First of all, I would like to thank NetGalley and Orbit UK for providing me with an ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Fathomfolk is Eliza Chan’s debut fantasy novel in which we follow Nami and Mira as they try to fight for fathomfolk rights and decide if the change is worth it or if they should let Tiankawi, their semi-flooded city, drown.

When reading reviews on GoodReads, I was under the impression that this book was either a hit or a miss, and it was definitely a hit for me. The worldbuilding was really complex and kind of hard to remember as there are a lot of intricacies, and I wish there was a glossary of some sort to help with that, but it was also really cool and unique. You can clearly tell that Fathomfolk is inspired by East-Asian mythology and folklore and that was the main reason why I wanted to read this book, so I was not disappointed by that.
I had some trouble diving into the story as it was not what I expected at all, especially character-wise, but the plot is really interesting and tackles some themes that are both important in our world and in the book’s world, like discrimination and environmental rights. Some plot twists felt predictable and some not, but overall, I really enjoyed reading this story. As for the characters… I felt kind of misled by the synopsis because I thought that Mira was going to be the main character, but it turns out that Nami is the main character, and Cordelia was not at all taken into account in that synopsis (there is now a new synopsis). Nevertheless, I liked the characters and Nami is definitely my favourite.
I will definitely read book 2 of this series!

I recommend this book to you if you enjoy East-Asian adult fantasy, political games, betrayals and seafolks!

I will admit I struggled to get into this book, I'm normally okay with various POV stories, but with Fathomfolk I found it a major struggle to get into the various switches between character's voices. I liked the overall setting of the book as it was an intriguing premise but I do feel like the rapid switching in chapters between POVs made the book feel more choppy than it should have and it did mean at times it was a struggle especially as the pace picked up to the end of the novel. I do feel like the target audience should have been more young adult than any other demographic as it reminded me a lot of the kind of books I enjoyed reading as a teen in terms of romance plot...

Thank you Netgalley and Little Brown for the e-ARC.

I wish I could have loved this book as much as I wanted to. Unfortunately, I have to say that listening to the audiobook was the only way for me to get through all of it, because the story never really gripped me.

The descriptions were beautiful and the writing was not really at fault, because it was overall brilliant plotting, but this was much too political for my taste.

I only really cared for Mira and did not really connect with other characters, and even found Nami really annoying most of the time. The voices that the narrator did also made a few characters sound really stupid, so that might have played a part in my opinion.

I got rather invested around the 78% mark, and was excited for the ending, which was really great, although I was very disappointed in a specific death. It’s just such a shame that it took getting tothe epilogue for this book to have me hooked, because I loved it, but I’m not sure I could read a second book if it was as political as this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I really liked the world-building of this novel and the concept of both underwater and land-dwelling communities living together (even if not quite in harmony!). The fathomfolk are an interesting creation and something different for fantasy writing. However, I felt the narrative dragged at times, particularly during the Nami storyline. The ending was intriguing though. 3.5 stars really.

I really liked the sound of this but I did feel quite thrown into the world with little context and too many characters introduced all at once.

Fathomfolk has a really pretty cover and an interesting premise. Unfortunately it could not convince me.

In recent years I have read other books with the theme of surpression of a species or other kinds of people and I have to say that I found that those books worked better at making me feel it. Partially this had to do with the characters but also partially with the writing. M.L. Wangs Blood Over Bright Haven sprung to mind often as I read this book wherein I didn't care for most characters, but her writing and set-up delivered exactly what she set out to do. Fathomfolk does not.

Returning back to the characters, they are slightly on the flat side. I liked Mila but she doesn't really move forward. She is very passive in her situation and it didn't make for a very compelling read. Nami on the other hand was immature. It was so very obvious that she was being used. There was absolutely no sublety about it and it was frustrating to see that she didn't want to see it.

The world in itself is interesting. Water species that can have a human body when on the land and that makes the human and the other species clash. But there is very little description of the various water species. I have an idea of what most of them are, but the whole point of books is that you show and describe them to me. I also wondered a lot about the relationships between the various species. There are some hints here and there but mostly it was the humans versus the fathomfolk. I think that was a missed opportunity. The brief glimpses of the under water life that we got, most of them seemed to be in their human bodies or living life like how they would on land. It felt a little weird and like this aspect wasn't giving a whole lot of thought.

Zootopia but make it water-themed, is how I would pitch the book. We follow a cop character trying to improve the lives of their marginalised society in a sprawling metropolitan city - don't that sound familiar.

I was very surprised to learn this book is adult - the whole time reading I assumed it was a YA and I think it would've worked better and set more accurate expectations if that was the book's categorisation. The whole thing felt a bit more juvenile in its approach to talking about racism, stigmatisation, prejudice etc. Not a bad thing as young people need to examine these concepts but for an adult book, I would expect a more nuanced, deeper examination.

I think having a human character could've benefited the book, as we see Nami's perspective change throughout the book and at some point she says not all humans are bad. I'm not sure why she thinks so as all the humans she and us meet are indeed scum. I think adding a human POV would've added depth and another dimension to the conversation. I think that's what they were trying to do with Mira but she faces a lot of prejudice and no one treats her as if she's human, so it didn't quite deliver.

Overall, a lot was going on and I'm not sure that all the plot points delivered their point. I did like a lot of it - talking about prejudice, toxic relationships, interracial relationships, revolutions and change through violence. I just feel like the execution of them was a bit surface-level which is why it felt more YA.

The world is for sure interesting and as someone who enjoys books about mermaids/sirens it was cool to see so many different water creatures and learn more about them. I needed a little bit more about the magic system and the world though to truly understand it.

I think the climax of the book was the best part, it was quite tense and action-packed. I am not sure if the 'solution' to racism really examines the problem deeply, as to me it's a little bit of a cop-out.

I won't likely pick up the sequel but I'm not mad I read this. Just a bit meh about it is all.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for the advance reader copy.

This was an anticipated read for me and it fell flat.
There’s a lot of characters partially introduced early into the story and yet it feels like not a lot happens for a good portion of the book.

The general writing style didn’t appeal to me and I found this hard to get through and eventually finish.

Loved loved it
It was a tiny bit of confusing at the begging but once you get into the story was amazing
Loved the different pov as well

Fathomfolk
Fantasy
Eliza Chan
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

• ᴘᴏʟɪᴛɪᴄꜱ • ᴄᴏɴꜰʟɪᴄᴛꜱ • ᴍʏᴛʜᴏʟᴏɢʏ •

I have mixed feelings about this book. The world building was very detailed and sometimes it felt too complicated. While I really liked the idea of the mythological creatures, I think too many were crammed in.

I usually like multiple POVs but I found them a little confusing in this book because they seemed to switch too quickly and sometimes it would happen in the middle of a chapter.

The pacing was slow to begin with, partly due to so much world building but it did pick up.

Certain things were predictable but I did like the plot, for the most part. Eliza Chan has included some very interesting topics.

I liked the characters, some more than others though.

The ending was ok. I liked some parts of it but I also found it a little disappointing.

*Thank you to @Netgalley, the author, and the publishers for providing this ARC. This is my own opinion and an honest review, which I am leaving voluntarily*

I tried to read this five times and each time bounced off it in disappointment. I don't know what it was, but the opening chapters just totally failed to hook me in. Perhaps it's a mood read and I wasn't in the mood for it, or it might have been that I don't have enough brain space for this. Certainly there are wonderful mythology imagery and social inequality considerations visible from the opening chapters, and I think in a different timescale I would love this, but it's just not right for me right now.

One may think that given that many Asian folklore have similar or the same origins you can mix them up without much context or explanation, throwing names of different mythologies creatures at random and with no balance or any measure of integration. The result is that the reader, especially when they’re unfamiliar with many of said folklores, is confused, lost and perhaps struggling to follow. Add to that uninteresting characters and there you have it, a “did not finished/wasn’t invested enough” book in the making.

I have read books that mixed folklores that had concrete figures and legends in common, and they worked for me because they used that commonality as the base to build the story. But this was not the case, the only thing the creatures from “Fathomfolk” other than their “otherness” is that they were water creatures. But that’s not good enough, all cultures can speak of water creatures in their folklores when water is such an important element for the survival of all living being. The worlbuilding her lacked support and interest. And then starting the book throwing info without much depth only made things worse. I was feeling so confused that I had to look for someone to explain at least the basics to me. I didn’t succeed. I felt like I was thrown into the water without learning to swim first.

I don’t want to put Eliza Chan’s writing skills into question, her writing was very good. The world building was not. I think she lacked advice, someone outside her circle, to tell her to simplify things and to not take things for granted, especially when it comes to the readers’ knowledge of all of the cultures in East Asia. It’s easy to find people familiar with Chinese culture, Japanese culture, Korean culture, Vietnamese culture… and so on. But all of them at once? It seems very unlikely, especially amongst young adult, who seem to be the target for this book. I was very excited to get this book approved on Netgalley, and I don’t think I am allowed to say I’m disappointed, it is my fault for getting my hopes high.

In Tiankawi, the semi-submerged city, humans look down literally from their skyscrapers on the fathomfolk — sirens, seawitches, kelpies, and the whatnot — who live in the polluted waters below. Mira, a half-siren, has been appointed captain of the border guards and wishes to fix things. Then Nami, a water dragon with a connection to Mira gets exiled to the city. Impatient for change, Nami gets involved with an anti-human extremist group. When the annual boat races are sabotaged the fathomfolk are named suspect, lighting a fuse in the powderkeg of human-fathomfolk relations. The fathomfolks' rights are then diminished. Can Tiankawi be saved?

Visiting this world was a delight, absorbing the straight-to-the-point but still friendly narrative like a sponge. Full of rich, descriptive paragraphs, ideal for those who like a lot of detailing in the worldbuilding and the characters' thoughts. Imaginative, gifting us with such wonderful images, the storytelling is imbued with bittersweet pensiveness. There is plotting and different agendas, political intrigue and rebellious inclinations.

The POVs are introspective and of strong, independent female figures, one of them a master manipulator. There is an unexpected one, Serena, who has a secret we do not know yet even though I kind of guessed the truth early on, before the reveal. The character development is grounded, realistic. No person is just one thing.

Wish some of the creatures and the inner workings of this world (not so much the politics) were explained more and there was less emphasis on the often longwinded musings of the characters. Sometimes I need simpler. I admit it took me a bit to really get into the story and the second half of the book is much better, fulfilling the promise of the great premise.

final rating: 3.5/5☆

thanks to netgalley and the publisher Little Brown Books for the e-arc!

this has been on the tbr for awhile. first, pretty cover. second, asian fantasy set in a half submerged world?? i would eat this up and i did, and while the world building was vivid and (most of) the characters were lovable, i felt myself greatly let down by the pacing and perhaps the overall style/writing of this one.

(spoilers ahead)

we have a focus on three different characters — Mira, half siren captain of the chinthe border guards; Nami (very apt name for this story which unfortunately felt a bit too much), radical sister of Mira's boyfriend: Serena, a politician's meek wife and seawitch in disguise.

i'll get it out of the way. Nami annoys me. very very much. the way her character is handled felt a little immature, especially with her arc from a total radical to slowly understanding humans in Tiankawi. she was easily influenced by everyone, susceptible to betrayal from everyone and doesn't really seem to learn from experience. a lot of missed opportunities for her growth to be more gradual, but her lessons felt too sudden near the end and unearned.

i liked Mira and Serena, though. Mira is portrayed as an independent fathomfolk half siren who clawed her way from poverty to her position today, and i liked seeing how she is already there, supposedly 'at the end of her journey' but still possesses much character depth in the way she is not one dimensional and has only remains streafast to the folk. she's both, born in freshwater and owns it. love how intraracial prejudices were written into her, with the discrimination against sirens.

i thought her boyfriend was going to fade into the background and eventually break up with her due to differing political beliefs, so i was surprised that he stuck around even after she pushed him away and gave his voice in exchange for her mother. her learning to sign for him??? brilliant. seeing his sacrifice that saved everyone and might have solved some issues of disparity made me nearly cry on public transport.

very excited to see what comes next, what Mira owes Cordelia, what is going to happen with the titan's other half and the world changed.

(cross posted on goodreads)

★ 2.5 stars

Thank you Little, Brown Book Group UK (Orbit) and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This story is told in third person POV, with an alternating focus on different characters situated across the land and sea. I personally prefer first person perspective and found it difficult to connect to the characters with the story being told with an outside lens. The multiple perspectives were confusing at times as the focus shifted frequently (sometimes within a chapter) and made it difficult to discern which character and location the current setting related to.

I did enjoy how the novel commented on social issues such as privilege, poverty, political exploitation and social hierarchy, in a fantasy setting. These external influences ultimately impacted upon some of the decisions made in this book (for better and for worse).

Mira's partner Kai, is ambassador to Tiankaw and I liked that she was conscious of standing on her own footing and not in his shadow, when undertaking her role as captain. This was in the face of social scrutiny due to her status as a half-siren and controversy whether she had used her abilities improperly to gain advantage. She was probably my favourite character between herself, Nami and Cordelia as I just didn't care for them at all.

The story has good bones and rich world building with interesting concepts, however, it felt like there was a bit too much going on and the direction of the book felt lost at points. While the development of the world was strong, there was several mythical creatures introduced but their abilities were never really covered with much detail (sirens, sea-witches, kelpies, kappas, mermaids, water dragons etc).

The pacing was quite slow at the beginning of the book which I generally expect a new fantasy world, however, as things did pick up it felt rushed and not thought out. This is marketed as adult fantasy but it did read more YA for me and felt like it needed another round of edits. For my romance lovers, there is a sprinkle of romance but is very minimal.

It's an incredible achievement to release a debut fantasy and I applaud the author on her originality and the stunning cover. Unfortunately this wasn't for me, but I can see others enjoying this more than me.

I wanted to love this book so much, but then entire time I was reading it I kept going ".. water based Zootopia?" The beginning is quite dense, which is fine for a fantasy book.. I don't mind the work. But it just wasn't flowing well for me. I will likely revisit the book at a different time when I'm more in the mood.

The writing itself is lovely, and intriguing. I think this is more a case of "wrong time".

Thank you to Netgalley for sending me this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I really wanted to love this book and the world, but I constantly found myself either distracted, struggling or unmotivated to read it. I didn't find myself invested in the characters or storyline until about 50% of the way through, but even then it felt like a task to read.

Based on the blurb for the book, I did expect the story to be told by three separate characters, but some emphasis on whose point of view you were reading, e.g., the character's name as the chapter's header, would've made things clearer. Sometimes I was convinced I was reading from Mira's POV then a phrase from Cordeila would make me think it was her POV.

I wish at the beginning there had been 2 or 3 chapters from Mira's point of view, to help with some of the world-building and to keep the interest when it suddenly swaps to another POV.

Cordelia being a cephalopod and having Mira's siren song imbued into a gemstone gave me heavy Little Mermaid vibes, which I enjoyed!

Samnang revealing that he knew Serena was Cordeila all along 86% of the way through the book (after being repeatedly manipulated by Cordeila throughout with no resistance) made zero sense to me. There should have been a build-up of suspicion or something on Cordeilas side.

My favourite part of the entire book was Mira and Kai's proposal/wedding. It was very emotional and sweet. It was the first time I actually felt attached to the characters.

Also, the Titan plot came out of nowhere! You would think, seeing as it was vital to the end of the story, that there would've been some mention of Titans previously or someone doing research into them. several other plots were forgotten (Lynettes drug addiction was never mentioned again), so it just felt a bit of a jumbled mess.

Towards the end, I did start to get into it, but it definitely took me too long to care about the welfare of the characters.

Overall, I struggled with this book. It could just be a case of right book, wrong time, but I can't see myself picking this up again to give it a second chance.

This was such an intriguing and interesting read that was packed to the brim with politics and social analysis/criticism. Although I did enjoy it it took a while for me to get into at first, but once I did I really liked it

I am dnf-ing this book at 44%
It took me 5 weeks to get that far into the book and I think that this is more than a fair amount of time to give to a book. If I'm not loving it after 5 weeks, am I ever going to?
Overall, I loved the concept of this book and I wanted to love it. However I felt the book ok had a lot of info dumping, yet I had a whole lot of questions about the world (probably these would be answered later in the book). There were a lot of characters with three main characters each of which had their own social circle, I just felt overwhelmed by the characters. None of whom I was interested in

Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan is equal parts delight and frustration as she invites the reader to venture into a world where humans live in cities on the ocean alongside the Fathomfolk, people who have sea creature forms and magical abilities. The world-building is superb, and combined with Chan’s gorgeous writing, I felt like I had truly stepped beneath the sea. While some humans have adapted to their new neighbours, others are always looking to build walls between humans and Fathomfolk.

I liked the way that Chan chose to show the history of Tiankawi and current events through the eyes of three women from different ages and places in society. Serena, a human mother of two children and wife of the Minister of Defence, provides a view into high human society. In comparison, Nami is a dragon and considered Fathomfolk royalty, however, she has lived a sheltered life in a sea haven. When she is exiled to Tiankawi she is treated as a lesser being, a far cry from her royal upbringing, and throughout the book she learns a lot of hard truths.

Mira stands with a foot in both worlds. As a half-human, half-siren, she has struggled to find where and how she fits into either world her whole life. She has just been made Captain of the border guard and is painfully aware that the human council that promoted her is waiting for her to screw up so they can blame it on her Fathomfolk side.

Her perspective is imperative to the novel, and if I had any complaints, it is that I felt that her voice was drowned out a bit by Serena and Nami despite the synopsis suggesting that she was the main focus. Rather, it felt that Nami was more the focus, which I have no complaint about and understand it was necessary for the storyline, I’m just not a fan of being misled by a synopsis.

I mentioned that Fathomfolk is frustrating, not due to anything wrong with the novel. Chan approaches topics of marginalisation and alienation through a fantasy lens with a familiarity that is heartbreaking. It is clear that she has poured her own experience into this book, and as a disabled queer reader, many scenes were painfully recognisable.

I appreciated that Chan wove every marginalised identity into her universe. Fathomfolk features a queer normative society and as a result of the pollution humans have caused, Fathomfolk are developing a chronic illness called gill rot from spending time in the polluted water. It shortens their life span and is forcing them out of their natural habitat and onto land.

Fathomfolk is an extraordinary debut that draws on “Under the Sea” nostalgia and elements of fairytales, while also being reminiscent of the movie Waterworld. I don’t want to outright compare Fathomfolk to any of these because what Chan has created is unique and deserves to be viewed on its own merits. Fathomfolk reminds us that there is beauty in difference, but being different is a painful existence.

This is most certainly a must-read for 2024, and the way the book ends promises a dramatic sequel.