A Letter to the Luminous Deep by @sylviecathrall enchanted me from start to finish 💕

It's slow, contemplative, old fashioned at times and alltogether lovely! Written in epistolary fashion and in a formal style which suits the characters amazingly, this is a book to savour. The mystery unravels slowly, but by the end I couldn't wait for book 2! I absolutely love the main characters and could really understand how their Brains worked 😊

This book is different from most of my reads, in both pacing and language, and I found I enjoyed that immensely! Coming back to it in the evening was like a cup of my favourite cosy tea. I just relaxed into the rhythm of the letters and the unfolding relationships, and let the world quietly slip away.

I had high hopes but this was just ok. I think it dragged at times. I enjoyed the setting but the romance took too long to develop.

I DNF this book. It wasn't that it was a terrible book, but I started this book shortly after reading Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries and was expecting something similar. Emily Wilde's was written as a series of journal entries, and A Letter to the Luminous Deep was written as a series of letters. However, I found that the letter format just did not leave enough room for narrative and therefore felt disjointed. There were also a few different perspectives and I just found that I couldn't get engaged enough in the story to finish. There did seem to be an interesting, mysterious plot, so if you can get past the format this might be a good read for you.

I want to acknowledge that I did enjoy certain aspects of “A Letter to the Luminous Deep”. The story is told through two sets of letters: E and Henry’s, and their siblings’, Sophy and Vyerin’s. Crafting complex characters through letters alone is difficult, but the author did a beautiful job bringing these personalities to life without over-explaining traits. E and Henry’s relationship is especially endearing— a couple who build their bond through shared academic interests and a mutual feeling of being out of place in their respective communities. Their romance felt authentic and refreshing, and I appreciated the nuanced representation of OCD and anxiety. However, despite the beautiful writing and character development, there’s very little action or plot progression until the final pages. I’m curious to see where the sequel takes the story because this could have been a short novella.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Thank you to Orbit Books for my arc!

I really wanted to like this but I think due to the format that it’s in, it just wasn’t for me. I was hoping for an actual story rather than reading letters

So much fun! The writing was gorgeous, A lovely light academia epistolary love story! It was very cosy, and I look forward to reading Sylvie Cathrall's next book.

This is a beautiful epistolary light academic romance. And it was a delight to read.

A Letter to the Luminous Deep is a beautiful mix of mystery and a light academic romance. It explores the topics of mental health, academia and scientific exploration, while keeping you hooked by the incredible characters and magical setting. Overall, Cathrall has started off with a beautiful novel that is sure to keep readers engaged for years to come.

I absolutely loved this book.
Now, I can see where someone would not love it as much as I did and here are some of the reasons.
It is a slow burn, like a true slow burn. The romance is so sweet and slowly developing. The mystery is a slow build up. And it is a little slow. Bit for me, those thi gs made the story even more charming.
To experience a story truely just from letters and alongside another timeline doing the same.
The scholarly aspect was well exicuted as well.
I cannot wait to dive back into this world with the next read.
Also, love the neurodivergent MC rep.

Dnfd at 40 percent I was listening to the audiobook for this one which I think put me at a disadvantage. The voices were similar and I kept getting confused with who was who. Also not sure if a book in letter format is for me, to me it made the characters seem distance and really made it hard to care for them. I might try to pick this up another time in physical copy to see if I enjoy it more. I would like to than NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

Every once in a while, you stumble across a book that just speaks to you on a molecular level.
To start, I'd simply like to say that A Letter to the Luminous Deep is an absolute masterclass in storytelling. The theme of correspondence via letters was such an unusual premise for a book, but it truly worked so well.
The way the author tells the story through language is really astounding, I mean you can see the character growth and changing relationships conveyed with just a few altered words. The author's use of tone is absolutely masterful, I haven't seen anything quite like it.
The storytelling format of letters was so fascinating to me, as I'd only ever seen that used to supplement text, never on its own as the audience's primary means of following the story.
It completely worked though, and I was emotionally invested pretty quickly without even reading actual "dialogue" between two characters (beyond what was relayed in the letters, of course).
This was such a clever way of weaving  character growth, worldbuilding, and plot development together. I will absolutely be returning to this book as a comfort read, with new discoveries and hints to explore each time.
And may I just say, what an ending! I can hardly wait for book 2! Congratulations, Sylvie Cathrall, what an incredible start to the Sunken Archive series.

This one took me awhile to get through, because the writing style is incredibly rich, but I still loved every second! I wasnt expecting the entire book to be in letters, although I understand why the author chose this method to tell the story but it did make things slightly difficult to follow at times. I’m looking forward to the next book though and loved the sci-fi-y elements of the under-the-sea dwellings!

A Letter to the Luminous Deep was such an unique and unexpected story in all of the best ways! The underwater world was beautifully crafted and unlike anything else I've read before, while the characters were written with such nuance and care that it feels almost wrong to consider any of them secondary characters. The narrative expertly blended elements of fantasy, mystery, romance, found family, and magical realism to create a story that felt like both an adventure and a warm hug. The epistolary format was ambitious given the dual timeline aspect of the story, but worked well due to the academia setting. I found myself slowing my reading pace at times because I did not want the story to end, and I cannot wait until A Letter from the Lonesome Shore is available so that I can continue the journey.

3.5 stars ~~ A Letter to the Luminous Deep is by far the most unique and intriguing book I’ve ever read. To began the book is an aquatic, mysterious academia epistolary novel. In other words, it’s written completely in letters/correspondence. As for the academia and aquatic portions, the novel follows E. and Henerey’s letters to eachother while they make a world changing discovery and suddenly disappear. E’s older sister and Henerey’s older brother then began a correspondence to figure out what had truly happened to them in those final months and days leading up to their disappearance and possible death. The world this occurs in is mostly all ocean with only some islands. The characters are almost all scholars and the book is very heavily based on research and academics. As well aquatic/marine topics as they do most of their research in the ocean.

For starters, the worldbuilding in this book is truly immaculate. The author created such an immersive and beautiful world that honestly made me want to become a marine biologist after reading it. Not only that but she did a lovely job of also including more magical/mythical elements to make this a proper fantasy novel.

I thought the topics and overall plot of this book was super unique and interesting! I was always on the edge of my seat wondering what happened next and just waiting for the next letter between Henerey and E so I could see what happened to them. I loved learning what happened with Sophy and Vy as it made it much easier to understand and also allowed for insight of other events from those characters.

The start of the book was definitely a little slow. However, it truly picked up at the end. And then the very last chapter was extremely long and extremely slow but much needed for the overall plot and set up of book 2 (which I’ll definitely be reading).

As things got discovered in the book, I can now look back and see all the subtle foreshadowing the author had planted from the very start! It was honestly so fun to try to figure out this mystery. As I’m typing this, I’m still wondering what possible things may occur in the next book. Sooo much happened in this one. I’m truly shook and it all feels so magical and real at the same time thanks the author’s good writing and worldbuilding skills.

The mini romance subplots between the different characters were so cute. Ofc my favorite was Henerey and E. Their romance was not the typical type you get from a book since it was mainly seen through letters. But also because E suffers from OCD, making her very anti-social and anxious. Henerey is also quite anti-social. But seeing them enjoy eachother’s company despite all of that was beautiful and adorable. Also this book is no spice and pure romantic gestures and affirmations. It was such a nice break from what romance has become more recently in books!

I appreciated E’s representation of OCD and Anxiety within this book! I felt like I could relate to her on many levels of enjoying being alone and being stressed in large crowds or the presence of others and feel awkward about it! I also love how we saw her grow as a character throughout the entire book! By the end she was adventuring out more when before she wouldn’t have even left her room! It truly shows you can do anything no matter what!

This book is 100% at the top of my list for most unique and interesting structure, plot, and overall content/tropes/vibes. I really really enjoyed it and I find myself thinking of this mysterious and beautiful aquatic world and content quite often. However, while the author’s writing was beautiful and well-done. It’s difficult to read a book completely composed of letters. It can often get boring or feel like it’s dragging on (which is why it took me 2+ months to finish this.) I often had to take breaks and then come back a bit later. Because of the letters it was also difficult to envision what was going on in my head. There were very few descriptions of buildings and even less physical descriptions of the characters. I often times just made up what they looked like on my own since it didn’t really say until the middle of the book (and even then it was just a few characters). Some people may enjoy the creative freedom but I found it a little difficult. Once again it was just difficult to stay consistently interested in a book written from letters. At some points the letters would also just be academic info which could get boring. So because of all this I’m only giving it 3.5 stars. (But I still consider this a good rating and it’s definitely not a bad book and not the worst I’ve ever read).

Overall, I DID ENJOY THIS BOOK. It could just get boring and hard for me to stay focused on it. If you’re a fan of classics and heavy world-building and academic tropes then you will probably not be bored at all. But I did like this book and I 100% recommend it. Especially if you haven’t read an Epistolary before! I read this on my iPad but i definitely recommend getting a physical copy and ANNOTATE. Because of the academics and letters, this is a book that 100% deserves and honestly needs to be annotated. I think it would help with the experience and be less boring. So I may get a physical copy and go back and annotate it just like the characters!

Can’t wait for book 2! Please read this is you love the ocean, marine science, academia vibes, mystery, romance side-plots, and good but heavy worldbuilding!

Or just read it if you’re looking for something unlike anything you’ve ever read before :)

Also thank you to the author and NetGalley for an arc. I’m sorry it took me so long to finish and review this book!

This is certainly a book that exists, unfortunately it’s also far too long, and ought to have been backstory. Seriously, what is it with authors writing books that could just be backstories?

I think this would be a great book for someone who wants a slow, well-written cozy read. That person was just not me today. I enjoyed the book conceptually but it was a bit too slow for my general liking.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this novel for review. I know that this book has an audience; however, it fell short for me. I usually love an epistolary novel, but the writing style of this one was too stilted for me. That being said, I found myself rooting for E. and Henerey and learning what happened to them pulled me along in the story. I may pick up the next book in the series, we’ll see. I would recommend this book to readers who love marine life, academia, and/or piecing together a mystery.

This was so unique and such a fun read. The concept was super interesting too. Also, the setting... so cool. I'd love to live in an underwater place like that. Though I would never be able to focus with watching the ocean life. I really enjoyed this one and definitely recommend it.

Unfortunately, this was a hard read for me. It seemed to take a long time to get to the actual substance of the story. I do love magical realism and sci/fi but the story building left me wanting more in this book.

A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall is the first book in the new Sunken Archive series. It is an epistolary novel about two underwater scholars who end up disappearing. While the concept of this story is great, I found the format to be rather confusing. The academic writing style was interesting though. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.