Spoiler Warning: This review contains spoilers for Black Sun and the beginning of Fevered Star, as well as minor spoilers for the entire Between Earth and Sky series. Read with caution if you have yet to the first two books.
The Between Earth & Sky series by Rebecca Roanhorse deserves a spot at the top of your TBR (to-be-read) list and to be the center of more conversation in the fantasy community. It has been two years since Mirrored Heavens, the final book in the series, was released and I am astounded I am only just learning of Roanhorse’s work. As a reader, I tend to be late to the proverbial party and find popular series long after they have gained notoriety and trendiness, but the caliber of Roanhorse’s storytelling and character writing should place her at the top of every modern fantasy reading list and literary discussion.
The series is a trilogy that follows multiple characters on the continent of Meridian throughout the tumultuous, near-apocalyptic destruction of their political and religious system through the wrath and vengeance of a wronged god. The first book, Black Sun, starts with four point-of-view (POV) characters all converging on the city of Tova for the winter solstice, an event that is holy and sacred to the clans of the continent. Naranpa is a young woman from a looked down upon and crime-riddled “dry-earth” region, has ascended to the title of Sun Priest. As the politically and spiritually powerful oracle, she helps rule the city of Tova and represent the continent’s four Sky-made clans (Carrion Crow, Winged Serpent, Water Strider, and Golden Eagle) along with her fellow priest council members known as the Watchers.
Serapio is a young man from the Carrion Crow clan, whose mother blinded and scarred him through a blood ritual in order to mold him into a vessel for the Crow god, hell-bent on revenge. He is on a ship bound for the city of Tova with vengeance against the Celestial Tower and its priests in mind. The contracted captain of the ship, Xiala, is a young female from the Teek tribe, a seaside tribe of females with the power of magical songs, similar in culture and power to common siren myths. Okoa, the son of Yatliza matron of Carrion Crow, is headed to the holy city with his siblings after his mother mysteriously dies and his sister, Esa, becomes the clan matron.
All of these characters are dragged together through the political tampering and vengeance of their own clanmates or rivaling clans. Ultimately Serapio channels his Crow god in an assault on the Watchers during the eclipse, killing the entire council excluding Naranpa. Naranpa had already fallen prey to a coup of her position, via her best friend and former lover Iktan’s betrayal, and an assassination from a fellow priest from Golden Eagle clan. The events on the winter solstice plunge the city of Tova into a permanent eclipse and plunge the continent into political turmoil and war, as the Treaties keeping a fragile peace in place were broken.
Throughout the next two books, Fevered Star and Mirrored Heavens, we see our characters scattered in the winds, with different goals in mind. Xiala ends up captured by Iktan, who was absent in the slaughter in Tova, and the Golden Eagle clan. They transport Xiala all the way to the city of Hokaia. There she discovers a sorcerer named Balam, who originally contracted her as a ship captain in Black Sun, which set all these events in motion: from Golden Eagle’s attempted coup to the delivery of Serapio and the Crow god to Tova’s gates. Xiala is ultimately returned to the Teek homeland she was previously banished from and faces the attempted enslavement and slaughter of her people who now look to her as their queen.
Serapio survives channeling his god through the mercy of the small common crows he had befriended, which give up their lives to let him live. He is rescued from the tower by Okoa, forever a victim of coincidence, who just happened to be headed to the location in an attempt to find peace and solace. In the fallout of Serapio’s actions, Serapio becomes the leader of Tova and tries to command both the city and the Sky-made clans while his god still lingers in his body, vengeful and hoping for a chance to kill the true Sun Priest, Naranpa.
Naranpa finds herself back in Coyote’s Maw with her brother for a brief time, restoring the dry-earthers in the city to their former clanhood beside the Sky-made clans. She then suffers a tragedy and instead travels to the grave of the gods, where she learns that she has become god-touched and learns to dreamwalk.
Okoa first acts as an assassin against Serapio, sent by the Sky-made matrons to remove the usurper, but ends up finding brotherhood and a sympathetic allegiance with the newly deemed Carrion King. While all of these things are happening, our true antagonist and culprit is revealed through Iktan, Xiala, and Balam’s point of view chapters: Balam, a powerful sorcerer and the white jaguar prince, has set all of these events in motion as a younger man in order to create a power vacuum and seize control of the Meridian and its people through the use of horrific and powerful shadow magic and dreamwalking. The ending of this trilogy is satisfying and ties up all the coincidences and loose ends that had me wondering throughout the book, instead of leaving anything unanswered or up to interpretation.
Throughout the series, there is a continuous theme of coincidence, the gods and their fates, and being tricked and manipulated by political powers seeking vengeance. The four main POV characters are all young adults in their prime and find themselves funneled to one city or another on the continent, often thrust together or in opposition to each other, by the previous generation of leaders and sorcerers they trust to be wise and earnest.
As the reader, you find yourself knowing the four characters—especially Naranpa and Serapio, who act as the protagonists of the series—will be intertwined in some way without the story ever feeling predictable or formulaic. The series does use common tropes or archetypes such as the idea of “the chosen one” and the divine retribution of the gods to set the stage and keep the plot in motion. But the motives and actions of the individual characters make the story feel fresh, exciting, and high stakes. You find yourself hoping the characters come together in one way, only to have the meeting go in a completely different (but satisfying) way. Based on their internal thoughts, the characters often feel the same way about their fates being tied together and leading them in different directions, which adds a level of well-placed metacognition without ever harming the reader’s immersion and breaking the fourth wall.
The worldbuilding in this series is enthralling. Roanhorse never forces us to read massive info dumps—every piece of knowledge you gain about the continent and clans comes to you naturally through the conversations and observations of the characters. You truly understand the stakes, beliefs, and superstitions of the continent and feel invested in the political disputes. I found myself wanting to know more about the Sky-made clans and their gods, even when the information isn’t relevant to the plot of the series as it is occurring. This is a written universe that fully grabs your attention, and I would love to see Roanhorse continue to write in this universe whether it be through prequels, short stories, truly in any format she is willing to give me!
Where Roanhorse’s writing really shines is her grasp of character writing. These characters truly come alive with their own personalities, motives, and nuances in a way that other writers struggle to flesh out, especially with so many POV characters in as few books as this series. While I listened to it as audiobooks, you can pull individual chapters of this series and read them with the character names redacted and still know which character you are reading based on the tone alone.
Xiala and Naranpa especially are a master class in interpersonal character writing. Whether it’s taking offense at a bedroom nickname used by a peer, quipping at the superstitions of male sailors, or talking with gentleness to a romantic partner, these two characters feel alive and realistic and full of personality without ever relying on tropes or stereotypes common for female characters in the genre.
Another strength in this series is the dread and awe of the antagonists. While I found myself expecting Serapio to end up the “villain” of the series, I was pleasantly surprised when he became an increasingly sympathetic and relatable character, tangled up in the fate his mother fabricated for him. When Balam is revealed as the true villain and the gravity of his actions are finally shown, you truly feel abhorred with how the events of the series came to be.
Every interaction Balam has is condescending, snide, and poisonous to read (in the best way)—and I am typically a reader that can side with the bad guys and find them to be likeable characters! Iktan arguably becomes an antagonist for parts of the first and second book, and xir’s narcissism in xir’s POV chapters made me truly root for Iktan’s demise in a way I have never felt for a fictional character. In a series with very few weak spots, I think Iktan being accepted back and given a redemption arc is the only major complaint I finished the series with.
Back in 2020, L. A. Young wrote a review stating Black Sun proved how powerful a writer Roanhorse has become for the fantasy genre. Not only do I wholly agree with her review, but I want to expand on it now that we all have the opportunity and pleasure to see Between Earth and Sky as a finished series. Rebecca Roanhorse is not only powerful within fantasy, I think she is one of the best modern writers of the genre and deserves a spot next to the biggest names in the space.
Featured image background by Arnaud Mariat.
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