The Isle in the Silver Sea is my second Tasha Suri novel. I read The Jasmine Throne in 2024 and found myself impressed with the world building. Whilst its sequel still sits on my ever-growing TBR pile, I knew I couldn’t pass up the chance to read this new release when I saw it advertised—partially because lady knights! And partially because sapphic longing throughout time is an instant draw.
The magic in this world is centred around stories. People can be born as “incarnates:” people who at some point in their lives become part of a fairytale. This has happened throughout history, but always to people born on the isle. That is, until one of our main characters, Simran, a witch, who arrived in this fantastical Britain from Elsewhere, is found to be an Incarnate too.
We also have Vina, a knight and child of nobility. She is kept almost locked up because of her Incarnate status. This is a fairytale though, and of course, Simran and Vina meet just as it is fated in the tale they are reincarnations of, “The Knight and the Witch,” where they are doomed to die. We see them travel across the country, locked in a tense battle with the fae, assassins, and of course their own destiny.
This is a romantasy, but at its core, The Isle in the Silver Sea is a story about stories and migration. I, like Tasha Suri, live as person of colour in Britain and can clearly see the parallels between the evil queen burning Elsewhere stories and the ever growing sentiment amongst the right surrounding immigration and the role of migrants in society. It’s a connection that can be felt globally at a time of such political unrest, with Black and Brown people suffering at the hands of the government and unfounded rumours.
The ultimate message of this story is clear: countries cannot function without the contribution of immigrants, despite those in positions of power who think otherwise.
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