Review of The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri

The Isle in the Silver Sea offers a medieval setting, magical elements, a story within a story, romantasy without swooning, and characters fighting to reimagine their futures. This fantasy novel about the power of storytelling was wonderful.

In an alternate medieval England, an island exists because of stories. Those who play key roles in tales die and are repeatedly reborn into various versions of the characters they must play, and they are fated to reenact their own battles, love stories, and ends so that the isle and those on it may continue to survive.

Simran is a strong female knight sworn to the queen, and Vina is a witch of the woods. They each know they have been called to be in a story, but when they meet, they feel an instant link--and it goes well beyond their roles in the story that they discover has been scripted for the two of them.

Evil forces are in play, and Vina and Simran are discovering their fates, whether with or without each other, while also determining how to preserve their world. They fight, they figure things out, and they fall in love. They are reimaging what is possible, while remaining brave, worrying about their found-family members, and trying not to implode the future of civilization on their isle.

If they have any hope of rewriting their tale--and of saving the island--they must identify and stop the mysterious assassin who is destroying new stories and keeping those like Simran and Vina trapped in a loop of tragedy.

The Isle in the Silver Sea is fascinating, and the story-within-a-story is everchanging even when characters repeatedly revisit The Story. Elements shift and the main protagonists insist on free will over fate, gradually succeeding in attempts to change what was previously thought to be their story's undeniable ending.

I love romantasy that doesn't involve me to suspend my disbelief in order to buy into the relationship, and Suri offers up a wonderfully romantic, possibly doomed love story to feel angsty about and to cheer for.

I loved reading this book.

I listened to The Isle in the Silver Sea as a library audiobook on Libby.

More from Tasha Suri and More Female-Knight Stories

Tasha Suri is also the author of The Burning Kingdoms trilogy, The Books of Ambha duology, and other books.

I'm in the middle of a small but fantastic pattern of reading female-knight-driven stories; check out Gwen & Art Are Not in Love and The Everlasting.