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jennyreadsalot4 's review for:
The Isle in the Silver Sea
by Tasha Suri
I feel so very conflicted about this one. There is a lot to love about this and overall it’s a beautiful story that I think will work for a lot of people. For me, the things that didn’t work, really didn’t work and in the end I just never felt fully invested in this story.
The Isle in the Silver Sea’s magic system was so interesting. I loved what it had to say about stories fueling the land, the symbolism regarding eraser of bipoc stories and history, rewriting your own story, forced narratives, and the overall concept. I especially loved the way limmi ink was used to imbue traits on individuals!
I really enjoy when a book has a lot to say, and says it well - weaving symbolism and social commentary seamlessly into the story - and this book does an amazing job at that.
The magic and the world (as well as the symbolism that accompanied it) were definitely my favorite aspects. That said, I spent a bit too long confused about the magic system and even at the end of the book I was left with too many questions about how things worked.
On the subject of the world, I did have a hard time understanding why this was set in England, rather than a completely fantastical world. The world felt so unique, that I often forgot the setting was a reimagined version of Britain, until a character casually mentioned London. I also had a hard time imagining what time period we were in. It felt like we were given so few clues to pinpoint a time period. — This might be a me problem, perhaps I missed something, or I’m not grasping the importance of setting it in a reimagined Britain. — But, I do wish we would have been given a better grasp of the time period and the setting.
At times the prose was beautiful, stunning descriptions, that made me feel like I was in the rooms or the forest, that the author was describing. But the prose also felt overly repetitive, and leaned a little too heavily on tell vs show. The author would do a wonderful job showing us, but then follow up with a statement that told us exactly how that “showing” should be interpreted. To be honest, it was a bit exhausting. Repetitiveness in prose is something I tend to get frustrated with quickly, but I often find my friends don’t feel the same way about the same text. So take this critique with a grain of salt! The dialogue was also very dry and felt overly formal — even between the two FMC while they were supposed to be flirting. Again, this works for the time period but wasn’t particularly fun to read if I’m being honest.
We have a lot of lady knights coming this year but this is the first sapphic adult romance featuring a Lady Knight that I’ve read and I was SO excited. Which is why it gives me great pain to admit that I did not enjoy the romance in this one. For me this lacked tension, chemistry, and banter -- which made the romance overall not believable. I think this was the real make or break it aspect for me - and the biggest factor for why I didn’t love this one more.
Here is my takeaway…
If you don’t mind being a little confused and you end up connecting with the romance right away then you’re going to love this book! It really is such a cool concept and it does an amazing job at saying a lot between the lines.
What I loved…
- magic system + overall concept
- symbolism, commentary, and messaging
- imagery of individual settings
- adorable cat companion
- lady knight + lady witch
What I didn’t love, but might work for you…
- world building felt shallow and not fleshed out enough
- dry dialogue
- chemistry, tension, banter did not hit for me
- repetitiveness and too much telling vs showing
- pacing
The Isle in the Silver Sea’s magic system was so interesting. I loved what it had to say about stories fueling the land, the symbolism regarding eraser of bipoc stories and history, rewriting your own story, forced narratives, and the overall concept. I especially loved the way limmi ink was used to imbue traits on individuals!
I really enjoy when a book has a lot to say, and says it well - weaving symbolism and social commentary seamlessly into the story - and this book does an amazing job at that.
The magic and the world (as well as the symbolism that accompanied it) were definitely my favorite aspects. That said, I spent a bit too long confused about the magic system and even at the end of the book I was left with too many questions about how things worked.
On the subject of the world, I did have a hard time understanding why this was set in England, rather than a completely fantastical world. The world felt so unique, that I often forgot the setting was a reimagined version of Britain, until a character casually mentioned London. I also had a hard time imagining what time period we were in. It felt like we were given so few clues to pinpoint a time period. — This might be a me problem, perhaps I missed something, or I’m not grasping the importance of setting it in a reimagined Britain. — But, I do wish we would have been given a better grasp of the time period and the setting.
At times the prose was beautiful, stunning descriptions, that made me feel like I was in the rooms or the forest, that the author was describing. But the prose also felt overly repetitive, and leaned a little too heavily on tell vs show. The author would do a wonderful job showing us, but then follow up with a statement that told us exactly how that “showing” should be interpreted. To be honest, it was a bit exhausting. Repetitiveness in prose is something I tend to get frustrated with quickly, but I often find my friends don’t feel the same way about the same text. So take this critique with a grain of salt! The dialogue was also very dry and felt overly formal — even between the two FMC while they were supposed to be flirting. Again, this works for the time period but wasn’t particularly fun to read if I’m being honest.
We have a lot of lady knights coming this year but this is the first sapphic adult romance featuring a Lady Knight that I’ve read and I was SO excited. Which is why it gives me great pain to admit that I did not enjoy the romance in this one. For me this lacked tension, chemistry, and banter -- which made the romance overall not believable. I think this was the real make or break it aspect for me - and the biggest factor for why I didn’t love this one more.
Here is my takeaway…
If you don’t mind being a little confused and you end up connecting with the romance right away then you’re going to love this book! It really is such a cool concept and it does an amazing job at saying a lot between the lines.
What I loved…
- magic system + overall concept
- symbolism, commentary, and messaging
- imagery of individual settings
- adorable cat companion
- lady knight + lady witch
What I didn’t love, but might work for you…
- world building felt shallow and not fleshed out enough
- dry dialogue
- chemistry, tension, banter did not hit for me
- repetitiveness and too much telling vs showing
- pacing