Synopsis:
A god will return
When the earth and sky converge
Under the black sun
In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world.
Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain.
This was a very unique book with a very interesting and unique setting. Central America pre-Columbia. Hasn't really been done before, not as far as I know at least.
I really liked Xiala and Serapio as characters. I enjoyed reading their chapters much more than Naranpa's. I don't know if she was meant to be unlikeable, but I didn't like her. She's the leader of a religious faction and isn't that religious, just kind of power-hungry.
The political intrigue wasn't as engaging for me as everything that was happening on the ship. It might be that the character I didn't like was more connected to the politics than the crew on the ship. The prophecy aspect was really interesting and I would have liked there to be a little more focus or mention of that earlier in the book. Most of the time was spent on the less interesting, to me, religious politics.
There was one aspect of this book that took me out of the fantasy setting, I don't know if it will bother anyone else. But for me, it took me out a little and made it difficult to stay as invested in the story at times.
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