Review - The Roaming Sea by Mike Carss

Callum is a pacifist at heart, but like all humans, he grew up hearing about the war to regain human territory taken by the pactrids. So, when he reaches the age of conscription, Callum does his part. Luckily for him, he shows an aptitude for medicine and is trained as a medic. He works near the front lines but doesn’t have to be involved in the fighting. One day, on his way back home for a rest, there’s a transport problem that lands him far behind enemy lines. Callum is captured by a pactrid scout, Rym. The two know they are supposed to be enemies, but over the course of several days, while Rym takes Callum to be interrogated, they grow less wary of each other. Rym even tries to convince Callum that everything he’s been told about the war is false. The conflict was started by humans, who have crossed the historic mountain boundary between human and pactrid land, and continue to advance, cutting down all the trees as they go.

“The Roaming Sea” imagines a world where two intelligent species once lived in peace, humans and the elephantine pactrids. The humans broke the peace when they invaded pactrid lands, while claiming it was the pactrids who started it. Sound familiar? It all sets up a classic science fiction/fantasy scenario where two enemy combatants are forced together in isolation and learn that neither is the embodiment of pure evil they had expected.

The story is told entirely from Callum’s point of view. It’s a bit of a saga, as the young man is thrown into enemy territory with no preparation. He survives the ordeal of being interrogated by the pactrids, and then decides to return home to spread the truth about the war. You can probably guess how well that goes. Callum gets help to return to the pactrids, and hopefully be reunited with Rym, but that’s not the end of things.

Callum is a very resilient character. He has to be to cope with all the changes he goes through. We get enough of his inner dialog to know he has very understandable doubts about whether or not he’s doing the right thing with each turn of events. We only get to know Rym through Callum’s eyes. Despite the brutality of their first encounter, the old giant ultimately seems like a very gentle soul, who finds in Callum the kind of friend he didn’t know he was missing.

“The Roaming Sea” is available from Smashwords or see BookBub for other online retailers.