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errie's review against another edition
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Racism, Violence, Toxic relationship, Hate crime, Death, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Drug abuse, Chronic illness, Classism, Deportation, Injury/Injury detail, and Trafficking
btwnprintedpgs's review
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Classism, Murder, Death, Drug abuse, and Addiction
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Torture, Sexism, and Blood
Minor: Sexual assault
devynreadsnovels's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Murder, Police brutality, Drug use, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Animal death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Death, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Classism, Slavery, and Toxic relationship
nickel_books's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Racism, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Deportation, Fire/Fire injury, Chronic illness, Classism, Racial slurs, Trafficking, Death, Emotional abuse, Drug use, and Violence
aliteraryescape's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
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? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Racism, Violence, and Racial slurs
Minor: Gaslighting
mjscooke's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Minor: Kidnapping, Racism, Violence, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Gaslighting, Confinement, Hate crime, and Injury/Injury detail
sarrie's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
TL;DR: Full of promising themes and a beautiful world, however cold and distant characters truly killed the story.
My very short pitch for Fathomfolk would be Babel, but make it wet and a touch whimsical? This follows three primary points of view as political tensions come to a head between the Fathomfolk and the humans. We see this entirely through the Fathomfolk lens, as different levels of political alignment fight to either tip the scales into war or find a compromise.
Our three leads are Mira, Nami, and Cordelia. Mira is the first of her kind, a half siren police officer who is dating the Fathomfolk ambassador to the humans. Nami is the sister of that ambassador, and also young and beyond impetuous. Cordelia is probably the most interesting, attempting to play all sides for her own gain. She fills many roles and I’m not going to talk on her much, as much of her story is spoilery. The thing about these characters is that we are so disconnected from all of them there is little to no emotional impact when things happen within the story. We aren’t shown much, traumatic moments are either shown in stark detail or we’re teased an event that never happened. Because of this it’s either very jarring (no emotional stakes till suddenly there are dead bodies on a ship), or very lackluster (oh no, I saw that coming a mile away). Besides that I had huge problems with Nami who is nothing but a young teenage girl stereotype and is written to be too stupid to live. She is a plot device to show us the more pasion driven side of things and it was, just not great. Mira starts interesting but quickly becomes cold and uninteresting.
This should be a fast paced and tension filled story. And it is at times. I loved where Eliza Chan was trying to go with this, some of the conversations she started to make. However the style of writing, which kept us farther than arms length and at times couldn’t decide if it wanted to be whimsical or serious, really stopped it from speaking it’s truths.
Give it a shot if you’re SUPER interested in the world and setting, otherwise it might be a skip.
3 out of 5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, War, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Racism, and Violence
Minor: Rape
luverbyrd's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Police brutality, Classism, Racism, Gaslighting, and Deportation
zombiewilhelm's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This ended up being a 3.5-star read for me. It's not that I didn't like it, but I felt like I was forcing myself to finish it so I could move on to other things. The blurb sounded so good and the cover is gorgeous. It just wasn't as captivating as I would have hoped. The pacing felt slow and disjointed. I'll concede that it did pick up in the last third of the book, but I don't know if it's enough to make me want to read book 2.
There were several things I enjoyed about this book. The setting of Tiankawi is amazing. Her descriptions of the semi-submerged city were excellent. I think I might need a map because, like Nami, I found myself getting lost when the characters moved locations. It was sometimes difficult to recognize where we were.
I enjoyed the rich diversity of the fathomfolk. I recognized some of the names from various cultures worldwide, so that was cool. I recognized some of them, but I wish there were more descriptions of the folk. I like how realistic the society feels in terms of the racism and xenophobia that the immigrants/refugees encounter. But also in terms of the distrust and hatred within that community, like the prejudice against sirens from other folk.
Some parts didn't quite make sense. In this world, humans created laws to reduce the waterweaving abilities of the fathomfolk, which also leaves them defenseless against human violence. In fighting the injustice that the fathomfolk endure, which is horrific, there are two options presented: work slowly within the system or outright terrorism. There isn't any middle ground.
I didn't find myself particularly attached to any of the main characters. I feel like we changed POVs so frequently that we didn't get to spend a lot of time with any of them. It was painful to watch Nami keep making mistake after mistake. Her love/obsession with Firth was weird and predatory. Cordelia had a lot of potential as a bargain-making sea witch (very much Ursula).
There were several things I enjoyed about this book. The setting of Tiankawi is amazing. Her descriptions of the semi-submerged city were excellent. I think I might need a map because, like Nami, I found myself getting lost when the characters moved locations. It was sometimes difficult to recognize where we were.
I enjoyed the rich diversity of the fathomfolk. I recognized some of the names from various cultures worldwide, so that was cool. I recognized some of them, but I wish there were more descriptions of the folk. I like how realistic the society feels in terms of the racism and xenophobia that the immigrants/refugees encounter. But also in terms of the distrust and hatred within that community, like the prejudice against sirens from other folk.
Some parts didn't quite make sense. In this world, humans created laws to reduce the waterweaving abilities of the fathomfolk, which also leaves them defenseless against human violence. In fighting the injustice that the fathomfolk endure, which is horrific, there are two options presented: work slowly within the system or outright terrorism. There isn't any middle ground.
I didn't find myself particularly attached to any of the main characters. I feel like we changed POVs so frequently that we didn't get to spend a lot of time with any of them. It was painful to watch Nami keep making mistake after mistake. Her love/obsession with Firth was weird and predatory. Cordelia had a lot of potential as a bargain-making sea witch (very much Ursula).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Xenophobia
caseythereader's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Alcohol, Classism, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction