final review: ★★★★☆

thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Little Brown Book Group for the e-arc!

wowwww...... truly remarkable. a book entirely consisting of back and forth letters, transcripts and annotations that tell a complete story without ever writing the story real time. in a day this feels like a mesh between This is How You Lose the Time War and Searching (2018). this is pretty much the 'found footage' format in book form and i gobbled it up in just a day.

i loved the purple prose used in the letters. and i can suspend my disbelief that people write like this because a) they are mostly letters and this is how people write letters (or at least how i like to), b) the world as we know it has been destroyed so their foundation of language are different, and c) academia things. the worlds have touched me, there's just something intimate about the way lovers write; from the casual banter to the flirtation to eventually the longing and desire that just oozes from the page on the letters between Henery and E. but there's just something similar yet more mature in the way Niea and Sophy write each other as well. and it's just so special to me that all the characters have their own writing style. it doesn't HAVE to be there, but it is and that makes this so awesome.

i like how this solve the mystery of where the two lovers went comes from the initiatives of Sophy and Vyerin, and it goes from a recount of E. and Henery's budding love into a much bigger story that delves into the lore of their world that even involves E. and Sophy's mother. the familial bond of both the blood and found family in this is so strong and it's always nice to see when both are thriving.

the way Cathrall lets the supporting characters like Arvist and Riev shine on their own briefly also makes this more compelling. no one is really tossed to the side. and that ending?? i am so excited to see how Arvist can redeem is lowkey *sshole behaviour and join Sophy in looking for E.

2025 cannot come sooner. looking forward to the sequel!

(cross posted on goodreads)

R E V I E W

A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall

☆☆☆

The writing style of this book is very reminiscent of Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faerie- only it an epistolary story rather than one told through an academic journal. The prose is very similar in style to Emily Wilde, academic and formal, almost archaic, and the main character(s) E. and Henerey both show traits of neurodiversity so you can easily see the parallels between the two novels.

I think if you enjoy immersive settings with just a hint of romance and mystery, then this will be one for you. Unfortunately, I found the constant to-and-fro of letters with the occasional academic journal entry or text excerpt meant it took a long time to get to the actual purpose of the story. It was very text-dense but with little plot pay-off.

In a nutshell, this is a story told through letters between Sophy Cidnosin and Vyerin Clel after their siblings, who seemingly fostered a romantic relationship through letters themselves as a result of their social anxieties, have disappeared. These letters take place one whole year later as Sophy and Vyerin try and use their siblings' correspondences to unearth what actually happened whilst simultaneously getting to know one another.

The pacing was quite slow and if I'm honest, I did start to lose interest in the story but forced myself to push on in order to finally get some answers. Little did I know this is actually only book one, with a sequel on the way and there were no real answers to be had. The mystery remains but my interest in continuing this series sadly did not.

*thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Wow! this was absolutely beautiful! the writing was superb! I am in awe! I can't wait to get my special edition the cover is just gorgeous! A must read!

if you like epistolary romance (divine rivals) and academia (EWEoF) then this is a perfect read for you!

100% recommend!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.

Wow.

This is a stunning debut novel. It is written in an unusual manner, mainly as letter correspondence across two separate timelines, one in the past and one in the present time reacting to the past letters. I thought it might be confusing at first to follow this format, but I had no problem at and was immersed in no time. The characters are fantastically written, and this is one of the best examples of mental health rep that I have read. Also some of the most fantastically written relationships as well. Even the minor side characters felt vibrant. It does take some time to get your head around the world, but I so desperately want to read more about it. I can't wait to immerse myself in the sequel.

I have been having a hard time starting this review. A Letter to the Luminous Deep was a good read, but overall I’ve been feeling very “meh” about it since I’ve finished — there could be worse feelings, but usually you want something better!

Let me start off by saying that this book threw me off from the beginning. I quite honestly thought the characters were fish for a good couple of pages, until some of the language indicated that they were human. You can imagine how baffled I was. I was also intrigued. Let’s just say the first few pages were a whirlwind.

I did enjoy the epistolary format, I think it worked well to built the mystery and the tension, and it worked well to showcase different character perspectives. Sometimes the letters got a bit tiring, and by this I mean it was an effort to keep up with who was who (despite the headings) as times the voices sounded similar.

This is likely my fault for not reading more about the book, but I was also under the impression that this book was a standalone. So, when I got to the end of the book I was torn between “okay, so we actually don’t really get an answer to that, but I get the open ending, but lord the book went on for so long” to seeing that there’s actually going to be a sequel which kind of annoyed me because I think this would’ve worked well as a standalone (just more answers please) but I feel like to properly assess that one would have to read the sequel and judge.

I do think the characters had some chemistry, but ironically it was the characters that had no romantic link / plot that actually had the most.

As someone who has OCD, I really enjoyed and appreciated the OCD representation in this. I saw myself in many of the rituals and anxieties. I appreciated the truthful representation and how it was handled with care.

I think the plot was interested but it meandered. It took a lot to get barely anywhere. The world building was also quite confusing, and I still don’t understand half of the historical context and the different factions of people. Baffled.

I do think this was a good read, but it didn’t blow me out of the water (ha).

Superb writing from this author, a very eye catching cover, this book will go far, 5 stars. Blindingly excellent ... This book should come with a disclaimer as once you start reading you aren’t going to want to walk away.

I am trying to read three chapters, yet unfortunately it was not my cup of tea. The story seems interesting, yet I don't quite enjoy the format. It was just like when I read "The Perks of being Wallflower", the book with the same format. I read TPOBW for a few pages and ended up not finishing it because I'm not used to the format, even though the story was pretty enjoyable. It goes the same with this book. I still recommended it, though.

I was super excited for this one, but unfortunately it was a miss for me. I've never read a book written in the format of letters, and I now know that it's a style I don't vibe with.

The world building I found to be very confusing, and I found myself having to constantly go back to remind myself or double check. BUT I do think that there will be people who really love this book!

I DNF at around 15%.

Dnf for me.
I know it's called "letters to..." but I didn't gel at all with how it was written and I just could not enjoy the story.
I'm sure it's a brilliant read for someone, but that someone isn't me unfortunately

Oh this was absolutely delightful!! This magical academia story was told in an epistolary fashion and whilst it took me a wee while to get into as I’ve never read anything written in this way before - it was so worth it!

The romance that developed between the main characters was so tender and beautiful and then the siblings and their significant others was also just adorable😩😩

I really enjoyed the way this story progressed and cannot wait for the next one!

If you liked A Natural History of Dragons or Emily Wildes Encyclopaedia of Faeries then you will love this!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this earc in exchange for my honest review.
A Letter to the Luminous Deep is a sweet and heartwarming story that also features a delicate representation of mental illness. I find this book perfect for fans of Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross, since it is mostly an epistolary novel, and Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan due to the underwater setting.
It is evident that the author truly cares about the characters and that she drew from her own experience to render this story special.
The only qualm I have with this novel is the writing style: I felt it was too cluttered at times (too many exclamation marks and parenthesis) and the characters had no personal idiolect (their specific way of speaking/writing), therefore everything felt the same. For this reason, I was truly able to lean into the story only after reaching the 25% mark.
Moreover, I would advise readers to read the synopsis before "diving" into the book, since there is hardly any world-building, and you are catapulted into a new world with little to no explanation as to why the world is how it is.

Overall, a solid start of series. I can't wait to read more about E. and Henerey.
3.5 stars

A beautiful discovery outside the window of her underwater home prompts the reclusive E to begin a correspondence with renowned scholar Henry Cell. These letters that they share are filled with passion. At first for their mutual interest, and then, inevitably, for each other. They uncover the mystery from the unknown depths, destined to transform the underwater world they both equally love and fear.

But by no mere coincidence, a seaquake destroys E’s underwater sanctuary, and she and Henry vanish. A year later, E’s sister Sophy, and Henry’s brother Vyerin, are left to solve the mystery of their sibling’s disappearance’s with the letters, sketches and field notes left behind. As they uncover the wondrous love their sibling’s shared. Sophy and Vyerin learn the key to their disappearance and what it could mean for life as they know it.

A gorgeous and beautfully imagined underwater setting with additional elements of whimsical academic sensibility this novel is a strange epistolary wonder. This novel was filled with a heart warming romance blossoming between an unlikely recluse and a young scholar, with an interwoven mystery against the backdrop of a wild imagined underwater world. This novel charmed me from the very first letter between lovers.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘷𝘪𝘢 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘈 𝘓𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘶𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘋𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘣𝘺 𝘚𝘺𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭

Thanks to the publisher orbit for granting me this e-arc in exchange for an honest review. sadly had to dnf this one. Books wholly written in letter form don’t tend to be my favorite thing, the last names being the same made it even more confusing to me and I constantly had to check who was writing to who which really took me out of the story.

A Letter to the Luminous Deep is a lovely novel that seamlessly blends genres together. its a little bit Sci fi, little bit historical, a bit of a mystery and a bit of wonderful romance.

I really did not think I would enjoy this book as much as I did. its told through letters and journals and follows two different time lines that meet at the end.

For those who like world building and explanation, this would fall short. the book is about the characters and the mystery of what happened to them but I never felt I needed to know more and feel that the second book would build more of the world and explain the situation.

E is such a wonderful character and it's wonderful to see such warmth acceptance of her conditions. It is a beautiful novel with wonderful representation. I cannot wait for the second one

It’s a delightful epistolary fiction, written in letters and sort of emails/telegraphs (automated post missive).
The book is set in 1002-1003, but has the technology of around 1900.
It is a very cozy read despite two characters being missing. I love the slow pace, in which we learn more about the people and their interpersonal relationships.
The worldbuilding is really excellent, and very detailed. I have a good idea of what it would look like.
Some of the characters had a more distinct voice, but at times it was a smidge confusing who was talking (if you skipped over the headers - which were very useful.) I would have appreciated some more tone nuances.
I feel at times the letters sound too much like there was dialogue, and wonder if parts should have been alternated as dialogue and letters. But that’s just nitpicking really.
I loved the queer relationships, and open acceptance in that world of queer relationships.
I will absolutely read the next book!

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC.

Sophy Cidnorghe formerly Cidnosin short for Philosophy, and her sister who disappeared “E” Cidnosin.
Sophy, E and their brother Arvist grew up in the Deep House, a mostly submerged house from which to study ocean life.
She is writing Henerey Clel’s brother Vyerin Clel because he too disappeared.
Sophy is now living and studying on the Ridge. A submerged research and living facility.
Henerey was a scholar of classification at the Boundless Campus and wrote several books which interested E.
Vyerin Clel, who is married to his husband Reiv and they have two kids.

DNFed at 15%. I give all DNFs 1 star. I may return to this book at a later date as I was sooo excited for it!! But it has turned out to not be a book for me so far.

At 15% in, I’m still so confused by the world building. All the different colleges/universities/campuses (of which there are only actually 3, I think) and various locations and world building phrases about technology and people and the different societies and cultures, is just not explained. Which is the nature of an epistolary book, I know.

It is written through a series of letters and records and correspondence, in which the characters conversing are already familiar with the world and would have no need to write it into a letter to one another. However, that just leaves the reader so very confused. And then when it is occasionally contained in a letter or record it feels very forced and like a very intentional info dump followed by “oh but I’m sure you already knew this, so sorry for the rambling” or something to that effect. Which just annoyed me, if I’m honest.

There are also sooo many exclamation marks! At some points there is an exclamation mark every two or three sentences, which is insane and became very very annoying and frustrating to read. If this was just one character’s way of writing, I could have excused it as a character trait. But it’s with every single one of the four characters who have written things so far. Which makes it a writing style choice by the author, and that’s absolutely fine and others might not care about it at all, but it did start to majorly annoy me around the 8/9% mark (so very early on really).

I will also say that there is more chemistry (likely because so far there have been more interactions) between the brother of one of the love interests and the sister of the other love interest. Or I assume they (those that disappeared, not their siblings who are corresponding) are going to be the love interests based on what I have read so far. Because it is the respective siblings conversing about the missing siblings/love interests, it is them you spend all your time with even if they are discussing the others often.

This would be absolutely fine, if it wasn’t so confusing that they have this chemistry at all, as they are both married to separate people and both lgbtq. A gay man and a lesbian woman, both married to their respective loves. That is so wonderful and I love the representation being there. What I don’t like is that they often (and I mean very often) seem to have lots of flirty chemistry across their letters to one another, even though I logically know that is not what the author is likely intending to be the case, as they would not ever actually be attracted to each other. And if they hadn’t of stated their respective partners multiple times, I would have assumed them to be the main love interests.

But the fact that even with the knowledge that they are both married and in no way attracted to each other, them having some form of relationship seems far more plausible, so far, than the actual love interest characters that fell in love and disappeared, that they are discussing, is insane! A relationship I know to be impossible and not part of the plotline at all, feels entirely more realistic and possible than the actual relationship we are learning about and supposed to be falling in love with as it’s supposedly so romantic. I don’t understand how that has even happened.

This book is written mainly from the letter correspondence of the two respective siblings, with them sharing the correspondence of the love interests that the other love interest received and since their disappearance the siblings inherited. I feel like, if it had started, for a good majority and not a letter or two, from the actual love interests perspective in real time with their correspondence (and not looking back on it in the future trying to build a timeline of their relationship), and then have a cliff hanger letter of sorts, after which they disappear and so would have had no more letters, that would be the perfect place to start the respective siblings correspondence instead. I feel like that would have added more actual romance and connection to the love interest characters, built more mystery and suspense, and made the later formed connection of the respective siblings that much more bitter sweat and intriguing.

Like I said before, I may pick this up again at a later date. I do still really like the concept and I don’t think it’s a bad book at all. I just don’t think I’m getting on with the writing style, pacing or POVs (as such from the letters) so far.

4.5*

So, this has completely consumed me for the past day and while I did have breaks while reading this book (obviously), I couldn't stop thinking about it, because I really wanted to delve right back into this magical world that Cathrall created and never come back.

I looooved the prose of this book so much! I wanted to highlight so many different passages, but at some point I stopped myself, because it was becoming clear that I might end up highlighting the whole book. Here are couple of my favourites:

"Dear Henerey,
I wish that while you were here I could have had the opportunity to tell you how luminous you are"

"Please do not worry that I will be negatively surprised (perish the thought!) by what I find when we meet. On the contrary, your very existence in my life has been the most wondrous surprise imaginable."

AHHHHH

Now on to the review.

A Letter to the Luminous Deep is so enchanting, whimsical and witty that reading it feels like receiving the biggest, most comforting hug from the person you love dearly. It's also quirky, cute and speaks of such incredible adventures, that I'd have never been able to think of, let alone write something similar. And in the form of letters! Personally, I think that it is quite hard to tell the story in this way and not make it too 'dry', but, fortunately, author doesn't have this problem at all and was able to make her characters so real and human only through written correspondence.

One of our main characters is E. Cidnosin, a reclusive, who enjoys her own company much more than being with other people and spends most of her days in her underwater home called Deep House (relatable, I too would gladly stay at such house for unlimited amount of time if I had an opportunity). One day, E. decides to contact scholar Henerey Clel to express her admiration for his work and so their friendship begins. There is something so magical of seeing how slowly, but surely two introverted individuals find solace in each other and form a strong connection despite their usual habit of avoiding people as much as possible. It is very sweet and I found myself smiling more often than not while reading their correspondence to each other. Especially, once it was obvious that their feelings have started to grow. And their first meeting in person (!!!) was simply adorable. I might have been have been repeatedly saying 'aww' out loud and kicking my feet while reading that chapter (can confirm that actually happened).

But that's not all! At some point during their communication, E's beloved Deep House is destroyed by a seaquake and both her and Henerey disappear. A year passes and they are presumed dead, but their siblings - E's sister Sophy and Henerey's brother Vyerin - begin their own correspondence as well to look into the mystery of their disappearance. They start to share letters, field notes, sketches - everything that the pair left behind - and put the pieces back together to find out what actually happened. I absolutely adored how their shared love for their siblings was the primary thing keeping them going forward even despite the grief they both experienced. This mutual loss and understanding helps them form a deeper connection which eventually blossoms into a beautiful friendship. Also, it's important to mention, that Sophy is a researcher and shares her own experiences in the field with Vyerin, which, as the story progresses and more information is obtained, turns out out that her own adventures might be related to E's and Henerey's disappearance. Everything is linked, so it might seem that it should be easy to find out what actually happened, huh? Well, we shall see in the next book of this series! I, for one, cannot wait for it, although 2025 is truly far away still... which will give me enough time to reread this.

Thank you to Little Brown Book Group UK and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions! As per publisher's request, my full review will be posted on Goodreads on the 11th of April, 2024.

Sadly this one didn't work for me. I haven't read an epistolary novel before, so I was interested in giving this one a try, especially because it was billed as an epistolary romance. But neither the epistolary aspect nor the romance worked for me. The epistolary nature of the book really constrained it, making it so that we had to keep getting letters from multiple characters to get the info we needed about the story. I also just felt like the epistolary nature of the book made it feel too episodic: letter after letter after letter. I don't know, it didn't make me feel particularly immersed in the story. The tone of the book didn't work for me either. I know this is supposed to be a cozy book, but the tone felt too...airy? Not juvenile necessarily, but almost too jovial or something for me to really feel connected to or interested in these characters.

This was such a great read, I loved it! The concept of having two timelines that we discover through letters made for a very compelling (and cool) story that had me hooked. It is a perfect blend of friendship, love story, sibling love, grief and mystery. I found the end slightly drawn out but I still looooved this story and can’t wait for book 2.

Summary: E. discovers beauty outside her underwater home, sparking a passionate correspondence with scholar Henerey Clel. Together, they unveil a mysterious underwater world, but vanish mysteriously in a seaquake. A year later, Sophy and Vyerin, their siblings, solve the disappearance and learn of a transformative love.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book, all thoughts are my own.

A Letter to the Luminous Deep is a beautifully written book that immediately captivates you from the start, it is written with the most epistolary narrative and presents such an immersive oceanic world-building that is vividly descriptive as well as giving you a plot filled with a major mystery after reclusive E and famous scholar Henrey clel vanish and it is left to E’s sister Sophy and Henrey’s brother Vyerin to search for answers through their own correspondence to search and learn what happened to their respective siblings.

The letters that E and Henrey share beautifully transcends the page as they go from correspondents to friendship to an intimate bond, this mainly carries the plot as each share common interests and the inevitable devotion they have for each other. The pen pal romance is beautifully written with each given a clear voice you couldn’t help but be swept along with them.

Transcending between letters between E and Henrey and Sophy and Vyerin ‘A letter to the luminous Deep ‘ is filled with a beautiful backdrop, well developed characters and the most beautiful writing that keeps you engaged from start to finish.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this eArc.