dnfed @ 16%

It's been a while since I struggled so much with a book. I'm having a lot of trouble with the prose. The dialogues are pretty bad, and the descriptions are overdone. It seems as if the author was more concerned about using lots of rhetorical figures rather than conveying useful information about the story.

Also, I don't know if I'm the only one who feels this way, but what's with all the books being labeled as adult fantasy but turning out to have a very notorious YA tone?

DNFing this book is probably one of my biggest disappointments of the year, and I'm not proud of it. However, my TBR is huge, and there are many other books I want to read instead of continuing with a book I'm not enjoying even minimally.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

Unfortunately this is put me in the worst reading slump.
The pacing is slow and the prose is really overwritten and littered with anachronisms - I feel like it was missing another round of editing to cut out all the parts that were unnecessary.
The main characters are also both pretty infantile for being protagonists in an adult book (?) - tbh they’re just both doormats which is a choice but it makes it hard to be interested in them.
It’s a shame because the worldbuilding is really interesting but every time I picked up I would just hate my life. :(

It has two narrators
Reina, a Nozariel, human with a beast like tail. She is summoned by her grandmother Dona Ursulina.
She lives in Don Enriques palace who is the leader over that region.
Second narrator is vera who is a valco, humans with antlers and special powers like fighting extremely fast and well.
The pacing is so slow and the book is so sad, it’s hard to keep reading which is why I DNFed it at 33%.

It is disappointing that in a book with magic, there is still a lot of heteronormative, misogyny, sexism and patriarchy. Not to mention the church still having more sway, and the geomancia and their own god/demon being restricted and frown upon.

3.5*

A huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me an arc.

The Sun and the Void follows Reina and Eva, two girls who are both thrust into entirely new lives. I didn't particularly like either girl, though Eva grew on me more than Reina did. I found Reina to be quite childish and also selfish, though I knew it was more out of desperation than anything and her wanting approval from her grandmother, a woman who would do anything to get what she wants.

I preferred Eva's chapters and seeing her go through her adventure with Javier who harbors a deep secret of his own. I didn't particularly like him either, although events towards the end of the book made my feelings change somewhat.

My favorite characters were Celeste and Maior. I feel like if they weren't there I wouldn't have enjoyed the book half as much.

The Sun and The Void is a sapphic epic fantasy adventure inspired by South American history and folklore.

“You don’t care if I live or die. I’m just another nobody in your eyes.”

I really enjoyed this book once I’d gotten past the initial world building (pretty much all of part 1).
This is the first book I have read (to my knowledge) that is based on South American folklore, and I LOVED IT! This book to me was more about these two young women (Reina and Eva) and their separate quests for belonging!

In part 2, I really feel like the characters came into their own and I started to feel more of a connection to them, especially the morally grey characters…sometimes I find relationships within books can take away from the plot, however, this wasn’t the case and I loved the FF and MM relationships and the motives behind these relationships.

I look forward to any future books in this series!🥰

I've been going back and further trying to decide on a rating for this book and eventually settled on 3 stars, although it was more of a 3.5 for me. I found the story to be a little bit confusing at times which lowered my rating, but the ending of the book had just the right pacing and flow which redeemed it. Overall this was an enjoyable debut and a strong start to what promises to be a good series!

Finished! This was a mixed read for me!

Let me start off by saying what I enjoyed:

~ The world building was fabulous and descriptions of the places were fleshed out and felt so real.

~ Spicy sunlight - I found that description a bit strange but when it's hotter than Satan's armpit here again I might actually use it!

~ Eva and Reina - I really quite liked both of them which is strange for me!

~ The history and folklore of South America.

But then.......

The pacing was so slow, especially in the first quarter, I did have to keep putting it down and then coming back to it. It really felt just too padded out and could've really been a bit shorter for a bigger impact I feel.

I'm still not sure if this story is for me but I must say I am intrigued as to where the author will take the story next.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Characters: 3/10
Enjoyment: 4/10
Plot: 7/10
Worldbuilding: 8/10
Writing: 8/10

Dnf at 42%
I don't currently have time to struggle with books. I just wasn't feeling this one right now. Might come back to see whether the main characters grow a backbone. I couldn't stand them being pushed around by everyone.

I can't exactly explain why The Sun and the Void reminds me of it, but this felt like an epic fantasy equivalent of The Last Tale of the Flower Bride. If you're looking for something fun and entertaining, this might not be the right book for you. I'd totally believe if you told me this was a prequel villain origin story. I'm not against corruption arcs or morally grey characters, but I am not convinced that is quite what this book was trying to achieve.

The first thing I saw in this book was a timeline and a bit of info about the main families. I just love details and worldbuilding like that so I was really excited. I also love little illustrated details.

A recap of what I’d managed to read so far (there are some explanations as well as details about the worldbuilding):

There are 3 types of species: humans, nozariels, and valcos. The nozariels have tails, while the valcos who are going extinct, have antlers. I have no idea where the Segol people came from, but they colonise Venazia which later splits into Venazia and Fedria. The liberator won the war for independence and freed the nozariels from slavery they were then sent to Fedria where they were supposedly treated better. That was, I believe a generation before the book starts.

The first out of the two main characters who also gets more focus is Reina, half nozariel. She lived in the capital of Fedria, Segolita where humans are still prejudiced against them. She leaves for Sadul Fuerte, a province in Venazia, summoned by her grandmother and the only remaining family she’d never met. She gets injured before almost reaching her destination and is saved by the Aguillos, the caudillo’s (some sort of warlord) family, and her grandmother Ursulina who gives her an artificial heart. The Aguillas are valcos who are treated far better than the nozariels

Reina, desperate to be accepted by her grandmother, lets her, and others abuse, use, and take advantage of her. She agrees to help Ursulina with a ritual so Rahmagut, the god of the Void would fulfil any wish. Surely, Ursulina had her motives, and it wasn’t just to help the Aguillos.

Reina's romance either has a long way to go or will end up underdeveloped for my tastes. She and her love interest have very few interactions and are barely seen spending time together.
The progression of their friendship is pretty much skipped altogether. It is only told that in the year that had passed, they became close. And if whatever is going on after that, is supposed to be her having a crush, it does not feel that way. Reina, no longer innocent, justifies her actions as necessary to make her love interest happy again. It is more like infatuation, which, besides being desperate, is practically her whole character.

The other main character is Eva, a half valco bastard from Galeno, a city in Venazia. She has an affinity for geomancia— some kind of magic with metals—which is also connected to Rahmagut. To get rid of her, her family plans to marry her off to someone in the Aguilla family, who don’t mind her being a valco. She meets a certain Aguilla she’d been exchanging letters with—who constantly molests Reina—and is charmed by him. She’d initially reached out to him for help, as he is also a valco. He then intends to take advantage of her hopelessness and get her to help him take over his family. I was mad because I had liked Eva, but then she just seemed to end up the way Reina did, additionally, I hope she doesn’t fall victim to him, romantically.

Both Reina and Eva are told they’re monsters and internalise it.

The worldbuilding was really dense. Lots of magic, culture, history, and religion. I love worldbuilding and the exploration of religious intolerance and oppression, discrimination seemed to be done well. Racism, colonialism, and slavery are also themes present. Again, it’s dark. I like dark, but I need some joy and wholesome moments too. The mood was just too gloomy. I’d prefer more action and less flowery writing, which I’m not a fan of, but at least it was still understandable. The book could have been shorter and still got the point across. My attention kept drifting away. The pacing was weird. Some things dragged and the others were just skipped and randomly mentioned later.

Everything was incredibly detailed and the surroundings were always thoroughly described. I wouldn’t have minded if something interesting was going on too. Despite all of that describing, and the excessive writing, I had no idea how the magic system worked because it was barely touched on. I just couldn’t root for the main characters because I found them boring. Theoretically, I understand why they are doing what they are, I just struggle to find it justifiable. Morality is nuanced.

Arc provided by publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Daphne Press for providing me this arc in exchange of an honest review*

I didn't enjoyed this book. I'm really a fan of sapphic novels. But that was the nice part of it. I really didn't like the writing style of the writer, It had too many descriptions that there were a bit repetitive. Would I re-read it? No. Would I suggest others to read it? Probably.

GREAT! the book keeps you glued to the pages to know more until you get to the end. I have already purchased my copy and can't wait to read it again, the reading is smooth and the English is easy and understandable for me who is not my native language.

3.5/ 5 Stars

I really enjoyed this book once I got past the initial world building. I will definitely reach for the next book in this series once it’s out!

The things I enjoyed:
- Amazingly developed characters
- Once the plot developed I was hooked for the second half of the book
- Can see where the series may lead into the next book (at a guess)

The things I felt let the book down a little:
- Inconsistent pacing
- Too information dumpy at the beginning
- Maybe it could have been edited down a little more.

The sapphics are wild in the best way possible.

This is a slow burn fantasy so if you don't enjoy things that take their time maybe skip this one. Pereonally I enjoyed the slowness because it was very effective in building up these characters. They are cemented enough in my mind that their actions and responses made sense with the people I came to know. The worldbuilding felt very minimalist which suited this story because if felt more like the book was focused on establishing the characters.

The reveals landed themselves well to moving the story forward and the actions scenes didn't take up too much time. I prefer short action scenes because sometimes it feels like battles never end once they start in a fantasy book. I just want more of the magic going forward.

Javier had the one liners that made me chuckle a bit so even though he's scum I can't competely hate him. Please don't judge me when you read it.

Celeste needs to see a neurologist stat because her selective amnesia was giving ME wiplash. Genuinely believes the sun rises and sets each day just from the joy of seeing her face.

Doña Ursulina is a true mvp, I have never feared a grandmother more. I hated her but still wanted her to win on her villain journey. My favourite character by far.

To those getting the physical copy the interiour is stunning.

CW: racism, domestic abuse, chid death, medical experimentation, mention of suicide.

This was definitely a “cover lust” request for me! I mean, that’s just an awesome cover all around: the vibrancy, the colors, the leopards! I always gravitate towards covers that don’t feature characters (though there are some exceptions) which is kind of funny since my reading preferences are definitely character-centric. I’m a conundrum! Anyways, unfortunately, the book itself didn’t live up to the potential of the cover for this one.

I did like the overall world-building of this book. We do get quite a lot of detail about the various stratifications in the culture, as well as lots of information on the various foods, dialects, and traditions of various people. But even here things quickly began to go off the rails for me. This is a long, long book, over 500 pages, and you feel that right away. While the ideas behind much of the world-building are interesting, the way everything is laid out quickly begins to read as tedious and pace-killing. Yes, I enjoy a meticulously created world. But it is so important that the way that the world is explored and expanded upon is presented in a way that feels natural to the story and doesn’t affect the overall pacing. Here, there were a number of times where the pacing absolutely stalls out as the author takes a jaunt down various world-building lanes. I think a lot of this could have been helped with a stronger, more firm edit of the book as a whole. This would have not only reduced down the world-building to the aspects that are most interesting and necessary, but, ideally, a sure-handed editor could have helped streamline the way some of this information was presented so as to not hamstring the pacing as much as we see here.

I also really struggled to enjoy our two main characters. My complaints really come down to two factors: passivity and a level of naivety that borders on the implausible. Early on in any book, passivity and a naïve nature can be a boon to a character’s arc, something they must recognize and overcover over the course of the story. But here, both of our characters seem to spend the majority of the story bogged down by these two things. Plot points and action are happening to and around them, with each character simply reacting to decisions made by others. Beyond this, the naivety of each quickly becomes less and less understandable. They trust who they should not. They are surprised by reveals that the reader can see a mile away. And they, in general, do not feel like characters who should be helming their own story. Instead, it’s almost as if two background characters in another story suddenly popped up and were helming their own tale, but still don’t really have much to offer for themselves.

I also struggled with the writing itself, though this is clearly a very subjective area. There were moments where I felt like the author was using language that felt anachronistic to the world she had created, words like “troubleshoot,” etc. And while there were some unique descriptions of scenes and objects, I struggled to really connect to any of it. I was simply bored much of the time.

I always have a hard time writing reviews like this where much of my main complaint is that I had a hard time getting through it. There is nothing objectively terrible about it, but the book also didn’t connect for me in any way. I think there was a lot of potential, especially in the world-building and history of this story, but the book was let down by its two lead characters who were difficult to root for as they were so consistently, and obviously, being manipulated by those around them. Readers who are very interested in world-building and who have a higher tolerance for frustrating lead characters may enjoy this one. But I do think there are better books like it out there.

Rating 7: A long book that doesn’t justify its page-length with two lackluster main characters at the helm.

I enjoyed the concept of this book but struggled with the pacing and found it really slow for most of the book.

I also felt a lot of the female relationships worked better as friendships than romantic relationships and the romance side of them felt underdeveloped and in some cases slightly rushed.

Was enjoying the Celeste/Javier story line up until the end when I got a bit lost in what was happening with them and what Eva's role was.

A good book that is quite unique in the fantasy genre and one that I would recommend to people, but not one that I found myself reaching for because I wanted to read it, more that I wanted to finish it.

DNF

I didn’t read enough to rate this. I just couldn’t get into it. The writing was fine, with some nice description, but reminded me of 19th Century literature that spends paragraphs upon paragraphs describing scenery a la Dracula.

Also, I’m pretty sure this is supposed to be and Adult book but the tone is very YA. Overall, I think it’s just not for me.

Whilst I did enjoy parts of this book, I found other parts a slog to get through.
Positives;
1. The world the author created was so interesting. Richly steeped in South American folklore and culture.
2. The different species were really cool, I think the author created them but correct me if I’m wrong🤷🏻‍♀️
Negatives;
1. The two main POV female characters had no backbone, they just let various side characters push them around for the majority of the book until the last 15% when they both suddenly became strong willed? Not sure if I just missed the point of this?
2. This book is a lot darker than I anticipated, please read all content warnings. There’s incest, child death, and a lot more. The incest between Reina and Celeste definitely ruined it a bit for me🤢
3. The magic system wasn’t that well described, you had to refer back to a geomancia glossary rather than the author including the description in the story.. I find this to be rather lazy storytelling.

Overall I give it a 2.5 stars and probably won’t be continuing the series.

A lovely debut! Highly imaginative with very complex world-building inspired by the rich South American folklore. I wish the characters were a bit more engaging but there's a lot to love in The Sun and The Void. Special props to the author's art throughout the book!

This was a very enjoyable read; there is so little fantasy based on South American folklore and history and, being Venezuelan myself, I was absolutely ready to eat it up. Aside from the premise, though, there were many good things in The Sun and the Void.

I struggled a little bit with the narrative voice at the beginning of the book, I couldn't say why, but as I kept reading and fell into the story I stopped noticing it altogether; I think it suits the book quite well.

The world that has been created and depicted here is wonderful, both in its fantastic and magical aspects and in its use of the culture and folklore it borrows from. This is is a Venezuelan story through and through and that is amazing. Even if I think maybe someone with no knowledge of Spanish might have a little trouble following along with some of it (though there is a glossary at the end), I still think it works in the story's favor, and I loved getting to see references to things I grew up with: I never expected to see la loca Luz Caraballo mentioned in a fantasy book, and "you better put on your espadrilles, 'cause what's coming is joropo" as well as other sayings I've been hearing since I was a kid made me howl in delight. Likewise, taking the legend of el silbón ("the whistler") and turning him into a fantasy creature was inspired—it fits so seamlessly into it. In general, the world feels beautifully crafted.

I also found the characters compelling, especially Reina. At one point I had the thought that she feels like the kind of character who in a different book would have been a (male) love interest, rather than a protagonist, and it was a fascinating thought to have. Following along as she makes terrible choices and follows Ursulina's plot because of her single-minded devotion to her grandmother (or rather, the home and future she represents) and to Celeste makes for a very interesting story; I love protagonists who are flawed and make choices that are unequivocally not good but make sense for their character.

I think character and worldbuilding are the strongest points of the book, though the story was enjoyable as well and kept the tension throughout. And I am very intrigued as to how the state of things at the end of this book develops in the next one, which I will absolutely be picking up when it releases.

Set in a post revolutionary fantasy world inspired by South America, The Sun and The Void explores race, class, colonialism, and economic disparity against the backdrop of a dark quest that weaves separate storylines together. While the first act is slow and steadily builds the characters, acts two and three rocket ahead with frequent, sweeping conflicts. I particularly enjoyed the unique magic system and complexity of the characters relationships.

I absolutely loved this one. The world building was so rich and beautiful and vibrant. Every word, every scene, every landscape just jumped off the page and into my head. I could see it all.

The magic is incredibly fascinating and helps build the story layer by layer. The more you learn about the magic, the more the world becomes known, and it was fascinating to see it all build.

The characters. Oh my, the characters.

They were all so well developed and so real with their hopes and loves and flaws and my favourite of all...morally grey characters! There were characters you loved to hate, characters you just loved, and those morally grey ones in the middle.

The plot kept me enthralled the entire time. It's a slow build, and it's a chonk of a book, but the payoff is worth it

This book just draws you in, and I couldn't get enough