When Ethan saves the life of a firestarter, it’s nothing unusual. He’s the only healer on call at the hospital – and that gunshot wound isn’t going to regenerate itself. But his patient turns out to be Corinna Arden, heiress to a pharmaceutical empire controlling Britain’s water supply. Her twin, Javier, is a man who (a) starts sending Ethan flowers at work, (b) seems terrified of a secret, and (c) has the cheekbones and earnestness to make up for both.
Ethan indulges in (what he thinks will be) a brief, harmless romance – but is swept up in a deadly collusion over Project Earthflown: the largest reconstruction tender since London clawed its way out of the rising sea.
Determined to follow the money, Ollie is a journalist who finds a corpse at the end of a too-convenient tip. The fate of water – and who profits – might depend on the perennial question: has Ethan lost his mind, or is he just an idiot?
*****
I recieved a copy of this book from the author. All thoughts are my own.
Review:
This book has been on my radar for literal years, even since I first encountered Litarnes’ gorgeous gorgeous artwork. Seriously, how beautiful is that? Between that skeleton concept art and the people with superpowers just going about their lives ‘premise’, I just had to read this and I was definitely not disappointed!
Earthflown has hit a new first for me: for a book that balances romance and intrigue, I didn’t mind that the romance takes up the majority of the book. Despite the summary, the vast majority of this book is about Ethan and Javier getting together then working out the cracks in their relationship as the inevitable conflicts come up. The politics and intrigue surrounding the murder victim and Britain’s ongoing water crisis makes itself known on occasion, but large stretches of the story are very slice-of-life-y (or as slice-of-life as you can get when one partner works in the ER).
And the reason I was so enthralled by their romance is because Javier and Ethan COMMUNICATE!!! This is not a book where something goes awry, one partner discovers the other is hiding secrets, storms off in a huff without listening to an explanation, and the plot for the next third of the book revolves around the fact that two characters wouldn’t have one basic conversation. Ethan and Javier regularly have actual conversations about feelings when they’re hurt, they sit down and listen to each other explain when secrets are revealed (and boy does that happen a lot), and it’s just so nice to see that they’re clearly willing to trust each other’s judgments. I also really appreciated Ethan’s pragmatic outlook to life. As an extremely overworked prized healer (his superpower), his pragmatism in all aspects of life was so refreshing to see. Without getting into spoilers, there’s a secret revealed that would have rocked a lot of relationships, but because of the trust these two have developed, they talk it out and everything is fine!! could have cried from happiness from that scene alone.
The worldbuilding setup in Earthflown is great. A certain percentage of the population are born with special abilities. Ethen can heal, Javier’s sister Corinna can set things on fire, there are people who can read minds, manipulate emotions, etc, etc. There’s been a dearth of stories that deal with ‘people with superpowers live average lives and do normal people things’ and this book scratches that itch exactly. In the more political sphere, Britain (and the rest of the world) is facing an ongoing water crisis, amplified by the deeply capitalistic entities controlling access and creation of clean water. The heirs of one of those companies being Corinna and Javier themselves. I’ll admit that there’s a whole web of family drama amongst the twins’ extended families and who runs what/hates who that I didn’t entirely follow. There’s probably an entirely separate story to be told of just the inter-family politics of that we only really got glimpses of, but those glimpses were really captivating. The end of Earthflown makes some pretty damning reveals that I hope we get to see play out in the in-universe sequel.
The one reason I drop the rating of this book from a 4.5 to a 4 is Ollie. Man, fuck Ollie. What an absolute shit excuse of a ‘friend’. I get that you’re a journalist trying to get your big break, and you’ve stumbled upon something actually pretty big, but my god if was were Ollie’s friend and he behaved like how he did to Javier and Ethan to try and get his big scoop, I’d be kicking his ass out the door so fucking fast. What an absolutely terrible friend. It’s actually incredible how, even though we the reader know Ollie is onto something, that we don’t actually want him to find out because the reveal would hurt Javier and Ethan. Or maybe that’s just me and I got too protective of that pair.
Overall, I rate this book a 4/5. A romance that truly embodies the idea of communication, paired with some fantastic pragmatism from both characters involved. Solid worldbuilding and while I wish that I got more of the political intrigue, I’m still very satisfied.
r/Fantasy 2023-24 Bingo Squares:
- Self-Pub/Indie
- Romantasy
- Multi POV
Publication Date: 16 April 2024
Publisher: Studio Shoga
Format: eBook, ARC
Pages: 455
Word Count: ~123,000
ISBN: 9798989756216
Buy It Here: Amazon | Indigo | Barnes and Noble | Goodreads | Author Website