The description and setting for Fathomfolk did not disappoint. There were beautiful descriptions of the underwater city of Tiankawi. I could’ve went without some of the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit for providing me with an eARC of this novel, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

So, let's just start by saying: Yes, the cover is absolutely gorgeous. I mean look at it! (Insert nonsense about judging books by covers here) Let's be honest, we all judge books by their covers. At least a little bit. And this cover is gorgeous.

Moving past the cover, I DNF'd this. I got about 20% in and I knew this was not going to be for me, but I went and had a look at other reviews to do my due diligence and decided not to continue. I'm going to part with this book while the feelings are still neutral instead of dragging myself through it to maybe give it a two start by the end. The problems I was having with certain characters (mostly Nami) and ideas in the book only seem to build as the book goes on. So, I'm going to say this book was not for me and end it there.

Oh, wait, I will say one more thing. Is this adult fantasy? Is it? If you look deep down in your heart is it really adult fantasy? Or is it falling into that grey area of upper young adult? It doesn't read or feel like adult to me. Sorry.

This one is a high 4, a 4+ if you will, but there were certainly a few things keeping it from being a 5.

First, the good: the gorgeous crumbling, towering, algae-covered, debris-littered, half-flooded neighborhoods in Tiankawi. Seriously, the visuals and imagery in this book are out of this world. Also the way that racism/classism is handled: we see the different “classifications” of the fathomfolk and the various prejudices against them, how people of mixed races or in mixed-families are treated, the complex politics of being the “chosen representative” for an entire diverse diaspora community that you don’t wholly belong to… it was messy and complex and so very REAL. Also the core relationship between Mira and Kai is so wholesome and works as such a nice anchor for everything else that goes down in the story.

The less good: I understand the imperative for highlighting (and summarily crushing) Nami’s naivety, but it felt a little heavy-handed seeing the sheer number of times she makes the wrong decisions (and it also meant we saw less of Mira in the middle of the book because we were spending so much time with Nami and her consequences). Cordelia felt like a bit of a failure of an “evil mastermind” out of the sheer fact that absolutely nothing goes “according to plan” in the entire book - it sort of curtails her image as cunning and flexible if she’s so dramatically thrown by every inconvenience and wrong turn; how the heck has she survived this long and gotten this powerful if this is how she handles things?

For a parting note: if we don’t see more of Eun in book two, I will probably riot.

I liked the detailed world building and writing, but the story itself kind of gave me a headache (I'm so sorry to say this, but I really could not root for the direction of the story, I tried so hard)

I'm sad to rate this book so low, I can clearly see how much effort had to be put into writing this, and the book did hold my attention for the entire 400-450 pages -- but the narration and the direction of the storyline was just not it, it made me feel so uncomfortable (in a bad way) and icked out😭

The story is split into three povs -- I very much liked Mira who's just trying so hard to make everything right.

Cordelia's pov was a headache from the start, she's very clearly a villain on all sides?? Maybe she's essential to the storyline (aka the villainy and the chaos she causes directly or indirectly ruins everyone's life), but it was no fun at all to read her pov.

And finally, Nami's pov - the amount of gaslighting that she goes through, I felt sick. She gets betrayed by this guy like 10 times and each time she gets clarity that he's a bad guy, but the minute she sees him again, his "pretty face" changes her mind?? And tbh, the amount of trust she had in him wasn't even convincing, they barely knew each other for a few days before she 100% trusted his actions, even though it's reportedly shown that he's doing the wrong thing.

So yeah, to summarise, 2/3 of the narration had me feeling horrible, and I don't really recommend this if that is not for you.

Also, wtf was that ending, they basically killed one of the only genuinely good characters, I'm so disappointed.

I definitely would have liked this book more if it had leaned further into the world building and the politics, rather than the pov of a villain and the repeated abuse of a girl who was very much thrown into a bad situation (none of her family protect her?? what was all that bs about hiding the truth from her??).

TWs (this is what I remember rn) - continuous and extreme gaslighting in a relationship, many deaths (strangers and loved ones of the MCs), violence, extreme xenophobia and racism (not that in this world it's between humans and the sea-folk, as well as between sea-folk of different races and origins) in all walks of life, exploitation of vulnerable people, professional sabotage, attempted murder, kidnapping of a child, hardships and violations faced by immigrants

-- got an advanced copy from Netgalley

Asian fantasies own my heart! This one was a bit disappointing though. I did like certain aspects. The world building was beautiful! It was full of lore and uniqueness. The plot had potential but the stories pacing was sloooooow. I felt like that author struggled to make clear and conside point and I found myself skimming a lot.

First, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy, this was one of my most highly anticipated books of 2024. Despite my reviews tending to sound harsh, I was not disappointed.

-----

This book is a fun read, with a caveat: Fathomfolk suffers from an identity crisis, and you need to be willing to stick it through to the end for any payoff. I do feel like Eliza Chan could deliver a much-improved experience in the second book, and I'll be one of the first to preorder it when it's out.

That being said, the first half of Fathomfolk is YA, not even close to an adult or general audience. The characters are shallowly developed through paragraphs of narration, with much of that being in short, choppy sentences, the excess of which feels like it wasn't properly edited. Eliza Chan's worldbuilding is lovely, but to the detriment of deeper storytelling; her vivid descriptions of scenes and locales feels like she's taking us on a guided tour of her creation instead of moving the story along. New species of folk are introduced, but none of them are actually described in any way. Most people who DNF this book will do so in the first half.

The unfortunate issues in the first half affect the second half. Chan hits her stride at about the 60% mark. More engaging prose and depth of story, with less unnecessary place descriptions, makes the writing more distinctly adult. Unfortunately, that's already past the point of no return for many; without proper build-up in the first half, the second half feels disjointed. Important information about big aspects of the ending is left out completely in most of the book, with real information about dragons severely lacking and most of the ending having almost no memorable basis in the first half.

Fathomfolk tries to be political, but has two big problems: it doesn't have enough nuance to manage, and its premise for inequality makes little sense. The main plot of the story is that Tiankawi is a partially-submerged city, where the sea-dwelling Fathomfolk (a catch-all term for all mythical water creatures who can take a humanesque form) are barely treated as citizens and suffer greatly in their diaspora as they migrate from their own collapsing settlements. It follows Mira, the half-siren Captain of the border guard, Nami, a water dragon who is the sister of Mira's partner Kai, and Cordelia a scheming sea witch.

The plot quickly falls apart as soon as one starts to wonder why the Fathomfolk are in Tiankawi in the first place. These are literal ocean-dwellers. They were born and evolved in the seas and have no reason to be living on or close to land, let alone in human settlements where they're stuck in shallow bays full of pollution. They're built to thrive in the hostile depths where no humans should ever be able to bother them. No real reason why the Fathomfolk are gathering at Tiankawi is ever given besides a vague "they're refugees," and there doesn't seem to be any reason they can't happily be living out in the oceans at all.

From there, things get a bit sticky. The characters whose POVs we're given are all Fathomfolk, but privileged enough to keep a black-and-white view of fighting oppression intact and stop a reader from asking too many gray questions. Nami, a dragon, grew up pampered and spoiled in the sea and has never known true oppression. Cordelia is a third-generation Tiankawian who is established enough to prey on the most vulnerable members of society. Mira is basically an Immigration officer who lives with her wealthy dragon partner and has the perk of not having to wear the magic-muting bracelets all other Fathomfolk are forced into. Her job is to police other Fathomfolk, despite repeated reminders she comes from refugee beginnings.

The book cuts those fighting for their very survival into "the good ones" (those who don't rock the boat and push for change through the slow-moving cogs of law) and "the bad ones" (straight up terrorists who don't balk at killing other innocent Fathomfolk for their cause). There is no real in-between. Ultimately, though, this entire crux of most of the book's plot ends up not meaning anything anyway. The ending, while setting up an interesting start for the second book, seems to posit that the only way to solve these thorny societal issues is to make sure a society only has one kind of people in it.

Despite Fathomfolk's missteps, Eliza Chan becomes a noticeably stronger writer as the book progresses. While I wasn't too fond of the first half--and despite the second half being poorly paced because of it--I was intrigued enough by the series' overarching story that I am looking forward to the second book. My hope is that the first book's most-repeated criticisms can be addressed during the second book's development, to deliver a better-paced, more thought-out sequel. I look forward to reading it to find out.

I had written a fully fleshed out review comprising high praise for this book, but upon learning that the author chose to be inspired by places in “Israel” for monuments in her world, I am rescinding all positive statements I’ve had regarding this.

It is January 12th, this week along we have seen more violence against Palestinians and even against Yemen for daring to stand up for Palestinian rights, coupled with this being the week of the ICJ case of South Africa against Israel.

And the authors silence on the issue, coupled with writing about oppression/xenophobia/racism, shows that everything in this book, and in this series, is merely performative. I will not be reading the rest of this series and I will never buy this book.

I'll start off by saying that I really wanted to like this, I was very excited for a fantasy that focused on water creatures and had political intrigue. The essential quick and dirty synopsis is that we are following a city in political turmoil and watching through three POVs as different groups deal with it. The city itself is divided into wealthy areas, where humans live, and impoverished areas, where Fathomfolk live. There is an activist group in the Fathomfolk community that becomes increasingly hostile as the story goes on causing difficulties for our three main characters.

Execution
I struggled with the use of multiple POVs where the perspective changed every chapter, often in the peak of an action sequence. This made for chaotic and confusing scenes, nevermind that when we picked up with the next character it was often days later with minimal resolution of the previous action event.
While some scenery was beautifully described and the city was filled out with colorful characters, the description of what was happening in a scene was often confusing and unclear.
The use of Fathomfolk as a stand in for marginalized Asian communities and refugees was extremely ham-fisted in a way that felt very YA for a book that was advertised as being adult fantasy.

Characters
We followed three women who each had a different amount of power and influence in the city. Overall, the characterization of each of them was inconsistent with their actions often not matching up. There was a big character change in Mira, in terms of her relationship, that honestly didn't make sense for her as it was not built up enough. Nami just felt like a dig at gen Z. Cordelia was just confusing overall because I couldn't really figure out what her full end game was.

The Ending
**** SPOILER ****
Nami wishes, using her brother's magic that he gave his life for, that all of the humans have gills just like the folk. This results in an off hand comment in the epilogue about how "what does it actually mean to be folk now?" Which is really concerning considering how hard the idea of the folk being a stand in for marginalized Asian communities was pushed.
There is an ableism ick that got me where Kai loses his voice and uses sign language and that somehow means he is incapacitated in terms of his job, despite it being established that signing is a known language. It felt like a forced way to get Mira to be on the council, which we then never saw anything of!
Our final scene with Firth, after establishing that he is problematic and abusive Nami goes back to him and this is just glossed over for what feels like the sake of having him in the next book.

DNFing this. I’m about 25% in an just super bored. I find the world interesting, but not the characters. I need some good characters with strong dialogue to carry me through the beginning of a book, but it’s mostly world building so far. I may pick up again when I can do an audiobook to help me through the boring parts.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of Fathomfolk! Unfortunately, this read fell flat for me. While I don’t mind a split POV book, I could only really sympathize with Mira’s POV. Cordelia/Serena and Nami were characters I repeatedly found myself annoyed with and it took me considerable effort to get through their chapters. I also felt that Nami’s romantic subplot was unnecessary and that the same conclusion could have been reached without it given her reactionary views. In addition, I felt that the pacing was pretty off. I didn’t start to get invested in the plot until more than halfway through the novel. Even then, I wasn’t really emotionally affected by the major plot points or twists. Overall, it was difficult to feel immersed in what was happening and to root for the characters. Otherwise, the novel’s strongest point is definitely its worldbuilding; Tiankawi feels lived in, in my mind, and it was easy to imagine the different parts of the city described in the novel. However, besides that, I couldn’t find a lot to keep me going as a reader. I hate to say it, but Fathomfolk just did not resonate with me.

Received an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and its publishers.

I really enjoyed this book! I was very happy to receive this as an ARC and can't wait to get a physical copy. The cover is absolutely beautiful. This book definitely needs to be in my collection. If you enjoyed Daughter of the Moon Goddess, Six Crimson Crows, Poppy War, or The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea - I think you would enjoy it. It wasn't the best book of all time and didn't turn out like how I expected, but I did enjoy reading it.

Let me start off by saying this book is not going to be for everyone. The setting is a rich and unique world, but the pacing is very slow and politically focused. The first two-thirds are focused on the economic, racial, environmental, and immigration issues (plus more I’m sure I’m forgetting) in Tiankawi and its governmental machinations. This felt very grounded in reality and would be great for the right audience. However, the last third swings much further into the fantasy genre and I feel almost cheapens the struggles and discussions had earlier in the book. Overall, I’m left unsure to whom I would even recommend read this book. Those who enjoy the harsh reality initially depicted will likely take issue with the ending. I personally enjoyed the more fantasy aspects of the book and if the author leans more into that in their future works, I’ll definitely be interested. I most likely won’t pick up the sequel to Fathomfolk though.

First off, can we all take a moment to appreciate the stunning cover art!
It’s so gorgeous.
With this being my first time reading anything set in this book world, and this being the first book in the series, it took me a bit to get fully involved in the story.
But once I did, I couldn’t put this book down! I read the last 200 pages in one sitting.
This book follows three main characters. Nami a young woman/water dragon. Mira a half-siren, and newly appointed “captain of the border-guard”. And the sea witch Cordelia. They live in Tiankawi: a half submerged city supposedly a place where humans and Fathomfolk can live together. As we read, we find out that this is not the reality and a civil war is brewing as the humans are pushing and blaming the Fathomfolk out of fear and hatred.
It is a complex world full of messy characters, betrayal, disloyalty, suspense, and sacrifice.
I haven’t read many books set in a place like this and I very much enjoyed it. Reading this book felt very immersive. My brain was constantly picturing all that I was consuming.
It was giving me dystopian vibes, but presented in a way I’ve never seen before. The last few chapters had me in tears and the ending makes me so ready for book 2!
I recommend!

Thank you to Orbit books and Net Galley for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Big yikes.

This is such a poorly thought-out political novel.

The rhetoric concerning the ending feels dangerous and insensitive, which is why I can't bring myself to give this anything higher than 2 stars. Maybe it was unintentional on the part of the author, and maybe I'm reading into it too much, but it didn't sit right with me at all. I'll include it in a huge spoiler alert at the end of my review.

Hell, I might even come back a few months later to knock this down to 1 star. We'll see.

All right, I'll start with the one thing I loved about this book: the rich worldbuilding. Tiankawi is a city that's partially built on the water and incorporates bits and pieces from Southeast Asian and East Asian cultures. It reminds me of Singapore (I partially grew up there) with its sights and smells. All sorts of cuisines from different cultures. (I wish there were more emphasis on food in this arc!)

I haven't been to either Hong Kong or Taipei, but Tiankawi seems to draw heavily from those cities too. Trams, cable cars, and tall buildings dot the skyline. Closer to the water, there's more of an influence from the waterfront area of historical Singapore, with shorter buildings and all types of wooden boats.

Anyway, that's the only part I loved about this arc. Ymmv, because Mai hated this. It reminded her of the worldbuilding in Raya and the Last Dragon. I didn't watch that, so I can't really comment on it.

Okay, so I thought the storyline(s) and characterizations were meh at best. The first 50% dragged so much, Mai and I couldn't stop complaining to each other.

As much as I want to say that it picked up after the midpoint, it really didn't. Storywise, it did. But pacing wise, it still dragged like a sack of potatoes.

The climax and ending were even worse, imo. It felt very YA Asian fantasy mixed with kids anime, I couldn't believe any of it was even happening. What the actual fuck?

This arc wanted so badly to be an adult fantasy, but at times, it read so juvenile. If it stuck to just one tone/voice, then it would be so much more consistent.

I was promised an adult fantasy, but received a YA fantasy instead. Which isn't a bad thing, if it was marketed correctly.

While the multiple POVs didn't really hinder the storytelling, I'm not actually sure if it helped to tell a well-rounded story. We get different views and understandings of Tiankawi history and politics through Mira, Nami, and Cordelia, which was great, but the characterizations were so inconsistent.

At the end of the day, there wasn't really anyone to root for. For a book about social disparity and economic inequality, this isn't a good sign.

Mai and I felt nothing whenever a jaw-dropping reveal about a major character occurred on page. We couldn't connect to either the characters or the storyline.

I won't lie, the entire time I had no idea what Cordelia's/Serena's actual purpose was other than to sow chaos between fathomfolk and humans. Is she supposed to represent self-hating BIPOC who can pass? Because that was how I felt reading her POV chapters.

At first, I really liked MIra because she tries to do the right thing and the mixed siren and human viewpoint was pretty interesting, but in the end, she turned out to be a wet blanket. Her life in the border guard, her upbringing, and her relationship to Kai, the minister of fathomfolk, provided a cool view into the Tiankawi commonor life, but all of that wasn't enough to keep my attention. It got old pretty quickly.

Nami's views on fathomfolk rights and her political extremism, mixed with her upbringing, seemed like a really weird attack on youth political viewpoints in general. It's like how young radicals are viewed as too naive to understand how society is structured and upheld, so therefore their far out ideas and actions don't have any merit.

At the end of the story, it felt like the lesson boiled down to political moderation is the best way forward. If you're someone who agrees with this, maybe you'll like this. It just seems too simplistic for my tastes. I highly doubt I'll pick up the sequel.

And honestly? I'm just glad the author recognizes that the "romantic" relationship between Nami and her love interest is, in fact, majorly icky and reeks of grooming (along with instances of gaslighting). A lot of reviewers have complained about this, and I was afraid that this romance might be a selling point.

Thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for this arc.


****MAJOR SPOILER ALERT****


What in the absolute FUCK was that ending? EVERYONE now has gills? Is this some kind of "all lives matter" statement???

I was already having problems with the whole dragon pearl thing (reads like juvenile anime wannabe Pokemon or Ghibli), but this is such a dumb deus ex machina I can't even


****END MAJOR SPOILER ALERT****

This book was amazing. It was very well written and the fantasy world was very built and I could not put it down!

Fathomfolk is such a fascinating novel. It focuses on three main characters, Nami, Mira, and Serena. Each one is trying to find a way to meet their goals, whether it be helping the people around them or a more complicated end goal. The story is about fathomfolk (mythical sea creatures such as kelpie, mermaids or sirens that can live on both land or sea through shapeshifting) and humans trying to coexist on land where humans fear the water weaving powers that the fathom folk have and treating them as less than due to their fish features. The story was amazing from start to finish and I absolutely cannot wait for the next book in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was really excited to read this book but unfortunately
I don’t think it lives up to the hype. :/ I did like parts of it, which is why I’m giving it 3 stars and not less, but sadly the parts I liked were also few and far between.

We get three POVs in this book: Mira, Serena/Cordelia, and Nami. I really liked the first two POVs, especially how their story sort of mirrored The Little Mermaid with the siren selling her voice to the sea witch, but we just don’t get enough page time with either of them.

The majority of this book was spent with Nami, and she’s just so incredibly immature and constantly making bad choices. There’s no character growth whatsoever with her—she starts the book off with a bad decision and ends the book with another terrible choice. It really made the story drag, and I don’t see how an author can expect readers to like or even root for a character when they’re consistently just not learning from their mistakes and continuing to do dumb things.

The author’s use of sentence fragments also started to get on my nerves.



Spoilers for the ending
-
-
-
-
-
-
I don’t really understand how everyone was suddenly okay with having gills. No one is hiding them?? You mean those same people who called Mira and Nami and other fathomfolk slurs are suddenly okay with having gills and being just like the fathom folk?? Naming Mira as the Minister of Fathomfolk seemed a little too easy of a wrap-up as well. (I can see what kind of justification the author would make for doing this but it still seemed too easy.)


So yeah, I wasn’t super wowed. I would like to see what happens next with these characters—I’d especially like to see how Cordelia tries to claw her way back out of the mess she ended with in this book—but I’m also not in a rush for the sequel either. It makes me sad because Illumicrate already announced that this will be their March book, and I know their customizations will make the book look so pretty, but I don’t know that buy that box just for this book. :/

I have been anticipating this novel with every fiber of my being and I have to say- it didn't quite live up to my expectations. I absolutely love books with watery cities and I feel like Chan really made the most of the setting. That being said, I was surprised by how political the novel is. I really like Mira but some of the other POVs were not my favorite. I definitely think it's worth a read and will read the sequel but I'm hoping it develops further.

The first 14% or so of Fathomfolk was incredibly slow, enough to the point where I feared I was not going to enjoy it and suspected it would be a chore to finish. After hitting that 15% mark, however, the story picked up considerably to the point where I couldn't put it down. While there were some elements that I had predicted/suspected, on the whole I was genuinely surprised at numerous points, even audibly gasping.

It has the immersive world-building descriptions of something like Song of Silver, Flame Like Night, in that both of these books have build an immersive and enchanting world. This is combined with the darker city atmosphere of books like Crescent City where yes it's a wonderfully described and beautiful sounding overall, but there are darker elements lurking below the surface. Eliza Chan really does a phenomenal job of drawing you deeply into the world they have created.

It reads to me as something like if The Little Mermaid were a dark story filled to the brim with political intrigue, while touching on heavy themes like cultural identity, racism, and classism.

First of all, I would like to thank Orbit Books for giving me an advanced readers copy of Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan

The beginning was a bit clunky and wordy, jumping from one thing to the next with no breaks or pauses.

After that, though, it makes an improvement. The worldbuilding and themes are well done and I started to feel more immersed in the world.

In a world divided between Fathomfolk, humanoid sea creatures with mythical abilities, and humans, humans have taken over Fathomfolks livelihood for their own gain. Fathomfolk are seen as second class citizens, some needing refuge from war, many living in shacks and barely getting by, they are overpoliced, and are not listened to by the court.

There are several takes on wanting to overcome this bigotry. Mira wants to rise in the rank to earn respect from humans and for them to treat Fathomfolk equally. Unlike Mira, Nami, who also wants freedom for Fathomfolk, takes a more forward approach with resistance groups and actively fighting snd trying to undermine the system humans have put into place.

I feel like this book does a good job showing how people may want to take different routes for freedom. It explains why these characters take the route they want to take.

I rly like the different point of views we get. we have Mira, a newly made captian, Nami, a spoiled princess, and Serena, a manipulative mother and wife of an important figure. I also appreciate other POVs added into the mix to further along the storyline.

A lot of telling and not showing. Introducing us to characters and groups by telling us who they are and what they do. Every introduction felt like "list your name and species!"

I felt the descriptions managed to be too descriptive and wordy and that really took me out of the story. I would be reading scenes, finish the description, then have to go back because I forgot what was happening in that scene because the description became this huge pause. I feel if the descriptions were a lot less wordy and only covered important details to the plot and characters it would make the writing flow a lot smoother.