Dawn of the Black Sun

The Silver Empire Series, Book 1

By: Timo Burnham

Narrated by: Son of Sonnet

A fisherman’s son who has lost everything.

A wandering master haunted by regret.

An exile wielding a sword that speaks.

Ryushu lives the quiet and boring life of a fisherman's son until a single day rips his world apart.

Now he must make the journey to the top of the titanic Mount Gharun to learn from the hyo masters--martial artists with the powers of demigods. Can he survive the brutal climb? Does he have the strength, not just of body, but of mind and spirit?

Meanwhile an exile wonders the barrenlands, holding a sword that speaks. He slowly gathers a following as he prepares to take the emperors throne for himself.

Dawn approaches. A Dawn of death and destruction. The Dawn of the Black Sun.

©2023, 2024 Timothy W Burnham (P)2024 Timothy W Burnham

A really solid first outting.

OVERVIEW

I will admit; this book was not on my radar. My TBR list has been quite long and I’ve been delving into some other indie authors. Mr. Burnham’a work caught my attention thanks to Captured In Words where he recommended the series.

Trusting his take and my love of cultivation stories( Cradle being my favorite); I decided to give this a chance. While this book isn’t breaking any new ground, I found myself liking this entry a lot. There are some issues but in general it’s a pretty competent story that is well worth your time if you like cultivation stories.



WHAT I LIKED:

The thing that struck me was how efficient the writing is. This is a pretty fast paced story. It’s not a chonky tale like Stormlight or other epic fantasy tales but it does have just enough depth to its characters that kept me attached.

The book follows three POVs. Ryu, Zash, and the Exile. I liked Ryu’s the most. I commend Mr. Burnham for getting me to care about Ryu. The premise for his character is good: a kid who looses his family and everything he loves and wishes to train to prevent others from suffering. This mission, combined with his stubbornness to never give up, I found quite endearing. It’s stuff we’ve all seen but I will never critique that if it’s done well.

Zash POV was definitely my second favorite. The reluctant mentor who there’s clearly more to him than meets the eye. I actually enjoyed how dynamic with Ryu and how he approaches teaching him.

The Exile POV was also neat. I was confused but I give Mr. Burnham credit for weaving his role in the story quite decently. It’s a bit predictable but as I said; it all makes sense so I’m not going to knock it.


The ending was also something I enjoyed. It made sense with what was setup and also didn’t require some awful deus ex Machina or contrivance.

Finally, I have to praise Mr. Burnham’s restraint with the story. It’s clear there is a much larger world out there but it’s hinted at and only relevant parts of the world show up to serve the plot.

I’ve read to many indie authors who think it’s wise to cram a ton of exposition into their work. It’s insulting because you are taking for granted the audience’s time and also just because you have a POV character doesn’t mean they need to know everything at once. Build things up.




WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:

There’s only a handful of things I didn’t like. The narration itself was excellent but the chapter transitions were weird. I don’t know if it was the recording or the editing, but the narrator would just immediately jump in without a brief pause. It was more jarring than anything.

I also thought that the later half of the story in the sanctuary could have been better. The characters themselves weren’t bad but the time frame came off as very abrupt without getting into spoilers. I suspect there’s more to this for the second book but I definitely thought this could have used one or two more chapters.

There’s also a bit of plot armor towards the middle portion of the series. It’s nothing awful but it did take me out of it a bit with Ryu.

But it’s nothing that actually diminishes the character work and consistency.


WRAPUP

A pretty solid book. This book isn’t breaking new grounds or a masterpiece but a solid entry. If you are a fan of martial arts movies and cultivation stories, I’d recommend it. But if you don’t like that stuff, I don’t see this story moving the needle much.

I am looking forward to your second entry for this series, Mr. Burnham.

accessible and compelling

This is the beginning of a saga I will be following! It's a mystical martial arts-esque story of a young man who loses everything whose path intersects a Master of said arts. In parallel is a mysterious and dangerous exile, growing in power and influence. the further into this I listened the more I wanted.
advice: go back and listen to the prolog again after finishing the book!