Reviews

Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan

steffiko's review against another edition

3.0

Fathomfolk is off to a good start with an interesting world and brilliant characters. However, it falls short in some areas. Mira and Cordelia for example are nicely developed and we can find out more about their backgrounds and struggles layer by layer. Secondary characters like Eun or Gede got a nice introduction, but later on were underused with an unclear purpose to the story. Moreover, the pacing was off, with rushed events on the one hand side and a slower pace on the other hand side. Despite these flaws I’m curious how the author will develop the story. I hope to read more about Mira, Eun and Cordelia. All in all it was 3,5 stars ⭐️ for me!

reader_chichi's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

3.0

pyrona's review against another edition

Distracting grammatical issues in the first few pages, YA-style prose, and a bad case of Tell don't Show

caileyfrench's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-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

3.5

This was a political fantasy inspired by East Asian mythology. I'd give the political aspect a 10/10, but the fantasy aspect like a 3/10. Each chapter switches POV (which I love), but the characters all had a similar voice so it could take a bit to figure out whose POV I was reading from. Stretches were boring to the point of almost DNFing. I'm curious where the next book will go, but I don't know if I'm curious enough to actually read it

cait's review against another edition

This read like the third book in a series. I liked that the characters were older & there was a lot of things they'd obviously had to go through to get to where they are now, but I felt like I was missing half the story. Also, my library hold ran out.

auora1484's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

blairbusby's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No

3.25

erinsabourin's review against another edition

Copy provided by Orbit Books. 

Let me get this out of the way, I liked the idea of this book. A mix of fantasy with modern technology. But I think it would have been better if it had just been one or the other with some focused world building. 

DNFing just because the plot wasn’t moving as fast as I wanted it to and I just don’t feel invested in the characters. 

simona_alderson's review against another edition

The writing style want captivating and I just couldn't get invested in the story or characters. It was slow, and a bit all over the place 🤷

hailstorm3812's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful tense medium-paced

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

3.25

I wanted to like this more than I did. It just felt narratively and ideologically tangled. There was a lot of storylines to juggle that almost felt weighed down by the retelling aspect, when I think the characters could have stood on their own because they were interesting and flawed. As for the ideology it was basic leftist infighting we've seen a thousand times with the conclusion that we always need to find. I liked the mythology of it and Kai was a sweety

but I could not understand why Nami kept going to Firth.

I was left with a little meh.