Beneath A Thousand Skies

Hello!

I will be honest I have no idea where I picked up The Flesh of the Sea from, and it was absolutely an impulse read yesterday on the bus when I discovered it was downloaded and that I had forgotten to download the one I was planning on reading. So I went in completely blind, and was delightfully surprised by this epistolary novella which blends yearning and body horror against a historical backdrop, that in so many ways made me think of Master & Commander (film not books as I still need to read them), if you added weird and wonderful horrific critters, and made it queer.

The YEARNING…

I think this might be the first time I’ve read a purely epistolary book, and it was an interesting experience, especially as it wasn’t a directly back and forth communication. In some way, both Jean and Wilford were screaming into the void, and hoping against hope the other would eventually hear their words and understand their feelings. Jean in some ways had much more of a grounding with the occasional mail drops, and yet only had himself and his own thoughts and words as an outlet for most of the book, while Wilford had more of an external outlet, albeit without the guarantee that the letters would ever reach their destination. That disconnect could have fallen flat, and yet Gislason and Lavigne, have crafted it into some of the most exquisite yearning I have ever read.

The feelings these two had for each other, as tangled and confused as they are by past events, and societal expectations, are raw, powerful and dedicated. These are two souls literally oceans apart for a large part of the novella, and yet even as life, experiences and other people move in between them, potentially threatening that connection, their thoughts and hearts are ever turned towards one another, like a compass point always finding its own north. And my favourite aspect was that we see them both in their own, stumbling ways, working not only to find their way to one another, but to grow and prove themselves to the other.

And the ending was chef’s kiss…a brilliant, satisfying conclusion to this arc of their story; that made ever second of yearning pay off.

Now as dominant as their relationship is. This is also a fascinating horror story, and was not constrained just to the sea, although aside from the last horror, the ones that Wilford encountered at sea were definitely my favourite. Tapping very much into the idea of the wild, unknown of the ocean; and the rich biology and folklore, in a way that felt both straight out of the great epics, but also fresh in a way that kept me on the tips of my toes, and also bizarrely wanting to set sail (self-preservation skills potentially 0). My favourites were the Siren fish, which were both such a fascinating explanation for folklore, but also absolutely horrifying (think ear-worm song turned up to one thousand); and then to see the flip side of them, and the interconnection with another story later on. I also loved the Hermit Crab inhabiting a ship, just both bizarre logic of it, as well as the thought of a crab that size – and then the resulting fight, and losses were just so well done.

The one thing that I don’t think worked as well was the length. In terms of it being an epistolary novella the length worked really well, because keeping up the tension of delayed communication, and the beautifully drawn-out tension of not knowing how the other was, or what they were thinking and feeling about the situation, would not necessarily have worked over a greater length. However, the shortfall was that were giving so many fascinating encounters, but the pacing made it feel like you had just had a delicious bite before the waiter is whisking the dish away and setting another course in front of you. For some of the encounters that worked well, especially early on in Wilford’s adventures when he was less established with the crew; but particularly the latter part of the book, it felt as though we needed more time with the encounters.

It was the same with the Goddess – which really was a turn I was not expecting, but I felt like I needed a bit more understanding of how she and the crew originally came together to really grasp that relationship. I think because it felt slightly at odds with how the captain and crew reacted to the myriad other weird and wonderful encounters and creatures. It was the same with the Tear, we get so many tantalising hints, but it felt a little like we were hurtling towards that last encounter, and while I understand the hourglass running out nature of visions etc, it just felt like it needed a bit more; and I desperately want to know more about that crew, and what else they have got up to beside helping Jean and Wilford here.

The Flesh of the Sea was absolutely not what I had expected, especially as I genuinely cannot remember when I added it to my kindle and yet I thoroughly enjoyed it. I wish there had been more exploration of the supernatural and body horror elements, but I loved the details and the sheer variety that we got within this novella; and as I said the payoff at the end for the yearning was absolutely spot on. An enjoyable and fascinating read for anyone who loves unsettling body horror, and deep-seated yearning.