Tiankawi is a half submerged city where human and fathomfolk (aquatic species) live together. Except humans look down, both figuratively and literally, from the towers as the fathomfolk live in the polluted waters below. They are also forced to wear arm bands that restrict their magic. Mira is a half-siren who has recently been promoted to captain of the border guards. Now in a position of power she tries all she can to change the laws restricting fathomfolk. And then she meets Nami, an exiled water dragon, who wants change to come faster. As their ideals clash Nami joins an anti-human extremist group. But change isn't easy to come by, especially with a sea witch pulling strings behind the scenes.

I feel abit torn about this book. I thought I would like it more than I did. The world building was so good. A fantastical world full of so many species pulled from many asian mythologies. However I had a bit of a problem with two of the female leads. Mira had to have known she was promoted as a token project to promote inclusion. And yet she put no effort into politicking and could barely control her anger. Nami on the other hand was so overzealous with her attempts to make change that she is so blind to the manipulation Firth was doing. It frustrated me. However I was still drawn into the story, and am super curious about what answered the death call.

Rating 3.5 stars
*I received a review copy from NetGalley for my voluntary and honest review

Big sigh. Big sigh. At first, I gave up at 2% because a fantasy novel, especially one based on a new world with new rules, new laws, a variation of cultures, radiations and people, needs to be visualized to me. Yes, it can be a slow unravel, but when I'm not given imagery of this land to place my mind into, to understand the worldly motivations and dynamics, then my interest will not gain traction. In this novel, things happen, things are said, and I have to develop this into the world's lore. No.

Speaking of the lore, the cultures are just... all of the East Asian cultures combined? The naming is all over the place. There is an upside and downside to choosing to do this. One, you are representing a multitude of cultures in your dynamic. Diversity is fantastic. But forgetting individual cultures and their history is the downside. Names arent names - names are pieces of history, of a culture's naming system, identification and traces of idneotyi, so they d not just exist in adjacent to each other. There are many videos on YouTube and reviewers who go into this, as it is a route often taken in the movie world. Adding to this, I assume it is representative of clans and species? I browsed those books, so let me know!

Also, this book reads like YA, so I was shocked when I remembered it's an adult. like? Don't like to me.

Besides that, the actual world? sounds beautiful. This water-filled world expands both above and below the water line. It reminds me actually of SharkTale for some reason. This is what I visualize in the homes below the water, sue me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for an eARC, but I couldn’t get into this.

First, I was excited to read an East Asian-inspired revolution story about a submerged city of magical creatures and non-magical humans. The dichotomy between life on land and life in the sea is fun to explore and brings awareness to environmental issues overlooked in the world today. Second, I was looking forward to the writing of Eliza Chan, a new voice in adult fantasy. And I believe this book sets up the groundwork for what could be a captivating story, but the execution falls short.

It was jarring how scenes would change without warning and chapters would end without being picked up later. And how stilted dialogue was whenever two characters were newly introduced or briefly engaged. Also, it was difficult to imagine the characters in their folk forms as descriptions were not provided. Unless one knows what a kelpie, kappa, or water dragon looks like, one imagines they look like any old fish, with gills and scales all over, but no distinct features. Let alone what to make of them in their hybrid-humanoid forms.

As for the narrative, it didn’t flow because it was being told from multiple competing perspectives. A more experienced writer could have pulled this off, but it wasn’t a good choice for this book. Chan would have done better to have chosen one or two POVs to write from so that we could easily follow what was going on. The side characters were not interesting enough to carry the story; and it got so confusing around 30% that details important to the main plot got lost between the lines. So much information was being dumped on us by different people, in different parts of the city, tackling unrelated issues, that it often felt like there wasn’t a plot at all.

Finally, in terms of representation, I couldn’t help noticing how Chan blended different East Asian cultures together so that none are entirely present for us to appreciate. I’m not sure this book counts as representing the East Asian cultures well because everything diverse and different about them is watered down to suit the faulty idea that all are one.

I really wanted to like this book as it does have something good to say about respect and rights for all peoples, but I’m afraid it has convinced me not to continue on.

Final rating: ⭐️⭐️

Fathomfolk was one of my most anticipated releases for this year so I was incredibly honored to be chosen as an ARC reader! Thank you Orbit and Netgalley! I absolutely DEVOURED this book! 😱😍
Fathomfolk takes place in a half submerged Asian inspired high epic fantasy world where humans and Fathomfolk (sea creatures such as sirens, water dragons, kappa, etc.) live together in anything BUT harmony. With a refugee crisis, deep prejudices, and violent rebellious factions this book is engrossing. The book is multiple POV and follows several main characters including Mira, Nami, and Cordelia. While I love most of the characters (or love to hate them) I wish we would have seen more of Mira and Kai they were my favorites! 😍🥰 The book is heavily plot driven, rich with world building, complex political intrigue, and themes such as racial prejudice, interracial relationships, refugee crisis, and different ways to enact change. Some plot twists were easy to predict but even still I felt like I was on the edge of my seat for at least 50% of this book! I would definitely recommend this book! It is a perfect book for fans of The Drowning Empire Series, the Aurelian Cycle, and The Little Mermaid. 😊
4 ⭐️
1.5 🌶️ : some highly suggestive/low explicit scenes that fade to black (very end of Ch. 1 and 46)
4 🫢: frequent cussing including the F word

I absolutely loved the beginning and setting of this, but unfortunately it ended up missing the mark. I felt that it needed to somehow be both shorter and longer, so the pacing was just off. The POV's didn't mesh well together so it felt very jumpy, and all of the characters felt very juvenile to me.

3.5/5

Thank you so much to Orbit Books and Netgalley for providing me with the eARC. All opinions are honest and my own.

I struggled with rating this one because there was so much I loved about the book and I had to tease out how many of the components that didn’t work for me were due to my heightened expectations and excitement for a pan-Asian high fantasy vs legitimate misses. Overall, I want to emphasize that I did enjoy reading this book and absolutely would recommend it to the right crowd.

I think if you are someone who enjoys complex political fantasies set in unique magical worlds, this may be for you. And this might sound strange, but I would recommend this to those with high attention spans. There’s a lot of delayed gratification here. Also those who are not necessarily fantasy veterans, but at least have adequate experience with dense fantasy worlds. I don’t think this is a good place to start for those just getting into reading fantasy.

Let’s go through this systematically.

This book is essentially three interwoven stories told from distinct POVs that merge and divide and culminate into the climax towards the end. It is set in the semi-submerged city Tiankawi, where discrimination and social injustice run rampant. The story follows the three main characters as they strive to navigate reform and carve out a place of belonging in their own ways.

The worldbuilding, oh the worldbuilding. I haven’t read a book with such a lush and imaginative world in quite some time, but it does require some suspension of disbelief. The inspiration is pan-asian and I mean that in every way. This book includes mythology, folklore, and character inspiration from across the Asian continent, creating this vast cast of fathomfolk and cultures. And I think the intermingling of cultures was executed quite tastefully.

I had some issues with the pacing and feel that it may have been too ambitious in its scope. I see the vision here – I don’t doubt that Eliza Chan has an entire backlog of incredible ideas. But that’s where the problem lies. I just felt like the complexity of ideas outpaced the story itself. There were shifting alliances, many ledgers to keep track of, and dense side plots that wove in and out and under the main plot only to be lost 50 pages later. In all honestly, I did find my attention drifting throughout the middle of this book because of the inconsistent pacing.

The characters were interesting, but not the highlight. That’s right folks, this is a heavily plot-driven book. So if you’re someone who is very plot focused, I would definitely recommend this for you. As the leading characters, Cordelia stood out as the most interesting to me, though Mira is also a very strong lead. And while Nami is annoying, I do think she is quite well written for her intended character background / archetype.

This story is about many things, and I think many people will find what they’re looking for here. It touches on themes of extremism, clashing ideologies, racism and prejudice, mixed-race relationships, social reform, and much more. If these themes sound interesting to you, I’d encourage you to give this a try.

Absolutely loved this! Eliza Chan's "Tiankawi" is a captivating fantasy novel set in the myth-rich, semi-submerged city of Tiankawi, exploring themes of revolution and magic. It presents a stark divide between the humans atop their skyscrapers and the fathomfolk below, amidst polluted waters. The narrative follows half-siren Mira's ascent to captain of the border guard, aiming to reform repressive laws against the fathomfolk, a mission complicated by the arrival of Nami, a headstrong water dragon. Nami's frustration with the slow pace of change leads her to join an anti-human extremist group, escalating tensions. Behind the scenes, sea-witch Cordelia maneuvers for her family's survival, threatening the fragile peace. As extremist actions lead to violence and a crackdown on fathomfolk rights, Mira and Nami face the daunting task of weighing the costs of their fight for equality against the backdrop of a city on the brink of collapse, making "Tiankawi" a powerful tale of conflict, choice, and the quest for harmony.

I appreciate having access to an arc of this. I wanted to like this book but it just wasn’t for me. I struggled to really feel gripped by the storytelling. There was this disconnect that I experienced.

I have been anticipating reading this for awhile now and I really enjoyed it despite maybe it not being as strong as I thought given the hype around it. The world was so interesting and unique I don’t think I’ve ever read anything similar. Having all sorts of different fantasy species and the diversity of that felt like it really hit messaging well beyond fantasy. I usually love stories with multiple POVs but this time it did get a little much and I think continued to the story feeling slow at times. I just wanted it overall for lack of a better term to have a little more oomph - jaw drawing pull me in moments but I still would recommend and purchase for our library.

I didn't finish this one. There was so much hype with this book I thought I'd love it but I just don't think it was for me.

Thanks to Orbit Books for proving this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
I have recently finished Fathomfolk, I had very high hopes for this read and it was so close to being exactly what I wanted. Fathomfolk is a multi- point of view story discussing the lives of many fantasy like individuals living in a big city, who have human like experience but non human like features.

It mirrors the day-to-day treatment of those who are discriminated against and those who are living on the edges of society without a voice. The “humans” are superior whereas the Fathomfolk are considered less then.

We follow many character in this book— a strait laced commanding officer, a naive political activist, a privileged dragon, and a sea witch who deals in bargains( very little mermaid reminiscent). We get a whole spectrum of political ideologies. .

I really enjoyed the idea of this book. The descriptions were beautiful so if you’re a reader who likes really descriptive and fantastical prose this may be a great read for you. Personally I echo the sentiment of other reviewers: the change in point of view was sometimes hard to follow, some of the characters were more interesting then others, and the majority of the book is building towards the last 5 chapters. .

Sometimes I want my themes to hit me square in the jaw, this book clearly discusses topics related to classism, racism, discrimination and environmental impacts on the world. I like that it was brazen in exactly what it was showing the reader.

Overall it was quite enjoyable, with a few flaws: confusing point of view, not enough time spend on solid character development, awkward ending, and a slow- going plot. This may be a situation where the second book will be better than the first..

Fathomfolk is a beautiful, complex story that weaves together the lives of several women in a city that considers them to be second class citizens. The mythology and folklore used as the foundation/inspiration for Tiankawi makes it feel so incredibly unique compared to most books I’ve read in the past, and Chan’s world-building felt like more of a “know as you go” instead of the typical paragraphs long info-dump, which I personally appreciated. The multi-POV was a little confusing for me at first (probably because I was reading a couple of chapters each day), but once I established our main characters I really enjoyed switching back and forth and seeing how each storyline progressed. Out of all the characters, Nami was my favorite (I love an unreliable narrator) and has really grown by the end of this book. Looking forward to reading more from Chan!



Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

DNF. Lost interest in the story. Three main characters POVs were indistinguishable from each other and i equally disliked all three. The idea was very good and the execution not great.

I think for better or worse, this was a middle of the road book. It was enjoyable but not something I'm itching to buy copies of for friends.

The positives:
The world was interesting. You have a submerged city of Tiankawi facing environmental issues. You have a mythical species of all sorts creating a diverse (in theory) crew. The politics and world building were interesting bones for the story.

The negatives:
It was honestly a bit slow. The characters blurred together quite a bit despite having varying and diverse backgrounds. It was really hard to get attached.

This is for sure one of those books where if I was in the right mood, I think I would have really enjoyed it but as it stands, I found it a bit of a chore. Despite that, I'm giving it three stars because I really did enjoy the world building aspect of the story enough that I would read a sequel and may revisit the book if I'm in the right mood.

Thank you so much for thus arc I was so excited when I got approved and I absolutely loved it the writing was amazing along with the plot and all the characters

This debut novel is a fascinating concept set in a unique fantasy world with cultural inspirations drawn from Eastern Asia, packed with diverse characters (sirens, kappas, kelpies and so much more) but also political intrigue. This story centers around the partially submerged city of Tiankawi, where humans and fathomfolk coexist, but not all is as glossy as it seems. Tensions have been slowly building; the status quo has kept fathomfolk in the lower echelons of the city, while Tiankawi’s government is nearly completely composed of humans. In this setting, we follow three different POVs: Mira, a half-siren, half-human scholar who has fought her way from humble beginnings to the captain of the border guard, Nami, the youngest daughter of a sea dragon family, which is the closest to royalty amongst fathomfolk, and Cordelia, a scheming sea witch with shapeshifting powers.

I think heterogeneity amongst even the main characters is one of the shining stars of Eliza Chan’s first novel in this series. It was clear that Chan was aiming to capture not only the many ways prejudice can present between larger groups, such as the humans and fathomfolk, but she also made it a point to display the diversity within the group of fathomfolk, from species to political view and so much more.

Unfortunately, I think my actual reading experience was dampened by a few other factors. While the inter-character diversity was present, each individual character felt very one-dimensional. Even though Chan takes a slower pace with the plot, each scene contributes little to expand on the personalities, motivations, and aspirations of each character. In that way, it made it difficult to resonate with them nor feel motivated to cheer them on through the trials and tribulations of the plot. Additionally, it was palpable that the world Chan is trying to build is expansive, but the actual conveying of the worldbuilding felt unwieldy and confusing. ( I did learn about many different types of sea creatures, both real and imaginary, albeit mainly through Google after they were mentioned). In total, these aspects, along with the slower pace, made it quite the trudge to get through the middle chunk of this novel.

I’d say overall this is a fun idea of a novel that’s opened up a world that has great potential. I am hopeful that Fathomfolk’s sequel could really expand on some of the characters and worldbuilding in all the ways I was hoping for.. Admittedly, in a world where there’s countless series to start, I can’t say I recommend this first book strongly if I can only say the best part is hopefully yet to come.

This has definitely been a highly anticipated read for me when I was looking forward through my TBR pile for the spring. The book summary lays out a pretty complicated, rich-sounding world that I was excited to dive into, and the cover art seem to paint a picture of the exact sort of romantic, fairytale-like tone that I look for in much of my fantasy. Plus, it was being marketed as an adult fantasy novel, which on its face doesn’t seem like much. But while there are a bunch of adult fantasy novels published all of the time, there aren’t necessarily many that sound like this.

I’ll just get it out of the way now: I didn’t really enjoy this book and probably would have DNF’d it if I hadn’t received an ARC from the publisher. But before we dive into my struggles with the story, let’s start with a few positives. As the book summary hints towards, there is a lot of creativity and detail to the worldbuilding in this book. I don’t know tons about all of the cultures that were drawn upon to create this world, but it was clear the author was pulling from a number of them and blending them into a unique world. I also really enjoyed some of the details that went into the little things, like the descriptions of the street vendors and the foods they would sell. There was definitely an experience, especially early in the book, of wanting to simply walk down these streets to see it all.

That said, as beautiful as the cover art was for the story, it did mislead me a bit about the time period and setting of this book. It clearly is using elements of historical building styles, implying a less modern setting than what we have here. I was surprised to find cable cars and trams and the like as I read further. There’s obviously nothing wrong with this sort of setting, but it did feel like a bit of a bait and switch as far as my expectations went. (To be fair to the book, I didn’t catch some of the book summary clues; so that’s on me for focusing too much on the cover). I’ll also add that while I enjoyed a lot of the details that went into the world-building, as the book continued, the thing as a whole began to a bit disjointed, with everything and the kitchen sink seemingly thrown in the book. As more and more was added, I felt more and more disconnected from what I was truly supposed to be focused on.

None of this was helped by the fact that I didn’t enjoy any of our three main characters. At times annoying, at others incredibly naïve, and at others clearly biased themselves, each character in their own way was fairly unlikable. Again, writing characters who learn and grow can serve as an interesting arc, but between the three, I simply couldn’t find anything to grab onto at any point. I felt like I was just bouncing from one to another in a fairly robotic manner, caring little for who I was reading currently or who I was going to read next. None of them felt truly consistent in their worldviews or even their goals; for a book about sea creatures, I felt out to sea myself as a reader, lost in the flotsam of a plot that didn’t seem to be going anywhere fast.

I also found the pacing to be incredibly slow (often the case for a book that has to establish several POV characters while also building up a complicated world). However, as the story progressed, the pacing never really increased alongside it. It was one of those books that simply felt bland much of the time. There was nothing terrible about the writing, but it also wasn’t engaging and there were some form questions at play with the way scenes would end abruptly or other descriptive elements wouldn’t quite fit.

Overall, I was very disappointed by this book. Most of the time it felt like a chore to read, and I never really found anything that struck my interest or compelled me to want to continue reading. I won’t be continuing with the series, and I can’t strongly recommend this one. If you have a strong interest in Asian folklore, perhaps this is worth checking out, but even then, I think there are stronger examples of books like this out there.

Rating 6: An interesting premise fell apart in the face of a lackluster plot and unlikable lead characters.

(Link will go live on The Library Ladies on February 24)

I struggled a little with the start of this book, but once I got halfway through I kept turning the page whenever a chapter would end. This has three main POV's, Nami, a water dragon, Mira, a half guard who is dating Nami's brother, and Cordelia who is leading a double political life. I actually wish this book had less POV's, there were times I just wanted one way over the other's. I was pleasantly surprised by a little mermaid twist in this book. It felt like a secret retelling wrapped up in this greater plot. Also liked the different mythologies combined in this book. This book reminded me a bit of To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods. I did take a star off the ending of this one, it upset me. But I'm excited for book two.

A worthwhile story sticks with you after turning the final page, and I can't stop thinking about Eliza Chan's Fathomfolk. As the debut of a new series, Chan's novel of class, mythology and the tools of protest is engrossing and perplexing in nearly equal measure.

Nami, Mira and Cordelia are three of the titular fathomfolk who all come to live in Tiankawi, a half-submerged metropolis for both humans and the folk. As a dragon, a siren, and a sea witch, respectively, all three women have differing aims and outlooks on the rising tensions between the two vastly separate classes in the city. Political change is coming to Tiankawi, but its form and methods are very much up for debate.

Setting the foundation for a series is a big task, and Chan starts strong when building out The Drowned World. Without launching into paragraphs of encyclopedia entries or incorporating characters solely for the sake of exposition, readers quickly get a feel for the world of Fathomfolk. Not every story needs to have an unshakeable, practical logic to work, and Chan sketches enough lines that you can easily get a shape of the world without becoming too caught up in the details.

All three points of view become varied enough that I found myself preferring certain chapters without ever dreading another central character intruding into the novel. Once the story gets going, it doesn't let up and there's only one piece of the final resolution—which I won't delve into for spoiler reasons—that soured my reading experience. As the first entry of a series, my issues with the finale could become standout elements of the sequels, and Chan certainly has the ability to pull this off, even if I don't think she stuck the landing.

Another element of Fathomfolk holding me back from being more effusive was the pacing of the split narrative. When a story is told from multiple viewpoints, often in different locations and with various supporting casts, there's a chance it won't work for the reader. I found, especially early on in the book when the world and protagonists were less familiar to me, that jumping between Nami, Cordelia, and Mira hurt the pace rather than drawing me further into the world. Even as far as reading experiences go, this is subjective, but I find jumping between multiple characters keeps them at a remove from the reader. You don't form a connection with their personal story because, often, I'm still in the process of finding my bearings in the world itself. Becoming hooked on one point of view can be challenging enough, but when the author attempts to draw the reader into three separate stories—which will ideally tie together in the end—the book loses its narrative juice. By the midpoint of Fathomfolk I was locked into everything Chan was trying to accomplish, but the beginning suffered under the weight of its narrative ambition.

An ambitious beginning to a series can often be messy. Instead of sticking with the same familiar tropes, setting and plots that I've come to expect in fantasy—especially the recent deluge of myth-inspired novels—Fathomfolk is as intriguing as it is thorny. I'm looking forward to seeing what Eliza Chan will do when returning Tiankawi.

“She was tired of the broken system. Of trying to grow around a tangled fishing net that was strangling her.”

“Fathomfolk” by Eliza Chan is about water Fae and humans in a semi-submerged world. Tiankawi, a city for humans and Fae, where the humans reign is a beautiful and technologically advanced home to many who seek civil unrest. The humans live on the top of the city in their shining towers while the Fathomfolk (Sirens, Seawitches, Kelpies and Kappas) live in the dirty waters below. Mira, a half-siren, has just become captain of the border guard and is just trying to play the game in order to help her Fathomfolk people. Nami, a water dragon, is exiled from her home to Tiankawi to learn how to be responsible. Nami has a pension for trouble, and it isn’t going to change now, especially when she learns how the Fathomfolk are treated in the city. The city is plagued with extemists trying to change the power structure in favor of the Fathomfollk. Both must choose is the city and its people are worth the cost.

I really like the world building and imagery and the concept of the book was really good. The world is so unique and interesting especially the Asian culture throughout the entire book. However, the politics ended up being a bit confusing at times. I think I’d have liked it a bit more if it was just in one POV. In my mind the book is a mix of Raya and the Last Dragon mixed with Disney’s move Elemental. I gave the book a 3 out of 5 stars, lots of promise but I think it was too much at once.

-Multi POV
-Water Fae/Creatures
-Political Intrigue