Review: The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri

After reading Tasha Suri’s Burning Kingdom’s series, The Isle in the Silver Sea, a standalone fairytale fantasy set in an alternate Britain, is a big transition. When you look a bit closer, both stories contain complex magic systems, lesbian yearning, and anti-totalitarianism/imperialism themes. If these are reasons you enjoy Tasha Suri’s writing, I highly recommend checking out her new standalone fantasy book, The Isle in the Silver Sea!

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Title: The Isle in the Silver Sea
Author: Tasha Suri
Series: N/A
Genre: Fairytale fantasy, romance
Publisher: Orbit
Pages: 384
Audiobook length: Unknown
ISBN: 9780316595087
Content warnings: violence, death/murder, confinement, racism, xenophobia, death of parent

Blurb

From World Fantasy Award-winning author Tasha Suri comes The Isle in the Silver Sea, a heart-shattering romantasy of sapphic longing, medieval folklore and a love that spans the centuries.

In a mirror England fuelled by stories, the knight and the witch are fated to fall in love and doom each other over and over, the same fable retold over thousands of lifetimes.

But Vina and Simran are looking for a way to break the cycle, just as a mysterious assassin begins targeting tales like theirs.

From the author of the World Fantasy Award-winning The Jasmine Throne, comes a sapphic epic fantasy of medieval myth, romance, and the magic of stories.

Review of The Isle in the Silver Sea

• Format: ebook
• Pacing: slow
• Plot or character-driven: a mix
• POVs: dual third person POV
• Representation: lesbian main characters, f/f romance, trans side character and m/m side relationship

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit to providing me with a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. This does not effect my opinion of the book.

The Isle in the Silver Sea begins with a fascinating premise, with an island built on recurring fairytales. In this world, prophesy is a form of magic. An “incarnate” or a character in one of the major tales is trapped by their fated narrative and also empowered by their tale because it wants them to succeed (at serving the tale). If you get trapped in a sucky tale (like being doomed to fall in love and then kill each other), too bad you can’t resist fate and trying could destroy the island.

Tales aren’t the only form of magic on the isle. Classic witches and fae exist, and scribes can use “limni ink” to wield tale magic. As someone who really enjoyed multi-layered magic systems, I loved learning about the different ways people could wield magic (and how different systems could be used to enhance or oppose each other). I didn’t always understand how everything worked, but part of the story is the characters learning about their power under a governing system that limits knowledge to maintain control. It was fun getting to pick up clues on how it worked as the story progressed. I felt like I was rediscovering magic with the characters. I haven’t read of any magic systems like the one in The Isle in the Silver Sea, so it also gets points for uniqueness.

Other than the magic system, worldbuilding is a mix of medieval Britain, folklore, and modern ideas. This felt very fitting for a fairytale fantasy. As a whole, the world felt very magical with different tales from ancient to modern time periods all shaping the land.

For me, the social commentary in The Isle in the Silver Sea felt heavy handed. I picked up on themes of censorship, Britain’s treatment of immigrants, and erasure of individual and cultural identities just from the characters and their stories. The excerpts and archivist rulings at the beginning of each chapter felt unnecessary.

The actual story is split into two parts, with part one making up about 2/3 of the book. Part 2 contains just as much story though, which means the pacing gets odd once part 2 begins. Large parts of the story are just skipped over or rushed, so some of the character development feels unnatural. As a whole, I think The Isle in the Silver Sea was good, but some of the rushed parts at the end sabotaged the emotional impact.

The narrative switches POVs between the two main characters, Simran and Vina, who are both incarnates doomed by their tale. Simran is destined to enchant the knight, Vina, who will later kill Simran upon the Queen’s order. Neither woman wants this fate, but like all incarnates, they are compelled to fulfill their tale. I’m usually hesitant to pick up books with fated romance, but Simran and Vina had undeniable chemistry. It was so interesting to see how each of them attempted to resist their tale or make peace with their fate. Vina and Simran had very different backgrounds and, by nature of their tale, are on opposing sides. I loved getting to see them work through their different priorities. Then, there’s the tension created by the knowledge that if they fall in love they are only going to be each other’s doom.

The Isle in the Silver Sea wasn’t perfect, but I really enjoyed the story. It was very unique compared to fantasy books I’ve read in the past, including other fairytale inspired stories. I would recommend this book to fans of fairytale fantasy and lesbian romantasy.

You’ll like this book if you enjoy…

• Lesbian yearning
• Knight x witch dynamics in romance
• Fairytale fantasy
• Complex magic systems

The Isle in the Silver Sea will be published this week on October 21! Add it to your TBR or preorder now:

Have you read The Isle in the Silver Sea? Let’s chat in the comments!