Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

139 reviews

erebus53's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

This is a book I picked up because I got a recommendation of the second one and then realised I needed to read this one to catch up. Oops. 

There are three main characters. In a harsh world, a young boy is taken from his life to be turned into the vessel for a Godform. The whole story starts in abuse, physical mutilation, and sacrifice, and that's pretty harsh. Although his life is harsh it is not without love. At least the kid has his crows.

A young girl is brought up in poverty in the back streets, and through savvy and devotion she is elevated to the head of her religious sect, but her underlings aren't happy about it.

A woman of an Amazon-like minority culture, and who are said to have magical powers, is the captain of a ship that takes a strange cargo on a tight deadline,  at the wrong time of year, and she has to deal with an unruly crew, and dangerous weather.

The plot is just an underpinning though. The characters are really fun, and through the narrative there are many characters of many different genders and sexualities. There are at least two obviously NB characters with xe/xer pronouns and one side character is a trans woman. It's normalised, but not all cultures have the same attitudes toward sex, gender roles, or even nudity.

Although there is some combat and training-montage type scenes I was not bored and it was not blow-by-blow or glamorizing. The pace was good, the character interplay was fun and I bought in, and I've always been a sucker for prophecy stories... This one is hopped up on monk juice, scary mermaid energy and seriously full of crows (and crows are cool). Some of these babies are riding size.
Where's MY crow mount?? ok I'm off to read the second one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Gore, Body horror, Classism, Murder, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, and Child abuse

alyanna_dm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Best book I've read recently and probably my favorite of the year. Intricate worldbuilding, and the plots all weave together perfectly to create the ending. Sometimes multiple POVs can get confusing but this was well done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Torture, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death and Racism

Minor: Genocide

2treads's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Absolutely amazing. Mybs3cond time reading this book and I am still in love with how Roanhorse has built this story. The cagracywrs are compelling, the plot moves well and keeps me engaged and immersed. The influence of the Meso-American peoples can be seen in the festivals, dress, beliefs, and clan groupings. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Gore, Body horror, Alcohol, Grief, Murder, and Violence

ellenisntcool's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

This is a very well written book, but I did not understand anything that was going on and didn't understand the world building either. I definitely had very high expectations after the first couple of chapters, but I ended up not liking this that much.

Won't be reading the sequel or finishing the series in general as I genuinely don't care about anyone in this book and again, got confused. However, I did enjoy the trans rep as it isn't something you see often.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Death

moonytoast's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Violence, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Alcohol, Death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Gore, Sexism, Vomit, Body horror, and Cursing

dreadspawn's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Child abuse, Suicide, Blood, Murder, and Violence

merppenguin's review

mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Moderate: Body horror

salemander's review

5.0

this book is fucking amazing. absolute genius 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Xenophobia, Violence, Sexual violence, Torture, and Physical abuse

brianneh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, and Murder

ivereads's review

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I am beyond words, I recently got back into reading after having over a 8-10 year slump, and I read this over the course of just 6 days. (That is insanely impressive for my slump) The storyline is phenomenal and I am absolutely in love with everything the author did. Rebecca Roanhorse did her mfing research and made the whole world building amazing. I am autistic so I have some biases for loving this stuff because it's a personal special interest. But she did a great job of bringing Indigenous history into a fantastical world full of magic and I beg that the second book is just as good and thoughtful. (Going to read that next) If you don't mind the talk of occasional violence and you love culture rich and diverse casts in a fantastical setting, i one million times over recommend this. Thanking and bowing to my friend who recommended me this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Death, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Torture, Alcoholism, Body horror, and Mental illness

Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Misogyny, War, Xenophobia, Grief, and Sexual content