Joel here. I’ve been working on this review for a little while, along with some other reviews, critical reviews and other essays. This review was probably one of the hardest for several reasons that I would like to quickly address before we get into the review.

Firstly, I love Silver. I have for a long time. I am fortunate enough to have seen the journey of this book since its infancy and generally enjoy fantasy literature. To find all of the things I love and don’t love was difficult to put down concisely, so I hope I have done myself proud.

Secondly, I am sure that a lot of people out there will be calling me out with their pitchforks calling out my bias, because I am Michael’s husband. I would just like to say that even if there is bias, I still have opinions that too often have been sidelined and questioned, so I am putting myself forward.

Lastly, I could not be prouder of Michael for this achievement, and like the rest of you, I am so excited for the next story and where it takes us. Please, enjoy my review.

Silver, by Michael Stoneburner, is an LGBT Young Adult (YA) fantasy novel,
set inside the fictional world of “In-Rel”, and the first in the “In-Rel Trilogy”.

Somebody told the author to “show, don’t tell”, and boy did Michael
understand the assignment.

They don’t ask you to suspend your disbelief too
much, even though this is a fantasy novel.

While some might be
content knowing that Rosie, the matriarch of the family, knows a lot about herbology and knows how to wield a bow and arrow, Michael does not shy away
from giving her a chance to demonstrate her skills and maybe even show off a
little.

Michael does an excellent job of creating the fantasy world. Clearly, despite
some of the mysteries of the story, this is a land that is lived in by an array of
many people and has rules.

Everything has clearly been well thought out and
considered. I can speak with some authority that Michael spent a great deal of
time in researching several details for a degree of authenticity.

Speaking of the mysteries of the novel, this story lets itself start to explore
some of the darker themes of not only the stories of the primary characters,
but the larger world. Michael is doing the homework here and is starting to
delve into the mystery of the titular character to create an excellent sense of
tension.

Understandably, Michael is holding out some information here, as this
is only the first book, but I cannot help but wish there was some more fleshing
out and exploration of Silver. That being said, there are two more books for all
of that.

The time we spend in the first book is well paced and well built, and he author
does not waste any time in showing what the stakes are, touching the
precipice of how much worse things must be getting for In-Rel.

Diversity and family, or rather found-family, are important themes in Silver,
and are rightfully pushed to the forefront throughout the whole of the story.
The characters of Silver and Henry, in their own ways, are working through
their own parallel journeys of self-discovery. While there are biological
aspects, the main characters do work together as a family unit, even when
there might be trouble in paradise.

In-Rel is a large and diverse place where
those we would consider marginalised communities in our real world are
present everywhere and considered ‘same’, not ‘other’.

All in all, Michael’s imagery in creating physical and emotional landscapes,
storytelling and love and care he has poured into every chapter, paragraph,
word is obvious. It has quickly become one of my favourite stories, and I hope
it will soon become one of yours too.

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