Bumpy Oak Books

**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

Actual rating: 3.5

Rebecca Roanhorse begins a new epic fantasy series with Black Sun. The series is inspired in part by the mythology, lore, and legends of the pre-Columbian Americas. Riddled with prophecy, betrayal, magic, and politics, Black Sun sets the stage for much more.

This is the first of Roanhorse’s works I have read, though I have many others waiting on my to-read list. I am fond of mythology in all of its forms and am so very excited for the representation for Indigenous stories and peoples that this story brings. There is also representation for nonbinary people(xe/xir pronoun usage) and for other LGBTQ identities as well.

I found Roanhorse’s writing to be very accessible and enjoyable. I did however, think this book suffered from typical book-one-of-high/epic-fantasy-series troubles. There was a lot of information. Even without the info-dump, it was a lot. Which is fine and necessary, but does require attention. The start was also slow, likely to allow all that information to be conveyed.

The standout characters for me were absolutely Serapio, Iktan, and Okoa with Xiala as an honorable mention. I am definitely invested in their stories and look forward to their progression in the rest of the series.

I did ultimately enjoy this book, and think that I will enjoy future books much more now that the world has been established. I look forward to more from Roanhorse and am even more motivated to go through her backlist.