The Forever Sea
Aug. 9th, 2022 11:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearThe Forever Sea by Joshua Phillip Johnson is a hefty book, but immersive, fast-paced and the kind of book where you end up at midnight, thinking, "Maybe just one more chapter..."
It's about a world where the people live either on or adjacent to a vast sea of grass and other plants. Nobody has explored to the end or the bottom and returned to tell the tale. Monsters roam the depths, there are rumours of whole civilisations below, and all-female crews man magical ships that harvest the multitude of amazing plants that grow in the sea.
There's a framing narrative where an ancient, mystical storyteller, travels post-apocalyptic villages in a wilderness of eternal darkness. He tells the story of the novel to the inhabitants of one such village on his travels.
Our protagonist is Kindred Greyreach, a young woman who works as a hearthkeeper on a harvesting ship on the Forever Sea. Her role is to maintain the magical fire that allows the ship to sail on the grasses, and to use bones, plants and song to create 'builds' in the fire, which affect the speed and direction of the ship.
The world-building is fantastic, though I did have difficulty envisaging the sea itself, and some details were left quite vague, regarding some aspects.
Kindred made for an engaging companion in the story - her inner conflicts were the main focus, though there was enough external threat and intrigue to keep the plot exciting. I loved all the inter-relationships aboard the ship, the romance sub-plot was a bit slight but beautifully developed, and the tension between all the different factions in the world at large made for a compelling story.
The book lost impetus a little in the second half, and the eventual conclusion of the main storyline was a bit nebulous. But the reveal in the final framing narrative chapter was brilliantly done - I didn't figure it out, but my reaction was, "Oh! Of course!" Which is exactly what you want with that kind of thing.
Despite the book being more than 600 pages long, I was left wanting more. I will certainly be following this author, waiting for his next book.
It's about a world where the people live either on or adjacent to a vast sea of grass and other plants. Nobody has explored to the end or the bottom and returned to tell the tale. Monsters roam the depths, there are rumours of whole civilisations below, and all-female crews man magical ships that harvest the multitude of amazing plants that grow in the sea.
There's a framing narrative where an ancient, mystical storyteller, travels post-apocalyptic villages in a wilderness of eternal darkness. He tells the story of the novel to the inhabitants of one such village on his travels.
Our protagonist is Kindred Greyreach, a young woman who works as a hearthkeeper on a harvesting ship on the Forever Sea. Her role is to maintain the magical fire that allows the ship to sail on the grasses, and to use bones, plants and song to create 'builds' in the fire, which affect the speed and direction of the ship.
The world-building is fantastic, though I did have difficulty envisaging the sea itself, and some details were left quite vague, regarding some aspects.
Kindred made for an engaging companion in the story - her inner conflicts were the main focus, though there was enough external threat and intrigue to keep the plot exciting. I loved all the inter-relationships aboard the ship, the romance sub-plot was a bit slight but beautifully developed, and the tension between all the different factions in the world at large made for a compelling story.
The book lost impetus a little in the second half, and the eventual conclusion of the main storyline was a bit nebulous. But the reveal in the final framing narrative chapter was brilliantly done - I didn't figure it out, but my reaction was, "Oh! Of course!" Which is exactly what you want with that kind of thing.
Despite the book being more than 600 pages long, I was left wanting more. I will certainly be following this author, waiting for his next book.
