Author: Black Sun

Title: Rebecca Roanhorse

Performer: Cara Gee, Nicole Lewis, Kaipo Schwab, & Shaun Taylor-Corbett

Length: 12 hr 47 min

Series: Between Earth and Sky, Book 1

Publishing Date/Publisher: October 13, 2020

Format: eAudiobook

Review: I was intrigued by the synopsis of this book, and it really lived up to my expectations. Set in a lush world inspired by the early civilizations of the Americas, this is a story rich in mythology, culture, and magic. All of the characters were mostly interesting, but I was quite taken by Xiala and Serapio, especially once their stories intersected. In my opinion the story was really about them. The rest of the POVs felt more like periphery characters, particularly Okoa. He had relatively little page time, and I think his perspective could have been removed without damaging the story. Naranpa, the Sun Priestess, had more depth and her importance to the plot was more clearly defined, but I still did not connect with her the same way that I did with Xiala and Serapio. She became infinitely more interesting once more of her backstory was revealed, but by then the book was almost finished.

Although the journeys leading to the story’s climax were fascinating, the climax itself was rather…anticlimactic. As a reader, it became apparent to me a little too early on how things would go down when Serapio made his prophesied return to his mother’s homeland on the day of convergence. The actual ending was rather abrupt and wasn’t really the cliffhanger I was expecting. When I read the synopsis for the next book in the series, I was confused, because it contains the revelations I would have expected to read at the end of the first book. That aside, I think the stage has been set for some great character arcs and I look forward to jumping back in where the story left off.

Reader: Bekah

Rating: 4 Stars