"Between Sky and Sea" by Katy Tearle

"Between Sky and Sea" by Katy Tearle ★★★

Selkies, Dragons, Werewolves, Witches, Fae and Seers! This brilliant fantasy contains politics, assassination attempts, and forbidden romance.

A wonderful and exciting start to this new trilogy, with a variety of creatures, prophecies, political intrigue and forbidden romance, fantasy fans will flock to read Between Sky and Sea as fast as the beating of dragon wings!

Katy Tearle’s first book of their contemporary fantasy trilogy follows the point of view of nine characters, the majority from the Selkie Kingdom. There is Mira their King navigating her first years as their new ruler, Matti Johansson her Royal Aide trading sea glass for marbles with the eccentric Fae artisan Jon Sundberg, and Wyatt LeBlanc the nervous Witch apprentice finding his place and purpose in the kingdom. When things take a turn for the worse, Mira must turn to Dragon Guard-Lieutenant Lukas Nikitin, her former lover, for protection (something described as being “something out of some human fairy tale… the sky falling in love with the sea”). There are also the Werewolf Jarls Erich von Gravenhurst and Nico von Behren who have merged the two packs to make Behren-Gravenhurst Pack, and their Seer, Feelix, who gets visions of the future. We even get to look into the mind of Leo, a mysterious member of the uprising brutal Black Heart Tribunal, an anti-creatures group who want to eradicate non-human royals and govern the rest.

The choice of having the opening chapter’s perspective from the Black Heart Tribunal was excellent, it immediately set the scene of their craft and capabilities, that these three people still followed protocol and were able to get away with what they did. And that this is really only just the beginning, before we get into what our heroes are up to. It provided the necessary intrigue and hook all at once!

Katy Tearle’s world is rich with mythical creatures, heartfelt humour, thoughtful representation and sharp political intrigue. Each page draws the reader into mayhem and high stakes where every choice matters. There were some unique concepts, like the two sea glass pendants, crafted to glow whenever the other touches theirs, or the illness that destroys a selkie’s pelt and prevents them from going to the sea. There were some enjoyable and different idioms and expressions that Tearle used – like the Selkies exclaiming “Drown me twice!” and the Werewolves saying “For the love of the Moon and all her bloody phases”. It’s those kinds of touches that really make this world immersive and alive. Not to mention the addition of modern elements with them using phones and tablets, going on video calls, and flying on planes – a very fun combination!

There was a diversity of characters and beautiful LGBTQIA+ representation with no spice, all of which was so refreshing to see and masterfully crafted, by far the strongest element in the story:

“Every ruler of the Selkie Kingdom chooses the title that they’ll govern with. The Lady Mother was a Queen. Mira decided that her people needed a King.”

The subversion of the conventional identity and titles was particularly impressive as Mira chooses what would usually be considered a male title. There is also the non-binary character of Kaino, and the adorable and tender romance between Matti and Jon. Wyatt provided the most characterisation as he is anxious about lots of things but full of ideas. It was fulfilling to see him start to come out of his shell by the end of this book!

This novel explores the very serious topic of racism shown through the mistreatment of fae and those not from the Selkie Kingdom, considered to be outsiders, spread by propaganda from the Black Heart Tribunal:

Humans hated things that were different to them. And hate started fights, fights started wars. But very few things—human or otherwise—picked a fight with something that they knew would win. And so dragons made sure they stood the best chance of winning.

This sort of description felt realistic yet modulated expertly for the fantasy genre, where humans’ flaw –the fear of things that are not like them– drives conflict and deliberate rejection of others. This was handled well and it will be interesting to see how this gets resolved in the future.

Dark aspects are also covered. Another fascinating thing is the weight that Seers carry in knowing what will happen, yet being unable to prevent it because it would cause something worse. And there is also the subject of being lonely: how people struggle for years without others (sometimes themselves) realising, and having to suddenly face deciding things alone. Matti and Jaana compare the idea of drowning in loneliness with their duties as Selkies, to save people from drowning:

“Loneliness can feel a lot like drowning. Particularly if it’s all you know.”

This particular quote was especially impressive, using drowning as an effective metaphor for emotional burnout, and adds a clear backbone behind Matti’s motivation to help Jon.

While the concepts in this book were exceptionally creative, some things unfortunately meant the story missed its mark. There was not very much action, but when there was, it happened quickly. Mira’s disappearance after she jumps, for example, could have instead carried on a lot longer and people could have spent time searching for her. This could have raised stakes significantly had it played out differently. The king and bodyguard romance, an anticipated slowburn that would undoubtedly take up a larger chunk of the story, instead progressed very suddenly and missed some essential elements and buildup of that relationship because some initial years are missing. In essence, their storyline was covered too fast and missed the depth it deserved.

A major thing that took away from the story was some of the narrative being either repetitive or unnecessary. For example, Jon doesn’t need to blush nearly every time Matti says something, and we do not need Wyatt, Einar and Kaino to all say what the different colour codes in the fae marble are. Characters going through the motion of starting the day and following every little thing detracted from the day they were having or about to have – from Erich recovering to Wyatt debating whether or not to get a cab. Not to mention there is no necessity to always include dialogue tags every time somebody speaks unless it is really unclear who is talking. These things, if they are to be included and do not add to the characterisation or plot, could be tightened and condensed to let the story’s strongest moments shine, without bogging down a naturally slower-paced narrative.

Another thing was clarity: an early time jump made the plot jarring, happening in such a way that was not predictable nor appreciable until one was taken out of the narrative. This was especially apparent with Mira and Lukas, as Chapter 8 reveals Lukas has a photo of Mira which felt very stalker-like behaviour (it was the impression they’d only been together at The Borderlands club and hadn’t seen each other since, which was not actually the case), but then Chapter 9 has Mira remembering her time with Lukas and that they had been a couple for a while. Chapter 31 mentions it’s been “a long time” – but just how long has actually passed here? Specifying how many years would be perfect. Just a quick explanation in Chapter 8 about how long they had been together, and a subheading at the start of chapter(s), specifically Nico’s Chapter 7 one year on, to show how many years have passed will sort this. Something else to note was Chapter 22 was 67 pages which is too long, and splitting this into 2 chapters should be considered.

Overall, Between Sky and Sea is an incredible and hearty first impression from Tearle and despite some shortcomings, it is certain readers will see more extraordinary things from them. How the rest of the trilogy plays out remains to be enthusiastically seen!

Trigger Warnings: Racism, death, violence.