Scan barcode
A review by jephapha
The Forever Sea by Joshua Phillip Johnson
5.0
I don't like fantasy books. I'm a slow reader who gets easily distracted, and I often find it hard to follow characters and plot lines. I picked up this book and couldn't put it down.
"The Forever Sea" is amazing. Johnson's beautiful prose fills your head and swims around as you grapple with the idea of sailing on prairie grasses. While many of the ideas (going underneath a prairie sea, for example) are abstract and take time to come to terms with, you feel okay and content with it. The story demands complexity and critical thinking, and yet at the heart of it there are pirates and a war between water stores and love and adventure. It is simplicity and complexity wrapped up in a book as vast and complex as the Sea it takes place on.
I've seen reviews that criticize the main character, Kindred, for her hasty and shallow decision-making, and while I recognize that Kindred can be a frustrating character to like from time to time, she is also noble and you still find yourself cheering for her and her success. She struggles with good and evil just as we all do, and Johnson uses her as a tool to help us grapple with the complexity of an all too divided and hasty, shallow decision-making world.
I absolutely love the imagery, I love the environmental themes and the messages throughout. The magic is INCREDIBLE. If nothing else, read this book for the magic; fire and magic are powered with bardic songs and characters gather inspiration and strength as they sing in hand-to-hand combat. Fire and water are both absolutely necessary in this book, for both life and death, and they compliment and juxtapose each other in fascinating ways. A brilliant book with beautiful writing. I highly recommend.
"The Forever Sea" is amazing. Johnson's beautiful prose fills your head and swims around as you grapple with the idea of sailing on prairie grasses. While many of the ideas (going underneath a prairie sea, for example) are abstract and take time to come to terms with, you feel okay and content with it. The story demands complexity and critical thinking, and yet at the heart of it there are pirates and a war between water stores and love and adventure. It is simplicity and complexity wrapped up in a book as vast and complex as the Sea it takes place on.
I've seen reviews that criticize the main character, Kindred, for her hasty and shallow decision-making, and while I recognize that Kindred can be a frustrating character to like from time to time, she is also noble and you still find yourself cheering for her and her success. She struggles with good and evil just as we all do, and Johnson uses her as a tool to help us grapple with the complexity of an all too divided and hasty, shallow decision-making world.
I absolutely love the imagery, I love the environmental themes and the messages throughout. The magic is INCREDIBLE. If nothing else, read this book for the magic; fire and magic are powered with bardic songs and characters gather inspiration and strength as they sing in hand-to-hand combat. Fire and water are both absolutely necessary in this book, for both life and death, and they compliment and juxtapose each other in fascinating ways. A brilliant book with beautiful writing. I highly recommend.