DNF at around 35 percent.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, it had a lot that I actually look for in a fantasy novel. Original environment, social inequalities and actual adult characters. However, there was something about it that just fell flat for me.

It just felt like it was trying to do a lot. There are a lot of characters it follows, at the expense of character development. I never really felt like I was invested in any of them and you’d be introduced to one protagonist only for it then to flip to the next. Some felt more like caricatures rather than fleshed out people.

Ultimately, I found myself a bit bored and unfortunately could not finish.

DNF @ 53%

Thank you to the publisher for this ARC.

Fathomfolk‘s premise is what drew me to reading it and the beginning was really captivating.

The the story is mainly set in Tiankawi, which is a semi-submerged city that is home to humans and fathomfolk - mythical creatures such as sirens, kappas, seqwitches, water-dragons etc. The city has an incredible fairytale-like quality about it and the worldbuilding was very solid. It‘s an immersive and interesting world.

There are several main characters and I had quite a few issues with them. Unfortunately, to me, none of them are even remotely remarkable or memorable. The most likeable character was Mira, half human / half siren. Nami or Cordelia were insufferable. Kai is so bland and Firth’s a manipulative little shit.

I also struggled with the racist symbolism. There‘s constant conflict: 1) between humans and fathomfolk 2) amongst fathomfolk themselves. It‘s just really exhausting. It seems like everyone had racist prejudices, which was utterly exhausting. The link with the Asian names made everything super risky imo. It made me so uncomfortable.

It‘s just a very political book that tries to include so many real life issues (but fictionalised, with mythical creatures) that it just seems like it tried to do too many things at once.

Overall I really wanted to like it, but it just fell flat for me. I debated finishing the book to see if it gets better, but I feel like I‘d rather move on to other ARC commitments.

I have decided to add an altered review on my goodreads because I don‘t want to hurt this book, as I do want to support Eliza Chan and I‘m eager to see what she writes next because I do feel like she‘s a talented writer who just needs to find her stride.

Never sure how to rate DNF books, as there are several reasons why I might not finish it, I think Fathomfolk introduces interesting and important discussions around social inequality, so I've given it two stars because it made me look up some of the creatures named, and look into the mythology more, and might serve as a starting point for readers new to this kind of subject matter. But to me, the writing and characters seemed to flutter on the surface, presenting an image of a world, but not really delving into emotion or full exploration of what it was presenting.

The thing that put me off it, mainly, I think, was that I just didn't care, or really know, any of the characters, they served to represent different points of view in an unequal society, but they were just representatives of their class or race, not fully fleshed out people in their own right, and the different points of view, all told in third person, basically served to show privilege or lack of it, rather than to show the inner thoughts, feelings, or voice of the characters, or at least that's how I experienced this book at time of reading, I didn't really like or root for anyone.

I read 25% at the start and then skipped through to the last few chapters to see if the ending gave an indication of more depth, plot, or character development in the rest, if anything, the ending put me off more, <spoiler> rather than rounding off the political and societal themes, the last chapters dealt more with romance, and the inequality was literally magically resolved with a non-consensual change to the people in the society, a change that saved their lives, but that was done to all of them and rendered all people the same, or basically the feature that so many folk were judged on was shared by all , turning everyone into fathomfolk, which felt a bit uncomfortable, like the oppressors all suddenly became the same race as the oppressed. It wasn't done in a way that was explored further, or discussed, but right at the end, so the parallels with our world today, all of the introductions to those themes were resolved magically in a way that couldn't possibly translate to our world, and not through any meaningful, plausible action by the characters, admittedly there was sacrifice involved, but it was a magical cure-all. ... Unless this will be the subject of the next book, but I'm not sure I'm invested enough to read it.</spoiler>

I really couldn’t get into the three points of view, and it just wasn’t what I was expecting. However, I really like the style of the writing and initial world building.

DNF at 40%.

This book generally felt like a first draft, with too much telling, too little showing, and unbalanced world-building. The story keeps naming places and species at a very fast pace without explaining them. All the different folks are very much blurred in my mind because nothing differentiates them (except one’s inspired by a dolphin, one’s a dragon, …).

The political plot is severely impaired by the lack of clarity on who has power. Several characters are said to have some, and yet can’t do shit. The power structures are never properly put in place so it’s difficult to imagine where orders are coming from.

I didn’t like the way the POVs were written. They often end abruptly, and then the story continues from a completely different place. It felt so disjointed and i was missing a lot of transitional scenes. Maybe there should have been less characters so that the author could focus on the few that made sense and helped move the plot along.

I didn’t feel close to any of the characters. They are all dull and caricatures of archetypes: the poor girl from a minority group who’s the first to be in the army, yet never learns to do anything with her newly-found political power, the spoiled brat who’s prejudiced and horripidly impulsive, the baddest sea witch imaginable (worse than Ursula!), … A lot of their behaviours are plot devices, engineered to provoke events in such a transparent way i couldn’t immerse myself in the story. Several “revelations” were super obvious and i clocked them as soon as the first clue dropped - and yet they were treated as earth-shattering twists.

And then, the meat of it: it’s a books about racism, and the bad treatment of minorities (to put it lightly). Yet so little of that is ever shown. We see seafolk living in poverty side by side with humans. There are a total of 5 insults toward our characters, and none of the supposed oppression is shown.

Spoiler: we literally have awful prison refugee camps where all immigrants were parked for months, and that is explained in 15 lines, clinically, without a single drop of emotion. There’s a device that prevents folk from hurting humans, and Mina proposes a bill to allow self-defense, especially for women in abusive relationships: that again is explained in 2 words.

The gravity of the treatment of fathomfolk is never on show, and isn’t embodied by any of the characters. We barely get a reaction from any of them when they are on the receiving end of injustice.

The main plot is supposed to be political, about reforming the system to allow everyone to live equally, which would be great if any of the characters even tried to do anything of the sort. Their motivations are either vague (Cordelia), not supported by any actions (Mira) or muddled with teenager’s hormones and not going anywhere (Nami).

Of course, since i didn’t read until the end, i wouldn’t know if it gets any better, but i think that at the midway point, i should have started to see things come together. There should be at the very least a clear picture of where the plot is going, who the enemy is and the start of a reflection about how to get there.

Finally, this certainly is not an adult book. Everything from the writing to the characters to the plot was so juvenile and not in a good way. Even the themes aren’t adult, so many YA books talk of oppression and prejudice much better than this. I wouldn’t recommend it for younger readers either, it’s just an unfinished, unpolished book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an E-ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book with no obligation to review.

I liked this, although perhaps not quite as much as I expected.

I enjoyed the world building and the details of the markets and the various areas from the shanty town to the penthouses. There are a lot of characters but I liked them all, especially Mira and Kai and I was intrigued by the possibility of shape shifting.

I did find it quite hard to get into the book as I was a bit bewildered by all the types of fathom folk and their attributes etc., and there were some unfamiliar words related, I think, to far Eastern mythology. In the end they didnt matter but it was distracting at first and I felt it stopped me from getting immersed (lol) in the story. Also, I would say the pace is a little slow in the beginning but I suppose that is to set the scene and the characters. It hots up quite a bit towards the end and is genuinely quite exciting.

I was very surprised by the Cornelia twist and I thought it was a good one. To be honest I found Nami very annoying and I think we could easily have missed out on the attempt to steal the pearl at the start. Now that I come to think of it, why could they not have used that pearl at the end?

I would read a sequel if it was shorter.

Book is set in Tiankawi, a half submerged city where fathomfolk and any non humans are treated atrociously. The humans have built sky scrapers and fancy safe buildings, while a lot of the fathomfolk live in shanties.
In this dystopian story, there are a lot of parallels with colonialism and imperialism. The story does get very bleak with many parallels to historical events.
It is interesting to see the difference in approaches to trying mend their situations (following rules / force).
That said, the worldbuilding is really good. It’s easy to imagine what the different parts of the city look like. The attention to detail is much appreciated.
Even though we have this magical world with sirens and dragons, it still seems structured like a very patriarchal and heteronormative society which is a bit of a bummer.
It would have been very helpful to have either detailed descriptions and or illustrations of all the different fathomfolk (kelpie, kappa, sirens, rusalka, merrow-maid etc).
Between Cordelia, Nami, Kai, Mira, Trish and the drawbacks, there are simply too many characters and points of view. A bunch of repeated between the different characters and the pacing is really slow at times. I think the book would have been better with less characters.

When I knew that it was inspired by East Asian mythology, I wanted to read it and although I really wanted to read it, I felt that something was missing. There was something that didn't quite grab me, but that doesn't mean that it's a bad story or that it wasn't well written, because Eliza Chan does a very good job.

Here we find many stories that intertwine, that achieve harmony and also a constant struggle, where not everything is what it seems, where the twists in the plot are subtle but very interesting and where one does not know exactly what is going to happen next. continuation.

Fathomfolk is a light story to read, with different points of view, with protagonists who find their way in the world they live in and who do what they can with what they have.

Thank you Little, Brown Book Group for the ARC I read on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This new release caught my eye with its beautiful cover. I’m very grateful to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in advance!

Fathomfolk is set in Tiankawi, a half sunken city where both humans and fathomfolk live next to each other. Unfortunately, this co-habitation is everything but idyllic. The half-siren Mira tries her best to soothe the tensions between both groups as a public officer, but she seems to be nothing more than a powerless diversity token. Nami is one of very few waterdragons and arrives in Tiankawi in order to fight against the injustices of the human reign over the fathomfolk. The third protagonist is Cordelia, a sea witch, who has been scheming for years in order to keep herself and her family safe, not matter the cost.

The world building provides a very strong base for this book. I absolutely love the fantastic setting of a half-sunken city with its inhabitants that are myths come alive. I especially enjoy how you can feel the culture and history of the city throughout the plot, without it being a focus for the most part. Another strong point is the similarities between our real life societies and the one in Tiankawi.

This allows for the book’s strong political theme of social injustice to shine through the lens of the characters. It's very approachable: all of them are fighting stubbornly for safety and their rights, but they each have their own methods and goals. There is no right answer for any of them - which makes the book incredibly realistic. It did feel depressing at times just how realistic the negative sides of the inequalities between humans and fathomfolk are, although it does fit with the book’s main message.

The characters are highly enjoyable, the plot is full of suspense once it kicks off. The different perspectives allow us to watch the tensions run high in the city while keeping us just as helpless as the characters. It’s not very escapist fantasy, but I would still wholeheartedly recommend this book for everyone, especially fans of sea mythology and those who are interested in storys about rebellions and the fight against injustice.

DNF at around 50%. There are a few choices I don't understand about this book but generally it feels like an early draft and it's too much telling and not showing. The story names species and structures at such a fast pace without explaining them and as a result, I genuinely can't imagine what this world is supposed to look like. I hope the published edition offers a glossary because without it, a lot of people will be at a loss.

The pov chapters end abruptly to reopen in a completely different setting, hence disconnecting the reader each time. There's also way too much characters in this for the writing style. I think the book would have been better with less characters, you can easily introduce them in the sequel.

The characters remain flat and seem to be an afterthought. Mira’s career goal is to bring change yet she has no political skills and never grows as she never shows initiative to learn. Part of the plot makes no sense for that reason. There’s Nami, judgmental and juvenile. I think she represents racism by prejudice but the story offers no reason for why she’s like that. Her behavior is a filler plot device. The others are stereotypes of an evil sea witch with potential (that’s ruined by remaining too vague about her intentions), a privileged rich wife who puppeteers her husband, a husband without personality, and an insufferable love interest. I didn’t root for this mix of roles.

And then that ending (to which I skimmed), oh boy it's really bad... I'm actually angry at it because it's a cop out from the critiques on political injustices the story sets up throughout. It feels like the author backing off from taking a stand. There’s also a stereotypical epilogue that confirms my feeling that the ending is not good enough and they needed a plot device to justify a second book.

I also don’t understand why this is marketed as adult, everything feels YA (tropes, characters, plot) and that's really angering me as well. If it's adult because of the themes, it's executed poorly.

Thank you to Little Brown Book and Netgally for providing me with the arc.

The world building in this novel is wonderfully done. The beginning does well to setup that despite the equity the humans claim to have with fathomfolk, they still look down on fathomfolk both figuratively and literally.

Also I love the magic system and all the different sea creatures. I’m personally bias and love the sea dragons the best.

Overall, I enjoyed the ironic conflict of how the humans are polluting the environment that forces the fathomfolk to live in human settlements, while humans fear them and their magical abilities despite them creating the situation in the first place. I love seeing the completely different methods that Mira and Nami employ for basically the same goal.

However, since it is still an arc, the story has grammar mistakes. Also, the flow abruptly stops and is very jarring. Moreover, I get not wanting to over explain, but some details are hidden in context clues and would greatly benefit from just a single line explanation.

Fathomfolk focuses on revolution and a fight for equality. I liked that this book had these themes throughout to highlight serious issues in a fantasy setting.
The semi-submerged city and its inhabitants were the best thing about this book. Throughout the book the use of language is clever with water based words used. This and all the mythical beings gave the story a Disney feel to it.
Overall I didn’t understand how the fathomfolk are oppressed when they literally have the magic and therefore the upper hand. I didn’t feel this was explained. Possibly it was and I missed this. Additionally, the different POVs provided more information about the plot than about the actual individuals so I didn’t connect to any of the characters that deeply. Saying this I think the world is full of promise and there are some beautiful pieces of prose within.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an E-ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

Fathomfolk submerges readers into the world of Tiankawi, as Mira navigates the political undercurrents that run deep in the half-submerged city. The highlight of the book lies in its worldbuilding, blending together a confluence of mythological creatures to create a vibrant and whimsical backdrop.

While the narrative touches upon weighty themes such as class disparity, xenophobia, prejudice, and the spectre of climate crisis, the exploration of these themes only skims the surface. Equally, navigating the turbulent waters of such topics within the constraints of a few hundred pages is inherently challenging. While the political aspects didn’t quite hit the mark for me and I overall found it a fun and enjoyable read.

This is a whole new, intriguing and frightening setting, with a world half sunken and humans and fathomfolk at odds. In the first third of the book I was very eager to know more about the politics and conflicts behind everything, and wanted to get to know the characters.
Then I fell out of the story, which I found really annoying because the plot at heart was so interesting. It took me a while to analyze the problem, and I realized it was the characters.
We have three POVs - Mira, Nami and Cordelia. And frankly, I didn't care for any of them. Nami was annoying, Cordelia was so morally grey she became a blur, and Mira was okay but that's it. And to me my stories have to be character-driven, so that I can feel and fear for them. Sadly this wasn't the case here.
I did care so much for this world and its conflict. I wanted the fathomfolk to fight for their rights, and for diversity not just being a political tool. I feared for the fathomfolk and their circumstances. And I was deeply aware that even though this is a fictional world with sirens and sea dragons and sea witches, the politics are the same in our world. It's what made this story so intense.
I would have loved to see this world filled with at least one or two characters I could care about, but sadly it wasn't.

3,5/5 stars

Thank you @netgalley and @littlebrownbookgroup_uk for the eARC!

#Fathomfolk #Netgalley #bookstagram

Dnf at 28%

I tried. It just didn't work for me. Mainly because I'm in a slump, and mainly because it was really slow-paced.

Fathomfolk has an interesting plot...but too many main characters and too much happening which just jumbled it all up. I wish the author had considered keeping 2-3 characters for this and 2-3 main characters for the second book.

Personally, I just wasn't excited enough for this book. It wasn't engaging me in any way and the only characters I liked were Kai and Nami.
Mira was just too uptight and Serena was pathetic. Cordelia's character was so bipolar that I can't even form an opinion on her.

Plus too much info and a setting dump. Although the writing wasn't bad...it's just that I couldn't figure out a solid setting. I try imagining various places in East Asia but none are coherent.

Plus Kai and Mira's relationship made no sense whatsoever. I wouldn't have been surprised if Mira ended up a con artist at the end of the book.

Yonakuni, Tiankawi...all this could've been executed wonderfully. The blurb for the book is so intriguing and suspenseful but I didn't feel it in the book itself.

If the book wasn't in the third person-multiple POV and if the book had been edited a few times.

I enjoyed this book immensely, but felt that it fell off the mark a smidge. I wanted to love the world and the characters but I was ultimately a bit disconnected because of how FULL the world is. I also really enjoy a bit more descriptive writing than the ‘telling” style here - but I can absolutely see that Eliza Chan is sinking her teeth into great story telling and she is an author to look out for as she develops her writing. I have no doubt that her next fantasy will be refined just a bit more to really let the story and characters shine through.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Orbit for a free e-arc in exchange of an honest review.

This book sounded absolutely amazing when i first read about it so needed to give it a go.
I very quickly came to realise it wasn't a book for me. I struggled with the political aspect of this and ended up DNF'ing fairly early on.

I may come back to this once its realised so that i can try it to with Audio and hopefully i can get past the first part.
Of what i readd, the writing is really good and the premise of the story is still really promising!

First of all, what a beautiful, gorgeous, breath taking cover!!! This book dealt with a lot of heavy topics such as xenophobia and checking one’s bias. It was a magical read. I loved the romance aspect of it!! Almost felt dream-like and surreal!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I was really excited for this! The cover is absolutely gorgeous, and the description sounded amazing. Urban Fantasy, but in a High Fantasy setting? I can count on one hand how many books of that genre I’ve read, and I wish there were more. And all that in an East Asian inspired world? Literally the perfect book for me.
Or so I thought.

The World Building really was amazing. Something entirely different and it was beautifully done. So many different species, an interesting political system. The characters themselves were well designed, different species, different backgrounds, different tempers. But it all simply didn’t come together.

It was so hard to get into. I’ve realised that many books with multiple characters nowadays start out with introducing all characters at once with very everyday settings. So you have lots of different names and species, stuffed into not that different situations and no idea how to tell them apart. After the first chapter each character appears in, you don't get that many descriptions anymore, so every time they reappear, you simply get a name and have to figure out from context which of the afore mentioned characters it might be. Because obviously I won't remember every single name immediately. I don't mind books were I have to think. But I don't want to have to concentrate on remembering the characters. That should be an absolute given! The author wants to throw you right into the story, but instead, you’re being kept apart from it and in my case – I couldn’t be bothered to care about any of them at all.
Sometimes, books with many different main characters can be good. Game of Thrones, for example, has so many characters, but all the main characters can easily be kept apart. Six of Crows is another one that really managed this, if you're looking for a more young adult option. But most authors should probably stick to one or two main characters.
For a good book I need fantastic characters. No matter how brilliant the story is – without interesting characters, I simply won’t care. I’d prefer to read a book with the most amazing characters doing absolutely nothing. Characters are what brings a story to life. And if I don’t care about the characters, it will be difficult for the book to properly capture me.
This book didn’t manage to do that.

Overall, it simply lacked emotions and life. Everything was well done, the world building, the characters, even the story itself was interesting and well thought out on paper. But it felt really flat. It started out confusing, ended up being boring. I didn’t care about anything at all. I wasn’t interested in the relationships, I couldn’t emphasize with the characters. I was bored to death.
Without spoiling too much – there is a death at the end of the book. I’m pretty sure it was supposed to be really tragic, but I honestly couldn’t have cared less. I felt like I hadn’t even known that character, so why was I supposed to feel sad about their death?

I really wanted to like this book. But I didn’t care about it at all.

Thank you NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This might be a sign for me to stay clear of Asian folklore..?
I don’t think this type of book is a match for me.
I really enjoyed the world building, I imagined it as ancient Singapore, it was beautifully described, I love the magic too, or at least what I understood of it. I did had more issues connecting with the characters, and that’s usually not a good sign, mostly for this type of genre.. there were moments I had the read some passages multiple time because I simply couldn’t connect with the moment.. I believe the book could be shortened..
I might still read book 2, whenever it comes out as like many others I am not satisfied with this ending, and I am curious.
It was a good read, although I am very thankful I got it at an ARC, I would have been pretty upset spending money on it..