Sign in with Facebook
Thomas's Reviews > Black Sun
Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky, #1)
by
by
Thomas's review
bookshelves: own-electronic, read-on-kindle, lgbtq, fantasy, science-fiction
Oct 20, 2020
bookshelves: own-electronic, read-on-kindle, lgbtq, fantasy, science-fiction
Good book though not a great fit for me. Reading Black Sun reminded me a lot of my experience reading The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. While I recognize the quality of the world-building, this type of epic fantasy rarely appeals to me if the characters are not compelling and well-developed.
I appreciated the novel’s world-building in that it is inspired by the pre-Columbian cultures of the Americas. I also enjoyed the inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals, in particular characters who are a third gender and use xe/xir pronouns. This representation felt sensitive and smoothly incorporated without drawing undue attention to itself for the sake of it.
I just couldn’t connect with the characters in Black Sun. We follow three main storylines with different characters in varying levels of precarity and danger. Unfortunately I didn’t feel much suspense in any of their situations and these characters� internal worlds did not draw me in. I felt like a solid amount happened plot-wise yet these characters� relationships and inner feelings and emotions were not developed as much as I would’ve liked. If you’re a fan of fantasy I’d recommend reading other reviews to assess if this book may be a good fit for you, despite my lack of enthusiasm.
I appreciated the novel’s world-building in that it is inspired by the pre-Columbian cultures of the Americas. I also enjoyed the inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals, in particular characters who are a third gender and use xe/xir pronouns. This representation felt sensitive and smoothly incorporated without drawing undue attention to itself for the sake of it.
I just couldn’t connect with the characters in Black Sun. We follow three main storylines with different characters in varying levels of precarity and danger. Unfortunately I didn’t feel much suspense in any of their situations and these characters� internal worlds did not draw me in. I felt like a solid amount happened plot-wise yet these characters� relationships and inner feelings and emotions were not developed as much as I would’ve liked. If you’re a fan of fantasy I’d recommend reading other reviews to assess if this book may be a good fit for you, despite my lack of enthusiasm.
Sign into Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ to see if any of your friends have read
Black Sun.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
October 9, 2020
– Shelved
October 14, 2020
–
Started Reading
October 20, 2020
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-13 of 13 (13 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Francesca
(new)
Oct 21, 2020 02:40AM
"The Fifth Season" is a high bar to clear. Good review!
reply
|
flag
Thanks so much Francesca!
Yes I am stuck at page 81 and I can only seem to read 5 pages whenever I pick it up. I dont feel like we have spent enough time developing characters and its a bit jarring to swap characters and places just when you get touch with a place and person you get moved away. I love fantasy but it wasn't smooth for me so far.
This this this. I didn't have a lot to say in my own review - I loved the seamless inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters and having listened to the audiobook did miss the xe/xir pronouns. All of that is beautiful and I loved it.But I didn't love the characters, I felt no emotional investment in the plot, and the romance seemed bizarre and almost shoehorned in, it felt so out of place to me. It definitely didn't work for me.
At the end by the time I reached page 200 I fell into the book. Unexpected. I found I cared mostly for the only 2 of the characters- captain and sun priest. Buti think second book will be better. Now the world building is done
Totally why I struggle with most high fantasy and some sci-fi. I’m a character girl over worldbuilding, every time.
This! I got 1/3 through and realized that I don't really care about any of the characters except Xiala. That isn't enough to keep me engaged. Might DNF this one which is disappointing.
Thanks for this review - I also read Fifth Season and had extremely mixed feelings about it - it had me rolling my eyes a lot at the plot (holes!) and characters but also it was really imaginative. I ended up just reading plot summaries of the subsequent books and then was glad I didn't actually read them.I could probably deliberately do about 1 or two books a year like that so I'll steer of this one
Thanks for this review. Not a big fan of the Fifth Season, so I'll be giving this a pass.
I felt pretty much the same way.
Uh, I was so excited to read this, but I’m on page 37 and it felt like a chore. I’m not super into fantasy, especially high fantasy, so I might just give up a add it to the DNF. But I want so much to like it.
Down to the N.K. comparison, this is exactly how I feel :/
