Into the Forest discussion

This thread is for the 2022 Challenge Latin America category group read Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
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I've already read this one and won't be reading it again, but I recently finished the second book, Fevered Star (which I really enjoyed), so I still remember all the characters and I look forward to reading with everyone!

I adored this book. I might or might not reread depending on time, but I’ll be joining in here in this discussion.

I've read the first 5 chapters. It has started off a bit strange, and I have no feel for the story yet.

Katy wrote: "I've read the first 5 chapters. It has started off a bit strange, and I have no feel for the story yet."

Because the world is so strange and different it took me a while to get in to, also because I normally don’t read made up world type fantasy. However I eventually got sucked in

Oh, it is good so far, just trying to figure out some of the made-up words that describe this world too. I'm also not very familiar with South American Mythology.

Katy wrote: "I've read the first 5 chapters. It has started off a bit strange, and I have no feel for the story yet."

It does start slow and has pretty dense world building.

Finished last night, it just doesn't quite do it for me.

Katy wrote: "Finished last night, it just doesn't quite do it for me."

I personally liked the second one a lot better. I felt it was more about character development, which is my preference. I always felt a bit distant to the characters in the first book, except for Xiala, who was my favorite character.

Xiala was my favorite also (view spoiler)[hello mermaid - although we don't see much of that. (hide spoiler)]

I had a library copy, so I can’t look up the names I’ve forgotten.
My favourite character was the Mermaid Captan. I would have liked to know more about their origins.
The character who had his eyes sewn together was less relatable but still intriguing.

Xiala the Mermaid captain. Looks like she is the most favorite.

You get more background on Xiala in book 2, though it's implied book 3 will have lots more of her background.

Naranpa was my least favorite character in the first book, the Sun Priest. She was just unbelievably naive to me. But (view spoiler)[ she is more intriguing and has more character growth in book 2. (hide spoiler)]

I'll look forward to the 2nd book in the series.

Margaret wrote: "You get more background on Xiala in book 2, though it's implied book 3 will have lots more of her background.

Naranpa was my least favorite character in the first book, the Sun Priest. She was jus..."

Yes, Naranpa was the least interesting main character for me too.

I really hoped to join you but again I dropped the book after... the first page again, even worse, on the same sentence as before.

Asaria wrote: "I really hoped to join you but again I dropped the book after... the first page again, even worse, on the same sentence as before."

Eek. Now I'm curious about the sentence, lol.

Me too!

Me three!

Thrice summoned ;-)


"Today he would become a god. His mother had told him so.
“Drink this,” she said, handing him a cup."

And drop shortly before the third sentence

I thought the book was ambitious, but it didn't quite come up with the goods.

As others have said, the extravagant world-building came at the expense of character development.

The dialogue was often very wooden and the character's inner dialogue was mainly tell, not show. For an example of this, see the lines @Asaria has pulled out above.

Asaria wrote: "Thrice summoned ;-)


"Today he would become a god. His mother had told him so.
“Drink this,” she said, handing him a cup."

And drop shortly before the third sentence"

I remember now when I read that I thought “hmmm…..I don’t think I am going to like this book….”, but it was a pleasant surprise for me that I ended up liking it a lot. As some of you already know, I’m not a fan of fantasy that takes place in a made up world, so I was rather hesitant to read this . I think what saved it for me was the fact that the world so closely resembles pre-Colombian South America that I was able to relate to it, and thus get into the story. Had this book had a different setting, like let’s say something resembling medieval England like most of the made up fantasy, I wouldn’t have enjoyed this book nearly as much.

The world building is really great, and I love that it's based on Pre-Columbian America.

It might seem strange since I am primarily a fantasy reader, but interesting character arcs are my favorite thing to read. I think the character arcs are predictable in this first book, but more interesting in the second.

So I reread this book because I had a copy of Fevered Star and couldn’t remember all the events.
At first I did not like it as much the second time around but as I read on I started enjoying it a lot. Naranpas story is definitely the weakest and I also found her annoying. As Margaret already said, this all changed in Fevered star, so I suggest everyone read on!