I almost couldn't get into this book because the story being told completely through letters threw me off. The prose is also very Victorian in tone.

BUT, now that I've finished the book, those are literally my only complaints.

It is a little bit of a slow build to the mystery of E and Henery's disappearance. But I was really charmed by the story of how they met as well as the personalities of each character. And once all of the pieces started to fall into place, I was hooked. While the premise might give the impression that this would be a sad story, it's incredibly hopeful and just... cozy. I'm really glad that I read this book and I'll definitely be waiting for the second one.

While I thought the premise of this book was very unique and interesting, unfortunately, it fell flat for me. I wasn’t able to connect to the story and characters due to the epistolary style of writing. The book was well written but substantially it wasn’t very engaging.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit for the chance to review this book.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for free via Netgalley and I’m freely expressing my honest thoughts about it. Thank you to Orbit for the opportunity to review A Letter to the Luminous Deep.

I’ve tried reading this book 3 times and then I tried to quit a few times. While I liked the premise of the story, it was boring. I just couldn’t get into it and then when there were parts that I was getting into, they vanished quickly. I wish there was more world building at the beginning because I couldn’t picture what the story was showing. I wish there was more E. and Henerey. The letters back and forth were a little hard to follow at times. I wish the book was set up differently and then the letters between the exposition, because we get going from past to present. I could follow for some parts but then when all the underwater and academic talk was happening… I just skimmed most of it and I didn’t miss anything of the story by doing so. It took the getting to the end of the book for anything interesting starting to happen.
I’m sure many people will love this novel. Especially those who love fantasies set in the ocean, but it wasn’t for me.

#netgalley #alettertotheluminousdeep

There are so many things that I love about this story. First of all, I love the method of storytelling. This epistolary fashion of storytelling is so cool. The fact that the author was able to find believable ways that certain pieces of the story were documented was fantastic, and she also allowed for the fact that not all things would be documented so there may be gaps in the knowledge of piecing together the mysterious disappearances of E. and Henerey.

I also absolutely adore this world and the way things are described in it. There is some great world-building happening as we explore the letters exchanged between E. and Henerey, as well as their friends, their journals and Sophy and Vyerin’s exchanges as they explore the mystery surrounding their siblings.

And finally, the friendship and love that develop between E. and Henerey is just so sweet and lovely, especially as they both are isolate from others in their own way and the thing that brings them together is E. sending a letter to Henerey out of the blue due to her observing a creature that she was not sure was documented before.

I wish things didn’t even so abruptly, but I appreciate that this does set up for a second book and leaves us in such a good place.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for my eARC of this book! All thoughts are my own.

I tried… like really really hard. I cannot get into this story. Every time I read it I was like what is happening. Even upon finishing which was a struggle, I'm still unsatisfied with the time I put into the story. I feel awful saying this. I pains my heart to not enjoy a book.

I wanted to love this book so bad, and I did love parts of it but the pace of the book was much harder to get through that made it harder to connect to. The premise of the book is so unique and captivated my attention- this world Sylvie built is fascinating and I enjoyed learning more about it. I also found the writing phenomenal and the unique style of the letter writing and finding lost letter snippets was such a cool way to read a book. However, the letters also made the book less plot driven for me that sometimes it was hard to keep up and keep engaged because not a lot of action was happening. This book was definitely more character driven and I loved all the characters and learning about them piece by piece. I think I am more of a plot driven person who needs more action but this book is highly well written with such a unique and heartfelt story that I still recommend people to check it out, it just may not be the type of book for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance reader's copy of the book. Where do I start? It took me a little bit to get into the story than I'd like because of its epistolary format and the sci-fi ness of the story. But and this is a huge but, I loved it. The slow burning romance between these strangers who became friends and who will I hope become partners in the next book. This is such a creative book and story. I cannot wait for the next one and I'm most inpatient to find out what happened to our protagonists and their siblings who are trying to figure things out. Bravo to the author. I will be recommending this to all of my reader friends.

5/5 ⭐️ 🧜🪸🐠🪸🧜🏾‍♀️
Set in an underwater fantastical academic world where a thousand years prior the “calamitous Dive” occurred, and resulted in the land above the water aka the “upward archipelago” shattering. The survivors of this event split into three groups of scholars who in the present time thrive with their own cultures and values.

Group 1 - 🛳️ 🫡 🧑‍🏫Boundless Campus: group of people that live in a collection of ships & vessels above the water. They are known as the “mobile civilization”.

Group 2 - 🏝️🏗️👩‍🎨 Intertidal Campus: group of people that live on a constructed ring of hand crafted floating “islands” that surround the little bit of land left known as “Atoll”.

Group 3 - 🏞️🐴👩‍🌾Atoll Campus: group of people that live on Atoll (the last bit of landmass known to humanity), they practice agriculture and have actual floors that “never leak” 😂

The three groups come together in the present time to form a deep sea expedition (Sophy Cidnosin is on this expedition) so that they can pioneer a new way of life deep within the ocean.

Knowing all of this, I enjoyed the world building! It’s kind of cool to think about how humans would live if we were forced to live in the sea.

This story is told in two timelines, the first timeline is of the character E. Cidnosin who is a woman that lives alone in an under water sea home known as the “Deep house”. She decides to write to a historian scholar named Henerey Clel (who she is a huge fan of that lives on Atoll) about a weird sea creature. Over time the two send letters back and forth sharing their lives and falling in love. Soon after they begin corresponding the two disappear and are declared dead. A year later in our second timeline, Sophy Cidnosin and Vyerin Clel (E. and Henerey’s siblings) collect and exchange their lost siblings letters to try to understand what actually happened.

I am definitely a fan of books that are written entirely in letters or journal entries. Some examples would be “A Polar Expedition: And Other Stimulating Research Opportunities” by Kass O'Shire and “Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries” by Heather Fawcett. This type of story telling may not be for many people so I can understand the criticisms that it may be hard to understand the story, but I loved it!

This story is so whimsical, adventurous, cozy, and delightful! Henerey is super sweet and charming, and the romance with E. is just adorable 🥰 I also fell in love with the siblings, their spouses, and their own blooming friendship. This mysterious and lovely story definitely left me with questions and a yearning for the next book after that ending! Thank goodness this is not a standalone 😂

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit books for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I could definitely understand how this book could work for many people. The writing gives the story a very whimsical yet academic feel, and the concept of the story is very interesting. The epistolary format was something that was new to me, and while again many may find it to be enjoyable, I found the structure made it hard to connect to the story at times. I also feel like when you are writing an epistolary novel from 5 POVs, it is critical that they all have distinct voices, but for me each character blended together in a way that had me constantly forgetting whose perspective I was in if I took a break for even a minute. The writing style could have afforded to vary at least slightly with each character, but they all use the same overbearingly academic language with a million and one parentheses. While it does create atmosphere, as I said before, it became more and more daunting as the story dragged on. I also found the pacing to be too slow, and at the point I made it to, there had yet to be any signs of it paying off. Some may enjoy the slow build, but I personally need a little something thrown in that will keep me invested in reading, and even despite the mystery aspect, this didn’t have that.

Overall, I could definitely see this working for others, and I will most likely revisit this at a later date to give it another try despite not connecting with it at the moment.


~Rating: ★ ★ ✰ ✰ ✰ ~

3.5 stars
E. is a recluse that lives in her family's underwater home called the Deephouse. After her mother died, her father left and her siblings went off to become scholars.
E. prefers the solitude until she sees something outside her home that is unusual. So begins her correspondence with Henerey Clel, a renowned scholar who might be able to help explain what she saw.
Henerey is excited and intrigued. After much correspondence, he goes to the Deephouse to see this discovery firsthand. Tragically, a seaquake occurs destroying the Deephouse and causing the disappearance of both E. and Henerey.
A year later, their siblings begin going through their letters to see if they can figure out what happened and if there's a chance that E. and Henerey could still be alive.

Thank you NetGalley & Orbit for the opportunity to try out this ARC! Initially by the premise I was super excited to read this one. The cover art is gorgeous and also caught my eye immediately. I did end up DNFing at 25% and this was due to the pacing being too slow for me. The author did a great job with world building; especially due to the style being an epistolary. The fact it was an epistolary didn’t necessarily scare me away. It was more pacing and trouble connecting with any of the characters.

I really tried to get into this book because I liked the synopsis of it. But it just didn’t catch me and keep me want to read more. It’s a very slow and didn’t really seem to pick up

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the ARC of A Letter to the Luminous Deep.

I love love loved this book. If I didn't have to eat, sleep, or work, I would have read the entire thing in one sitting. This was the first book I've read since high school that made me say "I wish this never ended". It had me kicking my feet whenever a character would say something cute. It had me on the edge of my seat when one character would admit something and I had to wait to read the next letter to see the other's reaction. I found myself genuinely laughing at the sister's writing back and forth about their brother's antics. I could have read the letters for a very very long time.

I know the current theme in fantasy is morally grey or enemies to lovers or touch her and die. So, I had not read such an innocent romance in such a long time. I loved the way that they loved each other in such a unconditional and genuine way. And not only in the romance. I feel like it's rare to see an author write both platonic and romantic relationships well. But, the way the author portrayed the relationship between siblings and the budding relationship between friends was so wonderful.

The author also really excelled at portraying elements of anxiety, depression, OCD, and grief in relatable ways. I felt like I saw so much of myself in nearly every character. And I felt really seen every time a character had a little "quirk" that I myself have struggled with.

I did give this four stars because I didn't quite feel that the different campuses thing or how their world came to be was ever fully fleshed out. The world building definitely took a back seat to the character work, but I honestly was fine with that. The ending also felt kind of abrupt and out of left field. I didn't hate it but I didn't feel like I was ready when the ending happened. I was hoping for several more chapters and felt kind of sad when I realized I was at the end.

Overall, I did end up adding this book to my all time favorites list! It was whimsical and beautiful and pure. I loved the academia vibe and the ocean themes. There wasn't a single character I disliked (which is SO incredibly rare). I'm crossing my fingers that this author writes more because I think I would read anything she writes!

4 Stars!!

I’ve gotten about 30% into this book and initially I was really into the way the book was structured. I personally love a good epistolary novel. However, I think the author falls short when it comes to making sure that they can execute an interesting and captivating story like this, especially with this particular structure.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!
I was so excited and eager to read this book because it contains several of my favorite things - fantasy, romance, academia, and underwater elements! The formatting of this read was interesting in that correspondences were exchanged between characters. The author has a magical way with words that transforms the reader into this fantasy land and makes you want to be one of the MCs.

The only con that I have about this is that it's a part of a series!

Thank you Orbit and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

1.5!

This was pitched as being perfect for fans of A Marvellous Light and Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, which are two of my favorite books. I also love the ocean and epistolary novels so seeing all of these things in one made it seem like A Letter to the Luminous Deep would be perfect for me. This was not the case.

There’s definitely a person for whom this book is written for, but it’s not me. There were some things that were done well here, like E.’s struggles with living with what Cathrall dubs “Malady of the Mind,” but I struggled for most of the book, and when I didn’t struggle, it was really only for a letter or two. There were some illustrations which were very cute, and I liked the big sea creatures.

While I do tend to enjoy more ornate prose, I found this to be whimsical to the point of being genuinely difficult to discern—I don’t really mind this level of whimsy in doses, but it’s a relentless onslaught. I also struggled because while I love the epistolary format, every single voice sounded exactly alike, which made it really difficult for me to differentiate whose letters I was reading. In order to work, I find that each letter writer needs a distinct voice, which was not the case here at all.

I was never really invested in the characters or the plot until chapter 20, which is hard when the book only has 23 chapters. There are some interesting threads that lead to the actual interesting stuff at over 75% of the way into the book, but for the most part it was a lot of overwritten details about their lives, which isn’t an inherently bad thing but it was brutal to get through here. I didn’t really buy into anyone’s romance here, especially E. and Henerey’s. Despite the fact that the physical world is very creative and the twist at the end did pique my interest, none of it was enough to save this from how aggressively I clashed with the overall writing quality and how much it impacted my ability to get invested in the story.

The format of this book wasn’t for me, but that can’t be held against it. Loved the underwater and dark academia elements. Very unique compared to many currently popular fantasy books.

Thank you so much to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for granting me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this book was just not for me. Upon requesting, I hadn’t realized it was an epistolary novel and I found it very difficult to get pulled into the world because of this. I did find the world building a bit confusing as well

It’s really unfortunate because the plot of the book and romance aspect was really intriguing to me! I really, really wanted to like it, and I feel as though I definitely would have had it not been an epistolary novel!

Because of this, I find it unfair to give it a genuine rating on my social media as I wouldn’t want to negatively affect ratings based on these reasons. Kudos to the author for creating such a unique and interesting concept though!

Gosh, the writing on this book is LOVELY!!! It took me way longer than I expected to finish it, and even longer to digest, not because I didn't enjoy it, but because something about the quality of the writing felt like swimming through the depths of the ocean. I will say that I am a little frustrated that it wasn't clearer from the cover/description that this isn't a standalone novel, but I truly can not wait to read the sequel!

The books I've read lately have been hitting it out of the park, and this one is no exception. The premise - correspondence between two likeminded people in a world filled with mostly water and a little academia - is incredibly novel and hooked me immediately. The format elevates the typical epistolary format, putting the reader in the role of archivist along with some of the characters, leading to a delightful experience where the story unfolds delightfully over time, expanding from a simple mystery/love story to something much larger. Cathrall succeeds in giving all the characters distinct voices, even though you only ever hear from them via letters and other written materials, and despite some of the darkness inherent in the story, I found myself warmed throughout by the remarkable depiction of different types of love. Love, in fact, suffuses the book, along with an intense sense of curiosity. The characters also are incredibly empathetic and loving depictions of neurodivergence within a family - I related to both the character struggling with OCD as well as her sibling, and felt that the author clearly holds the neurodivergent experience near and dear, treating that particular facet of the character with empathy, realism, and acceptance. I never felt any judgement for anything other than the way that neurodivergent people are treated due to their neurodivergence. I detest the use of "unputdownable" as an adjective in modern book blurbs, but this was a book that I truly had to force myself to put down because otherwise I'd be up all night devouring it in one go.