The Sun and The Void

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In a lush world inspired by the history and folklore of South America, a sweeping epic fantasy of colonialism, ancient magic, and twoyoung women'squest for belonging unfolds. When Reina arrives at Aguila Manor, her heart stolen from her chest, she’s on the verge of death—until her estranged grandmother, a dark sorceress in the Don’s employ, intervenes. Indebted to a woman she never knew—and smitten with the upper-caste daughter of the house, Celeste—Reina will do to earn – and keep – the family’s favor. Even the bidding of the ancient god who speaks to her from the Manor’s foundations. After the death of her father, Reina has had to survive alone in a society unable to see past her ears and tail, which betray the fact that her mother was a nozariel and not quite human. Humans once enslaved nozariels, and though slavery is now outlawed, society is still deeply divided. When Reina’s estranged grandmother summons her to the Águila Manor, Reina leaves at once. Meanwhile, far away, Eva is singled out within her own family for her valco blood, deemed dangerous and warlike by humans. The Águilas are valcos as well, and Reina must prove herself useful to the family’s head, Don Enrique. Reina throws herself into her work, learning magic tied to the dark god Rahmagut from her grandmother and fighting the dangerous creatures conjured by Rahmagut’s powers alongside the beautiful Celeste and the vicious Javier. Reina experiences a new world of magic and devotion to a god other than Ches, who is revered for trapping Rahmagut in a void beyond the world. Rahmagut promises power for whomever completes an invocation on the few days when his constellation appears. Those days fast approaching, Don Enrique works with single-minded purpose to gain Rahmagut’s favor, though he is not the only one in his household who would think to summon a god. Simultaneously, Eva’s path brings her ever closer to the Águilas. The lush and varied landscape as well as the clear effects of colonialism and revolution are all inspired by Venezuela, creating a rich, complex world. Featuring morally gray characters and a plethora of relationships among women, both Sapphic and platonic, the book has an occasionally heavy hand in terms of characterization, but that doesn't detract from the overall scope of the plot.

An enthralling new world of gods and monsters...This ambitious, thrilling series opener pulses with vitality and imagination.”— Shelf Awareness Pacing and Plot: The first chapter is exciting but then things slow down quite a bit. The plot doesn't really get moving again until a little past the 30% mark. This did take me a while to get through but it didn't necessarily bother me as I enjoyed the world building. And I really liked the story and where things ended up even if it took a while to get into the main plotline. As much as I enjoyed Eva and Reina gaining more agency near the end of the story, it was so frustrating how many stupid decisions they made and how weirdly trusting they could be... Maybe this book would have worked better as a YA novel because of their naivete, but in that case I think the sheer scope of the world and plot might have worked against it.The lush and varied landscape as well as the clear effects of colonialism and revolution are all inspired by Venezuela, creating a rich, complex world... An ambitious new fantasy with a unique setting and broad cast of characters." ― Kirkus Overall, while the ending was a little more romance heavy than I normally prefer, I found The Song and the Void to be a compelling story, with a great cast, in a gorgeous world that I couldn’t help but fall in love with. Over and over, across the past couple of years, I've observed with distaste the feeding frenzy of pompous negativity surrounding bipoc queer debut books. Over and over I see folks say, "Publishing, do better!"

Content warning: alcohol, assault, blood, child death, childbirth, death, demons, emotional abuse, gore, infertility, kidnapping, pregnancy, racism, religion, sexually explicit scenes, mentions of slavery, violence There's manatees. It was my favorite part. Them or Maior. I think her story is much more interesting than, for example, Eva’s. It’s a shame she’s just a side character. Actually, maybe sideline Eva entirely and make this Reina and Maior’s story? I did genuinely enjoy the South American-inspired setting. That's the star in my one-star rating. It's always refreshing to see a fantasy book not set in Europe. As I mentioned, the characters were well-drawn. They’re all mostly morally ambiguous or plain evil. They’ll do whatever is asked of them without thinking about it too deeply. Maior was a late entry into the book, but she might be my favourite character. We know that not everyone will be interested in Daphne Press news so after today, we're going to stop sending these newsletters toHuge thanks and love to the reviewers who take it very seriously and aren't just in it for the likes, though - I LOVE YOU ALL, even the critical ones.)

Evocative and captivating. An enthralling tale of ancient gods, dangerous magic, family and love.”―​Sue Lynn Tan, author of Daughter of the Moon Goddess

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The author has interesting ways of describing things. Sunlight is spicy, gazes and dresses "surf." Overall the writing is fine. “He’s got another think coming” did make me laugh, not sure if it’s a typo? Also Javier asks if Celeste attempted to "troubleshoot" something, a word that comes from working on phone lines, something that doesn't exist in this world. Thought that was weird. This cover has just gone live, and as loyal Illumicrate customers, we wanted to ask you to share it (and your excitement for The magic system in this book is utterly perplexing. While the narrative delves into long, tedious exposition and intricate details about various aspects, the magic system remains surprisingly vague. It seems to involve something related to minerals, but the explanation is unclear, and its connection to the gods is ambiguous. Despite its apparent significance and influence on the story, I find myself unable to provide a coherent description of how it works, which is quite frustrating. Overall, I definitely enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next one. I recommend this if you like:

Additionally, I must give Romero-Lacruz points for her fight scenes. She knows how to orchestrate them! From the emotions and desperation felt by the characters in them, to how they flow, and to how cinematic they feel. Readers, WE need to do better. Or publishing will decide that it's a waste of time to put out diverse lit and it will be a sea of tolkien clones all over again. Also I preferred being in Eva’s POV because I thought Reina was a bit unlikeable and I rooted for Eva a lot more, so I wish the chapters were more evenly split because it felt like we got more Reina than Eva. A spellbinding sapphic fantasy...The lush worldbuilding and delightful blend of love, betrayal, and curses set the stage for a powerful and promising new series. This is a gem."— Publishers Weekly

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If you've read the spoiler above, then you realize, and this is revealed in the book, that Celeste and Reina are cousins. Reina has a longing for Celeste and even kisses her prior to this, but neither she nor the readers are aware of it before then. After the reveal, Reina hopes for something, but then moves on. Again, no. First off, I'm obsessed with every cover design for this book. Second, I have a minor in Spanish, and studied many of the different central and South American regions. Seeing those cultures brought to life in a fantasy setting was special. That said, if you don’t speak Spanish I think some passages will be very confusing, but it’s a high fantasy book. Confusion is expected! The frequent focus on food descriptions also became bothersome, as characters seemed to eat excessively, and the incessant details about their meals grew tiresome. Moreover, the dialogue felt unnatural, as if the characters were merely serving the plot rather than engaging in authentic conversations. It was a curse, not a blessing, that I won this book in a goodreads giveaway. 😔 I loved the premise set out in the blurb, but the execution was unfortunately terrible. If I hadn't received my copy as an e-arc, I would've dnf'd, but I felt compelled to finish out of guilt.