theblackdog

James Herriott’s books were a favorite of mine and to get to read about the life of the man was a treasure. His son Jim does and excellent job putting together the stories that we didn’t get to read about that brought Alf to Yorkshire and later inspired him to write his books.

This was a fun world-building book. I loved watching the relationship develop between Flora/Florian and Evelyn, while dealing with the background of an empire of colonizers vs the natives and the world itself. I thought learning of why the mermaids are so important to the sea was a clever way to give them more agency than them just existing.

I did take off half a star because I felt there was a plot thread that wasn’t well resolved and that was the story of Xenobia. It felt incomplete. There’s events and stories told that could have led to her regaining some of what she lost. It’s possible we will see more of her in a future book.

I am thrilled to get to see queer representation and love in here, even if the dominant society does not approve. I thought the handling of genderqueer characters was done well for the setting.

For a heads up, there are references to an incident of sexual assault. However, this is definitely worth reading if you’re into queer romance, magic, action, and seeing some later justice in the world.