MIRRORED HEAVENS

Serapio’s newly won rule over the city of Tova is threatened from all sides in the third installment of Roanhorse’s Between Earth and Sky trilogy.

Serapio, now the Carrion King, has triumphed over Tova. As he’s an avatar of the crow god, his new kingdom is engulfed in a permanent eclipse. But his fight isn’t over yet. The powerful clan matrons conspire to assassinate him, and outside of Tova, the bloodthirsty Lord Balam is gathering a terrible force to destroy him. When a strange old woman tells Serapio that the coyote god has a prophecy that will show him how to defeat his enemies, Serapio is eager to hear it. But the prophecy is contradictory and confusing and finishes with the promise that “in winning he would lose everything.” Meanwhile, Xiala is home on the mysterious, matriarchal island nation of Teek. As she struggles to channel her strange ocean powers, Teek is invaded by Lord Tuun, who wants to force the women of Teek to build a navy for Balam’s war against Serapio. Xiala must find a way to outsmart Tuun, save what remains of her homeland, and make it back to Tova to find Serapio before Balam’s forces overtake him. Even as Roanhorse brings her epic story to a close, there are no simple answers here. Serapio is both a victim of the plot that bound him to the crow god without his consent and a brutal strategist when it comes to furthering his goals. Everyone from the goodhearted Xiala to the villainous Balam must contend with sacrificing pieces of themselves—and the lives of others—to achieve their ends. Roanhorse’s fans won’t be surprised to hear that she’s crafted a complex, suspenseful, and ultimately satisfying ending to her masterful trilogy.

A strong ending and a new classic of the fantasy genre.