Hello and welcome to a post that’s four years in the making, the final installment of the Between Earth and Sky Trilogy: Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse! If you want, you can see my thoughts about Black Sun from 2020 and Fevered Star from 2022. A huge thank you to Saga for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for my thoughts and also to my friend Colleen who buddy read this with me.
If you haven’t read books one and two yet, be warned there may be minor spoilers ahead!
Rebecca Roanhorse | Goodreads
Between Earth and Sky #3
The interwoven destinies of the people of Meridian will finally be determined in this stunning conclusion to New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Roanhorse’s Between Earth and Sky trilogy.
Even the sea cannot stay calm before the storm. —Teek saying
Serapio, avatar of the Crow God Reborn and the newly crowned Carrion King, rules Tova. But his enemies gather both on distant shores and within his own city as the matrons of the clans scheme to destroy him. And deep in the alleys of the Maw, a new prophecy is whispered, this one from the Coyote God. It promises Serapio certain doom if its terrible dictates are not fulfilled.
Meanwhile, Xiala is thrust back amongst her people as war comes first to the island of Teek. With their way of life and their magic under threat, she is their last best hope. But the sea won’t talk to her the way it used to, and doubts riddle her mind. She will have to sacrifice the things that matter most to unleash her powers and become the queen they were promised.
And in the far northern wastelands, Naranpa, avatar of the Sun God, seeks a way to save Tova from the visions of fire that engulf her dreams. But another presence has begun stalking her nightmares, and the Jaguar God is on the hunt.
Content notes include Violence, war, murder, torture.
Review of Mirrored Heavens
Setting
Something that I have loved since book one is the world that the author has built and all the factions within. There are not a ton of factions so they are relatively easy to follow, and seeing how generations and histories and the stories people tell each other shape the world and the setting is masterfully crafted. Set in a fantasy world of the pre-Columbian Americas, the setting is as epic and diverse and far-reaching as the reader can imagine. Mirrored Heavens, like the other two books, was highly immersive in both storytelling, setting, and worldbuilding. For being over 600 pages, I could have read even more.
Characters
One of the best things about this trilogy are the characters, and Mirrored Heavens is no exception.
Xiala starts off as a ship captain without much drive in her life, but to see her character arc grow and tie back to her Teek people was awesome to see. Xiala comes into her own in this book and her arc concludes in a satisfying way.
Serapio has always had a space in my heart as a tragic character whose destiny is to be the vengeful villain but he just wants to hang out with his crows and Xiala. We see him try to lean even more into his destiny and try to find himself in what he believes the world should see him as, and he creates a lot of hurt along the way. I don’t want to say much without spoiling, but I did appreciate the chance for redemption he gets after a long road of hardship.
Naranpa shone in Fevered Star, and to see her rise even higher in this book as the Sun God’s avatar was an engaging way for the reader to learn more about the dream magic and overall magic systems that have been hinted at since Black Sun. Her and Iktan have a very wholesome relationship and I loved that part of the story and their happiness together was a beacon of hope and meaning in the middle of a lot of stress and tension in the world.
Themes
One of the main themes I picked up that shone through in Mirrored Heavens was the idea of generations and how the generations shape the next one. We get to see Balam’s POV when he was young and about the same age as the leads in the present day, and how his idealism brought him to his ambitions we read about in the current timeline. The dynamics between Serapio’s mom and trainers and Balam tie the story and the global story arc together in a poetic way, and seeing the current generation (Serapio, Okoa, Xiala, Iktan, and Naranpa) grapple with the sins of their forebears informs various choices they make in profound ways.
Overall, this was a phenomenal ending to a stellar trilogy. I would read a 10-book series in this world, and love every minute of it. I felt that the story was extremely well done and wrapped up in a way that left me with a total book hangover full of love for the story. The pacing is quick but engaging, and the ending wraps up even more rapidly. I definitely recommend this trilogy for epic fantasy fans.
Thank you for reading!
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