Read this as a child, so I'm rating it purely based on the reaction I had back then. I haven't reread it since, but I can say with confidence that to its target audience of kids, this book is amazing.

The atmosphere very interesting, but I didn't have a reason to care about the characters or plot until the last third of it, and by then I had already decided that I wasn't going to continue in this series. While the ending hinted to an interesting continuation, I don't feel like taking a gamble on the next book only to have the same experience.

As someone who loves their mother more than anyone else in the world, this was a very difficult read. If it wasn't for the fact that my own mom lent it to me, I don't know if I could have finished it, because reading about how mean Chick was to his mother when he was young was just really painful. However, I did end up finishing it and enjoying it. And it just solidified for me how much I love my mom and how much she's done for me.

Uh...so by chapter 5 I knew this was going to be one of my favorite books of all time...and it somehow just kept getting better??? I absolutely LOVED this book! Let me list all the reasons why.

I loved the dark atmosphere right off the bat. I loved the worldbuilding. I loved the masterful way the multiple POVs were written. I often find with books written from multiple POVs that there is at least one character whose section I want to read through quickly so I can get back to the characters I'm interested in. In Black Sun, I loved all of the characters and each of their stories kept my attention. I loved loved loved Serapio. I loved his tragic backstory (which I'm always a sucker for). I loved that he was such a human and relatable character,

despite being a god.

I loved the description of how he looked. I loved his romance with

Xiala

that felt believable under the dire circumstances they were in, and how it felt so natural. I loved the queer rep. And as a bonus, I also love birds, especially crows, so the fact that they were such a main part of the story pleased me greatly.

The only thing I don't like about it is that I wasn't prepared to love it so much! I'm dying to read what happens next after that cliffhanger ending!

This was a super fun read! I absolutely love that the main character is not one that is particularly brave or adventurous, but does what they must out of necessity. I also really liked the bittersweet feeling it left me with.

I absolutely LOVED this book. The surreal feeling of it is something that I really enjoy and always like to see in books. I also really loved Otto as a character. Morally ambiguous.