Under the Earth, Over the Sky

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I want to thank the author for allowing me to read this ARC for my honest review. 4.5⭐️ A+ for getting me to cry multiple times throughout the book! As a mama to a little boy, this story spoke to me on a deep emotional level. The many snuggles, hugs, and carrying of the little boy made my mommy heart so warm. Even the love between the king and queen was so romantic without being spicy. Just good old loving relationships. I almost imagined the two as the sun and the moon. It was beautiful. Literally the one and only thing I didn't like about this book was that now that I'm finished it's over. I want to know more! See the child growing up more and see all the other events long term affects! Learn more about the characters and the world and the past. Don't get me wrong, the book was a perfect length, not too long or short. It's just that I, as a reader, don't want to leave this magical world that Miss Emily has crafted yet. The story begins with the fae king, Iohmar, discovering a human infant in his forest. The baby’s mother has just died, and the virtually immortal fae is at a loss as to what to do with the child. He is forbidden by his own laws from taking the baby, yet he also feels compelled to do so. As a result of learning that the baby’s father is a nasty person, Iohmar chooses to temporarily house the infant at his Fair Halls.

My heart bleeds for this character. As well as those around him. He's spoken of as a grumpy king but I see you Ms. McCosh. This is a king whom would sacrifice every bit of himself because he loves so fiercely. Not all of the book was stuff I had trouble connecting with. The world Emily describes is very gorgeous and I could envision myself being in the forest with the sunbeams hitting just right through the trees. I loved the idea of various kingdoms trying to combat the threat of the ripples even if it wasn't as action filled as I imagined. I did feel vaguely happy at the end that a few things were resolved even if it didn't have a big grand conflict at the end like I wanted. This book distinctly reminded me of some of the books of my childhood— of the magical forests and endless seas of Narnia and dragon bones living under mountains. It reminded me of one of my favorite books- a house overlooking a glittering sea that housed a makeshift family of oddities where traumatized men adopt neglected children and claim them as their own. It reminded me fairytales with curious fae and the even curiouser living nature that housed them.

spoilers, minor Below is a summary of the first 20% or so of the book; it contains almost all of the relevant information, with the exception of one minor detail that I have marked as a spoiler but you can safely ignore. because it is so early in the story, it will not be a spoiler, but it will change things Probably the two biggest things that really stood out to me and made this book so great was how the world was portrayed and the relationships between the characters. I’ll start with the latter. The prose is intoxicating. As I read, it felt like floating into the magic of the woods. The movement and magic in Latwill are vivid and surreal. I appreciated the unique and delicate descriptions, and the original twists on the classic fae legends and lore.

I also quite liked how the author played with time and how slowly it moves for Fae. Instead of telling us, however, the author SHOWS us using the life of one particular human who changed everything for Iohmar. (Shoutout to my boy J! Rest in peace, king) The setting of this heartfelt story takes place in what we would dream of when we think magical fairy forest. I cannot say how much I wanted and needed that. It's simplicity and endearment is one to soothe your heart. And you will need it. Overall, while the story didn't elicit strong emotions from me, it was a pleasant reading experience. Just as there was no smut there was no cursing! This book was very clean, especially compared to some others I won’t name, particularly for a fae centered book which are honestly disgusting and toxic for the most part now days. But I just really appreciated that. There were a few very subtle mentions of ‘making love’ mostly in past tense, but honestly I barely noticed and they were just very brief unimportant mentions. Which again is much appreciated! As someone who doesn’t often read such descriptive prose, the flowery language took a little getting used to. But once I got used to it, the story flowed, and the writing style made the ethereal world come to life.There was Iohmar and Rúnda too which ended up being really sweet and cute. I was expecting to be disappointed because everything was going too well, I hadn’t found anything I didn’t like yet and I was bracing myself for the worst. I was very pleasantly surprised with this super cute couple I could ship without feeling guilty about it. I was nervous for Rúnda to be introduced because I had no idea what to expect and I felt like everything was going too smoothly and so figured something was going to go wrong. But things went great and I immediately fell in love her character. She was playful and free spirited and just kind of cute (so basically I adored all these characters) And get this, no smut. Like THANK YOU! Most of the other character interactions were similarly comforting and cozy. I especially loved the dynamic between Iohmar and his wife Rúnda; they were so quietly devoted to each other, and their gentle love fueled the already heartwarming feel of this novel. The interactions between Iohmar and the humans he encounters along the way were similarly poignant. Not only did they serve to drive home the rift between Lor’s human and adopted fae identities, Iohmar’s subtle changes in how he dealt with humans was so tender and indicative of his shifting character. Strangely, even though there weren’t as many characters, subtle interactions like these were what made the world feel lived-in—it didn’t take a lot for this world to feel populated, which helped immensely with my feeling of immersion. I cannot stress enough how much I love this book that made me want to devour it but also not bc I knew that the more I read the closer to the end I got. Graphic designer, weird-thing writer, and expert daydreamer Emily McCosh. She currently resides in California with her parents, two canine companions, a single fish, a single tree swing, and an endless cast of characters who might use some etiquette training. Her work has been published in places including Nature: Futures, Flash Fiction Online, Galaxy’s Edge, and Shimmer Magazine.

There were so many world building issues that didn't make sense. I can't even begin to sum them up because it was too much and this is not an essay (entirely). But I was happy to ignore it until about halfway through the book when the plot started focusing on it. Then I couldn’t ignore. As far as the characters go, I really liked the main character, Iohmar, and the other fae ruler, Queen Rúnda. They had interesting magical abilities, such as being able to summon the winds to ride or teleport using rays of sunlight. In fact, every one of the magical folk had interesting abilities, though they weren’t always shown as much as I would have liked. Honestly, this is the perfect book to curl up outside or by a fire. When you want to be engaged in the act of reading and soaking in words, but also soaking in the environment around you.

Customer reviews

The actual raising of the human baby might have been, sadly, my least favorite part of the story. It was sweet, sure, but I think it would have been better if the baby had behaved a bit more like an actual baby. At first, he did cry and seemed more like a real child, but became remarkably well behaved after Iohmar decided to keep him forever. I won’t say too much as to why, because that’s a bit of a spoiler, but personally, I would have liked it if Iohmar had to struggle a bit with raising a kid. Instead, it was just the perfect parts of parenting, which made me feel like the adorable parts between Iohmar and his baby weren’t really earned. Which sounds weird, but that’s the only way I can think of to phrase it. His relationships with his dad-not-dad, Galen, was quite wholesome which reflected in his relationship with his son. Ultimately the found family of it all is what convinced me to read this story and I was not disappointed. Iohmar was a loving and devoted father. Lastly, there were some minor writing issues, head-hopping in the beginning, some overly convoluted descriptions that lose the meaning they’re trying to impart, the use of synonyms that don’t make sense (when something feels wrong, and the author uses feels incorrect instead) but they are easy to ignore in an otherwise gorgeously painted world. McCosh has a way with setting a scene that is refreshing in fae-based storytelling, allowing us to understand and relate to Iohmae that isn't either an entitled or angsty feeling. He soon finds himself in a situation he never saw coming and make drastic sacrifices all in the sake of fatherly love. Though there was a mystery element to the story, the stakes did not feel very high. This really contributed to its fairy tale-ness, because when you read a fairy tale or fable, you usually know that good people have a good ending. So, it was kind of relaxing in that way. You don’t have to constantly be worrying about the whole world crashing and burning around them really and I liked that.

As I said before, the wording of this book is just absolutely stellar. Everything is described so beautifully and if you close your eyes, you can picture yourself in the magical forest, you can almost smell the earth in the underground scenes, or feel the heat of the sand in the desert. I’ve never read Tolkien (yes, I know, I'm the worst), but from what I’ve heard, this story and his writings share lengthy nature descriptions. So if you are in the mood for that, then this would be a great read for you. The living forest aspect of it also reminded me somewhat of Narnia. Lastly, while I liked the play with time, it was off putting to see “the child’s” (don’t want to spoil his name for anyone; names are powerful things you should know) age progression. One moment he was but a wee babe who couldn’t speak and then the next chapter he was suddenly speaking in complete sentences. I got used to it, but it was jarring and his various ages confused me. Perhaps this was the point though, and I make a note of this in my pros section. The way time passes and the seasons change add to atmosphere. The way mysteries unfold kept me intrigued and wanting more. And the payoff for those mysteries was top tier storytelling.

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The cast of the story is small (always my preference), but I was a little disappointed that we never really get the depth of relationship that a small cast allows. We hear very similar things about the relationships (how there is love and respect and care), but instead of deepening, growing more complex, we get a repetition of feelings throughout the story – something that made me think this would have worked better as a short story. This could very easily be attributed to these relationships simply being too mature for any genuine conflict, but without tension in the world, or the plot, it leaves a very flat (albeit beautifully described) story.