The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri

TL;DR: A bit of a mess for me. This should have been three, very intensely detailed books. Not one messy standalone.
Source: NetGalley – Thank you to the publisher!!

Plot: Two women trapped in the magic of a story have to break it and the magic on the Isle they live on.
Characters: Not the best, they felt very two dimensional after a certain point. No one changed or evolved.
Setting: The weakest structured setting I’ve read in a long while.
Fantasy: The magic here was meant to be ethereal or whimsical but There was an edge that also needed explaining and it wasn’t there.

Summary:

In a Britain fuelled by stories, the knight and the witch are fated to fall in love and doom each other over and over, the same tale retold over hundreds of lifetimes.

Simran is a witch of the woods. Vina is a knight of the Queen’s court. When the two women begin to fall for each other, how can they surrender to their desires, when to give in is to destroy each other?

As they seek a way to break the cycle, a mysterious assassin begins targeting tales like theirs. To survive, the two will need to write a story stronger than the one that fate has given to them.

But what tale is stronger than The Knight and the Witch?

Thoughts:

I was so hyped for this and I’m so sad I was so disappointed. Tasha Suri’s recently completed trilogy is on my TBR and I thought a romantasy standalone would be perfect to try her writing but sadly this really missed. I honestly wonder if this couldn’t have been an in dept trilogy and worked so much better but as it is, I can’t say I’m a huge fan.

This starts of strong, full of whimsy and very unique magic and world. Two women trapped in a predetermined fate of a tale. They will fall in love, one will kill the other, and they’ll be reborn and this will keep this magical island they live on going as does all the other Tales that live on the island. Of course though, no one wants to live a predetermined fate. Everyone wants to live their own lives and these two women are no exception. We see them meet and events send them down the path to break their fate and the fate of this island.

This had so much in it. It baked in so much but it felt so messy in pacing and timing. At one point we had our pair venture into a deep dark wood for a few days in what felt like a big hurry to save someone. Then they take their time (over a week according to the text) getting out. Where was the rush and why did it take a week? Besides to convince us the two spent a week falling in love. That is when the story began to feel rushed. Large chunks of time are skipped and we’re told important things. Then the resurrection trope happens and absolutely nothing holds weight.

I was disappointed here. I’ll definitely try the epic fantasy this author has written. I’m hoping with more space to expand a lot of these problems will be resolved. Fingers crossed!