brb while I reel over the excellence of this masterpiece. This is a truly delightful and spectacular read. Black Sun exemplifies what I love in high fantasy books: excellent worldbuilding with both the scope and depth, engaging plots, superb concepts, as well as a diverse cast of likeable characters.

Ideally I'd had waited until my pre-ordered hardcopy arrived, but because this is one of the books I really want to get around ASAP and also since I am reading this for a book club, I ended up reading the whole thing on my iPad. This didn't compromise my reception of the book: I merely spent a longer time reading the book, but at the same time I felt truly immersed and engaged in the story in the every single minute that I've spend reading Black Sun.

Anyways, there are so many wonderful aspects in Black Sun which redeemed itself a page-turner. So I'm going to bullet point a few highlights in the paragraphs below:

+ The characters: Black Sun is narrated from multiple POV's. The main characters are: Serapio, Xiala, Naranpa, and Okoa. I really applaud Rebecca Roanhorse's effort of fleshing out these characters. They are no means flawless (in fact, I'm fascinated by their moral dilemmas and complexities) but from these character backstories, it's not hard for me to find aspects of their personalities likeable & believable. In particular, I found Xiala's and Serapio's character development really well done throughout the novel as they come in terms of their true potentials.

+ Diversity & cultural representation: This is one place which contributes to the excellent worldbuilding in Black Sun. It's culturally diverse and it's refreshing to read high fantasy based from non-Western settings. This year, I last minute pledged to make more effort in discovering diverse reads and Black Sun ticked all of the boxes in terms of the representation. I love the lush description of the divinity and the magic system in this fictional world - and how this sets up the plot which unfold later on in the book. Similarly I found the diversity representation superb. In addition to the different factions in the Meridian, I am also intrigued by several LGBT+ relationships in the book. I normally don't enjoy excessive romance here but thankfully I found these justified as the characters are likeable.

+ Thematic development: In addition to the plots and characters, Black Sun also woven plenty of big themes in its expansive story. There's the political tension, the struggle between family and choice, the concept of divinity, and also little moments of self-knowledge: these big universal themes are artfully woven through the backstories as well as the plot giving the book a timeless quality. Once my hardcopy arrives, I'll expand further on this section.

What to be aware of (I personally don't think this is an issue):

- Multiple POV's: Normally multiple POV's can be really hard to wrap my head around but I think the different perspectives in Black Sun worked really well and ties well to the thematic development - so while the events are being narrated by different characters Black Sun felt continuous to me and I think the multiple perspectives actually enhances the different vantage points in the story which leads up to the climax events.

- While I found Black Sun quite a pleasant read, there are a few potential triggers to be aware of: violence, accidents, and death.

A few points aside , this is an excellent opening novel of an exciting epic fantasy series. I honestly can't wait for my hardcopy to arrive and I'm already eagerly waiting for the