I used to post monthly clean book reviews. I wrote a post on how I write book reviews as a Christ-follower and I spent hours and hours trying to do that well. Then I felt God calling me to write about another topic: belonging.
You can come to my website for blog posts about belonging most Wednesdays. But I still understand the need for book reviews. So today I want to share a guest post by my friend Rebekah Doose reviewing the book “Of Sea and Smoke.”
“‘Run, Rafi,’ Delmar gasped, and Rafi ran, wincing as his bare feet pounded the earth, soles cut and bruised and weeping with sores. Sores still marked his wrists and ankles, too, though it had been three weeks since he’d been freed from his manacles. His wounds stung in the raw wind gusting in off the sea, just visible in glimpses through the foliage to their right.”
These are the opening lines of Of Sea and Smoke, by Gillian Bronte Adams – sequel to Of Fire and Ash, an incredible high-fantasy epic. Sequels can be rather hit-or-miss, I know – and while there are certainly some elements I would’ve changed, this book definitely lived up to the hype. (This review is a sequel to my review for Of Fire and Ash, which can be found here; I highly recommend you read that first.)
Following the same blueprint as last time, I’m going to start by critiquing the storytelling side, then move to the spiritual side (because – Christian author!), and wrap up with the content warnings.
Let’s get started.
First, the storytelling. My favorite parts of Of Fire and Ash were, without a doubt, the characters and the world-building – and in Of Sea and Smoke, plot is also on the list. (And since I talked about most of the world-building in my review for Of Fire and Ash, I’m going to skip over that in this review.) The plot in this book was incredibly fast-paced – so much so, that when the book finally ended, I just sat there, staring into space (actually, it took me a full two days to finish processing it 😆). This has got to be the most wild ride of a book that I’ve ever been on, to date. We have plot twist after plot twist, just enough breaks for you to catch your breath, just enough humor to lighten even the darkest scenes (“For saga crisps!”), then an explosive climax… and to top it all off, one of the best cliffhangers I’ve ever seen (my writer self is impressed; my reader self is furious 😂).
As far as characters go, we have the same three main characters as Of Fire and Ash: Rafi Tetrani, Jakim Ha’Nor, and Ceridwen tal Desmond, with a cast of side characters that’s more or less the same.
Honestly, Rafi far exceeded my expectations for him in this book. I didn’t really like him for most of Of Fire and Ash, but in Of Sea and Smoke, he rose quickly to the top of my favorite character list. And his character arc in Of Sea and Smoke is by far one of the best I’ve ever seen.
Ceridwen also had a decent character arc – personally, I didn’t like it as much as the one she had in Of Fire and Ash, but it was still interesting, and her new struggle arose naturally from the events she endured in Of Fire and Ash.
Honestly, though… I was unhappy with Jakim’s role in Of Sea and Smoke. He got shoved to the sidelines, and didn’t really have a character arc. Considering the fact that he was the first character in Of Fire and Ash that I truly fell in love with, I found that disappointing. However, it’s not very surprising, given the fact that most of the story focused on events across the world from him.
I was pretty happy with the cast of side characters in this book! We got a semi-redemption arc for one of my favorites from Of Fire and Ash (who shall remain nameless, for the sake of spoilers), and I was very happy that he got some more “screen time.” We also have some new side characters who I’m excited to get to know better. As for villains… Sahak is the primary villain of Of Sea and Smoke, and as a villain, he executes his role perfectly. He’s absolutely. Terrifying. XD (More on that in the content warnings.) I only wish we saw more of his backstory, the why behind his actions.
Alrighty. Now that we’ve looked at the storytelling, let’s look at the spiritual side of this story.
Aodh (God) is even more present in Of Sea and Smoke than he is in Of Fire and Ash, which I absolutely love. Similarly, we also see more of the Nadaarian Empire’s deity, Murloch – and he’s officially confirmed as a Satan-figure (and our villains are all, either directly or indirectly, working for him).
In Of Fire and Ash, Rafi “doesn’t consider himself superstitious.” When he does pray (which is rarely) it’s to Ches-Shu, a false goddess of the ocean. But in Of Sea and Smoke, he finds himself turning towards Aodh. And his final acceptance of Aodh coincides perfectly with the climax of his character arc… and it. Is. Beautiful. Not even a hint of cheesiness. Best scene in the book, hands-down.
Ceridwen, too, in a critical moment, prays to Aodh for help… the first time she’s prayed since her brother died. And Aodh answers her. Immediately. (And I can’t wait to see how her story continues in the third book!)
Jakim, once again a captive, tells himself over and over that Aodh has a purpose for this… even though he can’t imagine what that purpose is. And astonishingly, his captivity puts him in a position to save lives and do things that he couldn’t have done otherwise.
All-in-all, the spiritual side in Of Sea and Smoke is even stronger than in its predecessor. In a good way.
Okay. Now for our final segment of this review: the content warnings.
Of Sea and Smoke is – for the most part – clean. As far as sexual content goes, there are a few things, none of them graphic. We learn that a character is illegitimate; and we see how another villain’s illegitimacy contributes to his rather… frosty relationship with his father. Sahak’s father also accuses him of intending to either marry or sleep with (not sure which… *scratches head* the wording was pretty vague) Ceridwen, thus contaminating the royal bloodline. This is a bizarre fear for him to have, because Sahak is far more likely to torture her to death (and Sahak seems to agree).
As in Of Fire and Ash, minimal language is present – Rafi says “Ches-Shu,” the name of a false goddess; Ceridwen and other solborn riders exclaim “shades,” “flames,” etc, depending on the type of solborn they ride. The Nadaari (including Rafi and his friends) refer to the solborn horses of Soldonia as “demon-steeds,” because of how terrifying they can be (individual examples: “sky-demons” for stormers, “sea-demons” for seabloods, “fire-demons” for fireborn… you get the idea).
Again, as in Of Fire and Ash… the only real content warning is violence… and torture. Because Sahak is very sadistic.
Honestly, I would say that Of Sea and Smoke is darker than Of Fire and Ash… though by how much is probably going to be a matter of personal opinion. And as such… it is not – and I repeat, not – for the faint of heart.
All of the book’s battle scenes have blood, though none of them are any worse than those in Of Fire and Ash. Ceridwen spends most of the book without proper gear for her fireborn (fire-breathing horse), and as a result, she comes close to burning to death multiple times. One such scene has an undercurrent of self-harm – she seems to be trying to punish herself for her perceived failure.
Sahak is rather stab-happy (like Hela in Thor: Ragnarok, only… worse). And while none of the torture scenes are nearly as bad as the one Rafi endures in the climax of Of Fire and Ash (involving knives and a tiger), there are still several of them. Sahak brutally murders a young woman just to make a point. He tortures Ceridwen and threatens her young friend Liam in an attempt to make her crack, finally stabbing him with a scadtha claw. We also see Nef, a rebel, left barely alive after Sahak tortures him (though we don’t see the actual torturing). We’re also told that Sahak’s conducting experiments of some kind in his fortress, and in the epilogue we see another character who, it’s implied, went through these experiments.
Of Sea and Smoke is dark, yes. But it’s not without its light places. The beautiful little character bonding moments. The random, unexpected humor (usually from Rafi) that turns even somber scenes light.
I’m not saying everybody should read this book. Heck, there are probably a lot of people who shouldn’t, simply because of how dark it can be.
And yet… when the light comes, it shines that much brighter. And as someone who’s been through darkness, the burst of light – the realization that even in the dark of night, even when the bad guys are winning, even when everything seems lost, God’s still there, He still has a plan, and He’s still working – that made the whole book worth it.
Because in our world, it often looks like the bad guys are winning. God’s plans are rarely clear, and because of that, it’s easy to forget that they’re for our good.
And that’s why books like Of Sea and Smoke can be so valuable… because they say, “Do things look hopeless? Yes, yes they do. But our God isn’t done yet.”
About the Reviewer:
Rebekah Doose is a dreamer… and above all, a daughter of the Most High. She’s an aspiring writer of Christian YA, and is always on the lookout for a good book that doesn’t shy away from the hard things. Rebekah loves swords, books, sailboats, and pianos… and she has no idea what those all have in common. She lives near the Rockies with her family, her characters, and a dog that yodels.
Note from Vella: I haven’t personally read this book yet, but I trust my guest reviewers to include all necessary content warnings.