Black Sun: Book Riot #bookreview

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse has two main settings — the city of Tova and a ship on the way to Tova. Tova, a holy city, usually has a winter solstice celebration. However, this year there will be a winter solstice and a solar eclipse during the same time. According to the Sun Priest, things are about to change the world. It looks like the winter solstice party might be on hold.

The setting of Black Sun isn’t in an actual place but it is inspired by pre-Colombian civilizations. So the place is similar to central Mexico and Central America. If I had to guess which time period this book is set in I would guess that it is set in either the Middle (900–300 BCE*) or Late Formative Period (300 BCE- 100 CE).

Serapio was blinded as a young boy by his mother. She believed that he was the reincarnation of the Crow God so he needed to be blind to get in touch with his power. Was she horrible or was she right? His mom may have been horribly right.

Serapio needs to get to Tova in time for the solar eclipse. Whatever changes are coming, he needs to be there. For most of the book, he is the underdog so it is easy to root for him. What if his powers aren’t good? The sequel isn’t coming out until next April so I have that long to prepare for Serapio being a villain.