Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
The story is primarily told from the perspective of four different main characters - Serapio, Xiala, Naranpa, and Okoa. The focal character shifts with every chapter or two, which is a style I really like. It takes a little while to warm up to everybody and early on I have favorites. But then it's nice shifting scenes and being left on cliffhangers, excited to get to that character's next chapter. There are other secondary characters who I believe get some of their own chapters too.
Iktan is a secondary character who uses xe/xir pronouns. Xe simply exists in the world. Roanhoarse doesn't really do any commentary on gender or make a big deal out of it. Xe just exists, and this made me really happy. I use they/them pronouns and this is the first time I've seen myself represented in fiction without some big hullabaloo about gender and society or whatever, and without any QUEER TRAUMA. So nice.
time and place | ava's blog: "Sometimes you just wanna watch media with queer characters without something homophobic happening to them, without the characters being used to beat “love is love” down the throats of straight viewers. ... just normal stuff happening that happens to the straight characters too."
The front cover of the book has a map of the world (or at least the part of it covered in the book). The back cover of the book has a map of Tova, a prominent city in the story. These are very helpful.
I spoil some of the setup below, but none of the outcomes. I highly recommend this book, this series. It's very good. I've finished book 2 and am reading book 3 now.
Serapio is a boy who's eyes are sewn shut by his mother during a ritual to rebirth the Crow God within him. Mentors come to train him for the reckoning. Lord Balam hires Xiala, a Teek woman, to bring Serapio to Tova before the convergence - a treacherous journey that must be completed over stormy open waters in only 20 days, much shorter than one would like.
Naranpa, a girl from the Maw - a poor district - grows up and becomes the Sun Priest - the leader of the Priests in the Celestial Tower. Magic was banned from the world hundreds of years ago after the God's war and the Treaty of Hokaia. Many from the Crow clan were once wiped out on the Night of Knives - a slaughtering led by the assassin division of the Priests. Naranpa seeks to change the way of the Priests, bring them out into the world instead of being held-up in the Tower, make them more accessible. Her progressive ways are disliked by many in the Tower.
Okoa is a member of the Crow Clan, son of the Crow's Matron, training at Hokaia's War College.
There are four Sky Made clans in Tova - Water Strider, Golden Eagle, Crow, and Winged Serpent. Each clan has great beasts that they fly on (or ride on in water in the case of the Water Striders). Each is led by a Matron and defended by her Shield - guards she commands. The Maw is a fifth district that is not recognized as a clan. Tova is in the north. We also see the Obregi Mountains in the southwest, the city of Cuecola in the southeast, and the Hokaia War College in the northeast.