“An underwater treasure-chest to be slowly unpacked, full of things I nosy and loving families, epistolary romance, gorgeous worldbuilding, and anxious scholars doing their best to meet the world with kindness and curiosity.” —Freya Marske, author of A Marvellous Light
A beautiful discovery outside the window of her underwater home prompts the reclusive E. to begin a correspondence with renowned scholar Henerey Clel. The letters they share are filled with passion, at first for their mutual interests, and then, inevitably, for each other.
Together, they uncover a mystery from the unknown depths, destined to transform the underwater world they both equally fear and love. But by no mere coincidence, a seaquake destroys E.'s home, and she and Henerey vanish.
A year later, E.'s sister Sophy, and Henerey's brother Vyerin, are left to solve the mystery, piecing together the letters, sketches and field notes left behind—and learn what their siblings’ disappearance might mean for life as they know it.
Inspired, immersive, and full of heart, this charming epistolary tale is an adventure into the depths of a magical sea and the limits of the imagination from a marvelous debut voice.
Praise for A Letter to the Luminous Deep
“A shimmering, delicately crafted delight.” —H.G. Parry, author of The Magician's Daughter
“A fascinating and charming story told in a uniquely elegant voice.” —Louisa Morgan, author of A Secret History of Witches
“Both the setting and the story are exquisite.” —Megan Bannen, author of The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy
Review:
Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for providing me with an egalley of this book to read and give an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
This book is an underwater academia fantasy. Told through letters and interviews between the characters, you slowly learn the fate of E. Cidnosin and Henerey Clel as their siblings correspond and piece together their ultimate fate.
What initially drew me to this book was the cover. It is absolutely gorgeous. And then when I read the blurb I was truly interested to see how the author would tell an underwater story. I love books of academia, especially when fantasy is involved. What I was not prepared for was the format!
I was unsure if the format of this book would make me dislike it. I've never read an epistolary tale before. There's no real dialogue between the characters save for their correspondence and what they deem necessary to tell of dialogue within those pages, and a few interviews we see from one of the researchers. It seemed like it might get quickly boring or annoying. But I ended up truly loving it. The unraveling of the mystery is a slow burn with most of the correspondence being very poetic and long in prose. And the epistolary style gives us multiple PVS throughout the story. I loved how the characters seem even more open than they might be in person to give personal details, voice their fears, and find solutions with words written on paper. I really enjoyed how the author chose to use the letters, interviews, and book excerpts to show us the story of E and Henerey. The letters do a nice job of showing E's anxiety, OCD, and her unease with interacting with people in person. We also get a good view of Henerey's anxiety. Plus we see how charming both Sophy and Vy are and how their vulnerabilities have shaped their friendship.
The world building is quite interesting. Almost the entire book takes place with the characters living or researching underwater. The characters for the most part are all academics in some way: artists and researchers. The author does a nice job of forming the visual of the world through the letters we read. I loved the little things she inserts to show us how the characters have adapted to their surrounding: water proof paper being the most obvious of adaptations for people living and researching underwater! At the same time, I don't feel like the author truly shows us how this world came to be. She mentions a sky world quite a few times and how it fell, but I never truly got a sense of why or how this world came to be.
Overall, the characters development was quite nice. I loved watching E and Henerey's letters and how they slowly become connected and find some romance. I also loved how Sophy, E's sister, and Vyerin, Henerey's brother, form a friendship through their letters and their sharing of information with each other. Cathrall also takes great strides to be diverse and inclusive in this book.
If you've not read epistolary writing before, I'd give this one a try! It was different from anything I've ever read before. It's an enchanting tale of anxious people!
This book indeed ends on a bit of a cliffhanger leaving you wanting to know just exactly what the characters have found and how they might go about saving those they love. I'm definitely intrigued to read the follow up and see where it goes.
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