealed. Roanhorse makes this world come alive and feel real, providing a grand setting for the characters to take action and develop.



And those characters are largely fantastic. We have essentially four main characters - as shown by them having point of view chapters, in Xiala, Serapio, Naranpa and Okoa, each with their own agendas and interests, and I grew to care about 3 of the 4 immensely, even though they are clearly from the start destined for collision course. Xiala for instance, is a magic wielding brash woman captain of the seas, who gives no Fs about any other culture's sensibilities on the land...and thus runs afoul of them at times. But on the sea, with her magical song, she finds herself alive and desperately tries to maintain control of her crew so she can truly live out there, using her superior knowledge of sea navigation to get her job done. Still, despite all the above, her Teek heritage makes her an outsider (for reasons that would be a spoiler to go into) and make her a bit lonely, so when she finds another lonely outsider in Serapio, she gravitates to him.



Serapio meanwhile, was basically brought up by his brutal mother to be a sacrifice - a vessel for her god, complete with his mother scarring him at age 10 and then purposefully blinding him before sacrificing herself and arranging then for him to have brutal abusive tutors after she's gone. He's already magically powerful and dangerous, but he's never known anything for himself - just for his supposed destiny. So when he finds a magically gifted outsider in Xiala, similar to him and yet so very different, he can't help but be interested. Serapio and Xiala's growing relationship (not to spoil anything) is an absolute highlight of this novel, with each being great on their own and together being tremendous.



The third great main character is directly opposed to Serapio, though she doesn't know it. Naranpa was elevated to the highest position, the Sun Priest, despite coming from the Maw and not being of noble blood, and believes full on in the righteousness of her position. But she sees the declining influence of her faith, especially after prior leaders of the faith used their influence and power to lead a massacre, and is desperate to take actions to try and assert their importance once again: actions that don't include more violence from a faith who very prominently carries a sub-division known as the "Knives" (and practice assassination). Yet this is made more difficult by the fact that her co-equals mostly despise her low birth and seek not only to simply maintain their old status quo, but also to undercut her every move....and even her most trusted co-equal keeps doing actions without telling her. The book showcases Naranpa's ending in the very 3rd chapter, but her conflicts and interactions kept me enraptured as she moves along the path that guides her to that ending.



The fourth major character - Okoa - is the book's only real weak point - and much of that is because we don't really get to see nearly as many pages from his point of view. Okoa is in an interesting position: not only does he know his mother was secretly murdered, but his clan is both a part of the Sun Priest faith but also the one that was once massacred by them, and thus harbors cults that follow an alternative faith in secret....or not so secret. As such, he has ties to both Serapio and Naranpa's sides which could lead to interesting decisions....but none of them come in this book, and he doesn't affect anything. I imagine he'll, as well as other characters who are introduced but don't do much, become a bigger part of the next book, but for this first book I just never grew to care about him and wanted his chapters to switch to the next character as quickly as possible.



All of these characters propel a plot that hurtles back and forth through time but inevitably to a climactic moment named from the start as the "Convergence." It's a plot where you can see the elements of what's going to come from the beginning, but the very details can still often surprise you. It's also a plot which - unlike a lot of epic fantasies - does not give the reader an easy idea of who to root for. As I mentioned above, Serapio and Naranpa are basically on opposite sides, with Serapio's whole life being geared towards the destruction of the Sun Priests, and Naranpa's being toward guiding those very same Sun Priests to a new direction and prominence in a forever changing world. And neither side is clearly good or evil - Serapio's crow cult basically abused him into the blind man he is now and need him to literally sacrifice himself to become a god, and wish for him to massacre quite a number of people in the process; meanwhile, Naranpa's Sun Priesthood maintains an organization of assassins which have massacred "heretics" in the very recent past and in the present are firmly classist and unwilling to meet change with anything other than more knives.



Neither side is clearly good or evil; they just are, and the reader like myself may wind up rooting for both sides, despite them both prevailing being impossible. And unlike a SoIaF/Game of Thrones, Roanhorse does not provide a clearly coming evil force to serve as the ultimate eventual enemy. This is not a grimdark world or plot mind you - just one that filled with flawed people trying to make what they think is the right decision, along with people who would rather have no bone to pick with either - like Okoa and Xiala - and who just want to find a way to live their lives in a happy fashion. Of course this plot, like life, doesn't make it that simple, and the way Roanhorse weaves it together is tremendous.



So yeah, great characters, a fascinating plot that I have no idea where it's going up till the end - minor spoiler, the book ends on a major cliffhanger which is annoying but not unexpected - and damn do I want to see more from this world as son as possible. This is a hell of a series to watch, and well worth your time, especially if you like epic fantasy.

This is top notch fantasy. Good action, solid plot, well written characters, and engaging. This is from a fairly experienced author who shows off her talent here. Recommended.

I really appreciate the ARC for review!!

Rebecca Roanhorse continues to please and impress in both her own created worlds, as well as within the confines of other creators' works (thinking of Rick Riordan and George Lucas here). I loved the way Roanhorse's voice can be heard in this novel, as well, and the author's use of science fiction, mingled with real life and cultural ideas, is entertaining and thoughtful.

Love it.

**ARC from NetGalley**
Absolutely intriguing from start to finish. I didn't want to put it down. It was awesome reading things from the different character perspectives. Eagerly awaiting the next one!