Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Fathomfolk

This book is a little difficult to review. I thought I would like it more l, but it’s pretty firmly middle of the road fantasy for me. While it’s advertised as an adult fantasy, it reads more YA.

I found the world building to be confusing and lacking. While I generally dislike infodumps, I feel like some explanatory dumping would have helped. There were also points in the book where it felt like a plot point came out of left field without any foreshadowing as well. The beginning of the book is very slow, but it does pick up. I find the writing gets stronger the further into the book as well.

There are three POVs: Mira, Nami, and Cordelia. Cordelia was my favorite POV. She has heavy Ursula vibes and schemes like Cersei Lannister. Unfortunately, her motivations became very muddled as the book went on. I rooted for Mira the whole time. Nami was almost too naive and trusting (to the point of annoyance), and her romance with Firth is just gross.

I received this copy through NetGalley and Orbit Books for an honest review.

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errie's review against another edition

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3.0

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btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging tense medium-paced

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

1.0

Not my first ever gifted book from Orbit being an absolute dud. I have never been so disappointed by an anticipated release. The fact that this is categorised as adult fantasy is criminal.

The world building in Fathomfolk is immaculate - from the political systems, to the Fathomfolk races, to the hierarchal classes within their military and government, to the machinations in the background, to their history and lore - everything is so detailed and well established that you feel like you've just popped into this fantastically flawed world. It mirrors ours so well in its discourse around politics, immigration, history, and activism. The fact that this was so well built is a testament to Eliza Chan's skills.

This skill bled into her characters, to an extent. I appreciated seeing Mira as a biracial half-siren, half-human struggle between worlds. Not human enough to be respected by humans, not Fathomfolk enough to be respected by Fathomfolk. It vibed well with real feelings that mixed people often have to contend with.

Serena was also a very interesting character, as she has her own plans and machinations in the background as she pulled strings and threads together to fulfill her personal goals.

And then there was Nami. Fricking Nami. She's young and brash and naive, and just happens to be the catalyst to like half the problems in this book. I really wish Nami would just not. As Kai's younger sister, she's always been very head strong, up in her righteous anger, and ready for action, and despite mistake after mistake, she never learns to sit down and think critically about anything before acting and it literally kills people. I was so frustrated with her from the start, and it only got worse over time. I feel like there's a statement somewhere in there about young and impressionable people jumping head first into activism without all the facts, but I'm not even going to look that deep. If that was the lesson I was supposed to take away from this book, then it should've been a YA novel.

The fact that half of this book's plot is people not realizing that their actions have consequences, that knocking down one domino takes out the whole lot, is wild to me. Like that's not plot, that's chaos. The only standout to me is the Kai is an angel amongst hellions. He was too good for everyone else in this book.

I'm not even going to touch the end of this book with a ten-foot pole. Thank you, next.

All in all, an absolute disappointment. The setup was strong, but this was a miss for me.

TW: racism (speci-ism?), classism, torture, death, murder, blood, injury detail, drug abuse, addiction, sexism, death of a parent; mentions fetishization, sexual assault

Finished copy gifted by Orbit in exchange for an honest review.

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devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

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nickel_books's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

East Asian mythology + racism + classism + climate crisis + political intrigue all in one marvelous debut. A cast of characters caught between status quo and revolution, Chan creates an exciting world centered in Tiankawi - a semi-flooded city. Fathomfolk forces us to grapple with our role in many social issues most prominent being xenophobia and refugee resettlement.

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mjscooke's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced

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

3.5

At times this feels just like being jostled about in the sea this book is boom is built upon, for better or worse. It’s definitely not boring and i particularly enjoyed the world building ! With a vast cast of interlocking characters there is a perspective for everyone but at times it gets confusing as to which perspective is prominent at the time. Despite my empathy being a bit stifled by the whiplash of many povs, I highly recommend checking trigger warnings if that is something you are concerned about as underneath the fantastical elements are some hard hitting themes such as

Racism, Toxic Relationships, Gaslighting, Borderline Cult Indoctrination etc

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

3.75

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