Black Sun

Excellent worldbuilding, likeable characters - it actually pulls off the thing I've seen a few times where characters on opposing sides are all presented as likeable. Often, I end up not caring about any of them; here, I find myself wanting things to go well for all of them.

Selling points: South/meso-American-inspired setting; bi rep; nonbinary rep. (Also blind rep but I'm not sure I can recommend it on that basis - Rebecca Roanhorse obviously made an effort with the disability rep here, but he's also a reincarnated god, and as someone who's not blind on that level myself I don't think I can fairly judge whether or not she hit the balance well.)

Warnings: violence; child abuse; child neglect; ritual injury of a child by a parent; a sex scene, tasteful but fairly explicit; end on quite a sequel-hungry note.

Warnings:

The Mesoamerican (?) world is interesting, and the explicit use of timestamps on each chapter (including foreshadowing, jumping back and forth) is somewhat unique, but the book definitely leaves the reader with that "Ooops I started a trilogy" feeling.

Listened to this over a weekend where I REALLY needed to escape, it was fun and engaging and I definitely got really wrapped up in the world. I didn't know very much going into it but I'd read another short story by this author that I really liked and I saw it recommend a bunch / nominated for hugo, etc. I thought the setting was extremely sick and want to learn more about how the author built the world. Lots of fantasy elements which is unfortunately not totally my jam, but I enjoyed it a lot nonetheless.

First fantasy book I've enjoyed in years. The setting was so refreshing and new, but it also felt like a real place. Maybe it's a world I've visited in my dreams? It surely will be a world I dream visit in the future.