A Letter to the Luminous Deep is a captivating and enchanting debut novel by Sylvie Cathrall. The story unfolds through a delightful correspondence between the reclusive E. and the renowned scholar Henerey Clel, leading readers into a mystical underwater world filled with passion, mystery, and heartwarming romance.

The novel is written in an epistolary style with beautifully crafted letters, sketches, and field notes that draw readers into the characters their mutual interests, which eventually evolves into a profound love for each other. I enjoyed this quite a bit and definitely recommend it!

Thank you Orbit books and Netgalley for the earc in exchange for my honest review.

This is a DNF @25 % for me but hear me out. I enjoyed what I did read a lot. I think I will absolutely finish this in audiobook format where theres more to distinguish the speakers (please god be multi cast). The writing was victorian and very formal and I love that. However much of it was fluff and characters praising each other and it was hard to tell who was speaking to who sometimes I often had to go back and check who was writing that specific letter and when. I am intrigued by the book, I am eager to finish it at some point, however bc it is so formal and eloquent I usually nod off due to lack of action. 4 stars for now bc I really did enjoy what I read but I think I need it in a different format. Thank you again to Orbit books.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an ARC of this ebook in exchange for a honest review.

The cover is STUNNING and the blurb had me interested in trying a new author.

I DNFed this book about 6 chapters in, mostly due to the writing style. The letter concept felt super disjointed to me, and also seemed to make the pacing drag. I was anticipating some strong mystery vibes based off the blurb and this was not it for me.

Maybe this book is better in audio form? I am dnfing for know, but if reviews are positive after release would consider listening to the audio version.

The beautiful cover and summary lead me to believe this would be a book I would absolutely love but sadly I wasn’t able to finish. The style of letter writing and references to other books left the book feeling impersonal and I wasn’t able to connect with the characters. I was not able to finish and I was so sad because I was so excited for this release.

I’d like to thank Orbit and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my review.

I really wanted to love this book. Everything about it pulled me in.
Whimsical underwater world?✔️
Story told exclusively through letters watching the story unfold? ✔️
Mystery and missing persons?✔️

I liked the idea of a main character, who was not perfect and confident, but more largely relatable with her being reclusive/frantic/heavily apologetic.

Unfortunately, the story was so verbose that it was very hard to follow. I couldn’t always distinguish different characters, they all sounded the same in their letters and found that I had to flip back many times to check who was writing at the time.

A map or key at the beginning for special information would likely help a lot to make the story easier to follow.

While this book wasn’t for me, I do think there are some who would enjoy it. It could be akin to a futuristic and whimsy underwater Jane Austen novel exclusively through letters.
If you enjoy epistolary stories and puzzling the pieces together with some underwater whimsy, this is for you.

DNF'd at 13%. While the cover of the book is stunning and summary sounded right up my alley, I did not enjoy the epistolary writing style in A Letter to the Luminous Deep. The letters felt technical and impersonal and all four "POVs" felt very similar in how they wrote to each other. I don't think the writing is bad, but it is something that I personally did not resonate with.

I really loved the premise of this book. The world that is built underwater, the ability to live in a house like structure. With the setting aside, and the intriguing mystery, unfortunately I wasn’t able to complete this book at 13% in. The letter style the book was written in was just not working for me. It might have been the voice of the characters, with a sophisticated scholarly tone the letters were written in (and for each character), made it extremely difficult for me to understand and digest what was being said and follow what was happening. If the book was delivered differently, I would have loved to continue the story.

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit Books for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was really excited for this book. The cover was beautiful and the summary of the book pulled me in but when I started reading
I found that I had no idea what was happening and I’d read a good 25 pages

Over all, after much going back and having to actively take notes to remind myself of who is who and what had happened, the story was okay. I don’t think there was a lot there and I often felt like some of the letters were just there but didn’t play a big role in the over all story which served to confuse my reading more

I received A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall in exchange for my honest review from NetGalley. This novel is such a beautifully written story. I found myself rereading lines just because the words flitted together so lovely. And this book does flit. It is an underwater world, but it reminds me of small birds flitting from branch to branch in an old oak tree in how the words build to bring this world to life.

This fantasy story centers around E writing a letter to Henerey Clel about the discovery of unusual fish E saw outside her home. They begin sharing letters and eventually fall in love. But after a sea quake that destroys E’s home, they both disappear. The mystery is left to be solved by Sophy, E’s sister, and Vyerin, Henerey’s brother. A very engaging read that is written so well.

This book instantly caught my attention. It was slow going and in the format of letters. The slow-moving mystery allowed time to truly see how all of the relationships developed through characters, both past and present. The way that everything comes together was somewhat predictable but deeply satisfying. When I got to the end, I screamed. Although a satisfying ending in many ways I was not expecting a second book and am desperate for it to come out.

i'm DNFing at 25%. It's not holding my attention, and I don't feel like forcing myself to finish it. my biggest problem is that the characters don't have distinctive
voices, so they all sound the exact same. i've had to go back multiple times to see who's letter i'm reading.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit Books for the eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This is written in a style that was extremely hard to get into. It's told in the form of letters which was really hard for me to follow. I loved the premise of it but just couldn't connect with any of the characters.

In this book you’re reading letters throughout from different correspondences between E. and Henerey in the past and Sophy and Vyerin in the present. This book is very academic themed and has a bit more of a sci-fi theme than I was expecting. There is a big mystery surrounding E. And Henerey since they disappeared and Sophy and Vyerin are trying to figure out what happened to them. At first I was rather confused as to what was going on when picking this book up. I got intrigued to figure out what happened with E. and Henerey that kept me reading this one. I did enjoy the setting of an underwater world. Like I said it was more sci-fi than fantasy so for me and I’m just not big into sci-fi at all. I got a little bored throughout this one and also kinda predicted what happened once I figured out what was going on. I would give this a try if you are in the mood for an underwater academic mystery with sci-fi elements.

Listen…I wanted to like this SO BADLY….but I just cannot finish it. I made it 50% and I was just bored. The writing felt stiff and I felt like I was just being told how I should feel about the characters instead of actually feeling like I was getting to know them. I also didn’t enjoy the world building at all.

This book was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024. I am a sucker for any type of mixed media in books so I thought this would be the book for me. I am so sad that I didn’t love it.

I had a hard time connecting with this book. Given that it was all written in letter format I felt like I was not able to connect with the characters. The writing was beautiful but I just felt that the letters were very limited in the ability to show and explain all interactions as letters are limited in details when compared to the reader being present when the event is unfolding.

I generally don’t love epistolary novels but this really worked for me. I did find it a little difficult to get into but once I made it thru the first couple of chapters, I found mysel-f in a groove and was pleased. Nice and cozy, best if read with a warm cup of tea and a cozy blanket.

I was extremely blessed to receive this arc I good eay give this book 5 stars it made me feel all the things I could probably read this book 100 times

Dnf... It was slow moving and I couldn't stay interested. The cover was absolutely gorgeous though and the blurb sounded like it was going to be great but alas it was not for me.

Henerey and E were the closest of correspondents. And now that they’ve disappeared, or maybe even died, their devoted siblings are diving into their letters to try and unravel the mystery.

The start of the book is slow going, but it’s an intriguing mystery that you can’t help coming back to. It’s a beautiful world and I can’t imagine how wonderful it must have been to grow up in a house under the sea. But also incredibly anxiety inducing so I definitely sympathize with E.

Sophy and Vyerin are wonderful siblings to Henerey snd E and it is so lovely to see their friendship blossom as the dark secrets unravel.

I can’t believe this is a debut novel, it’s so truly wonderful, and I can’t wait for the sequel!!! It has such a cliffhanger ending!

This will be released on April 25th so place those preorders!!

Thanks to Orbit Books, @netgalley and Sylvia Cathrall for a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.