Appeasing Radicals, Politicians, and Gods in Eliza Chan’s Tideborn

These three women were the center of Fathomfolk, and now they are Tideborn’s future, driving the story and their lives, and mourning their losses each in different ways. For Mira, her grief is physical; she’s running herself ragged trying to make Kai’s sacrifice worth it when she can’t truly imagine anything being worth losing him, not even the city they both loved. Nami has no tears, though she misses her perfect brother, but she’s finding that she’s not sure how to get out from the shadow he cast when he was living, let alone the one he left when he died. And Cordelia is fueled by rage, insisting her motives are selfish, but almost accidentally doing good for the larger community. All three of these perspectives show the dynamics of the city, the fate at stake, and the futures that could be, both good and bad. Through their points of view, readers see that between the two sides of extremists, there’s possibility. There’s a narrow line where things could get better for everyone if only people can accept good things for those they’ve traditionally hated.

Chan’s world is pushed and pulled by extremes, by groups who declare there’s only one group who should be considered people. While it’s understandable that those who have been harmed and downtrodden for so long should want to rise against the system that oppressed them, Chan’s protagonists make it clear that the tactics of destruction aren’t acceptable. Even Nami comes to understand that fighting her way through a problem with violence isn’t the best answer—or even the answer at all. 

Part of the way that Chan bolsters this perspective is through characters who were introduced in the previous book, who rise into more prominent positions. Eun, the human librarian determined to preserve the city’s true history, doesn’t shy away from the bad things that happened. She wants to see a future where they have learned from the mistakes they’ve made, the hurts they’ve caused. Gede, the sea witch’s son, has a chance to finally come to terms with his own heritage. He’s lived disguised as a human for so long, that he felt he never lived up to Cordelia’s harsh standards for him as a sea witch, and he stopped trying. But now, when everyone has gills, he starts to believe that there might be a way for him to truly be himself. Others—Mira’s mother, Nami’s friend Dan, even a disgraced minister—add their own stories to the layers of Tiankawi, giving readers a sense of how deep the city goes.

The second book in a duology, especially one that follows a truly brilliant opening, can be difficult to write well. Readers come in with sets of expectations, as well as a need to see their investment in the characters pay off. Tideborn is a sequel that successfully draws all its loose ends together, braiding them together in an utterly satisfying way. It’s a novel of hope, of not giving up, and of showing that people are better when they work together. While much of both Fathomfolk and Tideborn shows a divided community, as the duology concludes, the sense that coming together is possible, both in the face of disaster and in times of peace, permeates the ending. There can be forgiveness, there can be healing, and there can be a future worth working for.

Tideborn is available now wherever books are sold.

Alana Joli Abbott is a reviewer and game writer, whose multiple-choice novels, including Choice of the Pirate and Blackstone Academy for Magical Beginners, are published by Choice of Games. She is the author of three novels, several short stories, and many roleplaying game supplements. She also co-edits fantasy anthologies for Outland Entertainment, including Rising Tides (which is currently live on Kickstarter) and edits novels, like the debut paranormal mystery A Promise of Sirens by V.L. Barycz, due out in July. You can find her online at VirgilandBeatrice.com.