Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for sending me an eArc.

I really loved the concept of this book. As it takes urban fantasy and puts a unique spin on it. I really loved how this world and mainly city, is explained as Fathomfolk ie mermaid, kelpies and sea witches etc are living with human in this partially submerged city.

My main issue with this book was the pacing. It took me around 50% to really start getting gripped by the characters and could start seeing the direction the plot was heading towards. I will say the last 70% was really very gripping and makes you want to stay in the world to see where the story goes. I will be eagerly anticipating the next instalment in this series.

I was also not expecting my heartstrings to be pulled out in the way that they were.

Thank you Little, Brown Book Group UK for the ARC.

Fathomfolk was ultimately a disappointing read, BUT not because I thought it was bad. Rather, it just didn't live up to the expectations and high anticipation I felt going in after reading the blurb. Overall, it was a decent read. The worldbuilding that is the city of Tiankawi and the fantastical marine beings known as fathomfolk is lush, rich, and easily the best parts of the book. If this was a book of short stories detailing the lives of fathomfolk and their cultures, I would lap it up. Instead, we follow three POVs that are clearly meant to mirror specific real-life struggles and identities.

To start, one should go into Fathomfolk bracing for depictions of prejudice that are meant to be fist-biting, screaming-into-your-pillow, downright gut-wrenching. Chan does not shy away from this. I will commend her on that at least.

Of the three protagonists, Mira, the half-siren half-human, interested me the most due to the way her struggles were meant to reflect those of real-life biracial people. She is regularly forced into one of two checkboxes; seen as too human for the fathomfolk and too fishy for the humans. Her role is that of one who's trying to fix a broken system from within; a futile attempt given that a rigged system is incapable of change that way. Mira and her water dragon partner Kai also represent the stigma an interracial couple (or in this case , interspecies couple who is also separated by another layer of class) may face. Upon reflection, I realised I enjoyed Mira's chapters the most simply because the other two made for such painful reads.

Cordelia is a sea witch capable of glamoring herself to look like an ordinary human woman. She mirrors BIPOC who are able to pass and assimilate only by concealing her fathomfolk heritage. Admittedly, it is fascinating to read of her manipulations to rise the social ladder... until she shows how little she cares for her own kind. An entirely self-serving character, she has no qualms of using and hurting innocent fathomfolk, who are as marginalized as she would be if her sea witch identity was exposed. Her one sympathetic trait—that she loves her young daughter—offers little recompense for such a despicable character I had to push through with.

But that doesn't come close to my least favorite read: Nami, the water dragon youth radicalized to join a group of seemingly righteous revolutionaries. It wasn't even by virtue of her character, but because of the deeply problematic and manipulative relationship she has with Firth, one of said revolutionaries. His tactics of drawing her to his side are emotionally abusive and gaslighty, and he also doesn't hesitate to physically harm her to prove his point. It aggravates me every time the story puts them on the same page.

With how Fathomfolk painstakingly built up to rising social tensions and political unrest bubbling over, I felt that the story's "resolution" to bring about a new era of peace—albeit temporarily—felt like a cop out. The sacrifice that lead to it did not feel like it was worth it.

Rating: 3.5

Where do I start with Fathomfolk? Overall, it was a decent read. There were some interesting elements of the plot line - I particularly enjoyed the bits with Cordelia/Serena, however the lack of connection between some of the character relationships and the ending let the book down.

Now the world building, that was impressive. Expanding upon the idea of the lands being drowned and taken over by the waters, Tiankawi is a solidly written half-sunken city. It was easy to submerge yourself into what was being introduced to you, in particular the difference in districts and the few moments we see where the community within get together.

However, the main characters felt a bit lacklustre. There was an idea of something that was building up for each individual, but I suppose there is only so much you can do when you begin to take a more political route in the story. The romance was quite difficult to read sometimes, even knowing that Nami and Firth were portraying a naive child with a manipulative Folk, but it was a bit uncomfortable. Also, Kai deserved better.

The ending was...anticlimactic. It was the sort of ending a child would provide to a mash-up improv in a playschool setting. To say that it was a disappointment would be putting it kindly. Hopefully there is some way to salvage this, seeing as this was an ARC.

In the world our protagonists inhabit sea-creatures ("fathomfolk", or "folk") are real, and live side by side with humans (folks can turn into human form). As a result of rising sea levels and war, the communities of humans and folk started intermingling, and at the centre of our story stands perhaps the biggest city they co-inhabit. Mira, is half-human half-siren, and is a captain in the border guard in the city. Nami is a late teen water dragon, struggling with the inequalities and the injustices she sees around her. Serena is an octopus (?) juggling various characters and realities. The story is that of political intrigue, social unrest, and insurrection.

I had to stop reading about half way through - full disclosure.

What I liked was the worldbuilding. The city (Tiankawi) is a breath of fresh air, and in some ways reminds me of the city in Perdido Street Station. The author's imagination is vivid and alive when it comes to describing how the city stands and operates, and how its citizens interact. The writing was also quite good actually - it was punchy and rhythmic. I didn't find reading the book hard.

I didn't like a lot. First, while the themes of the book are not new in the broader fantasy universe, the execution of these themes here is infantile - even if it were a YA novel, it would be garishly bad. There is no sophistication. It's all overly simplistic and shallow. Especially the motivations and actions of the Drawbacks (revolutionaries) are laughable. The philosophical underpinning of the social criticism that justifies their actions is as sophisticated as news learned on Instagram or Fox News (albeit, in this case, it's from the left wing variety). It's like an extremely naive and unsophisticated depiction of socio-political realities as observed by uneducated teenagers. And I'm personally quite left leaning myself.

Second, the characters were underdeveloped. There was an attempt made, I admit, but even Mira (which is perhaps the most interesting character) comes across as underexplored. Her motivations are not very clear, and behaviours are very "small"-minded. I find, overall, the ability of the author to depict characters who are something other than petulant teenagers (including imbecilic revolutionaries) is just not there.

Finally, I was just disappointed. The premise of the book is quite solid and promising - I was really looking forward to reading it, for a while now. It was a huge downer, and the quality of the plot was just so bad that I had to stop reading. It just wasn't important enough, I couldn't get myself to care about the characters, and I didn't see anything in the writing from a twists and turns perspective that led me to believe there is anything worth waiting for.

I can't recommend this book. To anyone. Skip it.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of the book in return for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars rounded to 4

Firstly, the things I loved about this book were numerous: the setting and worldbuilding were incredible, I could very much imagine Tiankawi and the multitude of fathomfolk who dwelled there. It was colourful and well described, from the architecture to the descriptions of food and clothing. You can very much tell how long the author spent thinking about this world. I really enjoyed Nami and Cordelia's POV chapters and found their stories compelling - especially Cordelia's.

What let it down a little was the sheer number of things being crammed in, and the quick change between POVs which led to me feeling disjointed from the story at times. I didn't warm to Mira much and found myself not engaging with her chapters as I did with others.

The plot was interesting - I am a big fan of political intrigue in fantasy books, so I enjoyed it. However, it felt like a lot of build up before things really got going. The flitting between POVs also took me out of the story at times just as I was getting invested.

Overall, this is a good debut. I will absolutely be continuing the series, and I adored the diversity and richness of the characters and setting. I just think maybe a little more heavy handed editing may have been needed to streamline it.

Fathomfolk is set in Tiankawi, a half sunken city where Fathomfolk and humans live amongst one another. The humans are thriving but the fathomfolk are dying from the pollution that they’re being subjected to in the waters.

The world building in this novel was so beautifully done. The descriptive nature and the feeling seeping out of the pages made you feel for the characters. I liked the political nature of it (probably as a politics grad more than anything) where claims to equality were stomped out by the humans looking down on fathomfolk both metaphorically and physically.

There are flaws in this book, it doesn’t read quite right but this could very much be down to the fact that it’s not the published version and that there are still edits to make. I also just didn’t care about Nami, she was pathetic and kept putting herself in harms way for the sake of… a boy?

Stronger main characters could have made this a good, strong contender in the fantasy genre which is saying something considering the saturation of the market at the moment.

Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown for an eARC of this book!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately I am dnfing this book around the 24% mark. I am not enjoying this much, I do not care for the characters (I like only Mira) and the style is too heavy. I'm sorry, I really had high expectations for this one.

Sadly I didn't get far with this one. The opening is a bit of a lore/world information dump, trying to get as much about this new world and it's different creatures and politics down on paper, and I always find this so off-putting.
2 of the characters were so similar that I got them completely mixed up at one point and was very confused for a while.
The concept is good. I like the idea of the character of the fathomfolk being lots of different sea creatures that can take human shape.
Sadly the concept of the story isnt very original, the rich above looking down on the suffering below. As I was reading I was just finding the characters a bit overused (they feel like typical fantasy characters) rather than anything particularly different or new.
So sadly, I wasn't able to finish this one.

Fathomolk is set in Tiankawi, a half sunken city where both humans and fathomofolk live next to each other. We can feel the tension between both groups throughout the different characters that are presented and their roles in society. I felt like this book has a political connotation to it, since it tries to include several real-life issues such as racism and inequality.

The world building of this book was very solid, and the vibes of a drowning city were there which is great. We have a lot of mythical creatures, such as sirens and kappas and the city itself felt like an authentic fairytale. However, I felt like the first part of the story was a bit slow and I felt like I was dragging a bit, but I became more fluid in the second half.

Overall, this book presents a fantasy realm full of mythical creatures while it tries to connect to our real-life problems. It was an enjoyable read, with a strong plot full of suspense when it kicks off. I would recommend it to fans of sea mythology since it has such a strong focus on sea creatures.

Thank you, NetGalley & the publisher, for approving me to read this arc and write this review.

Yeah ... uhhhh ... no.
This just ... wasn't good?

At first, a positive: The worldbuilding is gorgeous. The descriptions and mood of this partially submerged city? Beautiful. Athmospheric. I felt like I was wading through this water, like I was looking out the window down onto the city.
It just felt like the worldbuilding was put above any kind of plot. As if the worldbuilding was there, and the author needed to think of a plot so she could bring this world forward. As if the plot was second to beautiful descriptions and characters simply meandering about.

The first half of this book has barely any plot. It almost felt like a cozy fantasy. The "story" follows three women, Mira, Nami, and Cordelia (although, relating to Cordelia, there is the most obvious bait-and-switch that I ever read happening) as they live their life in the city. They're all kind of interacting, with Mira dating Nami's brother, and Cordelia basically being Ursula from the Little Mermaid (but with a different name), offering anyone and anybody deals aplenty.
It would all be ... palatable. If those characters weren't bland as hell.
Mira is half-siren and half-human. The "fathomfolk," meaning everyone not human, is basically the lower class, with racism and injustices thrown towards them on the daily. Mira, being half of their world and half of the human one, is basically an analogy for a mixed race woman in our world. So, of COURSE, she has to be a cop. She's the one fathomfolk cop who made it up the ranks! I felt like throwing up.
It would be one thing if Mira had an actual personality apart from being a mixed-race cop, but she doesn't. She's a blank paper sheet with nothing written on it.
Nami is incredibly annoying. The priviliged girl, growing up with riches and influence in a pure fathomfolk environment, playing at being a rebel. As "punishment" for a heist gone wrong, she is sent to the big city to "spy." And what does she do, in the big city? Fucks everything up, starts crying a whole bunch, and ends up starting a really, really gross romance with some dude from the fathomfolk "rebel" faction.
That romance still gives me the heeby-jeebies. Really, there's nothing redeeming about this.
Cordelia, meanwhile, would be an interesting character if she wasn't basically straight Ursula from the Little Mermaid. Seriously. Copy-and-paste. It's almost embarrassing.

In addition to a parade of paper-cut-out-dolls of characters, this book is made perfect by a string of punctuation errors, especially when it comes to commas. Please, a kingdom for an oxford comma!

Anyway. I'm giving this two stars just for the worldbuilding, but I will not be picking up any further books.

Book: Fathomfolk
This book was one of my anticipated reads of 2024. I was intrigued by the blurb and couldn't wait to read it. There were times where i would get drawn into the story and times where i was checking to see how many pages i, still, had to go through.

I loved how the worldbuilding was rich and gave off all the right kind of vibes a drowning city would be like. I was drawn into the second half of the book but the first half was sluggish and had me feeling like i was just reading words rather than being pulled into it. As a fantasy lover, i want to be able to live the story through the characters' eyes but i wasn't invested in any of the characters. I wasn't, fully, sure of what Cordelia's motives were in this book. It felt like she didn't care about anything apart from herself. But, i do applaud Eliza for writing this story and even though it had its' faults, there were times i did enjoy it. I didn't dislike this book nor did i 100% like it hence the 3 stars. It stands in the middle for me.

I'd like to thank netgalley and Little Brown Group for allowing me to read an e-arc for an honest review.

Calling all fantasy fans! You NEED to read this book ASAP.
If I could give this book five stars on the cover alone, I would, but alas, you probably want a review from me (lol).
It's suspenseful! Intriguing! Page-turning!
There were so many sub-plots with the main plot that I just couldn't stop reading. I am already dying to see what happens in the next book and now I have to patiently wait. *very dramatic sigh*
I loved every single character in this, even if they were good or bad. I loved the social commentary this book evoked in me, especially how the humans continued to suppress or destroy the fathomfolk's homes/spirits. It was just so powerful!
Want more thoughts and reactions? See my YouTube video linked here: <i>https://youtu.be/zhamkcFtrJw<i/>

Thank you so much for NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC for my honest review

This story very much felt like a debut. You can really see the potential in the authors writing and work however the story felt disjointed and the characters lacked a spark needed to connect with them and more than that, care about them. I would definitely read another book by this author as this was not a BAD first novel by any means, it just wasn’t amazing

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.