Copy provided by Orbit Books.

Let me get this out of the way, I liked the idea of this book. A mix of fantasy with modern technology. But I think it would have been better if it had just been one or the other with some focused world building.

DNFing just because the plot wasn’t moving as fast as I wanted it to and I just don’t feel invested in the characters.

I received this ARC a while back but I avoided it at all costs after seeing just how many DNFs it had. **HOWEVER**, it’s important to remember how subjective reading is when going into any type of book. Fathomfolk is a heavy and complex world-building story set in the fictional world of Tiankawi where Fathomfolk, water-dwellers, and humans “coexist”. The first few chapters are huge to the rest of the book as you are meeting and switching back and forth between our 3 main characters and 90% of our side characters.

To be completely honest, I understand why people DNF this book because the first 200 pages contain the complex worldbuilding, similar to Crescent City, without the super entrancing factor of it. However, that’s not to say there isn’t entertainment, just a lot of back and forth trying to understand this Asian-inspired complex hybrid world in the beginning. In the end, I imagined a half-submerged version of Hong Kong, China!

Fathomfolk takes on issues of racial and class discrimination beautifully, displaying how both sides how an internal civil war looks politically and socially. I can absolutely see schools in the future using Fathomfolk to compare to modern-day issues involving Asian Hate. And for those looking for it, there is some queer representation!

We follow Mira, a half-siren, whose story revolves around the prejudice and discrimination she faces as both Fathomfolk and human. Nami is a spoiled and privileged young adult who is sent to the city as punishment for a crime she committed against a peace treaty. Cordelia, a sea witch who can change her face, works to fulfill her missions within Tiankawi society!

Overall, this was an amazing book written by Eliza Chan. There was politics, emotion, action, sacrifice, and betrayal! I highly recommend pushing past the worldbuilding to what will be an amazing series!

3.25 stars

I dnf’d at 40%. Unfortunately I did not feel connected to the characters and the plot didn’t rope me in as i had hoped. I would recommend this to those who enjoy reading younger YA

I’m so glad I was approved to read an advanced copy of Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan
Thank you NetGalley for my copy! What first drew me to this book was the cover art which is quite stunning.
Fathomfolk also fit under the genre of young adult fantasy with mermaid and dragons. That is right up my alley so it was an immediate request.
The book follows a few different povs which I’m not really a fan of, but that’s my personal opinion. The book takes place in a city called Tiankaw where there’s a lot of unrest between the humans and the Fathomfolk. All the Fathomfolk want is a better life. The main FMC is a half siren named Mira who is a captain of the guard and her role is to keep the peace between the humans and Fathomfolk. Due to her partners sister named Nami joining an anti human extremist group, she ends up getting forced into being involved.
Overall the story wasn’t horrible. I did have a hard time with the multiple povs and because it switched so often it was hard to keep track of where you were.
So many mythical creatures were also involved but nothing was described about them. They were just there.
There was also not enough romance for me as well for it to be considered in fantasy romance, and it could’ve had some more editing done.

This is another book that I dfn, I even bought thee physical edition because it was so pretty, but the plot was too much for me. It's all aa bunch of politics with a lot of social commentary that I didn't expect from this book, I don't know what I was expecting but definitely not that.

There was simply wayyyyy too much going on. While the world-building was expansive, it was also consuming and daunting to parse through, affecting things like pacing and character development. Speaking of character development, it is difficult to claim that was properly executed when, by the end, I still didn't feel close to or care about any of the characters. As for the ending, I didn't care much for the cliffhanger and won't be reading book 2.

Thank you to Orbit Books and NetGalley for providing an ARC!

DNF - Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I wanted to love it much more than I actually did. I think it is time to accept that I need to stop blindly trying to support every single Asian fantasy release. While I'm not opposed to combining different East/Southeast Asian cultures in theory, more often than not, it isn't executed very well, and perpetuates the stereotype that all Asians are a monolith.

I truly enjoyed “diving” into the world of Fathomfolk - a story with Southeast Asia folklore interwoven into a compelling storyline that immediately captures you.

This book left me in a slump for days after completing and I just couldn’t move on. I am still not 100% and I’m thoroughly okay with it.

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit for the e-arc!
We all need to take a minute and appreciate this absolute masterpiece of a cover! I the ocean and mystical elements throughout this book cover are just so stunning and they match the books so perfectly.
In a semi-flooded city full of fathom folk, magical creatures living in the water, Mira, a half-fathom folk guard, works to help lift some of the laws restricting all of the fathom folk. However, when a water dragon named Nami shows up and joins an extremist group, Mira is thrust into a dangerous situation where she needs to decide how and why she truly fights.
I really loved a lot of the different fantasy elements throughout the story. The different mythical water creatures in this book are so interesting and I love seeing unique mythical creatures in books. The atmosphere of the city is tense but the overall description makes the walkways and the water sound so amazing. I could

1 star

Thank you netgalley.

DNF at 15%. I really like these types of books/stories but this one was so boring. I could not keep reading it, unfortunately.

This book was getting a lot of hype recently, and it certainly sounded interesting. I love books that are set in the sea, near the sea, etc., and I love aquatic mythical creatures. However, Fathomfolk really fell short. Mira and Nami did not capture my attention as main characters at all, and while the setting of Tiankawi had so much potential, the descriptions didn't keep my attention. There was a lot of potential for really interesting political situations, but everything just fell flat.

I really enjoyed the world building of this book and the beautiful descriptions. I did feel like story was a bit hard to follow at the beginning but then once I got used to the world it didn't feel so bad.

The world building is interesting enough. The ideas are really compelling - the dispute between humans and magical folk, like merfolk, dragons, sea witches. But the execution is extremely lackluster. It's painfully clear what's going to happen and it's so disappoiting in a world so fresh to have such an uninteresting plot. Nothing gripped me.

But I think the worst problem are the characters. How I hated Nami. She sounded like an 11-year-old tantrum that was just so gullible. I couldn't stand her PoV. It's so annoying. Cordelia's PoV was really hard to read as well, she is so conceited and so one dimensional. Mira was the only that I liked well enough.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this book. Some parts were hard to get through but overall, it was a really good book. The plot was well developed and I loved the story and character arcs.

Too slow to get to the point, Nami’s decisions pissed me off time and time again, and the ending infuriated me. Bummed bc my illumicrate SE is so beautiful lol

Thank you NetGalley for this eArc❤️

I struggled to finish this, but think the issues are mostly with me rather than the book, though.

The writing is good, and Chan has a remarkable way of writing both believable teen characters and believable more established (30s?) ones. Chan skillfully peels back the layers of naïveté wrapped around the teen character over the course of the novel, which Nami’s idealistic actions having truly brutal repercussions.

The politics here were just too heavy-handed for me and Nami’s misplaced trust and reckless disregard of her family’s guidance, while totally believable as teen behavior and which she (mostly) eventually grew out of, were just too annoying to read. The villain characters are also surprisingly lacking some depth: it’s never clear what Cordelia’s endgame is, and it was never clear to me why Nami was infatuated with Firth, who mostly ignored her.

I love the idea of Tiankawi, with sea creatures from mythologies all around the world living together. Aside from sirens’ ability to sing, sea witches to enter into magical bargains, and sea dragons being top of the Fathomfolk hierarchy, though, we learn very little about individual creatures’ abilities, which seems a missed opportunity.

While this particular book wasn’t for me, I will give Chan’s future books a try given that her ideas and writing are good.

DNF at 11% mark.

I am just so confused at what is happening. I downloaded the ARC and then moved so I'm picking this book up again after a break, but I should have been able to catch back up pretty quickly. Now I've just started Chapter 6 and I can't remember who Serena is, and I realize that I'm 50 ebook pages in and I still don't know the difference between the characters. I think that Nami is finally about to do something but I can't remember why I care about her. It would have really helped if this book had started with a Cast of Characters Listed In Order.

It's not that the story is bad? The setting sounds really cool, but it's a brand new culture and fantasy world, and I can't keep track of the politics in this political fantasy? I am rating this a 3 because I am DNFing for confusion rather than dislike for the book. I am hoping it's just a me issue?

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for this ARC.

Fathomfolk is a political fantasy set in the semi-submerged city of Tiankawi where humans and fathomfolk live together in not-so-perfect harmony. The worldbuilding is lush, giving us a window into the lives of those living in different districts in the city. The story mainly follows Nami, a water dragon exiled by her mother from Yonakuni, an underwater fathomfolk city, Kai, her brother the ambassador for the fathomfolk to the humans, Mira, Kai's partner and the captain of the border guard for the city, Cordelia the seawitch, and Serena, the wife of the captain of the city guard.

The changing POVs throughout the story gave great insight into each character and their motives for fostering (or sabatoging) the relationships between the humans and the fathomfolk. There were so many themes that paralleled things we see in the real world in terms of different cultures coming together and the struggles that can arise when one group believes themselves to be superior over another. I loved the variety of folk introduced from all different mythologies as if it were like a real-world city with people from all different cultures. The one thing I would have really liked included was a diagram or map of the city and clarification on if the characters were above or underwater during each scene.

Did I understand everything that happened in the story? No. Was the plot confusing at times with not enough explanation of what was happening? Sure. But did I love the vibes and the characters and the world that Chan created? Absolutely. I will definitely be picking up the second book to continue living in the world of the fathomfolk.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely ATE this up! The writing and world building was extensive but bingeable. I could not put this down.

I was really looking forward to reading this fantasy, as it sounded very good. However, it was clear that the author took some inspiration from the stolen land of Palestine and that just didn't sit right with me during this current time. I didn't end up finishing this book, but I enjoyed the authors writing style.