Again, I picked a book based on its cover and it’s gotten me nowhere. The premise of the book seemed like it would hit all points with me. Undersea themes with academia. But it just didn’t hit the points I needed. I’ve read some other reviews where people have had to stop and try to get the gist of what is being said and I had the same issue. I wanted to love this, but found myself getting lost at points. This was a DNF for me at 45%.

Very much enjoyed this and it was right up my alley, really enjoyed the writing style. The characters were well written and the plot was thought out!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher/author for accepting my request to read and review one of my most anticipated reads of 2024!

I was beyond thrilled to be accepted to read this, I love academic books, I love books with underwater/ocean themes, and I love a good bit of romance. Also, let's be honest, the cover is absolutely breathtaking.

HOWEVER

This was the most tedious book I have ever tried to read in my life. Between the mix of very heavy Victorian English (which I was not expecting at all) and the highly academic style, I was spending minutes trying to read one page. It honestly was exhausting. This was so overdone, the writing could have been made far simpler, and it would not have taken away anything from the actual story.

Now, perhaps I should have done my research... or just, I dunno, READ the TITLE, but this was told ONLY in letters. I am not sure that it works for the content of this book.

I will admit that there were definitely elements of this that I did enjoy and I would be interested in reading from this author again, but this book felt like doing homework.

I would rate this book a 3.75 -but I cannot round it up to four. Below is my net gallery review and I will be releading my tiktok review of this book closer to the date

This is a 3.75 but I cannot round it up to 4.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion

This is a cozy fantasy pen pal romance set in a mystical underwater world – Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries of vibes yet set in a Shark Tale type vibrant world. Our focal characters are the introverted E. and the sweet Henerey Cel, who have been presumed dead after a terrible underwater accident near E.’s childhood home. However, the two “narrative voices” are their respective siblings who strike up a friendship correspondence as they use E.’s and Henerey’s correspondence to try and unravel the mystery surrounding their sibling's budding courtship and subsequent disappearance.

While I did say at the beginning, this book has Emily Wilde Encyclopedia of Faeries vibes, this is because both our focal characters E. and Henerey are undertaking two different yet perhaps interconnected academic endeavors. However, while Emily Wilde and Wendell are Darcy and Elizabeth bantering in Pride and Prejudice then E. and Henerey are the mellow Marianne and colonel Brandon. So much like in Sense and Sensibilities, the book is quite slow-paced and the romance a quiet sort but it is quite beautiful to see how the book handles issues of mental health, anxiety, and neurodivergence and there are definite hints that the other books may touch further on topics of isolation and grief.

Another key thing to note is this novel is written in the epistolary format which means the whole story takes place through letters and it is written using 19th Century, Jane Austen-esque modern English. So you have to enjoy this format and this manner of characters communicating to enjoy this book. Luckily one of my favorite novels “Les Dangerous Liaisons is an 18th-century novel written in the epistolary form as well, so this was not an issue for me. However, because both E. and Henerey are quite introverted, it is hard to get to the root of their emotions unless we are explicitly told by their siblings. Remember the scene where Elizabeth had to explain to Darcy that her sister is in fact in love with Mr Darcy's best friend? That is this book

Also as this book is the first in a series, the book is mainly focused on the death of E. and Henerey. While I tried to understand that as grieving siblings they did not want the letters to end, the fact that Sophie and Vyerin even met but did not have any sense of urgency to read through the letters and Henerey’s diary, rubbed me the wrong way. If they didn’t have any sense of urgency- why should I be curious too? So when the final reveals were made, it felt very anti-climatic and a tad frustrating.

I do need to give this book great credit for how it tries to tackle mental illness and by presenting queer relationships as the norm. This book has strengths and I think if it finds its target audience it will be beloved. However, if you do not like the epistolary format and want witty banter, this is not the book for you. Calling it Emily Wilde but underwater, really doesn't do justice to the dynamics at play here.

Despite the intriguing concept, lovely cover, and rather distinctive writing, I DNFed at 15% because I couldn't get into it and didn't feel linked to the characters. ;;

Pitched as a light academia, underwater epistolary romance, A Letter to the Luminous Deep follows the romance between E and Henerey, told through their letters, and the correspondence between their siblings who are trying to piece together their sudden disappearance.

I’m not entirely sure how to review this book, if I’m honest! I enjoyed the academic and polite writing style, and the descriptions of the sea landscape and observations about the characters were really beautifully done. It’s rare to find such a unique format in a book, as it’s set entirely within letters, and I applaud the author for taking the chance and writing something out of the oftentimes confining box of fantasy novels!

Unfortunately, the format really didn’t work for me. I’m a character driven reader at my core and found the epistolary layout flattened any potential for character building, as we never got to see them interact in person, which erased any signifiers like body language, appearance, or emotional reactions. Any differentiations between the characters were smoothed out/ made homogeneous by the retrospective style of letter writing. Although I found the world to have so much potential (an underwater civilisation set in the future! A hierarchy of scholars! Cool fish!) the format kept the reader from having anything more than a base level understanding of the world. Even now after finishing the book, I don’t think I could sum up anything about the society, or much about the plot as a whole.

Overall, I loved the idea of an epistolary novel but perhaps if the letters had been interspersed with live action settings, it would’ve been easier to sink in to. I really dislike leaving “bad” reviews, so this has been rather difficult, but I do truly believe this story will find its audience, even if it isn’t me!

DNF @ 14%

I’d usually read much more further on than this to determine a DNF but the incredibly formal epistolary writing between four characters with no distinct voices and with no education to the readers of the world is making me lose the will to live. I’m a fast reader and it took me about 2 solid hours to even get this far in, maybe more.

I checked out some of the other reviews to see if it was worth me persisting but after reading many others say that it doesn’t come together until the 75% mark and then ends on a cliffhanger, I’m happy to give up on this book.

What an absolute shame because the cover is intricately beautiful and the premise itself sounds wonderful. I don’t think the writing is bad at all, I think that this book needs to undergo some serious editing to either simply make sense to readers or to encourage a reader to keep going with a better storyline hook.

As soon as I started A Letter to the Luminous Deep, I knew I was going to enjoy it. It’s an epistolary fantasy romance set under the sea, with a whole host of loveable characters and a mystery that unfolds as slowly and carefully as the relationship between E. and Henerey.

This story is told predominantly through letters between Sophy and Vyerin, E. and Henerey’s siblings who are piecing together their correspondence after their suspected deaths. It’s a fantastic way for this story to unfold, and the format and writing reminds me of both Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries and Divine Rivals. Sylvie Cathrall’s style and prose is addictive, and I can’t wait to read more from her.

This book is slowly paced but never boring. It pieces together a mystery bit by bit, and the reader ends up learning what’s going on right alongside Sophy and Vyerin. I found myself absolutely enthralled towards the end, and I’m so excited to see what happens next.

It’s quite difficult to write a review of this book without giving too much away, so I’ll just say that A Letter to the Luminous Deep is unusual, mysterious, and best read without knowing anything at all. The worldbuilding is interesting, the characters are memorable (I haven’t stopped thinking about them yet), and the writing style is so very clever. I really hope it finds a large audience among fantasy readers, because it deserves to!

4.5/5.

Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown Book UK for the ARC!

A Letter to the Luminous Deep is an ambitious epistolary novel that unfortunately did not captivate me as much as I'd hope. Given the Victorian-esque time period of the story, which is reflected by the conversational style of the letters, I struggled with the constant letters that were written with impressive vocabulary and a formal tone. Perhaps I could use a reprieve every other chapter with non-epistolary prose to further the story.

That said, despite my struggle, the characters were likeable enough and their relationships were the highlight of the story.

After making a discovery outside her home deep in the ocean (known as the Deep House) E. Cidnosin writes a letter to the scholar Henerey Clel, expressing her admiration for his work and reporting her find. What follows is a letter from Sophy, E’s sister, to Vyerin, Henerey’s brother, where you learn that a year ago E and Henerey went missing after a seaquake reduced the Deep House to rubble.

Sophy and Vyerin set out to determine what happened to their siblings by piecing together all the letters they wrote to each other, and others, and you’re taken on this beautiful journey of watching two people fall in love in their own unique way through letters. There’s also something incredibly sad about it as, as their siblings piece together the timeline, you know you’re heading towards their disappearance.

This book captured my heart completely. It was beautifully written, and I felt like I got to know the characters on a deeper level as reading letters feels very personal. Even thinking about them now makes me want to tear up. I adore E and Henerey, in fact I also adore Sophy and Vyerin. They are complex nuanced characters.

The world building was interwoven within the letters which was a nice touch. At times this was slightly confusing when trying to wrap my head around the geography of it all (a world map would’ve been useful), but ultimately, I loved the way it was done. We got little snippets of the nuances of the world I don’t think we would’ve had the book been written another way. I felt completely immersed.

Not everyone will like this book. It’s a slow paced, low-stakes cozy fantasy which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. If you’re a fan of A Natural History of Dragons or Emily Wildes Encyclopaedia of Faeries then this should be up your kind of boo.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions. Per the publisher's request, this review will be posted on my Storygraph/maybe Instagram on 11th April.

This book was definitely a surprise for me. It was my first time reading a book which was written in that way. We learn everything about the characters, the world, the story through the letter correspondence between the characters of the book.

This style intrigued me a lot and I was reading the letters everytime with a new found thirst to get all the details of the environment, put all the puzzle pieces in place, and learn in the end what is going on.

There was a lot of diversity representations as well in this book, which was also a different aspect to my usual reads.

Overall, a nice change from the "classics" and definitely very original to me. I recommend it!

I unfortunately am not the right audience for this book :/ I couldn't get used to the writing style and found myself often confused. Though I know many would enjoy it, it's just not for me!

An intriguing story told through a unique format.

Pretty enjoyable read, but not for me. I believe people will either love or hate the epistolary format of this book. The tone is very close to Emily Wilde, but here characters and their relationships are more important than the plot. I'd say is 85% character study and 15% plot, which might not suit some readers.

This felt very much like a cozy fantasy, since the stakes are so low; you get to spend a lot of time with E. and Henerey (and Sophy and Vyerin), you get to know their life, their aspirations, their fears etc.The prose is beautiful but pretty dense, I had to read 20-30 pages at a time else I was in danger of losing interest. The plot is very slow moving, so I recommend taking your time to read this book.

This is book one of a series (duology?) and by the end there isn't a definite resolution to the mystery, so for readers who don't like cliffhangers I recommend waiting til the sequel is out.

Thank you to NetGalley and Publishers for this eARC

A Letter to the luminous deep is an intriguing story, the unique style of telling the story via letters.
I really enjoyed this novel, I did like the style but I also thought it was missing those extra details that you get in a "story telling" way.
The style was enjoyable and provided detailed descriptions in the letters but the pacing is slow and it took awhile through letters to find out what was really going on.

Unfortunately the format of the writing didn't suit my tastes. I DFN at 10%. Would probably suit someone else - not like the Emily Wilde journal style of writing as some reviews claim. Letter format was very dry for me.

utterly beside myself. a PLEASURE to read. slow to start and occasionally indulgent but i ended up loving it. the tone and pace are kind of brand-new to me, i haven’t read anything really comparable, which is a shame because it’s so lovely! would love more books like it, so warm and intriguing. i guess it’s time to hunker down for the long wait for the sequel

DNF'd at 23% through:

I loved the concept, and was very excited to find this ARC on NetGalley, as it was recommended on my favourite bookish podcast.

People looking for an academic, epistolary book will enjoy this, as long as they are okay with the two reasons why I dropped it -- incredibly elaborate and descriptive prose, and a slow-paced story with little to no action (at least in the first quarter, which is what I read).

I probably would have enjoyed it as well if I were in a different mood, but it was too scholarly for me right now and just couldn't get immersed in it (no pun intended but maybe a little)

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing me with an eARC for A Letter From the Luminous Deep.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I loved the concept of this book. Found penpal letters where we discover along with the readers how the reclusive E. and enigmatic Henerey develop feelings of friendship and love through their writing.

Im also a sucker for light academia. And this was very reminiscent of Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faerie, which I loved!

The pacing of this book was a little slow in parts. I understand that it is in part, due to the format, as we are finding out bits and pieces of information as we read through the letters. However, overall I really enjoyed this unique story and I look forward to the next instalment.

I had a lovely time reading this book! The plot was quite engaging, and the mystery itself was pretty intriguing. The representation for anxiety and OCD, which isn't typically discussed in books!
I am eagerly awaiting this book's sequel. It did, however, feel more like a harsh chop and less open and ambitious, which disappointed me a little.
The writing style was great, I liked the characters! I love the concept of the book! I enjoyed that the story was in a charming fantasy, magical underwater world.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK, Orbit for a copy of this book in a exchange of a honest review.

The reclusive E. and her penal, Scholar Henery Clel, do fall in love through their letters filled with passion. Together, they uncover a mystery from the unknown depths, destined to transform the underwater world they both equally fear and love. But by no mere coincidence, a seaquake destroys E’s home, and she and Henerey vanish. We’re reading those letters now over the shoulders of both E.’s sister and Henry’s brother, both of whom are frantically trying to work out what actually happened between their siblings, how the couple’s mysterious disappearance came about - and also how it might tie into the research that E.’s sister was doing in the very depths of an oceanic abyss in a radical expedition that ended with chaos and unnerving secrets.
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First thing I loved about this novel is the format, an epistolary novel full of sweet, romantic, intimate, charming and heartwarming letters!
Not only do we get letters between the 2 main characters, but they have collected letters from their siblings whose lives came to a sudden and mysterious end, and we get to read through interactions between multiple different characters through this format.
This type of format is really smooth and dynamic! If you loved Emily Wilde you will love this style too!!

Another thing that was so unique was the setting, a fantastical world that basically lives on the water.
This world used to be a floating island in the sky, and something happened years before this novel takes place, but the sky civilization came crashing down, and now there are 3 different areas each with its own unique standards of living. Magical, vivid, intriguing but also a little scary !!

I also really liked the romance plot! The letters between the characters were so sweet and the Slow Burn + Academic Romance is one of my favourite tropes!! The mystery part was also very interesting and well made.
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Thanks to Netgalley Orbitbooks UK and Sylvie Cathrall for providing me with this ARC!