You Don't Want to Be an Avatar
Review: Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
This is mostly a recap...I read this book and may have reviewed it a few years back, but I wanted to say something about it before going on to books two and three.
I've been waiting for a while to find out what happened next after the dramatic ending. There's a conflict between two gods...the Sun God and the Crow God...and neither of them is really in the wrong or the right.
This is a south American-flavored secondary world, but not historical or based on anything real. It has some beautiful worldbuilding and a series of flawed, very human characters, some of whom are willing to do anything for vengeance.
That never ends well.
Review: Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse
This book takes place where Black Sun leaves off, in a city now watched over by a frozen sun. Time, in many ways, has halted, as the Sun God and the Crow God fight.
Their avatars on Earth, though, have enough free will to...there's a strong theme here. Destiny, duty, and what you do if you survive fulfilling your destiny.
What do you do if you were meant to die? Both of them have different answers to this question.
Meanwhile, Serapio, the Crow Avatar's lover, Xiala, who is not supposed to commit herself to a man is desperate to save him.
So, in her own way is Naranpa, the Sun Avatar.
There's a hint here that an ancient conflict may actually find resolution...maybe.
Review: Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse
The forbidden and forgotten word is ambition. The world is shattered to be born again.
In some south American mythology, Smoking Mirror is a dark god associated with the jaguar, and I suspect Roanhorse is invoking that with her title.
According to her this is the end, although there's a few loose threads...but they only make the ending stronger. The Teek are forced to abandon male infanticide to get their population up. The matriarchy in Tova is broken...and one suspects the patriarchy of the Seven Lords is probably gone too...because one major theme of this novel is about the shattering of gender roles...and glass ceilings, in all directions.
But the conflict between the Crow and the Sun will, likely, continue forever...
(You don't want to be an avatar. You definitely don't want to be an avatar).
I received these books free for review and award consideration.