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Fated Mates and Indigenous Kyn
Nov. 2nd, 2025 06:43 pmThe Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri is a fantasy book set in an alternate Elizabethan England that is maintained by a cycle of endlessly repeating fairy tales, which force their 'incarnates' to play out the tale and usually die, only to be reincarnated so they can do it all over again.
Our protagonists are the current incarnations of The Knight and The Witch, who are doomed to fall in love and then die at each other's hands after a terrible betrayal. In this instance, they are both women, which doesn't really impact on the story at all, other than to sidestep any patriarchal toxicity in the playing out of their story, which is always nice.
I liked the worldbuilding and the struggle to break harmful cycles of destructive tradition and rigid resistance to change and inclusion. I liked both protagonists and was invested in the larger scope of their story, but I didn't really connect to their romance. It didn't feel as if they had much chance to explore or develop their feelings for each other outside of the role they were forced to play - we were told they were in love over and above their fated mates status, but I didn't feel it.
I did very much connect to the secondary romance between two of the side characters (which came late and unexpectedly and was absolutely adorable) and also the father/daughter relationships and the friendships shown, especially those that existed before the story started.
I was satisfied by the story and enjoyed it overall (more than I expected, given it's a romantasy) but that's about it.
Kynship by Daniel Heath Justice is a fantasy analogy of the persecution of Native Americans by white colonialists. And it's incredibly grim. So much death and destruction and tragedy and loss. Which I guess is the point and an important story to tell. But that didn't make it any easier to read. I admit I struggled to get into the story because it was so relentlessly horrible. But I'm glad I persevered because it got a lot more interesting as it went along, particularly with the introduction of the 'converted' Kyn who were trying to erase the ancient traditions of their own culture, in order to assimilate better to the invasion of the Men. But overall, there were a few too many characters and plot strands and factions to get to grips with and I wasn't invested enough to want to carry on with the series, despite really liking one of the friendships that struck up between my two favourite characters towards the end of this instalment.
Our protagonists are the current incarnations of The Knight and The Witch, who are doomed to fall in love and then die at each other's hands after a terrible betrayal. In this instance, they are both women, which doesn't really impact on the story at all, other than to sidestep any patriarchal toxicity in the playing out of their story, which is always nice.
I liked the worldbuilding and the struggle to break harmful cycles of destructive tradition and rigid resistance to change and inclusion. I liked both protagonists and was invested in the larger scope of their story, but I didn't really connect to their romance. It didn't feel as if they had much chance to explore or develop their feelings for each other outside of the role they were forced to play - we were told they were in love over and above their fated mates status, but I didn't feel it.
I did very much connect to the secondary romance between two of the side characters (which came late and unexpectedly and was absolutely adorable) and also the father/daughter relationships and the friendships shown, especially those that existed before the story started.
I was satisfied by the story and enjoyed it overall (more than I expected, given it's a romantasy) but that's about it.
Kynship by Daniel Heath Justice is a fantasy analogy of the persecution of Native Americans by white colonialists. And it's incredibly grim. So much death and destruction and tragedy and loss. Which I guess is the point and an important story to tell. But that didn't make it any easier to read. I admit I struggled to get into the story because it was so relentlessly horrible. But I'm glad I persevered because it got a lot more interesting as it went along, particularly with the introduction of the 'converted' Kyn who were trying to erase the ancient traditions of their own culture, in order to assimilate better to the invasion of the Men. But overall, there were a few too many characters and plot strands and factions to get to grips with and I wasn't invested enough to want to carry on with the series, despite really liking one of the friendships that struck up between my two favourite characters towards the end of this instalment.
