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A review by cassie7e
A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.5
A mysterious, slow burn sci fi/fantasy set in a watery, academic world.
Re: comparisons to Emily Wilde, the only thing they have in common is an academic theme and the formal writing style of the characters. It is less action packed or plot focused, as it is not a first personal diary of events but a slow revelation of world and relationships through the exchange of new and inherited letters, creating a distance between the reader and the story. Emily Wilde feels like you are going through the story with her; this story feels like piecemeal detective work through old archive documents. And in fact it it the mystery and promise of discovering ancient technology of a fantastical civilization that enticed me to keep reading. Relationships progressed interminably slowly and with little drama, so I don't recommend reading this *for* the romantic subplot.
It also uses stylistically florid language throughout, which I often adore but also takes more concentration. In this case it further distanced me from connecting with the characters and contributed to my impatience with the plot, since everyone took forever to say what they meant! I suppose it did successfully mimic more Edwardian or Victorian era styles of speech/letter writing.
I had no issues with the story unfolding over multiple time periods and jumping between them. The only timeline thought I had was disbelief that everything, including a period of mourning, happened within two years. The Sophie letters feel like so much more time has passed before she started sorting through E's letters, plus the book moves so slowly it feels that ages longer must have passed!
Some readers express difficulty differentiating the character voices since they are all equally florid, but I read this as an audiobook and enjoyed the audibly different voices of the narrators so I did not have the same issue.
Re: comparisons to Emily Wilde, the only thing they have in common is an academic theme and the formal writing style of the characters. It is less action packed or plot focused, as it is not a first personal diary of events but a slow revelation of world and relationships through the exchange of new and inherited letters, creating a distance between the reader and the story. Emily Wilde feels like you are going through the story with her; this story feels like piecemeal detective work through old archive documents. And in fact it it the mystery and promise of discovering ancient technology of a fantastical civilization that enticed me to keep reading. Relationships progressed interminably slowly and with little drama, so I don't recommend reading this *for* the romantic subplot.
It also uses stylistically florid language throughout, which I often adore but also takes more concentration. In this case it further distanced me from connecting with the characters and contributed to my impatience with the plot, since everyone took forever to say what they meant! I suppose it did successfully mimic more Edwardian or Victorian era styles of speech/letter writing.
I had no issues with the story unfolding over multiple time periods and jumping between them. The only timeline thought I had was disbelief that everything, including a period of mourning, happened within two years. The Sophie letters feel like so much more time has passed before she started sorting through E's letters, plus the book moves so slowly it feels that ages longer must have passed!
Some readers express difficulty differentiating the character voices since they are all equally florid, but I read this as an audiobook and enjoyed the audibly different voices of the narrators so I did not have the same issue.