I had such high hopes for this story!! It seemed like something perfectly up my alley, but unfortunately it felt way short.

One element I really struggled with was the fact that it read like YA even though it’s adult/general fantasy, which is really playing into my rating. I like YA but need to be in the mood to read YA, and even then, it’s typically stories that aren’t super bogged with YA characteristics and tropes. But Fathomfolk read like a YA typical story for the first roughly half.

If you are one who prefers characters or plot over world building, this is probably not going to be a story for you. The first half is primarily dedicated to giving you a tour of the world which left the characters barely developed and had the plot moving sluggishly along. The character motives throughout the storyline also feel inconsistent, and one of the romance subplots reads like instalove with significant issues.

As one who loves political intrigue, the politic infuriated me. Politics is not black and white, good and bad. Yet, the characters were good or bad. Actions were going to be good or bad. Everything was superficial and lacked nuance. If you aren’t going to ask why characters/groups are doing certain actions, then you can vibe with this book, but if you wonder why a group may want to take a certain course of action, then this book isn’t for you. We are given just a vague explanation of seeking refugee without actually getting the details as to from what. Considering the story also deals heavily in xenophobic themes, I was hoping there would be a more complex exploration of the societal issues. Then, avoiding spoilers, the ending blankets an answer in an extremely questionable way at best, which again leads into the lack of nuance.

I hope that the next books in the series can rectify some of these issues, because it did make finishing difficult.

Genre: fantasy

Tiankawi is a city half submerged in water, with Fathomfolk, the creatures of the sea, co-mingling with the humans in their skyscrapers. The Folk are shifters, taking human form on land and shifting to kappas, water dragons, sirens, kelpies, and sea-witches in their water habitats. Mira is half-siren, and she’s worked hard to get to her position as captain of the border guard, even recognizing the tokenism of her promotion. She and her partner Kai, a water dragon and Yonakunish ambassador to Tiankawi, have been working hard on a bill to ease restrictions on the Folk migrants. But Kai’s younger sister, Nami, unexpectedly ends up exiled to Tiankawi, and while Kai and Mira feel responsible for her, Nami has always taken a more radical approach to her own worldviews. Meanwhile, sea-witch Cordelia is pulling strings that no one else sees.

Fahtomfolk is a knockout debut; an epic fantasy with an East and South Asian inspired submerged city. The worldbuilding is deep and complex, and even after nearly 450 pages, feels like it’s only giving us a glimpse below the surface of Tiankawi. Chan steers her worldbuilding towards serious - she lets her playfulness out in some of the characters - and realistic. The slums of Tiankawi are as real as the kelpies and kappas who inhabit them. The descriptions are vivid and bold.

The nature of epic fantasy is that the first book spends a lot of time in setup and worldbuilding. As an SFF reader, I’m enamored with character building and intricate politics, so the first 40% was engaging and clever for me, but plot driven readers will need to exercise patience as the more action-centric plotlines develop. We’re in this story for the long haul, with vibrant and realistic characters with all of their faults and their wishes.

The audiobook is narrated by Emily Woo Zeller, so once release day rolled around, I acquired a copy for my ears. She’s a perfect narrator for Chan’s debut novel.

In Fathomfolk, Chan sets up a complex and magical world that feels eerily familiar with tides of revolution and what it takes to make change.

Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan offers a captivating blend of fantasy and social commentary set in the mesmerizing city of Tiankawi. Chan's storytelling prowess shines through as she weaves a tale of revolution and magic against the backdrop of a semi-submerged metropolis.

The world-building in "Fathomfolk" is nothing short of impressive. Tiankawi emerges as a vibrant setting, where humans coexist with mythical creatures known as fathomfolk. From the towering skyscrapers to the polluted waters below, each aspect of the city is meticulously crafted, adding depth and richness to the narrative.

The characters, particularly Mira, Nami, and Cordelia, are compelling. As Mira navigates her new role as captain of the border guard, readers are drawn into her struggles to bring about change and equality for fathomfolk. Nami's journey from aristocratic water dragon to revolutionary adds a layer of complexity to the storyline, while Cordelia's political machinations injects tension and intrigue.

Chan skillfully explores themes of oppression, identity, and the pursuit of justice, making "Fathomfolk" an engaging fantasy. However, at times the pacing feels uneven, with certain plot points feeling rushed while others are given ample time to develop.

Overall, Fathomfolk is a captivating read that will appeal to fans of fantasy and social commentary alike. With its richly imagined world and compelling characters, it offers a fresh take on familiar themes, leaving readers eagerly awaiting for the next book!

Pro: I like the premise and the setting. I think a water city where humans and fathomfolk try to work side by side while still having to face the inequality is a good start to a story to build tensions and try to find some way to make things better for all.
Pro: Dragons and Mermaids and all the other fathomfolk. I loved seeing the diversity of the depths and how they integrated or didn’t integrate. From sirens to sea witches, to all of the rest, I thought the diversity was well done and highlights how often we forget how diverse we are on land as well.
Pro: The mythologies. We see the author playing with various folk tales and lores as well as myths. I think it had a lot of potential.


I will try to keep my cons fairly short as I can see there were others who also found this didn’t hit the mark for them. Though I do not mind reading about political unrest, especially in a book which sets up the reader for such gaps in status, I felt as though the book could have been refined through another round of edits and tailoring. We have quite a few characters we are trying to follow from the very beginning and it does get jumbled. I also feel some of the characters and relationships could have been developed and explored to help with clarity and why the author put them together.


I was entertained throughout and found it to be a quick read. I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. I want to give it 3.5 stars but since Goodreads and NetGalley do not allow for half stars, I will give it about 4 stars for keeping me engaged and providing me with an entertaining story.

Book review time! I decided to go with some fantasy this time because I love mythological water creatures. The book is literally called Fathomfolk, so you can see why I went with it. It’s by Eliza Chan and was published yesterday (the 27th) by Orbit Books. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s do the thing.

Fathomfolk follows three main characters: Mira, Nami, and Cordelia. They each find themselves in Tiankawi (one by birth, one by exile, and the other by seeking sanctuary), a half submerged city where the tensions between humans and fathomfolk are reaching a boiling point. Two of them are trying to fix things using vastly different tactics, and the other just wants to manipulate things to best serve herself. Can there ever be peace between humans and folk? Can it be achieved through laws or must violence lead the way?

The plot and moral of the story. As you can probably guess, this is a super political book that tries to address racism and immigration issues and equal rights and all of that. There are a lot of big ideas here, but the execution is not great. The entire moral of the story ends up feeling like “if everyone is the same, things will be fine.” That’s kind of icky, but it’s not my book, so I have no control over it. I thought I was overthinking it, so I looked at some other reviews and… I’m not alone. To be fair, I don’t believe that’s supposed to be the message just based on stuff leading up to the end, but that’s definitely the way it comes off. There’s supposed to be a second book, so hopefully it clears things up. If that’s supposed to be the meaning or whatever, cool. Own it. But based on just this book, it doesn’t match with the events of the story, so it feels gross.

The characters are all either really flat or they don’t show any growth by the end. Mira is the stereotypical rule follower. If she works her way up the ranks, she can fix things from the inside! But she can’t. She’s the token folk in the human police force basically. And Nami is the easily swayed rebel that gets mixed up with terrorists. By the end, she knows the dude’s a mass murderer and she still turns a blind eye just so she can make out with him. It’s ridiculous. And Cordelia never changes. The extras are all exactly what they’re supposed to be. Kai is the flawless, self-sacrificing husband (to Mira) and brother (to Nami). Everyone kind of sucks, so there’s no one to root for here.

The writing is meh. I think a really big problem with this book is that the pacing is awful. Everything is much too slow. Even the stuff that’s supposed to be action packed is a slog. But the worldbuilding is nice. That’s something, I guess.

Ultimately, Fathomfolk wasn’t for me. Like I said, there’s supposed to be a second book, so maybe it gets better. I’ll probably forget it exists by that time, though, which means I won’t read the sequel.

Overall, I gave it 2 out of 5 stars. I started at 3, but the more I think about it, I just don’t like the book. I think 2 stars because it tries to tackle big issues is fair. But there are definitely better books that do a better job out there.

Thank you to Orbit, Eliza Chan, and NetGalley for giving me an eARC of Fathomfolk in exchange for my honest review.

Fathomfolk takes place in the city of Tiankawi, a half-flooded city. While humans live in skyscrapers, fathomfolk live in the water below. While human and fathomfolk are supposed to be living side-by-side, there is a lot of distrust between them. Tiwankawi is supposed to be a paradise, but in reality, it is a city where fathomfolk are looked down upon and treated poorly because they are fathomfolk. Mira is a half-siren who is promoted to captain of the border guard and who hopes that with this new position, she can help with reform. However, this becomes difficult when Nami, an aristocratic water dragon is exiled to the city and throws herself in with an anti-human extremist group. Behind all of it is Cordelia, a second-generation sea witch.

I truly enjoyed this book. I do think that there were aspects that could have been flushed out however, it did not take away from my overall enjoyment, and the worldbuilding was FABULOUS. I will say that the pacing was a bit slow at first, and it took a little bit for me to get into however, the plot did pick up greatly during the second half of the book. I can understand why the reviews have been a bit polarizing on this book, however, I would say that everyone should give it a chance. There are so many great elements to this book (like the worldbuilding) and readers should not let what others think scare them away from trying the book.

The first book of the Drowned World Duology, Fathomfolk give us an incredible world in the Tiankawi, a half-submerged city where fantastical creatures like sirens, kappas, seawitches, and even water dragons are in a tense peace cohabitating with the humans living above the water. It felt easy to image the sky-high towers and submerged fathomfolk pubs. The characters we meet range from the highest of society to members of the city guard, to citizens being kept in poverty, and while many of these characters feel a bit “stereotypical” (the rebellious child of a city leader, the person whose worked their way from low status to now rubbing elbows with the elite, etc.) Chan uses them to her advantage in showing the great tension between the marginalized fathomfolk and their human counterparts.

As my usual reads are more fast-paced, the slower pace of Fathomfolk threw me for a bit of a loop and did make the overall work feel a bit long. The second half did pick up, but I found myself leaning heavily on my interest in the world-building and my favored characters to get me through. I also was surprised when I was reflecting on my read and remembered this book is identified as an adult book, but the writing and the characters often feel more YA.

If you’re looking for a read with a beautiful city, fantastical characters shown in new ways, and are up for the challenge of seeing the dark underbelly of the world, Fathomfolk may be the read for you!

5/5 stars
Recommended if you like: urban fantasy, political intrigue, underwater myths, multiple POVs

This review has been posted to Goodreads as of 12/17 and has been posted to my book blog and Instagram as of 12/26.

I really liked diving into the world of Fathomfolk. There's a lot of interesting things going on with the people and with the worldbuilding, and I think the different perspectives offer quite interesting views on the whole thing.

This book is set in a fantastical post-apocalyptic world where rising seas and the Great Bathyal War resulted in most (all?) land being underwater and humans having to live in a floating city while fathomfolk, live either in underwater havens or as second-class citizens in the city alongside humans. Tiankawi is a fairly advanced city, with skyscrapers and elevator trams to take people places, but it also has its more downtrodden areas as well where people, human and folk alike, have to struggle to make a living. None of our POV characters come from the privileged side of the city, but all three of them end up walking in those circles, and so we get to see different aspects of Tiankawi's many sides.

Tiankawi is a city on the edge. There are factions within factions and near everyone seems to be scheming in some way. More things are done through backroom channels and underhanded maneuvering than out in the open, which makes it tricky to determine at times where things will go next. It's definitely a city ripe for violence and I think the situation and where it leads felt very realistic.

I also thought the folk were pretty interesting. There are nagas and dragons and sirens and kelpies, and a whole bunch of other kinds of creatures that I'm less familiar with or hadn't heard of. It was interesting seeing the range of folk there were and the different ways their magical nature showed up and how that impacted them and their culture. I'm definitely interested in learning more about the various folk in book 2 and seeing how things stay the same or change after everything that happened at the end of this book.

Mira is a half-siren, half-human border patrol who's determined to use whatever influence she has to try and change the way folk are treated in Tiankawi. Over and over again she's proven herself to be the best and has climbed up the ranks through dedication and hard work, but she's also not blind to the things going on in Tiankawi and the way people see her. She takes the stance that things need to change but that meaningful change means exerting influence inside the system little by little until the system is doing what you want it to be doing. Her fiancé, the dragon prince and ambassador to one of the havens, Kai, fits in that same category and the two of them work well as a team trying to get their agenda achieved. Mira is my favorite POV character and I wish she got more page time in this book since I thought she had a very level way of looking at things and had a realistic sense of the humans and the folk. I also really liked her relationship with Kai and thought it was super sweet.

Nami is Kai's younger sister and has a rebellious streak a mile long. She also wants to change things but is more radical about it and believes the only way to do it is to work outside the law. She was part of a student group in her haven and pulled a stunt that got her banished. Tiankawi surprises her in many ways, and though I do think she began to see both sides of it, there was definitely a part of her for a good portion of the book that continued wanting to use force to achieve her goals. Nami is very stubborn and set in her beliefs, which can make her a frustrating character at times since she tended to act without seeing the whole picture first and kind of had a tendency to make things worse. That being said, Nami undergoes a lot of personal growth in this book and I think she comes out better for it. I also don't entirely blame her for all of her actions since 1) she does start waking up to reality, and 2) she's 100% being manipulated by someone who is very good at what they do. I don't really think all of Nami's actions are always her own, and once her mistakes are made, she does do her best to make up for them.

Cordelia is another major POV character and is a seawitch with a tentacle in every pot. She makes deals all over the place and is behind the scenes pulling the strings in a surprising number of ways. Cordelia is an interesting character but she's definitely not one I like, though at times she does seem to make some sympathetic decisions. I just feel like I don't have a good feel on her and that makes it hard to want to sympathize with her. Her family is clearly a big motivator, but there's an undercurrent of ambition there that I think drives her more than she lets on.

For side characters, Kai is my favorite. He's not in it too much since he has his own things going on outside of Mira and Nami, but he's a gentle and understanding character, and it's clear he cares a ton about his family, folk in general, and Tiankawi as a whole. He has a lot of grace, even in circumstances where I think it would be okay if he lost it a little. Overall a very lovable and wholesome character.

Trish is Mira's mother and someone Mira would risk a lot for. Trish is an older siren who's been around for a while and has seen all sorts of what the city has to offer. Despite that, she's a lot like Mira and has a very level head about things. She exerts a fairly calming influence as well and I think her and Nami's relationship is something that Nami desperately needed. She definitely feels like a mother, which is kind of silly to say, but I really think Chan was able to get Trish's vibe down very well.

Firth is another side character, though he's a member of the Drawbacks, a radical folk group in Tiankawi that stages demonstrations. They have a reputation for being dangerous, so naturally Nami falls in with them. Firth is a slippery sort and a smooth talker. He seems like someone who's pretty open and just wants you to give them a try,' but over the course of the book I feel like his vibe slowly changes to something a little more solid and a little more hardline than he first came across. I'm not really a fan of his character, but I also don't think we're supposed to like him. I am interested to see what he gets up to in book 2 though.

The ending of this book was a rollercoaster. So many things came to a head in succession, some of it quite surprising. I liked how all the pieces came together and I liked how unexpected some of it was. One of the solutions was actually downright hilarious, not going to lie, and I'm super intrigued to see where it will go. The ending-ending is bittersweet and I'm holding out hope there's a solution though I don't know if I actually expect that or not.

Overall I enjoyed this book and can't wait for book 2. There's a lot of getting to know Tiankawi and the culture of the city and the people and folk who occupy it, so the beginning can be kind of slow at times. However, the payoff is definitely worth it and all the characters are intriguing and have depth to them.

Fathomfolk had a super interesting concept of a book. Humans and the Fathomfolk— sirens, seawitches, kelpies and kappas— living in a semi flood city while the humans are living in skyscrapers, the Fathomfolk are living in the polluted waters below.
I had a few issues with the pacing of this book, there were a lot of different characters and everything was happening at the same time. I felt like I couldn't keep up and it didn't give me any more information or view of the world having so many POVs. It just left me confused. The person I thought would hold this story together was Mira but very quickly got very old. I stopped caring about her relationship with Kai as well and on top of that, a lot of her chapters were info dumps. There were some issues with the editing. The past and present tense was mixed up frequently and it overall did not help with the issues I had with the rest of the book. Also, I think the author wanted every chapter to be left on some cliffhanger and it felt like the chapter ended very abruptly. It ruined any flow this book was trying to have.

DNF around @54%

Unfortunately this one just was not working for me. I didn't find any of our POVs particularly engaging and the plot wasn't hooking me so I was finding myself forcing myself to read it and just wasn't enjoying it. I also felt like this needed more basic level editing. Sometimes it felt like there were points where something was being told to us or described but I couldn't quite figure out what was trying to be conveyed and it would have been solved just be like an additional sentence of description to tie it together. So just that kind of clarification editing.

I think the idea of the world in this was the thing that interested me the most, but it took farther into the book than it should have for me to ever feel like I had even a little bit of a grasp on what the world was supposed to look like

DNF @ 78%

I really tried to like this book. I couldn't connect to the characters at all because they were so surface-level and the writing was choppy. Paragraphs would end and move on to the next point with conclusion.. There was no flow.

I also struggled with the vagueness of the world-building. There was such a mish-mash of different Asian-inspired cultures thrown in (which I didn't mind) but there were also different sea creatures from all throughout the world thrown in. The world-building also relied so much on telling instead of showing, which caused an already slow paced book to drag.

I think this book has potential but really could have been improved by a few more rounds of edits.

I want to start with the pros of this book before I go into a few things which didn’t work for me.


Pro: I like the premise and the setting. I think a water city where humans and fathomfolk try to work side by side while still having to face the inequality is a good start to a story to build tensions and try to find some way to make things better for all.
Pro: Dragons and Mermaids and all the other fathomfolk. I loved seeing the diversity of the depths and how they integrated or didn’t integrate. From sirens to sea witches, to all of the rest, I thought the diversity was well done and highlights how often we forget how diverse we are on land as well.
Pro: The mythologies. We see the author playing with various folk tales and lores as well as myths. I think it had a lot of potential.


I will try to keep my cons fairly short as I can see there were others who also found this didn’t hit the mark for them. Though I do not mind reading about political unrest, especially in a book which sets up the reader for such gaps in status, I felt as though the book could have been refined through another round of edits and tailoring. We have quite a few characters we are trying to follow from the very beginning and it does get jumbled. I also feel some of the characters and relationships could have been developed and explored to help with clarity and why the author put them together.


I was entertained throughout and found it to be a quick read. I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. I want to give it 3.5 stars but since Goodreads and NetGalley do not allow for half stars, I will give it about 4 stars for keeping me engaged and providing me with an entertaining story.

Fathomfolk is the first in a new duology and focuses heavily on politics and injustice, and is definitely a reflection of our world and the things marginalized groups go through to try to be heard.

It's a slower moving story, but I found the characters and the systems they were fighting against to be interesting enough to hold my attention. I think Mira was my favorite character by far, she is so filled with hope and love for her people and city that you can tell she truly wants the best for everyone. Nami was a typical kid who thinks she's got everything figured out, but seeing her get pulled into an extremist group was tough to read about. And Firth definitely is hiding something, there's definitely something going on with the way he touches Nami and she instantly agrees with everything he says.

The world is interesting and I really felt like I could see the city of Tiankawi in my mind. I did struggle with some of the creatures as I'm not overly familiar with some of them, like a kappa. I've seen a few reviews that didn't like combining different mythological creatures from different cultures, but for me that wasn't an issue.

This book tackles a lot of heavy topics like immigration/asylum seekers, drug addiction, homelessness and racism/oppression/prejudice. I'm sure there are others that you could pull out of this as well.

My main issue is that in the latter half of the book, there were some more action based scenes (like the cave) where I just got confused as to what was happening and had to reread sections and still didn't quite get it. Overall though I really enjoyed this!

DISCLAIMER. I received this as an Arc from netgally in exchange for an honest review.
I found the setting of this story to be unique . An aquatic fantasy that includes lots of commentary on Caste systems and racism? Very much my kind of story. However it did not land for .
the fantastical creatures while aplenty were not fleshed out. They were written in a way that assumed the readers are familiar with legends of aquatic folklore. (Some I was but definitely not all that were mentioned).
The Pacing of the story was off. We don’t reach the conflict of the book until 45% into the story. I also don’t feel much connection to the characters. Honestly they don’t feel very connected to one another. If feels like every perspective is a separate story. It was very hard to stay engaged with the story.
I really wanted to love this . It is such a different setup from a lot of what we are seeing but it wasn’t for me.
Thank you NetGalley for this arc!

Thank you Netgalley and Orbit Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fathomfolk is set in the semi-underwater city of Tiankawi, where humans live in tandem with sea-born mythological creatures, and explores some complex political themes. We follow Mira, the half-siren captain of the border guard, and Nami, a sea dragon on their arduous journey to earn equal rights for their species, with the sea witch Cordelia adding fuel to the fire with her manipulative games.

The cover art is stunning, and I love reading books inspired by East Asian mythology. The author's idea of weaving together nautical folklore with modern politics is very interesting.

Sadly, this book did not live up to my expectations. The plot is promising, but the writing and editing of the book are not up to the mark. The overly verbose descriptions of the location and workings of the world feel like an info dump but at the same time, fail to paint a clear picture of how the setting and characters look like. The storytelling wasn't very immersive so it would make me want to keep reading. I also didn't feel a connection with any of the characters.

Overall, it wasn't a favorite. Although, I would like to give the finished copy of this book another chance in the future.
Final Rating: 2.5/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. I struggled to be drawn into the story and once I was I felt as though I skimmed through a lot of the middle of the story. I found myself frequently frustrated with many actions of the three main characters. I did not like Nami’s character and definitely hated her romantic interest. She describes how she realizes that she never stops to think about the consequences before acting, yet never seems to grow out of this throughout the book. Mira was frustrating for other reasons - she desperately wants change for the fathomfolk yet doesn’t want to be too forward in trying to push for changes. Her relationship with Kai felt one dimensional - we hear of their past and how they ended up together but I don’t feel that they were portrayed together enough to feel invested in their relationship. Cordelia/Serena was an interesting POV, but I also found myself frustrated with her character.
I am interested in seeing where the sequel takes the story.

I wanted to like this book a lot, but in the end it fell a bit short for me. The word building of Tiankawi was fascinating. The author did a great job of building neighborhoods and the way that different communities lived and were raised.

The part that fell flat for me was some of the characters. Mira was probably the only character I really found interesting, but Cordelia especially didn't seem to add a lot to the story. I was going to give it 4 stars because I did enjoy reading it, but the ending ruined it for me

Ugh. I wanted to like this so much. The cover is probably the best part of this book. The characters were dry. I didn't feel the fantastical elements of the world. It just wasn't as immersive as I was hoping it would be.

Like the waterweaving capabilities of the fathomfolk in her novel, Eliza Chan expertly weaves with words instead of water a gorgeous Asian-inspired fantasy world where humans and fathomfolk, mythological creatures of the deep, must live together.

With elements from water-based mythologies of both Western and Eastern cultures, Fathomfolk follow a water dragon ambassador Kai, his human/siren hybrid lover Mira, and his exiled, rebellion of a sister named Nami. Together, they uncover the secrets of the half-submerged city they call home that is controlled by humans. Although I found this to be an excellent escapist fantasy with original worldbuilding and likeable characters, there are very heavy themes of racism, oppression, and classism.

Amateur fantasy readers might feel overwhelmed by being suddenly tossed into the waves of this new world, however seasoned fantasy lovers should have no problem following the plot and immersing themselves in both the world and storyline.

I absolutely cannot wait for the sequel and to return to the Drowned World.

Thank you to NetGalley, Eliza Chan, and Orbit for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to enjoy this story, but I had some major issue with it.
The characters definitely struggled to find their footing, but I thought that the concept of the story and world was really compelling. I think that this story is ambitious in that it boasts a lot of characters, but because of that I don't think any of the main POVs were exactly well-done. The characters fell into specific archetypes and never really moved out of them (Cordelia is a snob, Nami is just prejudiced, and Mira is uptight, Serena was just sort of bleh, etc.). So, the characters were a really a let down in this story. Because of this, the romance between Mira and Kai felt implausible and forced.
I wish that the world-building had been composed of less information-dumping, and a little more coherent setting description--the world just felt a bit nebulous, though there were moments of really interesting and solid development there. The city specifically was pretty well-described, but the political machinations, characters and their positions, and the conflict felt a bit hard to grasp.
My last major gripe with this was the tone. This is marketed as, and subsequently priced as, an adult fantasy book. However, this read very YA (to the book's detriment, I would argue). Nothing wrong with a YA fantasy, that and adult fantasy are all I read, but the marketing needs to fit the meat of the book better. Ultimately the tone and writing of the book don't match the description of the story or the themes that should be/are present.
I can see where this story could have really shined, if the world was a bit more coherent, the characters were both pared down in number and fleshed out in character, and the tone and narrative of the book was honed in (chapters end abruptly, sometimes the chosen descriptions don't really make sense, plot strings are left loose and can be confusing, etc.) Had this story gone through another round of editing and revisions to work out the kinks, this may have ended up being a lot more well-received. I'm not one to totally knock an author before I get to read a few things from them, so I'll definitely check out their next book. This one just wasn't all that it could have been.

Important Update: From talking with other reviewers, I've learned that this author apparently had some pro-Israel rhetoric on their social media. I haven't been able to find said post, as their Twitter has been restricted to a single post about Fathomfolk's release. However, if I am able to verify that that is true, then this will be a rare case in which I do not read or review another book by this author ever again, as anyone who supports genocide gets a big red X in my book.