Review: Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse.

I was walking my dog in a park once when I saw three or four crows throwing a black rag around, taking turns picking it up and tossing it.  Bear with me because this has something to do with Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse. Getting closer, I saw that it wasn't a rag, but was a black kitten.  I chased them off, and caught the kitten , which wasn't easy since my dog was with me.

The crows had pulled the kitten's chin off. I took her home, named her Voodoo, had her for many years, but she never grew back her knobby little pudge-ball of a chin.

So, when you get to the crow attacks in Black Sun, believe it because those beastly things will pull your chin off in a heartbeat. Or pluck your eyeball out. Ugh.

I've read Ms. Roanhorse's books, Trail of Lightning and Storm of Locusts and enjoyed them very much. I used to live across the San Juan River from the Navajo Reservation and that area means a lot to me. At first I was a little sad that Black Sun wasn't in the Southwest like her other books. . And, although I like strong women characters, there was a woman sea captain and women sea captains seem to be a thing now. Gosh, I think I've read four books with women ship's captains in the past twelve months.

Although I got off to a slow start because I thought it was yet another fantasy with a woman captain, after a bit I really got into the story, and cared about the characters. The crow boy's childhood was almost too painful to read. Everybody inflicted physical and mental pain on him.. He grew up to be extremely gentle and a vicious killing machine. This is where the crows come in. You do not want to get on the wrong side of a killer with crows. There is a reason they're called a "murder" of crows. They will rip your chin and other body parts off before you can get a broom to swat them. Being gutted by a crow. Geez, what a way to go.

I even grew to like the woman sea captain, even though the seas are swarming with female captains now.

Read this if you like strong women, murderous women, a murderous crow boy, and murderous crows of all sizes, some humongous.  And keep your face mask on. You never know when a crow might go for your chin.

Thanks to Netgalley and Saga press for this ARC of Black Sun.