With the days finally getting warmer and the leaves coming out, I finally found the time to pick up Mirrored Heavens! Consider yourself warned that the below contains major spoilers about the end of the series.
Mirrored Heavens is the third and final instalment of the Between Earth and Sky series written by Rebecca Roanhorse and published by Saga Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Drawing from pre-Columbian American culture, the many interweaving plot threads of an epic fantasy come together as a conflict between gods plays out through mortal proxies acting out their various agendas in the Meridian continent. War has finally arrived. Serapio grapples with his role as new tyrant king of the spire-city of Tova and embodiment of the Crow, god death and darkness, while former priestess Naranpa pursues greater understanding of her connection to the Firebird, god of life and light. Our former captain (and not a pirate!) Xiala comes to terms with her past and the responsibilities she owes to her people, as well as the connection she holds with the Mother, god of the sea. Our primary antagonist Balam moves the pieces in place to reign over the cities of the continent as the Jaguar god did in centuries past. Meanwhile, countless other characters follow their own agendas and claim their own sides in the war, impacting each other in ways both obvious and subtle.
I had mixed feelings on finishing this book, as my excitement over such a rich world, dynamic characters, and intricate plot clashed with a creeping sense of disappointment at how suddenly it ended. Roanhorse has created such a colourful and complex world to dive into, and is well deserving of all the awards that the series has won. But having spent two and a half books building out and building up the conflict to epic proportions, as I got closer and closer to the end I kept thinking, “How the hell are we going to wrap this up?”
The answer to that question ended up being “succinctly.”
This third book spends a lot of time building up towards the final confrontation, a grand battle between forces on the outskirts of our main city of Tova. But this final battle ends before it can begin, as in spite of the antagonist’s clever maneuvering, ruthless use of magic, and two pronged approach by land and by sea, our protagonists discover the army massing at their doorstep and cut them off at the knees. The defeat of the sea-forces are told in passing with a couple of sentences after the fact. The final battle never happens, which would be fine if it didn’t come across so unintentionally abrupt.
The elimination of many of the secondary protagonists and antagonists feels like happenstance rather than key moments. Balam, who has slowly been falling prey to the madness that comes with forbidden magic, more or less abandons the war and our final confrontation ends up being our main characters who stumble upon each other in a completely different place. This becomes the climax of the series, as Naranpa, who is not truly present but has given herself over to the Firebird elsewhere, destroys Tova in fire while Serapio struggles to resist the will of the Crow to confront her, and Xiala fights to the death against Balam, ultimately coming out victorious before she stabs Serapio to release him from the clutches of his god, presumably killing him in the process (he does survive of course, but I think that twist is bittersweet and a good note to end on). Naranpa, believing herself to have lost everything, succumbs to the endless sleep of one who has been overtaken by a god. We end by learning of what the few survivors now accomplish six years later, their roles vastly different from where they started.
Ultimately, none of this is necessarily a bad thing because there is something to be said about war and conflict being propelled by coincidence, happenstance, and often ending in ways that are abrupt and unsatisfying. There are other stories that do this very well, and I like them for that grittiness. I wouldn’t even say that Mirrored Heavens does it poorly either, as looking back at the earlier books, that theme is consistent throughout. Nevertheless, to my mind, something about the pace, the setup, and the execution of what should have been an epic finale to a grand story just didn’t stick the landing quite as well as I had hoped.
One thing I wanted to highlight that Roanhorse does exceptionally well is holding tension and creating anticipation, not just within a single book but across the entire series. The best example of that surrounds Serapio and Xiala. Their relationship in the first book is so moving and the chemistry leaps off the page, but of course, they become separated for most of the remainder of the series. Over that time, however, there are one or two moments where, unbeknownst to them, they almost find each other again. Every time I just found myself so wound up over it in a way that made me want to stay up late and keep reading until they finally got there. I don’t think I’ve ever read a series where I felt so frustrated, but was so pleased about it and eager to keep going.
All that being said, I would give Mirrored Heavens a 7/10 but confidently rate Between Earth and Sky as a whole 8/10 in favour of how lush and magnetic it is. If you’re looking for an epic fantasy that stands out and holds its own, Roanhorse is the way to go.
Blue Orchid 