Earthbound by Katee Stein
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Earthbound has been on my radar for a while now. With threads of The Stormlight Archive in its words of power, Dune with its gargantuan subterranean monsters, and even Empire of the Vampire in terms of certain relationship dynamics and quasi-religious political machinations, this sounded like an incredibly promising science fantasy that would harken back to powerful stories I’ve loved in the past while still being a tale wholly its own. And that’s exactly what Stein delivered in this first installment in the Of Earth and Sky duology. What I didn’t anticipate was just how tense and heart wrenching a story it would be. Earthbound is nothing if not intensely unique and totally unforgettable.

This story is told from three perspectives. We follow Knox, the disavowed Overseer who laid down his oaths and his power for love; Tehran, Knox’s partner Overseer and brother in all but blood, who now shoulders the weight of protecting their cluster on his own; and Emilia, Knox’s wife. All three of these characters are compelling on their own, but it’s the relationship interplay that grabbed me the hardest. I loved the found family element, and I especially loved the brotherhood vibes between two of our perspective characters. I’m a sucker for these types of tight relationship dynamics, and they were so well done here.

I love the tone Stein sets from the very first chapter. The fact we have such a strong action scene so early in the book instantly gains and maintains interest and intensity. And the prose worked for me immediately. It feels very mature and incredibly solid. There were no writing quirks that threw me out of the story. I love the decision to go with 3rd person narration, as I find it so much more immersive. And the blend of science fiction and fantasy in terms of genre was absolutely perfect, and worked so well for the story being told. Impeccably balanced.

The highlights for me were definitely the characters. I fell for them and felt for them immediately. While I enjoyed all three perspective characters and many of the secondary characters, Knox has a special place in my heart. I was also really impressed with the pacing. There was never a dull moment in this book. Even scenes that were less action-packed were still laced with tension and intensity.

Which brings me to an element of the story that I generally hate, but was very impressed with in Earthbound. Something I’ve voiced a multitude of times in the past is my disdain for love triangles. They’re one of my least favorite tropes, and I’ve been known to abandon books that lean too heavily into one. But the love triangle in this book is incredible. It’s one of the very few I’ve come across that made sense to me. I was sympathetic to all parties involved, and I never had any idea how it would resolve. It was interesting for me to experience a trope that I dislike so strongly in a way that had me so invested. There were moments when some of the relationship tensions or dynamics got to be so much that I had to step away, because reading it was causing my heart physical pain. I was so incredibly stressed out while reading this book, and those relationship tensions were largely to blame.

The worldbuilding Stein crafted here fascinates me. The idea of oaths carrying such tangible weight is a concept I found intriguing in The Stormlight Archive, but I feel like it’s explored in a completely different way in Earthbound. There is so much food for thought woven into the mythos of this world, and I hope that it’s explored more and expounded upon in more depth in the sequel. I’m anxiously counting down the days until the publication of Skysworn, the second half of this duology. I can’t remember the last time I was so desperate for a next installment.

You can purchase a copy of this book from Amazon, Audible, Bookshop.org, or Blackwell’s.

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