Black Sun

There was a lot of interesting elements in that first novel of a trilogy, with the worldbuilding, magic and beliefs system. The characters were also mostly engaging, but I didn't feel like I needed to start the second book of the series immediately. Maybe it just means that my expectations were too high.

I haven't read enough fantasy since I started reading again to say much that can't be disentangled from my reading experience. I will say: I found the characters interesting, their dynamics more so, and the backdrop of the meso-american inspired fantasy captivating. It was so compelling I finished in one sitting. As soon as the book club for this one wraps, I'm starting the sequel.

A captivating fantasy world built with Latin or central American elements. This felt a little like Game of Thrones in the Americas, but we'll written and without all the shittiness. The various stories pulled through to the climax, but there is much more to learn in the rest of the trilogy. I look forward to it.

The character and world building in this book is phenomenal. I love that the author based a fantasy world on indigenous central american cultures and not medieval England (yawn).

I always appreciate a book that's got quality LGBTQ+ characters (both in terms of sexual attraction as well as gender identification).

The book got pretty intense and violent in parts, which is why I'm rating it 4 stars. Readers who don't mind that sort of stuff might appreciate it as a 5 star book. I'm not kidding when I say that the story and characters are really well done.

I finished this book last night and am excited to start the sequel tonight!

… Punktabzug für das Cliffhanger-Ende. Dachte die Geschichte sei abgeschlossen, aber das „Ende“ ist kein so semi offenes, sondern richtig offen. Nunja, muss ich wohl auch das Sequel, „Fever Star“ hören. Was mich auch störte an dem nicht abgeschlossen Ende: Es fühlte sich an, als hätte die Autorin sich nicht getraut, bei manchen Charakteren eine Entscheidung zu treffen. Aber wir werden sehen, ich hoffe, dass ich falsch liege. :)

Was die Story angeht: Schönes Fantasy Setting wenn mich auch der arg symmetrische Aufbau (es gibt etwa genau 4 Clans und passend Stadtviertel und so) etwas irkt und zu sehr an Sentai Serien erinnert. Schön, dass queere Charaktere vorkommen und Neopronomen nicht hinterfragt werden. Nicht so toll fand ich, dass die meisten Protagonist_innen Auserwähle oder Royals sind, was mich immer sehr anöded. Ich erlebe lieber Geschichten von 0815 working class Charakteren und ohne Magie (jdf dann wenn nur Auserwählte diese nutzen können, das ist mir immer zu elitistisch und rassistisch).

Schön fand ich am Hörbuch, dass es mehrere Sprecher_innen gab. Leider fand ich nicht alle überzeugend, einer schien mir wesentlich zu apathisch für die Rolle, die er sprach.

This book blew me away with how good it was. It's set in a fantasy world based on the pre-Columbian Americas, and is chock-full of interesting, diverse characters. The bulk of the story is set in the city of Tova, religious center of Meridian, where the different Sky Made clans and their matrons live, and the priests of the Celestial Tower try to shape society. Not long ago, there was a massacre of the Crow Clan, instigated by the Celestial Tower, and cultists who do not follow the priests' beliefs are waiting for the return of Grandfather Crow, to take revenge.

The book starts 20 days before the Convergence, a rare solar eclipse during winter solstice, and Grandfather Crow is traveling towards Tova in the form of a young man named Serapio, one of the PoV characters. Since childhood he has been groomed towards the day of the Convergence, to kill the Sun Priest in Tova. Aiding him in getting to Tova is Xiala, a vivacious Teek captain who likes to play hard and soothe the seas with her song.

The other PoV characters are Narapa, the young Sun Priest, who is beset by political machinations on all sides as well, plus Okoa, the son of the Crow Clan's matron who died under mysterious circumstances.

The Convergence of all those characters is skillfully done, I was at the edge of my seat as the day count in each chapter got smaller, and could easily have read 500 more pages of the good stuff. The flashbacks to Serapio's youth were always very interesting too. Serapio must be the most tragic character I have read of in recent times.

The world is vibrant, colorful, gripping. Hooray for non-European centric Fantasy, get me more of this stuff.

As the author states at the end in the afterword “an epic fantasy with the scope, scale, magic, and intrigue I found in my favorites of the genre and set it in a fictional secondary world inspired by the pre-Columbian cultures of the Americas”

Something completely different and new. No more vampires or werewolves. Some excellent world building using mythology rarely heard. Just a wonderful experience.