Black Sun Rising by C. S. Friedman Book Review

 Black Sun Rising 

(The Coldfire Triology #1)

By C. S. Friedman 

Published Year: 1991

Page Count: 516 pages 

Medium Used: Kindle Scribe 

Genre: High Fantasy, Sorcery, Magic, Dark Fantasy, Vampires, Adventure, Action, Horror, 2025-read. 

Rating: 5/5 🌟 😎 😀  👌 🌟 

Spine tingling. Mind lickingly good! Some of the scenes are so enshrined within my mind - they are incorrigible. I have been reading this book for a while - shuffling/switching among other books and other work - and when I got back to this one, its like I have never left. So uncanny! The world building is great and reminiscent of beautiful, older times fantasy fiction. It brought the world of Erna to life in my mind's eye. The characters are flawed -  they have their reasons and personal motivations for setting out on this adventure but they abide by their promises and oaths - which made them all noble in my eyes. 

A priest of the church, Damien, who is also a sorcerer that can work with Earth fae/magic to Work, See, Know falls in love with a woman Ciani. She is an adept and lore master for the humans. Human race had set out to populate the stars and reached this planet called Erna centuries ago. They have dispelled and dispersed the natives of the planet called Rakh, who went off into remote lands called rakhlands and other places to hide and evolve in their own isolated, safe, secure way. They have left the humans to their devices until now. One of the rakhs subjects Ciani to a life threatening attack - it eats her memories and leaves her a half empty husk of a person that she formerly was. The only way to get her to her earlier self is to kill the rakh that stole her memories. So, Damien, Ciani and her close friend and apprentice Senzei set out on their hunt for the rakh to kill it. 

On their way, they encounter the Hunter, a centuries old vampire who has been residing in a Forest(his safe haven, his foothold) and feeding on the fears, desires of innocent women, consuming their souls. He was once a prophet to the very same faith Damien now follows and he became the thing he is by sacrificing everything he held dear to himself. He has become a creature of the dark forces and his powers are reinforced by working on the dark fae around. He joins them so that he could tackle the rakhs that might pose a threat to his empire in future. He also creates channels of connections with Damien and Ciani .. it is almost like he is a human again without evil desires and intentions. Their journey is interesting and filled with nail biting tension/suspense and memorable horror. They get separated, cheated, bested and eventually recuperate. I liked the dialog banters between Damien and The Hunter. I liked how, for a while - even for a brief time - the Hunter had shed his true nature and worked with the humans. I liked the devious ways he tries to locate the rakh that hurt Ciani and how it sort of backfires later. It added to the suspense on how they would handle the situation. 

Definitely read it. One of the best fantasy books I read. Hands down. The images created are so antique and otherworldly. The prose is also gorgeous. I wish there are more ratings and reviews for this series on goodreads. Can't wait to pick the second in the series. 🍻 cheers!!