Jess’s Reviews > The Isle in the Silver Sea > Status Update

—A positive thing about the 2 books in 1; I found the family built by Hari, Galath, & Vina to be very sweet. It also fits into my favorite trope: grumpy, aggressive, traumatized man is obligated to care for angsty daughter & they become found family. Happy belated Father’s Day to Galath (& Hari)

—The pacing was rather unstructured; I didn’t mind it much bc I felt invested in the characters, but it was a bit long w the loose pacing + 2 books in 1 deal. Also, Vina didn’t fight much in this book, even though she’s a knight, which was a tad disappointing. Simran did most of the dramatic stuff. Although, ig it fits Vina not wanting to kill (specifically in regard to Simran in their tale, but still?)—

A beautiful tale of free will & the burden of compressing yourself into other people’s expectations. This theme was coupled incredibly well with queerness, ofc the protagonists are a lesbian couple, but they also resist societal pressure & standards. They proudly denounce their roles as the story progresses. The only gripe I had about the book was the temporary amnesia; it felt more tedious than suspenseful imo—

It’s almost like a second novel was twisted into this one 🤔 I’m still enjoying the book! I feel less overwhelmed by it now. Although, I will say that I hate temporary amnesia in stories. I’m always just anxious for the character to remember 🧑🏻‍🦲

The pieces of the Eternal Prince vs Queen puzzle make sense together. Plus, I understand how the Elsewhere immigrants help to feed the Isle with their tales. It’s a great allegory; I’m enjoying the themes of how change is necessary, people should have free will, stories are culture & should be free etc

I suspect that the prophesied knight’s hunt of the witch will come from the Queen discovering that Simran is Elsewhere born. Once she knows that an incarnate exists from Elsewhere, she’ll want to censor it from the public to maintain the Isle’s superiority — similar how she tried to leash Vina & Simran to establish the Isle’s supremacy.

I hypothesize that this will have to do with how Simran & Vina save themselves & how they free the Isle; maybe the magic that makes Elsewhere immigrants forget their homes is due to the Queen’s tale?

My theory is that the magic of tales isn’t exclusive to the Isle. There are themes of the Isle being superior & anti-immigrant; the Crown & archivists etc are probably censoring the fact that tales can exist from other regions in the world.

The mystery is unfolding 🦭