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Etherium #2
The Sun Etherium
A romance of genderfluid shapeshifters, set in a post-scarcity world of magic and intrigue.
Fey immortal Jinokimijin never expected ruling the Sun Etherium to be all fun and games -- but as it turns out, organizing fun and games is his first challenge. Firing the chair of the Founder's Festival for praising slavery is easy: ensuring the Founder's Festival succeeds afterwards is considerably harder. Jino needs a distraction from the temptation to micromanage. Luckily there's an anonymous club just waiting for a new member eager to set his trials briefly aside....
Jino's not the only one trying to escape his troubles: Kireki, once prince-consort, lost his position along with the abusive wife Jino deposed. Can the relationship spawned by two masked fey survive the revelation of their true selves? And will the Founder's Festival be the first of Jino's successes as ruler of the Sun Etherium... or the towering failure that undermines his throne?
Note: this book follows after the events of The Moon Etherium, but both works stand alone as complete novels and can be read independently of each other.
Fey immortal Jinokimijin never expected ruling the Sun Etherium to be all fun and games -- but as it turns out, organizing fun and games is his first challenge. Firing the chair of the Founder's Festival for praising slavery is easy: ensuring the Founder's Festival succeeds afterwards is considerably harder. Jino needs a distraction from the temptation to micromanage. Luckily there's an anonymous club just waiting for a new member eager to set his trials briefly aside....
Jino's not the only one trying to escape his troubles: Kireki, once prince-consort, lost his position along with the abusive wife Jino deposed. Can the relationship spawned by two masked fey survive the revelation of their true selves? And will the Founder's Festival be the first of Jino's successes as ruler of the Sun Etherium... or the towering failure that undermines his throne?
Note: this book follows after the events of The Moon Etherium, but both works stand alone as complete novels and can be read independently of each other.
322 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 17, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 20, 2017
I love this book so much I can't even, y'all. I've been waiting for it to come out since I read the ARC and it's finally out SO I CAN TALK ABOUT IT AHHHHHHHH
This book. Lemme tell you its glories. It is about Fey, and Fey relationship problems, and Fey cultural problems, and it is a romance. I love all these things.
I love the main characters. Jino, the Usurper who just deposed a truly psychopathic Queen, is determined to start changing the culture into something a little less callous, and is willing to take extraordinary steps to shake people out of their complacency... and even so, he's constantly considering whether what he's doing is right or not, or just. His love interest, Kireki, is the kind of quiet, upright member of society who gets disrespected in almost every form of fantasy, and his ideals about upholding society even when society gets some things wrong... they're treated with respect. Their questions about consent, about forgiveness, about learning to live with yourself and forgive yourself for choices you made when there were no good choices at all, are set in stark contrast to the experiences of a human who was kept one of the Fey's prisoners, and his struggles with his former captor.... and his former captor's struggles with a slowly waking conscience.
This entire book is about navigating relationships, responsibly and compassionately, while also accepting that sometimes you fail. And sometimes those failures can't be mended. Fortunately for the title pair, though, they get their Happily Ever After, and it is glorious.
Some bullet points, then:
* If you're into shapeshifting, this is a shapeshifting society taken to its logical conclusion. It's fun to watch the characters don shapes like we would clothes.
* If you're into multiple gender representations, ditto.
* If you're fascinated by how a post-scarcity world might work, there are some fantastic discussions about the economy and society that will give you plenty of grist for your mill.
* If you're tired of stories that solve things with violence or physical altercations, this one doesn't. Ever.
* If you like stories about relationships, particularly if they're honest about the difficult parts, every scene is going to delight you.
* If you like your characters witty and funny, the dialogue in this book often scintillates. I highlighted stuff just because it was just that clever.
I can't wait for everyone to discover Jino, Kireki, Chiongtol, and the other denizens of the Sun Etherium. This is a rare and warm and moral book, wise about people and why they feel things, kind about their missteps, and implacable about important things that can't be changed, only accepted. I'm so glad I read it. You will be too.
This book. Lemme tell you its glories. It is about Fey, and Fey relationship problems, and Fey cultural problems, and it is a romance. I love all these things.
I love the main characters. Jino, the Usurper who just deposed a truly psychopathic Queen, is determined to start changing the culture into something a little less callous, and is willing to take extraordinary steps to shake people out of their complacency... and even so, he's constantly considering whether what he's doing is right or not, or just. His love interest, Kireki, is the kind of quiet, upright member of society who gets disrespected in almost every form of fantasy, and his ideals about upholding society even when society gets some things wrong... they're treated with respect. Their questions about consent, about forgiveness, about learning to live with yourself and forgive yourself for choices you made when there were no good choices at all, are set in stark contrast to the experiences of a human who was kept one of the Fey's prisoners, and his struggles with his former captor.... and his former captor's struggles with a slowly waking conscience.
This entire book is about navigating relationships, responsibly and compassionately, while also accepting that sometimes you fail. And sometimes those failures can't be mended. Fortunately for the title pair, though, they get their Happily Ever After, and it is glorious.
Some bullet points, then:
* If you're into shapeshifting, this is a shapeshifting society taken to its logical conclusion. It's fun to watch the characters don shapes like we would clothes.
* If you're into multiple gender representations, ditto.
* If you're fascinated by how a post-scarcity world might work, there are some fantastic discussions about the economy and society that will give you plenty of grist for your mill.
* If you're tired of stories that solve things with violence or physical altercations, this one doesn't. Ever.
* If you like stories about relationships, particularly if they're honest about the difficult parts, every scene is going to delight you.
* If you like your characters witty and funny, the dialogue in this book often scintillates. I highlighted stuff just because it was just that clever.
I can't wait for everyone to discover Jino, Kireki, Chiongtol, and the other denizens of the Sun Etherium. This is a rare and warm and moral book, wise about people and why they feel things, kind about their missteps, and implacable about important things that can't be changed, only accepted. I'm so glad I read it. You will be too.
January 13, 2019
I have to admitt I was a bit hesitant at reading this book, because it's very far from what i normally read, mostly romance and some sci-fi.
But this is such a wonderful created world. The author does a great job in describing the Sun Etherium with fey, shape shifters, Golems and aether. And in the midst of this all a wonderful romance which could only happen in this world of pretending.
The immersions reminded me a bit how you play nowadays with a virtual reality headset . Wouldn't it be a dream for every player to immerse himself fullbody in a play this realistic?
But this is such a wonderful created world. The author does a great job in describing the Sun Etherium with fey, shape shifters, Golems and aether. And in the midst of this all a wonderful romance which could only happen in this world of pretending.
The immersions reminded me a bit how you play nowadays with a virtual reality headset . Wouldn't it be a dream for every player to immerse himself fullbody in a play this realistic?
July 29, 2018
Wonderful 2nd Etherium book
I love Rowyn’s writing and world building in this tale of Jino’s rule as Sun King. Her Fey Shard that travels between worlds is a unique take on the Fey Folk, in my reading. (Not that it really plays a major plot in this novel.) She deserves to win a Nebula or Hugo for her writing.
I love Rowyn’s writing and world building in this tale of Jino’s rule as Sun King. Her Fey Shard that travels between worlds is a unique take on the Fey Folk, in my reading. (Not that it really plays a major plot in this novel.) She deserves to win a Nebula or Hugo for her writing.
March 30, 2019
Really showcases Rowyn's growth as a writer-- better pacing, less magic-system-infodumpery, more complex themes. Also much queerer.
January 28, 2022
After an exiled prince-consort leads a successful coup against the cruel court of the Queen of the Sun fey, he/she is determined to change the self-centered, heedless mindset of his/her subjects. The new ruler abolishes slavery and torture, then tries to model new concepts through universal citizenship, artistic competition and a new legal system.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews