Book Review of The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero Lacruz

 Name of Book: The Sun and the Void 

Author: Gabriela Romero-Lacruz 

ISBN: 9780316336543

Publisher: Orbit 

Part of a Series: The Warring Gods 

Type of book: Fantasy based on Venezuela, lower castes, myths, legends, magic, witches, family, love, relationships, desire, revenge, pain, LGBtQIA+, sapphic romance, colonialism, conqueror 

Year it was published: 2023 

Summary:

In a lush world inspired by the history and folklore of South America, a sweeping epic fantasy of colonialism, ancient magic, and two young women's quest for belonging unfolds.

Reina is desperate.

Stuck living on the edges of society, her only salvation lies in an invitation from a grandmother she’s never known. But the journey is dangerous, and prayer can’t always avert disaster.

Attacked by creatures that stalk the region, Reina is on the verge of death until her grandmother, a dark sorceress, intervenes. Now dependent on the Doña’s magic for her life, Reina will do anything to earn—and keep—her favor. Even the bidding of an ancient god who whispers to her at night.

Eva Kesare is unwanted.

Illegitimate and of mixed heritage, Eva is her family’s shame. She tries her best to be perfect and to hide her oddities. But Eva is hiding a secret: magic calls to her.

Eva knows she should fight the temptation. Magic is the sign of the dark god, and using it is punishable by death. Yet, it’s hard to deny power when it has always been denied to you. Eva is walking a dangerous path, one that gets stranger every day. And, in the end, she’ll become something she never imagined.

Characters:

Main characters would be Reina and Eva, and, later on, Maior. Reina is half Nozariel, one of the lowest castes in her world who is best described as loyal, desiring love and family and who will do whatever she can for her loved ones. Eva is another main character, an illegitimate daughter belonging to a wealthy family (one quarter Valco three quarters human) who desires to see other Valco people and learn about herself in positive terms instead of negative. Maior is a full human who is illegitimate, compassionate and has unconditional love. There are plenty of secondary and tertiary characters such as Reina's grandmother who I will only describe as comfortable as a porcupine in a pillow as well as the Valco family of Enrique, his beloved wife and daughter and Javier, half brother to Enrique and many more others. 

Theme:

Be proud of yourself

Plot:

The story is in third person narrative from Eva's and Reina's points of views. For pretty much most of the book they are in separate plot points, but towards almost the end their stories intercept. It definitely presented the world in an interesting way, seeing it from the lowest caste as well as second lowest caste, and my heart was breaking a lot for Reina. The story begins with Reina going to her grandmother's domain and being attacked by tinieblas who have poisoned her heart. She does get rescued (its in first chapter) by the valco (I am imagining either a goat or a deer with elaborate horns) and is given a new heart. She does, however forced to become sort of a slave to the people who rescued her. Eva is born as an illegitimate daughter to a wealthy family, forced to feel the shame of her Valco blood. She also dabbles and desires to know the magic, which will cause her to make a lot of mistakes, for better or worse. While I do think Eva's character could have been worked on more, (in particular her attempts to try to master the magic,) I did highly love Reina's character arc. 

Author Information:
(From goodreads)

Born and raised in Venezuela, Gabriela Romero Lacruz now lives two-thousand miles from home, in the land of bayous and astronauts. She graduated with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston, and after a stint in Oil and Gas, decided to dedicate herself to the arts. She writes young adult and adult fantasy stories set in places that remind her of home, so in her mind she’s never too far from the beaches and mountains of Venezuela. She also scratches that ChemE itch with a science fiction or two.

She is represented by Naomi Davis of Bookends Literary.

For all inquiries, you can reach her at gabrielaromerolacruz@gmail.com.

Opinion:

If one is to go by Goodreads reviews, I am definitely in minority for loving this book. I loved the world, the characters, and the pacing. I also hope that the next two books will focus on characters healing from their traumas in someway. The world is both vivid and quite unusual, something I hadn't encountered before. I loved the feeling of living in an unfamiliar fairytale and seeing the pain and devotion of multiple characters. The characters were well realized in my opinion and I enjoyed spending my time with them as well as watching their growth. While I am of opinion that more should have been focused on the magic system inhabiting the world as well as more character development of Eva and Javier, I do hope that there will be more focus on them in next book. The pacing itself was good and it added to suspense of what happens next to the story. I do would like to ask if the Nozariels are similar to lizards or wolves? Somehow I pictured them as lizards, but then later on I imagined them as wolves? Definitely come in and stay for the world creation. 

This was given for review

4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)