I wanted to love this one SO BADLY, because the concept of Sun of Blood and Ruin is very, very good. Unfortunately, this book was really let down by its editor—the prose is extremely awkward, to the point where the book became a slog to read. I wish I wasn't so disappointed, because I was very excited for this book.

This book takes place in a post colonization Mexico where Lady Leonora, who is half Spanish and half indigenous, has been promised to the Prince of Spain. But she is also Pantera, a vigilante that uses her sword skills and magic to fight the injustices the Spanish crown is inflicting upon the indigenous peoples. While balancing these two lives, there’s also a prophecy that is threatening to become reality. I wish we could have actually seen Pantera in action more, I wanted to know more about how she came into this role. Be aware that the book does include snippets of Spanish (I recognized some from other books and a little bit from taking a spanish class in the past), but I used a kindle so it was easy for me to look up and didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book. The pacing was a little weird at times, heavy dialogue and then heavy info dump. There were some awkward transitions towards the beginning. I also felt that there was a lot that was jammed into the book. The romance also just kind of felt awkward, maybe forced would be a better description? I’m not somebody who needs a romance subplot and I don’t mind if there is one, but it just really didn’t feel fleshed out.

There’s obviously quite a bit of Mesoamerican mythology that is included in this book (it really starts to come into play a little after half way) and I wasn’t too familiar with a lot of it, but this led me to researching into the mythology a little bit, which I really enjoyed too, since I’m a big mythology nerd. I worry that may discourage some people from reading it though, cause it’s a lot of information. But if you are willing to try something new and learn some new mythology, I think you would enjoy that part! I really started to enjoy it when the mythology picked up. I will admit I had to reread some areas where I got a little lost on what was going on. Again, I think the author may have been trying to do too many things in the book. I feel like this book could have benefited from actually being two books.

Overall, there were things that worked well and things that didn’t. I still think the setting was a bit refreshing, and I do appreciate that it was based off a place we don’t see a lot of in fantasy books. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A warm thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this copy of the novel. Sun of Blood and Ruin is based on Mexican and Mesoamerican mythology. Leonora, the daughter of the former Viceroy of New Mexico is living a double life as the outlaw known as Pantera. She is also a sorceress and a shape shifter! She has to maintain her disguises, stop a prophecy that could lead to the end of the world and avoid the Spanish gallows, all while keeping her cool around a certain pirate.

I enjoyed the story, the magical teachings reminded me of the Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge and the Four Agreements. It was Zorro if he was a shape shifting sorceress! It was exciting and the action was non stop. Leonora was a bit annoying at times. She was a bit reckless to me and that made me roll my eyes a couple of time, but all in all, the book was enjoyable.

I went into this book with high expectations after reading the synopsis.
When you hear about a Retelling of El Zorro with different Mythology and great world building.

It did a great job with the descriptions of characters, places and battles. As I mentioned before the Mythology was also really well done.

I had a hard time working with the first half of the book, it felt choppy and hard to understand at times. I also couldn’t connect with the characters.

The last part of the book was well done but I wish that had been the whole book.

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC.

Thank you Harper Voyager for sending me an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I have not read many books that incorporate Mexican culture in fantasy so I was very excited for this book : )

I really enjoyed the setting and world building of the book, but I didn’t love the writing style or the characters themselves. I think that the story had a lot of potential but this first book just got off to a rough start?

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the romance in this book, but I also did not necessarily oppose it or hate it. I definitely got the vibe that this book was more of a coming of age or “finding yourself and your place” kind of book so I was rooting for that path for Leonora, but I didn’t really mind either way.

This book was not my favorite but it was so refreshing to read a book that was not Euro-centric and I really do love that all types of cultures and mythology is being incorporated into fantasy and I loved that this book had my own culture as the main focus <3

I love fantasy with lots of historical and cultural elements. While this book was full of all of the history and culture that I look for in a fantasy, the story was not as strong as I was hoping that it would be.
 
Set during the Spanish colonization of Mexico, Leonora is living a double life where she is promised to the heir to the Spanish throne by day and fighting the colonizers as Pantera by night.  With a prophecy that threatens everything, Leonora is forced to make difficult decisions.
 
Often it felt that the progress of the story was halted so that the history and culture could be explained.  While, I absolutely loved all of the history and culture, it did make the pacing of this book uneven.
 
I was not personally a huge fan of the romance in this book. I think that the dialogue made the romance feel almost forced and not quite natural for me.  It did improve towards the end of the book and was better in the second half.
 
This book had a lot of elements that I really loved and a lot of elements that were only so-so for me. 
 
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.  I leave this review voluntarily.

The Sun of Blood and Ruin appeared at first glance to be a gender bent retelling of Zorro. I’m not exactly sure that is what we got, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

To me, this book was really a combination of Mesoamerican mythology and Mexican history of colonialism rolled into the story of Leonara- the FMC trying to reconcile her two identities as nobility betrothed to the heir of Spain and the masked vigilante sorceress, Pantera. Leonara just seemed to flounder throughout the whole book. While this appeared to be to the main plot, it was the weakest point of the novel for me. The mythology and weaving of Mexican history throughout the book was the strong part, and the novel’s selling point. A few of the side plots were entertaining and also helped carry the book.

I think anyone who enjoys mythology or fantasy will enjoy this book. Definitely read it for this more than the plot.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. This review was left voluntarily.

Sun of Blood and Ruin by Mariely Lares was a fun historical fantasy story.
The characters were complex and interesting, and I really enjoyed the mythology.
The pace kept things moving and I loved the depth of the characters.
The author does an incredible job of crafting individual characters and developing them.
I read this in one sitting and really enjoyed it.

Thank You NetGalley and Harper Voyager for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I was really interested in this book from the synopsis, but it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. For an adult novel, the writing was juvenile. The stilted dialogue, awkward time skips and flashbacks, and heavy info-dumps were a lot to get over. The more I learned, the less the plot made sense (there’s no way a half-Native girl who lived in the jungle for a decade and mysteriously reappeared would be given as an option for the heir apparent of Spain, let alone actually being accepted by him!), and the whole “Indigenous gods and magic are real and not the colonizer’s” schtick seemed to play into the “noble savage” trope a bit too much for my tastes.

2.5 stars

I wanted to love Sun of Blood and Ruin, but it ultimately fell incredibly flat. The Mesoamerican mythology and folklore was by far the best part of this book. I loved how the folklore was weaved within the story, it made a boring plot interesting. I also loved the use of Spanish throughout this book. This was not the gender-bent tale of Zoro I thought it was going to be. There was hardly any sword fighting and Leonora was a very one-dimensional character. The plot was all over the place and I had a difficult time keeping track of what was going on and who was involved in what. I also think the dialogue felt incredibly forced and choppy. I would have loved for the theme of colonialism to be expanded upon but all we really got was: Cortés is bad and brought over smallpox. I ended up skimming through the last 40% because I just didn’t care anymore. I don’t know….I had high expectations for this but it was just not what I thought it would be.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sun of Blood and Ruin is a historical fantasy that is steeped in Mexican culture and folklore. This story, about a female vigilante in sixteenth century Mexico fighting the oppression of her people by the Spanish, was a great entertaining read.

I loved reading about the different gods in the native Mexicali culture. Plus reading about the Spanish colonization of Mexico was eye opening and informative. The treatment of the natives by the Spanish was upsetting to read about and gave me some not so wholesome feelings about the Spanish.

I found the world building very well done. Some of the characters were two dimensional, and the love interest for the FMC just didn’t click for me, but over all, I really enjoyed all of the book. The fantasy elements were nicely done, and there were even some war scenes that were very exciting and nicely written.

If you are a fan of historical fantasy, and want to read about Mexican folklore and culture, this is a great book for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to netgalley for the ARC!

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me at 40%. The premise of a gender bent Zorro in 16th century Mexico sounded amazing, but this book sadly needed a lot of editing to hone in the story. The worldbuilding was wonderful and I can tell so much research went into this book’s creation. Sadly, the pacing was odd, chapters frequently ended randomly without resolution, and overall it was just plain confusing. I finally stopped when I realized I couldn’t tell if the Zorro character was fighting for or against the rebels? This story took on the subject of colonialism but didn’t actually explore it, if that makes sense. I think overall, the author tried to cover too much, too fast, and it needed more character development and world explanation.

I’m bummed. I had high hopes for this one! Hopefully book 2 lands better. I do want to support this author and this great idea.

Sun of Blood and Ruin is an exciting, gender-bent Zorro retelling set in the early colonial period Mexico. Our tale follows Leonora, the half-Spanish, half-Mexica daughter of the governor of Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan in the decades before the Fall. Leonora, lost for ten years in the jungle, has recently returned to Mexico City, and upon the death of her father, has taken up the role of the vigilante Pantera. Seeking justice for the indigenous people in the colony of New Spain, she fights against the Spanish colonizers and rallies the indigenous rebel group, La Justicia. She is a Nagual shifter, taking the form of a black panther, and uses her tonalli - her life force - to aid in fighting. One day, she comes across a soldier whose tonalli is unusually strong and she senses he is hiding something. When they keep running into each other, both as Lenora and her alternate identity of Pantera, she has no choice but to ally with him as she and La Justicia fight against Spanish oppression.

I really enjoyed this book. It was refreshing to see a story influenced by Mexica and Toltec mythology, and set in the early colonial period of Mexico. I enjoyed Leonora's character. She is a young woman of two worlds - both Spanish and Mexica-Tenochca, able to move easily in the palace as she is among the indigenous groups, but also feels like she doesn't really fit in either place. Andres is a mysterious figure - a Spanish soldier, it is hard to really understand his motivations and whose side he is on. I was hoping for a little more romance in this book, and while there is a little, I have a sense that this may continue to evolve and develop in a second book.

Sun of Blood and Ruin is heavily influenced by Mesoamerican mythology. I studied Mesoamerican archaeology for many years, so much of this was not new to me, particularly the different gods and the cycles of destruction and rebirth. The author uses a lot of Nahuatl worlds in the book, and the characters occasionally switch between Spanish and Nahuatl. Though, I did find this story, while fictional, a decent representation of the early Colonial period in Mexico after the arrival of the Spanish, including the various ethnic groups and the diversity of their languages and beliefs in the Valley of Mexico in the 16th century.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I am looking forward to seeing more of Lenora's story. Thank you to NetGalley and to Avon and Harper Voyager for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Sun of Blood and Ruin was a fantastic historical fantasy. The book takes place during the Spanish colonizing Mexico. This is where we meet Pantera/Leonora whose father is a Spaniard and mother is Nahua. As Pantera she fights for the people of Mexico and the crimes committed against them by the Spanish. As Leonora she tries to gather information and gain ways in the palace to help the indigenous people of Mexico. She tries to walk a fine line between the two identities but struggles with who she truly is inside.
Leonora is a force to be reckoned with. She is smart, beautiful, stubborn, has tonalli, and is deadly with a blade. Leonora is not just dealing with the Spanish as there is an ancient prophecy which promises destruction to the land as well. Leonora is a truly interesting character who learns a lot along her journey.
Leonora has a maid named Ines who knows she is Pantera and helps cover for her and take care of her when needed. Leonora meets Lieutenant Ayeta who she does not trust and is very suspicious of what Ayeta wants and is trying to do.
There are many more characters in the book, but I do not want to give anything away by naming too many of the characters as meeting these different characters are specific moments in the book.

Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you, NetGalley and publishers.

Sun of Blood and Ruin is a YA romantasy set in Central America steeped in the history and culture of the indigenous peoples and at the time after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. There is romance, there is war, and no punches are pulled. The main character is among the nobility of the Spanish ruling class because of her father but she is s as Lao looked down upon because her mother was a native. She is going to marry the prince and heir to the Spanish throne but she is also the shapeshifter and freedom fighter Pantera, and her heart is pulled in different directions. And her senses agree with the warnings of the old calendar: the end of the world is coming. Will the scattered tribes be able to change the prophecy of the Black Sun?

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

2.5/5 stars

This was....man this was almost a DNF but by the time I was really ready to quit I had less than 100 pages left so I kept going. This concept was amazing, and it started out super interesting - but it quickly lost it's way. The plot was riddled with inconsistencies, suddenly shifting motivations without much backing, and it just felt like the author knew what she wanted to happen but couldn't make up her mind on how exactly to get there. I said to a friend "it feels like she had a general story she wanted to follow, but she wrote 5 different plot summaries and smashed them together without correcting for variances between them".

This very much needed more editing just for cohesion - the writing wasn't bad but I was confused so much that I couldn't even appreciate the parts that were done well. I think it just speaks to the need for more maturity in Lares process, which can come with time. I would give the author another chance but this one was definitely a disappointment.

My thanks for the ARC goes to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager, Harper Voyager. I'm voluntarily leaving a review with my personal thoughts.

Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Mythology, Mexican Mythology
Spice Level: Medium (Not a play by play description of spicy scenes but on the page)
Language: A few well-timed swear words
Gore Factor: There are deaths in battle, but it's not egregious
Representation: The novel is filled with indigenous people and Spaniards, gay side characters

My one word review: Fascinating.

The setting is one generation post-Cortez, and Spain is at war with the indigenous people of what is now Mexico.
That's important to understand when starting this novel because of the themes of colonization and autonomy.

Some of my favorite things:

Female Zorro archetype
Indigenous gods
Magical realism
Complex characters
Friendship between women
Monsters
The gods' politics
Conniving
Posturing

I didn't know a lot about the original inhabitants of Central America, so I had a learning curve. But it's worth it to read the story.

Who will enjoy this book:

Fans of Daughter of the Moon Goddess & Heart of the Sun Warrior.
Epic fantasy readers
Historical fantasy readers
Mythology readers

I think all fantasy readers will enjoy this book, and I recommend it.

Happy reading!

PS: I'm giving a shout out to the illustrator for the cover art—it's gorgeous!

Who could resist the promise and allure of a Zorro fantasy retelling from a debut author with a cover as outstanding as this one?? Not this reviewer, that's who! And I'm so glad I didn't because it absolutely did not disappoint!! Highly recommended for anyone looking for something completely different and unputdownable! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Features:

-Gender bent retelling
-Indigenous mythology and folklore
-Realistic historical setting with a magical twist

The promise of a gender bent retelling of Zorro with a Mesoamerican twist drew me immediately to this book. Taking place around 20 years after the Conquest of Tenochtitlan, this book not only managed to immerse me in the culture and mythology of the region, but also provided an honest snapshot of a very dark and complicated period in Mexican history. The magic system introduced into this otherwise realistic historical setting was intriguing and really felt like it belonged. Unfortunately, the strength of the setting did not carry over to the characters of the book. I was looking forward to a more modern and complex exploration of a ‘Zorro’ character, but was left a little disappointed. I had a good time reading the book, but a mix of relatively flat characters and pacing issues makes it far from the perfect read for me.

Summary

Ever since the fall of Tenochtitlan, the Indigenous people of Mexico have suffered under the tyranny of Spanish rule. Things are only getting worse as the Spanish continue to tighten grip on the once powerful empire. Standing between her people and the brutality of the Spanish is the mysterious masked vigilante Pantera. A skilled warrior wielding ancient magic, Pantera represents everything the Spanish are trying to wipe out for good. Little does anyone know that behind the mask is Leonora de Las Casas Tlazohtzin, a noblewoman who might soon become the future queen of Spain. Balancing a double life only becomes more complicated as prophecies of the end of the world as they know it and her own early demise seem to be coming true. The powers of Leonora and Pantera alone might not be enough this time.

An Immersive Setting and Magic System

I have always been a sucker for a good historical setting and this book definitely delivers. Despite having some magical aspects, this feels like an accurate representation of 16th century Mexico and manages to be both sensitive to native cultures and unforgiving in its depiction of Spanish colonization. The cherry on top is definitely the magic system. Where not overly complicated, it melds so well into the mythos of the region and enhances the culture aspects being explored. My one complaint is that there are multiple times where Leonora ‘sets the stage’ through exhibition rather than allowing us to immerse in the setting more naturally. However, as someone previously unfamiliar with this slice of history, I found most of the information interesting and helpful rather than distracting.

Lackluster Characters and Uneven Pacing

In addition to being Pantera, Leonora is an individual of influence trapped between two worlds. She is mestizo (a person of mixed Spanish and indigenous descent), and though she is more connected to her indigenous culture, her life outside of being Pantera takes place amongst the Spanish elite. These aspects of her identity along with the time period opened the door for a really intriguing and complicated character. Unfortunately, I feel like almost none of these opportunities are taken. Though Leonora contemplates the various masks she must wear, it never seemed like there was an authentic and deep struggle to reconcile the various pieces of herself. I definitely think there were attempts to do so, but it just doesn’t come through for me. Unfortunately, there is even less development of the side characters and the somewhat stilted dialogue fails to create any sort of chemistry (positive or negative) amongst them.

This book is a debut novel and like many, it struggles with some pacing issues. There is fast paced action and high stakes as we enter the story, but then the story seems to come to an abrupt halt for the better part of the first half. I don’t mind a shift from high adrenaline action to the slow burn of political intrigue, but without proper development, it just falls flat. However, more than that I think it was the sense that Leonora/Pantera is just kind of floundering for quite awhile. Pantera comes across as somewhat clumsy in a way that goes beyond just compensating for an injury sustained at the beginning. Likewise, Leonora fails to come off as clever or savvy in the political world and I have a hard time believing that others would fall for her charade. Their respective failures make it difficult for either to find direction in this story and this, along with a little too much exposition, makes for odd pacing.

Overall

Overall, I had a good time reading this book and would recommend it to people I know would appreciate the vibes and overarching themes. However, it definitely has some flaws that could make or break the reading experience for some readers, so I would carefully consider these before investing in this read.

Sun of Blood and Ruin is a great new story in the fantasy genre by taking Latin mythology and creating a fantasy story on par with Children of Blood and Bone.