#the sun and the void

[melanielocke]

Here are some of my favorite books I read this year, divided into three categories because I'm not good at choosing.

#some desperate glory #emily tesh #gwen and art are not in love #lex croucher #witch king #martha wells #the surviving sky #kritika h rao #one night in hartswood #emma denny #the sun and the void #gabriela romero lacruz #the unbroken #the faithless #c.l. clark #painted devils #margaret owen #a day of fallen night #the priory of the orange tree #samantha shannon #a power unbound #the last binding #Freya marske #the crimson fortress #akshaya raman #a grim and sunken vow #hollow star saga #ashley shuttleworth #gideon the ninth #harrow the ninth

[bookishlyvintage]

unread book box stack of shame

#illumicrate #owlcrate #the sun and the void #the jasad heir #divine rivals #immortal longings #silver in the bone #midnight strikes #masters of death #omen of ice #fantasy #ya fantasy #bookblr #booklr #book stack #stack challenge #book box #subscription #flat lay #cozy reads #autumn #books

[lgbtqreads]

Fave Five: Queer Adult Fiction Set in South America

Cantoras by Carolina de Robertis (Uruguay) Brickmakers by Selva Almada (Argentina) The Words That Remain by Stênio Gardel (Brazil) Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk (Argentina) Undiscovered by Gabriela Wiener (Peru) Bonus: While a fantasy novel, The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero Lacruz is set in a Venezuelan- and Colombian-inspired world.

View On WordPress

#Argentina #Brazil #Cantoras #Carolina de Robertis #The Sun and the Void #Uruguay

[wlwbookshelf]

THE SUN AND THE VOID - GABRIELA ROMERO CRUZ Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Sun and the Void is told from the dual points of view of Reina and Eva, both young women that are trying to fit into societies that reject them. Gabriela Romero Lacruz uses a South American setting and mythology to create a world unlike any I’ve read before. 

As this is the first book in a series it does have some worldbuilding that slows the start of the book down. However, once that initial build-up is done, it is realized to its full potential and becomes an exciting, fast-paced book. 

You cannot help but root for both Reina and Eva, and I am excited to pick up the next one and find out what happens. 

Many thanks to Orbit Books for an eARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

#books #the sun and the void #gabriela romero cruz #book review #sapphic lit #booklr #wlwbooks #wlwlit #wlw literature

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads // twitter thread

The Sun and The Void

Venezuelan inspired high fantasy

follows a young outcast swordswoman taken in by her grandmother, the dark sorceress for a noble family, who relies on the magic to keep her alive after being attacked by monstrous creatures

and a young noblewoman who’s the shame of her family because of her mixed heritage and desire to use magic

both are manipulated by those with more power than them into a plot to free an ancient evil god

mineral based magic, politics, nonhuman MCs

#The Sun and The Void #aroaessidhe 2023 reads #hm. haha. surface level this is kinda interesting and cool but i am going to follow with so many complaints #though I feel like it didn’t go into the magic or worldbuilding as much as I wanted and it felt irrelevant to the characters #like how does the magic even work? idk man #though I feel like it didn’t go into it as much as I wanted and it felt irrelevant to the characters #very slow to start and the pacing is weird. it would also go ages without having the other POV. very disjointed? #it felt like the first 60% was just context for the group of characters getting together as a group and then it was a bit predisposed with #They’re A Group! even tho. they're barely a group for long #the authors note mentions that the story concept started with a line about the god and ritual and…..yeah I can kind of tell #I feel like everything was built up around it in a way that ultimately that part didn’t fit right #I never bought that any of them were actually like fully committed to the evil dark magic? and also there’s this plot twist #that they have to fully kill the sacrifices & I was like…did we not already know that? girl r you stupid what do you think sacrifice means #also #oh my god at like half way one of the MCs is like. oh finally this guy who I’ve been exchanging letters with for months turned up to get me #away from here! by the way I’ve been exchanging letters with this guy and we’re friends! and like. she’d been doing nothing much for the #last 10% of the book why was that not like….shown as something she was doing? and like build up the friendship for the reader instead of #just dropping it on us - and also that we know the character from the other POV. and hes a racist prick. and we're supposed to believe she' #charmed by him because of this letter writing WE DIDN’T SEE….. why. #and then also that is like. he’s a shitbag and it’s obviously not romantic at all. he’s manipulative and terrible to her #EXCEPT at the end it implies his bad behaviour is because demon and oh uwu he gets all beat up and maybe hes sowwy now #and starts to imply she likes and is attracted to him? and I get the impression the next book is gonna be like evil power couple dynamic? #which. feels like the first concept the author had; and then tried to build up to that but not effectively lmao #for the lesbians: #I DO APPRECIATE having an assumed love interest then realising that that was idealised and actually you have feelings #for this other person you’ve become friends with! nice slow switch up. though quite brief #I do however dislike that when she admitted her feelings to the first LI and she rejected her it was still framed as the other’s fault #for not reciprocating the feelings….worst trope….also like. it kind of conflated her not feeling that way to her having a bit of class disc #which. yikes? oh my god stop villainising people for not reciprocating romantic feelings (ALSO they turn out to be related anyway 🤪) #i just feel like the romance switchover could have been done with more nuance and complexity

[tbookblurbs]

The Sun and the Void - Gabriela Romero Lacruz (Warring Gods #1)

3.75/5 - Lesbians, Venezuelan/Colombian inspired imagery, very well-rounded characters, pacing is a little off

The Sun and the Void was, by and large, a very good debut novel from Romero Lacruz. The character and interpersonal relationships on page are rich and very clearly developed. The novel takes place in two post-colonial nations, and Romero Lacruz does not shy away from criticizing real world problems through the novel. Everything from forced conversion to Christianity to homophobia and sexism to discrimination and subjugation of native people. Specifically, Pentimiento, the religion most humans follow, is clearly based on Christianity.

The characters themselves feel like very full people and none of them are exclusively good or bad. They all have their moments of poor decision-making and cowardice that are balanced out by their moments of heroism and sacrifice. From a personal standpoint, I found it really difficult to get into the headspace of Eva Kesare, mostly because she annoyed me, but I found Reina fascinating. Her motivations and the danger she has to invite upon herself makes her character and her choices so much more fraught and really pulled me in, especially when looking at her relationship with her grandmother Ursulina.

However, the book itself struggles with some pacing issues. I was around 40% of the way through the book before I felt that we had really found the plot and get underway. The book could've been probably 10-15% shorter than it was if an editor had gone over it. Furthermore, many of Romero Lacruz's plot choices were predictable. This might be because I've read so much fantasy, but by around the halfway point of the book, I predicted the ending. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it means Romero Lacruz's foreshadowing was well incorporated, but I think I would've liked a little more subtlety.

#the sun and the void #gabriela romero lacruz #reina duvianos #eva kesare serrano #book review #sapphic #fantasy #high fantasy

[bloodmaarked]

➸ reading list

just added:

prophet, helen macdonald + sin blanché

our share of night, mariana enriquez

the sun and the void, gabriela romero-lacruz

a greek love: a novel of cuba, zoé valdés

the thursday murder club, richard osman

black england: a forgotten georgian history, gretchen gerzina

black people in the british empire, peter fryer

the end of men, christina sweeney-baird

the actor, chris macdonald

the black queen, jumata emill

#prophet #helen macdonald #sin blanche #our share of night #mariana enriquez #the sun and the void #gabriela romero lacruz #a greek love #zoe valdez #the thursday murder club #richard osman #black england #gretchen gerzina #black people in the british empire #peter fryer #the end of men #christina sweeney baird #the actor #chris macdonald #the black queen #jumata emill #reading list #tbr #booklr #bookblr #bookworm

[tigger8900]

The Sun and the Void, by Gabriela Romero Lacruz

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ches, the god of the sun, and Rahmagut, the god of the void, have been absent from the world ever since Ches defeated Rahmagut and sealed him away. But every so many years the celestial phenomenon known as Rahmagut's Claw crosses the night sky, heralding the opportunity to seek the god's favor to satisfy one wish. Such a time is upon the land. Reina, born powerless, seeks strength through her grandmother, a powerful sorceress, but instead winds up indebted to her. At the same time, Eva wants nothing more than to rise to her full potential, but with her family suppressing her true nature she decides to take her life into her own hands. As the stories of these two young women converge upon Rahmagut's tomb, dueling ambitions will determine whether the world continues on in relative peace or if the land will be thrust into chaos.

The world building in this novel is fantastic. It's a fantasy world based on Venezuelan history and folklore, with a magic system centered around using real-world metals as reagents. There were indigenous people who lived in the land before human colonizers arrived, as well as a revolution that brings to mind the rebuffing of certain real-world colonial empires. This is the first book of a series, and honestly it's mostly set-up. But the set-up is so interesting that I didn't even care. I can't say enough how much I love the magic system. It's exactly the right balance of simple and complex.

The dual-PoV was done very well. I found the two voices to be distinct, and the characters were believable. Sometimes they did foolish things — very foolish things — but those mistakes seemed natural. The supporting characters were also excellent(Maior was my favorite, by the end). I'm not sure what I think about Javier. I feel like I know where the author is taking his arc, and I think it's going to annoy me. I'd say he's honestly the biggest weakness of the entire book for me, because he leans on tropes — the sick boy, the jerk, the master manipulator — that I'm not a huge fan of, and yet he's so central. Fortunately he's not the only relationship present, so that softens the annoyance a bit, and the fact that Maior exists almost cancels his unpleasantness out.

The author is also an illustrator and has drawn her five primary characters. They appear in the book, some at the start of part 1 and some at part 2, and can also be viewed on her website. If you're a visual reader like me, I recommend checking all five portraits before you start reading so your brain performance of the book doesn't do any odd recasting. There is sapphic rep here, though in this first book at least it's predominantly incessant longing with some small payoff near the very end. The author claims that the next book will be spicier, so I imagine it will get more development later.

The book has frequent action sequences, mixing physical combat with spellcasting. This is going to be a weird comparison, because the settings and plots are nothing alike — not to mention I trust this author more than I trust Cassandra Clare — but whenever the characters were fighting I kept getting Shadowhunters vibes. In a good way. Don't @ me, I said it was weird.

#books #book review #the sun and the void #gabriela romero lacruz #the warring gods #fantasy #high fantasy #sapphic #queer #lgbtq

[evenstarfalls]

Diversity win your evil murderous racist grandmother is was also a lesbian

#hi i read a new book and i really liked it #the sun and the void #the sun and the void spoilers #tsatv #yeah I'm making up hashtags it's that new and i liked it that much #reina duvianos #ursulina duvianos

[nuttydragonbird]

The Sun and the Void is such a great book! In the beginning I thought I knew where it was going...but boy, did it take me by surprise just about every 100 pages in part 2! Reina and Eva are such cool protagonists and their differences in motivations and thought processes are awesome to see! Also, wlw romance, manipulative witches and deer people, we love to see it!

#I really love (hate) Celeste #she's so spoiled and manipulative and petty #and it's wild to see Reina know that and still actively choose to follow her #Eva is a powerhouse and I can't wait for book 2 to see where this goddess takes her life #the sun and the void #gabriela romero lacruz #books #nonsims #rambling

[black-is-beautiful18]

Seeing some interesting things about The Sun and The Void but atp the only people I’ll be listening to are those who have actually read the book all the way through and those who are actually South American, cuz the reviews outside of those ppl are weird. Very weird and I don’t like it. That’s not to say that all the reviews I’ve seen are weird cuz some ppl bring up very good points about some of the things that are said to be in the book, but as I said it’s getting weird.

#the sun and the void #book reviews #sometimes I think y’all can’t wait for books by nonwhite authors to be apart of controversy #cuz then you don’t have to hide your racism #unique writes

[bookishlyvintage]

Prettiest Cover on my tbr ~

#illumicrate #the sun and the void #gabriela romero lacruz #fantasy #uk cover #book cover #special edition #sprayed edges #stenciled edges #flat lay #books #bookblr #booklr #book lover #bookish #bookstagram

[elliepassmore]

The Sun and the Void review

4/5 stars Recommended if you like: fantasy, South American fantasy, magic, multiple POVs The premise of this book is really intriguing. A Venezuelan- and Colombian-inspired fantasy with human and non-human races, the rock magic, sword fighting, etc. We're introduced to the idea of rock magic and to the non-human races, nozariels and valcos, fairly early on in the book. The nozariels have scales, a tail, and slit pupils, while the valcos have antlers and reddish irises. Both are stronger and faster than humans and have a natural affinity for magic...but that's pretty much all we learn about them. I wanted to know more about them and their culture, pre-contact and how it's evolved post-contact and post-revolution. Similarly, the magic was interesting to me and I liked the scenes that incorporated it. However, I never feel like I got a good grasp on what each of the different branches of magic were and how they were used. For a book with such an interesting premise, I wanted to see more of those things. While I think both Reina and Eva are supposed to feel like outsiders so they'll have motivations for their actions, I would've liked a moment where one or both of them was able to connect with someone else and have the nozariel/valco heritage explained (or shown) a bit more. As much as I like epic fantasies, I think this book could've done with being shorter. It's over 500 pages, but I really think that could've been reduced by 100-200 pages. Not much happens in the beginning aside from getting to know Eva and Reina and understanding the world the book is set in. The book starts picking up ~100-150 pages in and does keep a pretty fast pace for the rest of it, so I think just trimming the beginning down a bit would've helped prevent the book from feeling like it dragged. I'm also not sure this needed to be two POVs. Reina is clearly the main character of this book and most of the narration and action goes to her. Eva just kind of sits around with her family being miserable for a good portion of the book, then is dragged along by Javier, and then finally toward the end begins showing strong agency. Reina, on the other hand, is immediately shown to be someone willing to take things into her own hands, and her willingness to act continues throughout the book, even when the acts aren't always good and even when those acts are manipulated by others. This, combined with the fact that most of the chapters are from Reina's POV anyway, makes me thing that Eva's could've probably been cut down or out entirely and we could've had that information filled in in a different way. To be fair, Eva does begin to get more interesting ~50-60% of the way in, but that's quite late for someone who's supposed to be one of two main characters. For the characters themselves, Reina is half-nozariel raised by her father after her mother died. At the beginning of the book it's clear that Reina's father has also died at this point and she's journeying to try and meet up with her human grandmother, who has inexplicably reached out after almost 20 years of silence. From the get-go it's clear that Reina is caring and more than a little desperate to find her place in the world. She pretty much immediately falls in love (romantically and familially, respectively) with Celeste and Laurel, and the instantly high levels of devotion to them were a bit weird to me. Nevertheless, Reina's desire to have a family and a place in the world, and to make up for her 'monstrous heart' (do you feel monstrous? No? Okay then) means she doesn't always make the best decisions and is prone to being convinced of things by her grandmother, who very clearly has ulterior motives for everything she does (as much as I very much dislike Reina's grandmother, she really is an excellent character). Eva is in a similar boat, being half-valco and raised by her human family with no contact from the valco side. However, unlike Reina, whose father loved her dearly, Eva's family mostly shuns her and tells her that she should try very very hard to not be a demon spawn. Despite this, Eva does have some backbone and goes to see the local half-valco witch to learn some magic. She's pretty certain that her family's claims are wrong and she's not the devil's spawn, but when things start going a little sideways at home, with signs pointing to Eva, she begins to internalize what her family has been telling her and her backbone shrinks to nothing. It comes back a little bit and Eva is successfully able to start her journey toward power and independence, but once again she comes under the thumb of another...but to be fair, it ends up strengthening her seemingly out of sheer spite. As obnoxious as Javier is, Eva actually turns out better for the most part after meeting him. She still doesn't totally think through her decisions, but at least she's taking the reins and she is still good-hearted and wants to help people. One thing that bothered me about the book is how the human-nozariel-valco relationship is described. The humans came in, made contact with these non-human races (including a third that they hunted to extinction but which I suspect will come up in a later book), and then enslaved only the nozariels. This is despite the fact that they're faster and stronger and more magically inclined than humans. And why only the nozariels? Well, the valcos were a more war-oriented race and thus the humans largely left them alone. *Cue eyeroll* That whole description just feels very off to me and feels very hand-wavey-"well you should've fought harder if you didn't want to be a slave." Overall the premise of this book was pretty interesting but the book itself kind of took a while to get started and then once it did it didn't really focus on some of the more interesting aspects of the premise. I liked Reina as a character, even when she was making bad decisions, so I'm glad she gets the most page time.

#book #books #booklr #bookblr #bookish #bookaholic #book addict #books & libraries #books and reading #bookstagram #book review #the sun and the void #sapphic fantasy #sapphic characters #lgbtq characters #gabriela romero lacruz #fantasy south america #fantasy #fantasy book #adult fantasy

[swordandboardllc]

Introducing: The Sword & Board Book Club

Hello Readers, 

Life has been a little all over the place for the past couple months. I had surgery, my sister had surgery, my husband was let go from Twitch, and now we're in the middle of moving! So with all that excitement, the newsletter and Book of the Month went to the wayside. 

I want a way to continue Book of the Month, but in a way that lets me get to know you all better, and lets you see what an author looks for when analyzing and learning from a novel. That means, Book Club Time!

HOW TO JOIN

1. Sign up for a Fable.co Account 2. Join the Sword & Board Discord   3. Click on the Fable Link pinned in #Book-Club 4. Follow the Fable instructions on how to pick up the book. 

It's fairly straight forward and I'm extremely excited to get started with all of you in September. If you follow those instructions presently, you'll see there isn't a link yet for the book club in the discord channel. That's because I want your help choosing our discussion book!

Vote here on Patreon

Let me know which book you're excited to read with me. Multiple choice is allowed, so feel free to vote for your top two.

Your options are: 

 A Poison Steeped in Magic: I used to look at my hands with pride. Now all I can think is, "These are the hands that buried my mother." For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it's her own fault. She was the one who unknowingly brewed the poison tea that killed her—the poison tea that now threatens to also take her sister, Shu. When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom's greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making—she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning's only chance to save her sister's life. But between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious (and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, Ning might actually be the one in more danger.

The Sun and the Void: Two women embark on a unforgettable quest into a world of dark gods and ancient magic in this sweeping fantasy debut inspired by the history and folklore of colonial South America.  Reina is desperate. Stuck on the edges of society, Reina’s only hope lies in an invitation from a grandmother she’s never met. But the journey to her is dangerous, and prayer can’t always avert disaster. Attacked by creatures that stalk the mountains, Reina is on the verge of death until her grandmother, a dark sorceress, intervenes. Now dependent on the Doña’s magic for her life, Reina will do anything to earn—and keep—her favor. Even the bidding of an ancient god who whispers to her at night. Eva Kesaré is unwanted. Illegitimate and of mixed heritage, Eva is her family’s shame. She tries to be the perfect daughter, but Eva is hiding a secret: Magic calls to her.  Eva knows she should fight the temptation. Magic is the sign of the dark god, and using it is punishable by death. Yet it’s hard to ignore power when it has always been denied you. Eva is walking a dangerous path. And in the end, she’ll become something she never imagined. 

Silver Nitrate: Montserrat has always been overlooked. She’s a talented sound editor, but she’s left out of the boys’ club running the film industry in ’90s Mexico City. And she’s all but invisible to her best friend, Tristán, a charming if faded soap opera star, though she’s been in love with him since childhood. Then Tristán discovers his new neighbor is the cult horror director Abel Urueta, and the legendary auteur claims he can change their lives—even if his tale of a Nazi occultist imbuing magic into highly volatile silver nitrate stock sounds like sheer fantasy. The magic film was never finished, which is why, Urueta swears, his career vanished overnight. He is cursed. Now the director wants Montserrat and Tristán to help him shoot the missing scene and lift the curse . . . but Montserrat soon notices a dark presence following her, and Tristán begins seeing the ghost of his ex-girlfriend. As they work together to unravel the mystery of the film and the obscure occultist who once roamed their city, Montserrat and Tristán may find that sorcerers and magic are not only the stuff of movies.

Fourth Wing: Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders. But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them. With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant. She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise. Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise.  Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret. Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die. 

#book club #fantasy book club #fable book club #voting #patreon #silver nitrate #fourth wing #the sun and the void #a poison steeped in magic

[mistwraiths]

3.5 stars

This book wasn't what I expected it to be and I'm honestly a bit conflicted about how I feel overall about it. I thought this would be a tale of two girls wrestling with magic and biddings of gods. It was said somewhere that this included a sapphic romance between servant and heir, and I was excited to read about that as well. None of that happened or at least not really in points that mattered. Part of me feels lied to.

I don't feel completely disappointed though because what I got instead had potential and the premise within was interesting. These two new countries are still basically stabilizing after their revolution. Nozariels, natives to the land, were enslaved and now free but still in one country, not seen or treated as people. Valco, who are also natives to the land, were never enslaved but they have conformed mostly to human culture and are dying out. On top of that, there's the spread of religion that is overtaking the native religion and calling magic and magic do-ers evil. We get Reina, a nozariel, nearly killed and saved by her estranged witch grandmother, and eager to become her successor. And Eva, a valco, who was born into a rich noble family, but her father is not who her mother married, and because she's half (quarter??) valco, she's treated terribly but she's fascinated by magic that comes easy to her and desperate for power and freedom.

It's a shame that the book is brought down because of it's slow and poorly paced in the majority, especially the beginning. The first part of the book is just explaining the world and introducing the characters, with hardly anything important happening. We're told mostly what happens instead of shown anything and time skips weirdly in places and lingers in other places as filler. I would have loved more focus on Eva learning her magic, even developing a correspondence with Javier. I would have liked to see Reina's relationship really grow with Celeste and even her grandmother, perhaps her struggling with the things she asked of her. I would have liked more development on Javier struggling with his curse. If this was maybe broken down in parts and explored, I think it would have been great.

If you're looking for your next sapphic fantasy, please look elsewhere. The development of "romance" in this book is pretty abysmal in my opinion. Reina just felt like she was lusting over any pretty girl she came across. The whole time she was in love with Celeste is pretty much one-sided it felt. The instant attraction to Maior and inevitable growth of "romance" is so unbelievable to me and I do not believe that Reina deserves love or forgiveness from Maior.

I think other than the telling instead of showing and the slowness and bad pacing, the WORST crime of this book is everyone being not only easily manipulated/lied too so OBVIOUSLY is that it's so obvious that the characters look incredibly STUPID when they realize it. No one uses a single fucking brain cell in this book and no one actually communicates anything to anyone until it's far too late. It is COMPLETELY OBVIOUS that the nine wives of the Void god has to be sacrificed. Yet multiple characters are shocked when they learned this?? Like it didn't occur to them that kidnapping these women and sacrificing infants to see if they were blessed by the kidnapped girls blood to see if they're real wasn't leading to them being murdered?? Girls who weren't the reincarnated wives likely died along with those babies. How the actual fuck did they think a BLOOD SACRIFICE wasn't death? But hey endangering babies (and getting some killed) and kidnapping women is fine???

One thing I DID like was that these characters are messy and I didn't always like them or agree with them.

I really liked Maior, that girl deserves happiness and the world. She suffered so much and she got treated so terribly. Kidnapped. Constantly being possessed. She was likely already raped by Enrique. Betrayed by Reina at least once if not twice. Forgotten. Treated terribly. And yet she's strong and brave and capable of being kind.

Honestly, the one who surprised me was Javier. I actually kind of felt bad for him. It's not hard to understand why he's cruel and self-centered when literally no one cares about him and treats him like shit. His mother died when he was extremely young. Enrique is a TERRIBLE role model and was only decent/good to Laurel. Laurel, who yes had a baby, said she couldn't take care of him because of her baby and that he was jealous of Celeste. He was like two???? Maybe 4???? A CHILD who lost his cruel mother??? Maybe love and kindness and acceptance could have grown out of him?? I want to know if it was REALLY Laurel who cursed him and how long he's been suffering because that absolutely can attribute to his whole demeanor if he's literally changing into an actual monster. I can't even fault him for going through with kidnapping those women to cure himself although how he didn't know they'd die is stupid too. But it is nice to know that he didn't want to kill anyone. I also feel very upset that everyone hates him/calls him a monster/blames him for killing Celeste when that wasn't his fault at all. Yes, he's implicit in the kidnapping and the ritual like Reina is. But he was possessed by the demon thing and it wasn't him, and it was Eva's fault.

I did like Eva's story actually a bit better. She was definitely mainly dragged around by circumstances and didn't have much agency in her own story, but I liked her trying to be free and learning magic. I think the learning magic bit was kind glossed over quickly though. Eva was messy a bit because she did some things I thought were stupid and some that were more mean-spirited and other actions. I'm absolutely disappointed in her for messing with void magic and causing Javier's possession to happen and then not taking responsibility for it and letting Javier get beat up and then thrown in a cell and hated for what happened. She's been a coward before though but I did thought she learned. The reveal at the end that Rahmagut is in her was a surprise and I'm interested to see what happens next to her and if Javier will be cured, and if their relationship grows.

Celeste kind of rubbed me the wrong way? She's kind sometimes but she's also a bit self-centered it felt like and kind of rude to Maior for no reason. She also felt dismissive of Reina's problems or feelings to me in a number of ways and I felt like while they would have been great friends, if we could have really seen it instead of shown, Celeste would always see herself as more than Reina?

Reina had so much potential to be my favorite but alas, I mostly did not enjoy her story. Reina's part in the story is so important but overall half the majority of important things she did/done is simply TOLD to us instead of showing us. I thought Reina was going to endure whispering of a dark god at night. No. She gets the same random dream occasionally through the story about walking. There's susurration from her heart or the ore idk but that's not any kind of important whispering I thought was mentioned. The kidnapping girls plot is basically skipped over. We don't even get to see her relationship with her grandmother grow or her learning magic or anything. Instead, when we finish part one and things FINALLY start to happen, she's been forced to find Celeste, the last reincarnated wife of Rahmagut, or she'll die. During her stumbling upon escaped Maior, another reincarnated wife of Rahgamut, she basically tricks her into going with her and getting Celeste. She doesn't tell anyone she's going to DIE until far later. I don't blame her for wanting love or acceptance or family, although is kidnapping girls and endangering and sometimes killing babies worth being a family, but she needed the iridio to live and I can understand that. But she was a terrible "friend" to Maior. Ches choosing her was just okay to me.

The last few chapters were quite exciting and had a lot of reveals that were interesting and I'm cautiously intrigued to see what happens next. Mainly, I just want Maior to get everything good in the world and I want to see Javier healed.

#the sun and the void #gabriela romero-lacruz #steph reads #steph's book review #book review #2023 reads

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The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero-Lacruz - ARC Review!

Reina is desperate. Stuck living on the edges of society, her only salvation lies in an invitation from a grandmother she’s never known. But the journey is dangerous, and prayer can’t always avert disaster. Attacked by creatures that stalk the region, Reina is on the verge of death until her grandmother, a dark sorceress, intervenes. Now dependent on the Doña’s magic for her life, Reina will do…

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#Book review #Gabriela Romero LaCruz #The Sun and the Void