Tideborn by Eliza Chan is an enchanting fantasy novel set in a world where water and its mysteries hold great power. The story follows a protagonist caught between the forces of magic and destiny, navigating challenges and self-discovery. Chan’s writing is rich with atmospheric details, creating a captivating world filled with intrigue, adventure, and emotional depth. It’s a must-read for fans of immersive fantasy with strong world-building and complex characters.

After reading Fathfomfolk, I was curious to see how this story would end and where it would go from the previous events and although it wasn't bad, it felt me with a sense of underwhelming. It's not a bad sequel overall, parts were just lacking and I felt their could be more hence the loss of a star.
I do appreciate how in both books the characters have such amazing arcs and they grow wonderfully, I always feel like I have a connection to a character and they're never boring.
The world building was also excellent in this book and I do wish that in the future we could maybe get more stories out of this world
Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit Books for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting sequel and conclusion to what I thought was a great start to a marginalized minority inspired story. While I had some moments where the plot wasn’t really working for me, I still enjoyed the story and growth the characters went through. 🧜🏼‍♀️

Mira is both literally and figuratively thrown to the wolves all at the same time she’s dealing with some crimpling depression and grief. While I really enjoyed these added elements to Mira’s character, her POV just felt like nothing truly happened which is rather a shame because I really loved her in the Fathomfolk. 😔

Cordelia, she got way more interesting in this but man was she PETTY. So much so that I just really didn’t understand why she did the things she did other than that she’s a bit of a sociopath. 🐙

Nami had the most growth I think in this book, but man did she take some major steps back before really shooting off. And her continued relationship with Firth? . . . . Man I wanted to slap some sense into her. 🐉

While yes I had some issues with the choice in character development and plot pacing here and there, I still really liked how Chan continues to show readers just how toxic othering can be to any community. I hope that more and more people will see Fathomfolk as less of a cute watery fantasy and more a fantastical critique on how humanity loves separating groups of people simply because of outrageous superiority complexes. People seriously need to stop thinking that reading can’t nor shouldn’t be political because where else do ideas come from other than a reality that’s constantly influenced by politics. 🧐

Tirade aside, thank you goes to my besties Orbit Books and NetGalley for accepting my request to read this in exchange for an honest (and late 😅) review, and to the author for making a great series about fantastical marginalized communities. ❤️

Publication date: March 25!

Overall: . . . I hate to say, but it’s sitting at a 3.5/5 ⭐️

It was a good sequel but the series overall wasn’t my favorite.
I would still be recommending it to some of my friends who loves fantasy with mythical creatures 🫶🏻

There is something so relaxing and cozy about this series. The story really picked up from the ending of Fathomfolk, and the characters are getting even better.

A lot of growth with Nami, I was pleasantly surprised. The characters were balanced and worked well together. It’s a multi POV story, however easy to follow.

The story picks up shortly after Fathomfolk, that flowed nicely. You do get more of the world building which is well rounded and interesting. You will be exposed to complex emotions that will definitely affect the reader, I love when the story touches my heart.

"Tideborn" is a beautifully written YA novel that explores the depths we're willing to go to fight for the causes we believe in.

I struggled with Tideborn by Eliza Chan, it’s slow burn made me put it down often. While it provides beautiful world building and touches on the themes such as grief, colonization, class, and politics, it does not provide them with the attention required to make this a great read. I believe that this would have been better served as a trilogy in order to provide more space to expand on these themes and have better character development.

Thank you to Orbit Books for the opportunity to read this eARC. All opinions are my own.

Rating: 3 stars
Pub Date: Mar 25 2025

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Tideborn returns to the rich marine world of Tiankawi. Mira and Nami remain perched on the edge of disaster along with their city. With the reveal that their city was built on the back of a titan whale shark, the looming presence of its’ mate approaches the city at frightening speed. Meanwhile, Mira mourns Kai’s sacrifice while trying to lead and make sure that his sacrifice was worth it. Nami is forced to confront the truth about those closest to her and the ideals she holds. Can Nami and Mira work together to save the city or is it too late?

Tideborn is an excellent sequel that resolves many of the threads from book one while also delivering a satisfying conclusion. One of my favorite parts of this book was Nami’s character growth. She has evolved in such a positive way from book one and I loved how her relationship with Firth changed. Another favorite character was Cordelia and how she enacted revenge against her husband for poisoning her daughter against her. Cordelia is a morally gray character who has made some unforgivable choices, but it’s impossible not to cackle with glee when she shows up on the page. I also enjoyed Kai’s mother, Jiang-Li, even though she certainly made Mira’s life more difficult. She was relatable as a grieving mother who was trying to do what she thought was right.

Eliza Chan spins a beautiful tale of grief, identity, and hope. Readers who enjoy rich world-building, complex politics, and lovable characters will enjoy this series. I’m excited to see what Eliza Chan writes next!

Thank you so much to Eliza Chan, Orbit Books, and NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc.

[3.5/5; Review to go live on my blog on 4/14] TIDEBORN begins right where FATHOMFOLK left off. The author provides at the beginning an excellent recap of the first book to bring the reader up to speed. After Kai's sacrifice, all humans in Tiankawi have gills, but many are not happy about it. Mira and the rest of the leadership deal with the fallout of this transformation. The titan carrying the city on its back is dead and so Nami embarks with a crew to find its mate and head off a god's retribution.

TIDEBORN is a decent conclusion to the Drowned World duology. Chan includes themes that continue in the same vein of those in FATHOMFOLK. One such theme is that of cultural identity and what it means to be folk. This becomes more acute now that humans have gills. However, gills do not necessarily make one folk, as expounded by the folk who sneer at the Lakelanders (humans who have a sort of fetish for folk culture) who try to integrate into their culture. On the flip side, Gede, Cordelia's son, also experiences rejection from folk culture because he grew up thinking he was human even though he is ethnically folk.

Another theme focuses on exploitation of the vulnerable, specifically when it comes to unsavory jobs. Naturally, this revolves around Cordelia, who takes no side except her own. However, it comes to light that not even the folk who live outside the city are immune to such decisions that impact the diaspora.

The points of view in TIDEBORN are mainly those of Mira and Nami with a few from Cordelia. Thus, the reader sees both Mira and Nami evolve in their leadership style. Mira once staunchly tried to do everything by the book. But she realizes that she has to make some morally grey decisions that hopefully pay off in the end for the city. And Nami, previously lost and looking for guidance in anyone, including the wrong people, slowly becomes more confident and learns to lead.

While all these themes and character growth are great, I more preferred the first book over this one. The plot didn't grab me as much even though it's undoubtedly important to save Tiankawi. The author didn't really delve into Mira's loss of Kai, which seems like a lost opportunity to add some emotional depth. And although Nami eventually realizes she trusted the wrong person, that evolution was soft. TIDEBORN in general seemed a little less focused. Chan alludes to this in her Author's Note that the second book was difficult to write. There are aso a lot of incomplete sentences that just hang there that took me out of the reading flow. For such high stakes (saving Tiankawi), the roll out of the events felt largely low key.

However, I still recommend TIDEBORN so long as one goes in with adjusted expectations.

This is the second book in the Drowned World series by Eliza Chan, and wow it is such an emotional conclusion. I recommend this duology to anyone. Tideborn picks up after Fathomfolk, the people of Tiankawi still have escalating discriminatory tensions amongst the Fanthomfolk and humans. Our siren protagonist, Mira, continues her efforts to unite people to rebuild and it will take a huge effort to unite everyone as she juggles politics. The strength of this duology are its characters (Nami, Cordelia), their development, and the prose.

Prejudice in this book showcases that a divisive society can still come together through forgiveness and acceptance of each other. Grief is also explored in a public way following he events of the first novel. The voyage taken is exciting and suspenseful. The pacing of this book is fantastic and does not drag. I would recommend this duology to anyone looking for a meaningful fantasy story primarily told through the perspectives of women.

Thank you to and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book for review.

A sweeping and beautifully thrilling sequelto Fathomfolk that hooked me from the very beginning. I absolutely devoured this story and fell more in love with the lush world and wonderful characters!

Tideborn is the second in the Drowned World duology, where humans and fathomfolk live in an uneasy alliance, especially after the events of the first book, Fathomfolk. After discovering the few land masses are built upon the backs of massive sea creatures, and after the rebellious Drawbacks of Tiankawi killed the creature the city is built on, the creature’s deeply grieving mate is on its way. This is a world where the fathomfolk are only useful for their waterweaving abilities and are seen as inferior, even Mira, who is half-fathomfolk. The humans are on top, literally and figuratively, and Mira and her late husband Kai will do anything to find a way for the two to live in peace, even as factions outside their control attempt to destroy them.

After the events of the first book, at the end of which Kai sacrificed his life to save the humans of Tiankawi and give them gills, Mira is left to pick up the pieces, especially since she’s now taken his place as the Minister of Fathomfolk. Unfortunately, it’s an election year, and the gilled humans now think they’re also considered fathomfolk. But they’re all divided, humans and fathomfolk both, with some humans accepting the change and others doing things to make themselves more human again. Mira has plenty of political problems to deal with, most important of which is fighting to remain Minister against gilled humans, but there are other urgent matters out there. So she sends Nami, the sea dragon princess and her sister-in-law, with a crew mostly handpicked by Nami to try to communicate with the mate. Meanwhile, Cordelia, the sea witch who has two children by her human husband, is cut off from her family thanks to her vengeful husband, but will do anything for her children. Tiankawi is tense, though, with a massive sea creature deep in mourning heading their way and humans rising up to tear down the government.

I enjoyed Tideborn, but not as much as the first book. The first half felt too slow to me. Even though I understood things had to be slow now that Tiankawi has undergone a major change and the characters need time to react and deal with it, it felt too drawn out. All the action and exciting things were crammed into the second half. While I did find it all very exciting and my attention was fully held, I found it hard to ignore how my attention kept wandering during the first half. Mira’s, Nami’s, and Cordelia’s stories all moved at a snail’s pace, and I wish some of it had been summed up a little more rather than fully explored, which made the second half feel like things were resolved a little too quickly and conveniently, some attitudes shifted a little too abruptly, and some characters’ decisions a little too convenient and poorly explored.

At its heart, Tideborn is the story of three women from three different classes whose stories collide in Tiankawi. Mira, Nami, and Cordelia all cross paths in this book, but they also have very different stories, each leading them on different paths. They each have their strengths and weaknesses, and sometimes their goals and wishes felt a little trivial in the face of the major things staring them down. Sometimes they felt a little petty, but I could also understand where they were coming from and the small things that had taken root to make them want something more, something bigger. I liked their stories on their own, but none of them became really interesting until the second half, and there were so many other things that I wanted to know about.

Mira is half fathomfolk and has been seen as “other” her entire life even though she was born and raised in Tiankawi. She’s grieving because her new husband sacrificed himself in order to save the humans of Tiankawi, and now she’s dealing with the fallout, especially since some are twisting his noble sacrifice. To make matters worse, Kai’s mother has arrived and she doesn’t make things easy for Mira. I did like that they eventually found some common ground, but it was hard won. Mira is my favorite. She has a good heart and a good head, and it hurt to see her hurting so much. She’s just trying to do her best for everyone, to protect everyone and help them see these changes as something positive. But she’s foiled at every turn, especially by Cordelia’s husband, who decides to run for the Minister of Fathomfolk position, but she, luckily, calls Cordelia’s son something of a friend.

Nami is similarly mourning the death of her brother, but Mira needs her for a more important task: to seek out and communicate with the massive sea creature on its way to mourn the loss of its mate, and to destroy Tiankawi in its grief. Her task is to try to stop it, but first she has to find it. Nami started out so strong, with the task of putting her crew together. Things seemed to be looking up, but, of course, there’s politics in the background and she ends up with not exactly who she wanted. To make matters worse, her boyfriend Finn stows away and uses his silver tongue to turn much of the crew against Nami. Fortunately, she has librarian Eun on her side, as well as a few solid others who are willing to adapt and learn. Nami’s love story with Eun was sweet, and I liked the problems they had right away, but Nami kind of drove me nuts. Her passivity made me impatient with her, and she took way too long to find her footing. It was excruciating knowing what she needed to do only for her to skitter away from it. I was often frustrated with her story, but I really appreciated the world building it offered, and I kind of wish there had been more time in the series to really explore more of the world.

Cordelia is a sea witch with the power to change her appearance. She’s done so for years to pass as human, marrying and bearing two children, one of whom is now grown. But her husband confronts her with her true identity and offers an ultimatum that will shackle her. It broke my heart to see the choice she made, and she spends all of Tideborn trying to get her daughter back, but girl’s been brainwashed and won’t even listen to her older brother. As a mother myself, Cordelia’s story broke my heart so many times. I often could only see her as a desperate mother who only wants her daughter back, but I also felt like I was missing the sharp businesswoman who made deals that favored her more than the other person. She felt a little more vicious in the first book, and here she just felt sad. But I was drawn to her story and kept hoping for the best.

The first book really upturned everyone’s lives, and Tideborn explored the fallout. Even though my attention kept wandering during the first half, I still appreciated everything the characters went through. Mira really shone here, and I loved the way her character developed. She goes through so much, but I hope Tiankawi is all the better because of her. In the end, I did love the way everyone’s stories resolved, and I like the hopeful note it ends on. Of course, I can also see trouble on the horizon, but I like to think Mira and Nami have really come into their own and can handle it.

Even though I liked Fathomfolk more than Tideborn, I appreciate everything Tideborn had to offer. It isn’t easy dealing with change, and I loved that it explored all the ways the humans, and fathomfolk, dealt with it. There are definitely a lot of changes and discoveries made in this book, and I like to think it makes the world and story stronger. This was a lovely ending to the duology, ending on just the right hopeful note.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

The adventures of Mira, Nami, Cordelia, Eun, and more continue in "Tideborn," Book Two in the "Drowned World" duology. This reading experience was exhilarating, deeply emotional, thought-provoking, and challenging. I haven't encountered such complex characters and character dynamics in a long time. I was not left confused but reminded that folk and humans (in this universe) and outside of this universe are imperfect and don't always have the most predictable or utopian story arcs. My favorite character arcs were those of Nami and Eun. Their individual contributions and growth in the story and their blossoming relationship were the most emotionally satisfying. I love a romance thread!
Eliza Chan perfected her descriptive and rich fantasy world prose in "Tideborn." She expanded the Drowned World universe even more in Book Two. I loved the band of unlikely guardians (of the Drowned World galaxy) tasked with traversing the open seas in search of a titan. Meanwhile, Mira navigates her political ascension in her steampunk film noir crime quests at home in Tiankawi. The fight and battle scenes were well-written, intense, and exciting! There were many extraordinary explorations of family dynamics, being brave, fighting for justice, equality, and freedom in an imperfect society, and how we can uniquely navigate personal internal and external responsibility. Eliza Chan's Drowned World duology was a subversive and very wet speculative fiction piece that reminded us that we can dream of a more benevolent ("far more alluring") world in which we are connected by shared experience. For anyone who has experienced guilt for not being able to change imperfect systems on your own (feeling complicit) in fields like education, medicine, public health, public service, etc., Eliza Chan's writing will help you feel seen and understood *cries*.

Tideborn picks up right after the events of Fathomfolk. We follow the 3 main female characters, Mira, Nami, and Cordelia. Tiankawi and all it's people human and folk are trying to recover after a tsunami threatened to destroy their city, and were saved by the sacrifice of a beloved dragon. The huge rift between humans and folk is still present and as the characters try to help everyone mend relationships between the 2 people and prevent another city destroying event.

The author firstly did such a great job writing a refresher of the first book at the start of this one. The author wrote the second part of this story so well. The book was well paced, we saw so much growth from the characters. I could not put this book down. I also feel the authors writing has noticeably improved since the first one. We currently live in a political climate and state of the world that has so much divide and fear of being different, that this book feel so important and relevant. The themes and lessons feel so tangible and applicable to real life. I am so excited for the future stories this author puts out.

Tideborn is very much reeling from Fathomfolk. One of the most profound storylines was how much Mira is grieving. It actually brought tears to my eyes to see how she not only mourns a person, but a future. The ending of Fathomfolk hurt! Tideborn very much is a story about choices, prejudice and history, and how we can break the cycle. The animosity and past doesn't go away overnight. The world of Tideborn is very much trying to figure out how to move forwards and if they can.

A great follow-up to Fathomfolk about Nami growing up, Mira's grief, and the class issues of Chan's rich world.

Following the events of Fathomfolk, Tideborn picks up on the precipice of chaos— Kai is gone, leaving behind a whole slew of humans with gills they never asked for, and Nami and Mira are left to pick up the pieces, despite falling apart themselves.

This story is one of unity and hope, how in a world filled with rage, hatred, and fear of those who are different than us, striving for change is still possible, no matter how bleak things get. And things definitely get bleak. The first half of this book is very hard to get through, due partly, I think, to a lot of meandering plot lines and moments of frustratingly vague description, but also because the situation is Tiankawi just seems to get worse no matter what our heroines do. Mira is dogged at every turn, held up by foreign interference, selfish naysayers hoping to elevate themselves, misinformation and fear mongering, and perhaps worst of all, her own guilt and grief. She is a shell of a person, being forced into a position where she has to be the foundation for an entire city falling apart at the seams.

But her perseverance and ambition for change— Kai’s inherited will— keeps her moving forward. Her strength is unbelievably inspiring, and the way Chan is able to describe her grief and doubt is deeply personal and moving.

But Nami’s journey is perhaps the crown jewel of this duology. Starting off the story as a naive trouble maker, with her sights set on a rebellious path towards change, Nami stumbles her way through Tiankawi like a bull (dragon) in a china shop (a delicate political situation). To see her shift and change into a true leader, one who values the power of her own voice, but also prioritizes the voices of those around her, is a true joy. It takes her a while to get there, and trust me, I was pulling my hair out any time she interacted with Firth, but the path she takes is one that is endlessly important for young readers to experience.

The world Chan has built is rife with a unique flair. The culture and diversity among the Fathomfolk jumps off the page. I would have loved to get a little bit more explicit description of the physical locations within the book, though. I felt at times the characters were floating in an endless empty space, unable to conjure up any image of the setting. But, what it lacks, it more than enough makes up for in characters and familial relationships within the story. I think everyone will find at least one character they can relate to, if not more, and the struggles and emotions they feel is so deeply rooted in truth.

A story like this is timeless, but especially now, I feel the importance of hope in the face of fear cannot be understated, and Tideborn delivers.

ARC was gifted by Orbit Books.

2.25⭐️

I, unfortunately, was not a fan of this book. I liked the first book well enough, I could definitely see the author’s vision, but this one just fell completely flat and did not improve in the ways I was hoping the author would improve from book one.

The thing I disliked most about this book was the way the Fathomfolk were depicted as being just as hateful and bigoted against the humans. The Folk are seen as a underclass to the humans, they are structurally at a disadvantage within society, and even with the introduction of humans having gills now, they are still the underclass. I’m not saying there wouldn’t be bitterness there but I hated the fact that Folk were coming up with derogatory terms/slurs for the humans now that they had gills.

I also just could not connect with Mira. I didn’t really like her in the first book and absolutely did not like her in this book. She’s just so righteously full of herself All. The. Time. and I never felt like she had any growth with that. She’s just always right and no one could ever understand her, not the Tiankawians or the Yonakunish. I was just so over it.

I also didn’t like the split timelines in this. I actually love a split timeline when it’s well-done and feel like both POVs advance the story and they meet up in a satisfying way but I was not satisfied here. The convergence just felt sloppy and over as quickly as it started. I also felt like some of the POVs were completely unnecessary and just jumbled the story up. There was just too many moving parts, in my opinion.

I honestly really wanted to like this book and see Chan grow as an author but “Tideborn” seems to just not be for me.

It makes sense that this is the second part of the duology. In a lot of duologies I have read, the first book is the hardest for me. I had trouble reading Fathomfolk due to the slow start with world-building, but by the time we get to Tideborn, the story finally picks up for me. Tideborn really ties the story together and the political intrigue is amazing and quite a bit to take in. This definitely is a great YA book but also an amazing adult read if you want more politics as part of a beautifully-written fantasy.