2022/160: Black Sun — Rebecca Roanhorse

2022/160: Black Sun — Rebecca Roanhorse

“...all peoples of the Meridian have banned human sacrifice. It is considered uncivilized, barbaric...Too powerful for humans. Best we stick to sacrificing people the old ways, with wars and famine and despot rulers.” [p. 297]

Black Sun (first of a duology) is set in a world with a pre-Columbian, Mesoamerican flavour. There are four focal characters: Naranpa, the Sun Priest, who grew up in the squalor of the Maw; Xiala, a Teek sea captain regarded as not quite human; Okoa, a warrior prince called back to the city of Tova after the death of his mother; and Serapio, whose own mother made him into a god, or the vessel for one. ( Read more... )