Now imagine, if you will, that the sea is not water. Imagine, instead, that the sea is a vast expanse of plant growth, growing up from an unfathomably deep and amazingly wide expanse. If you fall in, there is no hope of floating to safety. If your ship gets stranded in the middle of it, your only hope of water is in catching dew. Somehow, in The Forever Sea, Joshua Phillip Johnson has managed to make life on the sea even more dangerous.
This world is not merely different for its sea of plants and scarcity of available water, but for its presence of magic. Its magic system is based on bones and strange, spirit-realm magical fires called "hearthfires," which keep this world's ships afloat, provide stability, and even propel them. Like the crafts of our world, their ships have sails, for when there are favorable winds. However, to control the ships, keep them afloat, and move them in times of poor winds, special magicians are required. These mages, known as hearthfire keepers, are capable of manipulating, singing to, and even communicating with these fires to stoke them into the desired magical effects.
Our main character, Kindred, is just such a mage, having learned from her grandmother, the Marchess, how to tend to the magical hearthfires and effectively propel large ships across the strange, plant-filled, waterless forever sea. She attended a formal school for hearthfire manipulation, but found the school's "traditional" approach to be unnatural, stilted, and wrongheaded, teaching things that were safe but inefficient and inflexible. Additionally, most students didn't understand the songs they sang to enact the magic and couldn't hear, let alone understand, the hearthfires. Kindred could truly hear the fires, understand their meaning and emotions, and could sing to them fluently, not with rote repetition, but with context to the current need and with understanding and sincerity. The Marchess communed with the fire, remaining creative and flexible when she interacted with the hearthfire. This is the way that made sense to Kindred. That felt right. And this is how Kindred became, quite possibly, the best hearthfire tender on the forever sea.
There are three primary areas in the known world in The Forever Sea. The story opens on "Arcadia," an island where Kindred has sailed from for most of her life. Arcadia is sort of like a colony trying to make something of itself so far away from the Mainland. The third area is another island - of sorts. A legendary moving island referred to as "The Once-City" is known to be the home of pirates, a vicious lot with their own strange culture and their code of rules. Encountering their ships on the high seas can be deadly, but legend has it that if you're in need and you know how, you can seek refuge at the Once-City.
Our story follows Kindred, who grew up with the Marchess, learning hearthfire keeping from her, but never truly feeling part of the crew. Kindred has left the Marchess' ship and is working aboard The Errant, serving as second hearthfire keeper to a hearthfire keeper named Rhabdus. She is finally starting to feel like she's part of the crew and not just the Marchess' little girl. They work out of Arcadia, but when they return with their haul and seek to resupply there, they find that a local politico named Cantrev is expanding his authority over Arcadia, seeking to control everything, regulating the ever-important water supply, and exerting power while pressuring crews to join him and pay membership and tribute to his Collective, which is, essentially, a protection racket at the political level.
Captain Jane Caraway refuses to pay his fees or recognize his authority and plans to simply relocate to the Mainland, but things go south rapidly and Kindred will have to think quickly to come to the rescue of her crew and to escape Arcadia.
The scarcity of water on the sea means that you can never go on too long a journey without some way to resupply. For that matter, the number of bones you have to use as magic fuel for the hearthfire limits your potential travel, as well. Kindred and crew are limited on options and find themselves between a rock and a hard place, pinned between Cantrev's forces and pirates. Kindred will have to use her unmatched skill with the hearthfire to find a way out of their predicament.
In the course of their adventures, Kindred will find that people aren't always what they seem; good and evil can depend on one's point of view, and a crew must rely on everyone's unique abilities because every crew member is important in their way.
I love science fiction and fantasy books, but I did find the idea of a vast sea, not made of water, but of plants able to support themselves, but unable to be climbed down, to be hard to envision. As such, it seemed odd that the depths of this sea could be unknown and mysterious. However, if you accept that aspect, The Forever Sea is a fun read, with everything from adventure and intrigue to romance aboard an all-girl ship. The flying ships felt almost steampunk, but without the steam, and I'm not sure that magical-bone punk is a thing, but bone-fueled hearthfire magic was the primary magic system, so who knows.
In this review, I have attempted to hint at some of the more interesting aspects of "The Forever Sea" without ruining it for anyone. If this review doesn't make the story sound interesting, you probably won't like it. However, if this review has piqued your interest, then, by all means, check it out. I enjoyed it quite a bit and would love to read a sequel.
