Reviews

A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall

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patricknight's review against another edition

adventurous funny informative lighthearted mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Review: A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall

Quotes: "I must confess that tragedy has equipped me with a new propensity for selfishness."

"..She is graceful where I am brusque, optimistic where I am cynical, and wears such diaphanous and pastel-hued finery that I feel like a barnacle in the company of a pearl."

"I cannot stop thinking about our time together. As someone who has spent much of his social life getting acquainted with books and specimens, I am often flummoxed by the notion of speaking to a stranger."

Review: An epistolary story, one that is told through letters. I thought I would've enjoyed this one more. It's not bad by any means. I liked the writing about the aquatic life and their personal experiences and the bit of seeming romance in the story. The different time periods and povs made things feel a little confusing at times for me.
The letters were from different characters, I felt their voices started blending with each other as I read on. It was hard to differentiate for me. And that might just be me.

I will say the prose and writing were excellent and felt like I was reading a classic novel. The words were verbose and delightful to read. I didn't quite feel invested in the story, unfortunately.
I may try this another time, and this is the first in a series.
Overall, I would give this 3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was given an arc for my unbiased review, and I thank Netgalley, Orbit, and the author for the opportunity.

frederique's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

sunflower_18's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

soaliha's review against another edition

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lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I have been so conflicted about this book since I finished it a few days ago that I almost didn’t write a review for it, but perhaps its discordant nature alone means it deserves one.

A Letter To The Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall is an epistolary academic romance set in an alternate world, where humans live in floating colonies on the ocean because there are (almost) no land masses.

The book’s opening chapters reveal that E Cidnosin, an extremely anxious woman who lives underwater, and Henerey Clel, a sweet and enthusiastic scholar of marine biology who she has a crush on, have vanished.

A year after their strange and unexplained disappearance, Sophy, younger sister to E, and Vyerin, older brother to Henerey, piece together fragments of E and Henerey’s letters, as well as their own, to figure out what happened to them.

There was much I liked about this book — the characters are funny and likeable (though admittedly, not very distinct from one another), the setting is intriguing with interesting lore and there is an overall sweet and cozy nature to it that makes for great reading in these cold and sleepy nights. There is also a surprisingly earnest depiction of OCD and anxiety in its characters which I appreciated, too.

However, what this book lacks is plot — the majority of the letters between E and Henerey are the two fawning over each other, and while this *is* a romance novel, it actually does become tiresome. Things finally pick up in the last few chapters of the novel, but just when things become exciting (and the plot actually progresses), the story is abruptly cut off — only for us to be rudely informed that this book is the first in a series, actually, and the rest will continue in book two. I genuinely felt tricked, deceived even, if I’m honest. At no point does the cover, blurb, or introduction of this book indicate that it is not a standalone.

While Henerey and E left me giggling and kicking my feet, the time the book spends on their idle chatter — compared to subjects of actual plot relevance — makes me suspicious (and perhaps overly cynical) that perhaps this WAS a standalone novel, but it was dragged out to make more $$.

I do still think it’s worth a read if you like light academia romances and strange, fantastical worlds — and again, there’s a lot I really enjoyed about it — but be warned that there is little pay off for the time you spend reading this book, which is disappointing given how long it is.

alayoob313's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated

2.75

I had high hopes for this book and was hoping for an Emily Wilde type vibe but in the end it was a bit lackluster. The entirety of the letter format was a bit chaotic and it was tough to read. In the end will I finish the series? I’m not sure….it will probably depend on the state of my TBR at that time.