A Silence in The Deep
by K.B. Hoyle
Synopsis
Sons of the Deep and Daughters of the Earth do not talk, let alone fall in love—the Silence has prevented such things for a hundred years. But when Orpheo and Rose meet, neither has any idea that a simple conversation is about to challenge history and change the future.
Orpheo, son of the Sea King, has to choose whether to become his father's lieutenant or apprentice himself as the Storyteller of the Deep—a position he longs to fill. Rose, a young human queen, must choose a suitor within her succession year or risk losing her kingdom to a jealous cousin. As both Rose and Orpheo struggle with impossible choices, they are drawn inexorably toward each other.
But a terrible bargain with a sea witch looms over their fate. They will either end the hundred-year Silence between their people or repeat the mistakes of the warring past.
Review
“All our lives are stories. Each important—worthy of songs.”
We are made of stories. They shape our every decision, encourage our wildest desires, subdue our basest instincts. We love the power of story and the ability to become a legend, and fear it as well. Most of all, we love to tell stories to one another, all the while twisting every truth and lie until it becomes our own.
This is one of the main themes of A Silence in the Deep, in which the same story told by three different tongues irrevocably changes the fated path of our main character, Orpheo, as he seeks the long-buried truth behind the Silence.
The story that follows is familiar and new all at once. Orpheo, K.B. Hoyle’s not-so-little mermaid, accepts the sea witch’s account of history, trades his voice for legs, and goes ashore to pursue the human princess of his dreams. And this is where Hoyle diverts from the old narrative and weaves her own spectacular story around its bones. Suddenly, we are faced with a centuries-old war between the creatures of the deep and those of the earth, all carefully watched over by the spirits of the air. There are ancient secrets to uncover, fated victories and defeats, ancestral wounds, and an enchantment so powerful it can only be broken by the perfect union between the land and the sea.
One of the most unique elements I found in Hoyle’s narrative was her decision to revert the traditional gender roles of the story by making her prince a princess, and her mermaid a merman. When we first meet Orpheo, we learn that he loves to dream about the surface world, listen to stories, sing, and tend to his quiet garden. He is endlessly curious, hungry for knowledge, and longs to explore which eventually culminates in his transformation to live ashore. There’s even a beautiful line after he’s met Rose in which he makes a comment to his sisters, asking if he should take up his sword and leave the singing to the mermaids because that’s what mermen were supposed to do.
Rose, too, faces challenges that are unique to female leaders, particularly those who come to power at a young age. We see her face down foreign enemies, challenges to her throne, constant belittling by her advisors, pressure to form a marital alliance, and the constant battle of self-doubt. In a beautiful twist of irony, though Orpheo’s voice is literally silenced by the sea witch’s magic, Rose must silence herself time and again in order to preserve her position and command what little respect she is afforded. As Rose and Orpheo (turned Hugo) bond despite these massive obstacles, tensions beneath the land and sea boil nearly to a head.
And always present, like the mythical beings in our Grecian epics, are the Sons and Daughters of the Air who act as constant supervisors and occasional aids. Wind is the unifying element to this entire story and the manipulator of fate. It is the wind, or lack thereof, that causes Rose and Orpheo to meet in the beginning. During pivotal romantic scenes, we see the wind sending flurries of golden birch leaves in the air and tugging at clothing, pushing our hero and heroine together. In the end, it is the wind and her spirits who must free the creatures of earth and sea from their bonds until all can be united once more.
Silence is an epic romance wrapped in the trappings of ancient wounds and warfare, old lore, and magical spells. It’s a conversation on the power of narrator, and how the same story can be twisted by its tellers, culminating in disastrous misunderstandings and even death. It is a story of healing, fate, and ownership.
It is a cautionary tale, a spell-binding love story, an examination of gender roles, and it is pure, narrative magic.
Recommendations
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale — YA Fairytale Retelling, fantasy, slow-burn romance, coming of age. Ani must disguise herself as a goose girl when her lady-in-waiting stages a mutiny and steals her crown. In this state of humility, she must discover her own voice and strength before it is too late.
A House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin Craig — YA Fairytale Retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, fantasy, darkly atmospheric, romantic. Annaleigh and her sisters visit a secret ball each night by their seaside kingdom, but when her sisters die off one by one, she must discover the source and end it before twelve become none.
