Novella Review: The Drowning Eyes by Emily Foster
A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Drowning Eyes by Emily Foster
Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Tor.com (January 12, 2016)
Length: 144 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Tor.com kicks off the year with another irresistible lineup of novellas in early 2016, and leading the charge is Emily Foster’s debut release The Drowning Eyes. In this slim little volume, a lone survivor sets off on an adventure in a wind-swept coastal fantasy to retrieve what was stolen from her and her people. With the Windspeakers’ island enclave pillaged and destroyed by the Dragon Ships, villages along the coastline are left unprotected and open to attacks. Now it’s up to Shina, a young apprentice, to reclaim the weather-shaping magic of the Windspeakers in order to save the villagers and drive back the raiders.
Determined and resourceful, Shina manages to find a captain desperate for funds and bargains for passage on her ship. Tazir and her crew are unhappy at the prospect of transporting their new guest at first, but they soon come around when everyone realizes the importance of Shina’s quest.
I know I can be a harsh judge of novellas, often with my main complaint being a wish for them to be longer or feel more complete. I’m afraid this is once again the case with The Drowning Eyes, which feels a lot like a too large idea trying to fit into too small a package. This admittedly weakens the story somewhat. But be that as it may, I want to underscore a few things I thought this novella did amazingly well and other areas that might have been limited by the short fiction format but shone through nonetheless.
First, the characters. I might not have spent enough time with them to call them truly memorable, but they were delightful to get to know. I have a soft spot for roguish sailor types, and the crew endeared themselves to me for the brief time I got to read about them. Their personalities were all wonderfully unique, and I enjoyed the interplay between them and the way they gradually accepted Shina into the fold and decided to throw their support behind her.
Second, the magic. Before you go thinking that this sounds like your typical feel-good quest narrative-type adventure story, you should get a load of the Windspeakers’ powers. Weather magic, the kind that is central to the plot in The Drowning Eyes, is a strictly guarded medium. Apprentices are brought to the enclave at a young age, and when they are deemed ready to don the mantle of a full Windspeaker, their eyes are gouged from their sockets and replaced with stones. It’s true that I may not remember the names of all the characters in this novella a year, three years, or five years from now, but I can pretty much guarantee I’ll remember this gruesome little detail about Windspeaker tradition for the rest of my life. Also, seeing as this is the third book I’ve read in as many weeks about ships and characters with weather-based magic that can control winds, it’s refreshing to see a new twist on a familiar idea, even if it is kind of disturbing.
Lastly, the world-building. I really liked what I saw, even if this story merely gave me a limited view through a tiny window. The rich descriptions paint a very lively picture of coastlines and the cultures of their inhabitants. The place feels very much alive, and even a small setting like life aboard a ship seems to have its own atmosphere.
And it was all over way too soon. I wish I could have held off the ending, but it came upon me like one of the story’s magical storms, and after a whirlwind of confused and sudden events, the book was finished. This is rather unfortunate, because a satisfying ending might have left me liking this book even more, but as it is, I felt the conclusion felt too incomplete—jarringly so.
However, as you can see from the many positives I talked about, The Drowning Eyes was still a book I really enjoyed. I think this would have made an excellent full-length novel with a more fleshed out plot and developed characters, but if given the chance to read more stories set in this world, I certainly wouldn’t say no. An impressive debut novella.
The BiblioSanctum 
I’ve heard good things about this one. I had my eyes on those Tor.com novellas for so long now and I don’t know what I am waiting for to pick them up, they all sound so cool!
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I know! It’s like staring at a buffet table full of things I want to try, it’s always so tough to choose which tor.com novella to read next.
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Sounds cool, but novella, hmmm
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I know how you feel. Every time I jump into a novella, I know there’s a good chance I’ll feel unfulfilled/wish it were longer.
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I have to admit that as a librarian, I have never read a novella. I think now is the time to start and those Tor ones sound good to me. Great post.
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I never used to read that many novellas either, but tor.com has been publishing so many great ones from authors I’ve heard of and always wanted to try. It was a very effective way to get me to start reading more shorter fiction.
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It’s so hard to tell an amazing story with awesome world building and also wrap it it up without feeling rushed or forced in a novella length story. I usually try to take the approach that as long as I enjoy the ride while it lasts, I’m happy, without worry so much about anything else.
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I think I often feel the way I do because first and foremost, I am all about the characters. Some authors succeed in making me feel for their characters right off the bat, others take longer, and so novellas are typically hit or miss depending on how the stories handle the character development.
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Novellas are very tricky, and I think reading these Tor novellas is really showing how some authors can handle the short format, and others struggle with it. I enjoyed this too, but I do agree there were a lot of ideas crammed into a small space.
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Seems like a lot of others had that same problem, when I went back and read the Goodreads reviews. This would have made an awesome novel 🙂
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I’m so behind on reading the Tor novellas! At least it should be relatively easy to catch up…
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I am behind too. I have to do a better job reminding myself to check out my tor.com novella pile, because I am often so much more focused on getting through my novel TBR 🙂
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Yeah, agree completely. I always end up thinking ‘this would have made such a good full length novel’.
Novellas – just don’t really work for me.
Lynn 😀
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I used to think that too, that novellas just aren’t for me – but now I know that it depends. Granted, it is still very rare for a novella to truly WOW me. I am very hard to please when it comes to novellas, but I am now discovering more authors who can do wonders with the shorter format 🙂
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I’m usually a fan of the novella, but it’s a shame when it feels like it could/should have been a full length novel.
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I definitely got that sense. But if you’re a fan of novellas, you might feel differently 🙂
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