The Isle in the Silver Sea (out October 21, 2025) by Tashi Suri is a story about stories, set in an alternate version of England, called the Isle. In it, we follow two incarnates—people who are reincarnated to follow the path of a written tale, like The Merciless Maiden, or in this case, The Knight and the Witch. These tales keep different areas of the Isle alive, from forests to coastlines to mountains. The knight is sent to hunt the witch, they fall in love, then the knight kills the witch, and himself in the process. Or in this version’s case, herself.
The knight, Vina, and the witch, Simran, are oddities on the Isle. They don’t fall into the same mold as years past of strong blond man and mysterious witch woman. The relationship between them is unusual for the story, since for the first time both the knight and witch are women, and both have Elsewhere blood. The two are determined not to fall in love, or even meet each other at first. Both have known that their tale will bring them ruin, and neither particularly wants to die. Vina serves as a knight in the Queen’s army with her two friends, Matthias and Edmund, while Simran is a witch who does limni ink tattoos—magical drawings that can impart powers on those who wear them. But as the threads of fate draw them closer together, they get caught in the crosshairs of an assassin who seems to be targeting incarnates, destroying the Isle and killing stories.
We follow Simran and Vina’s point of view, and true to my personal tastes, Vina’s perspective was more interesting to me. I love butch knights, especially if they’re a bit emotionally repressed, and I was captivated by Vina’s story, growing up knowing that she was loved despite her Elsewhere blood until her father found out she was an Incarnate. One scene later in the book made me feel things that I don’t usually feel while reading, and I love it when a story can get such an emotional reaction from my normally stoic self.
“You keep doing this. You keep throwing yourself away, erasing yourself, being what people need even if it kills you, and I won’t allow it.”
The weakest part of the story for me was the romance, only because I don’t find soulmate relationships super compelling, so the fact that Vina and Simran are destined to fall in love takes some of the thrill out of it. But I did enjoy watching them try to resist the power of the tale, which of course only drew them closer together. (I also feel obligated to mention that I totally called another side relationship happening, and it might have been obvious, but I feel proud that I predicted it from the very first moment it could be predicted. I’m usually quite oblivious to small details, so this felt good.)
A strong theme in this book is of knowledge: who gets to record, keep, and control it. Stories are what keep the Isle alive, and the Archivists keep a record of everything written. They are also the arbiters of what gets to be published, and what gets hidden—or destroyed. Each chapter begins with an excerpt from a tome or text, with an Archivist note to determine its fate. The works praising the Queen and reinforcing the idea of the Isle’s superiority and greatness are let through, while anything remotely critical gets flagged for review or immediate destruction.
This ties in with the Isle’s fear of the outside world. Anyone not from the Isle is from Elsewhere, and are generally distrusted and looked down upon. Their stories don’t have the same value or importance to the Archivists, especially since they tell of different ways of life, ways that the Archivists don’t want the general public to know. One of the Archivist characters is from Elsewhere, but she is set to prove that she is one of the good ones, an Elsewhere who isn’t like the others and won’t be a burden on the resources of the Isle. I live in a place where a lot of people make immigration the scapegoat for many systemic problems, and The Isle in the Silver Sea tackles the subject well.
The Isle in the Silver Sea is truly an epic tale of fated love and the power of stories, both things that I think a lot of readers will enjoy. The worldbuilding and magic system are interesting, and I thought the story was compelling and set up well to keep me wanting to know more. There are also a fair few libraries in the book, and I do love to read about a fantastical library, even if there are some questionable knowledge-keeping decisions being made in some of them. It reads much like a fairy tale, with witches, knights, queens, enchanted forests, and fae magic galore. It’s definitely a good choice for an atmospheric fall read when it comes out in October!
