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A review by bookfey
The Forever Sea by Joshua Phillip Johnson
4.0
The world build is absolutely fantasmic. The ‘sea’ is actually a never ending expanse of mile high prairie grasses and wild flowers. I liken it to what The Great Plains of the North America in its virgin state but bigger bolder and much much deeper. Miles deeper in fact!
The ships are kept afloat the vast prairie with bone magic performed by the hearthkeeper who is also our main character. The winds of the prairie fill the sails of the ship giving them motion.
The societies in this world are sustained by what is harvested from the praries, the flowers and creatures. Fresh water is a constant concern.
The plot revolves our Kindred the hearthkeeper. She is part of an all female crew as was the previous ship run by her grandmother.
We see Kindred evolve over the course of the book and lead us to the precipice of the second book.
The first half of this book gave me heavy Escaping Exodus (Nicky Drayden) vibes with the strong female-centric sailing community and a world that is personally unfathomable and wonderful to me. The second half of the book we meet new characters and the plot furthers along well.
As the first of a series, this lays an excellent foundation. While we are left with many unanswered questions the conclusion of this book left me satisfied in a way that I will be returning for the second installment.
I will say that by the end of the book I realized that this visually played out in my head like a Hayao Miyazaki film. Something about the way the prairie blooms would arc through the air as the ships passed, the way the different cultures lived either concentrically or not with nature, and the vivid daily life imagery of these societies. I think listening to Philip Glass while reading sparked that mental journey for me.
The world is beautiful, the cover is gorgeous, the women are strong and courageous.
A new world has been laid out for the reader and I look forward to see where Kindred goes next.
The ships are kept afloat the vast prairie with bone magic performed by the hearthkeeper who is also our main character. The winds of the prairie fill the sails of the ship giving them motion.
The societies in this world are sustained by what is harvested from the praries, the flowers and creatures. Fresh water is a constant concern.
The plot revolves our Kindred the hearthkeeper. She is part of an all female crew as was the previous ship run by her grandmother.
We see Kindred evolve over the course of the book and lead us to the precipice of the second book.
The first half of this book gave me heavy Escaping Exodus (Nicky Drayden) vibes with the strong female-centric sailing community and a world that is personally unfathomable and wonderful to me. The second half of the book we meet new characters and the plot furthers along well.
As the first of a series, this lays an excellent foundation. While we are left with many unanswered questions the conclusion of this book left me satisfied in a way that I will be returning for the second installment.
I will say that by the end of the book I realized that this visually played out in my head like a Hayao Miyazaki film. Something about the way the prairie blooms would arc through the air as the ships passed, the way the different cultures lived either concentrically or not with nature, and the vivid daily life imagery of these societies. I think listening to Philip Glass while reading sparked that mental journey for me.
The world is beautiful, the cover is gorgeous, the women are strong and courageous.
A new world has been laid out for the reader and I look forward to see where Kindred goes next.