Fathomfolk

• Author: Eliza Chan
• Genre: Fantasy
• Publication Date: February 27, 2024
• Publisher: Orbit
• Series: Drowned World #1

Thank you to Orbit and Angela Man for sending me a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

From one of fantasy’s most exciting new voices Eliza Chan comes a modern, myth-inflected story of revolution and magic set against the glittering, semi-submerged city of Tiankawi, perfect for fans of Jade City and The Bone Shard Daughter . Welcome to Tiankawi – shining pearl of human civilization and a safe haven for those fleeing civil unrest. Or at least, that’s how it first appears.

But in the semi-flooded city, humans are, quite literally, on peering down from skyscrapers and aerial walkways on the fathomfolk — sirens, seawitches, kelpies and kappas—who live in the polluted waters below.

For half-siren Mira, promotion to captain of the border guard means an opportunity to reform. At last, she has the ear of the city council and a chance to lift the repressive laws that restrict fathomfolk at every turn. But if earning the trust and respect of her human colleagues wasn’t hard enough, everything Mira has worked towards is put in jeopardy when a water dragon is exiled to the city.

New arrival Nami is an aristocratic water dragon with an opinion on everything. Frustrated by the lack of progress from Mira’s softly-softly approach in gaining equality, Nami throws her lot in with an anti-human extremist group, leaving Mira to find the headstrong youth before she makes everything worse.

And pulling strings behind everything is Cordelia, a second-generation sea-witch determined to do what she must to survive and see her family flourish, even if it means climbing over the bodies of her competitors. Her political game-playing and underground connections could disrupt everything Nami and Mira are fighting for.

When the extremists sabotage the annual boat race, violence erupts, as does the clampdown on fathomfolk rights. Even Nami realises her new friends are not what they seem. Both she and Mira must decide if the cost of change is worth it, or if Tiankawi should be left to drown.

I was so excited for this book, and the cover completely captivated me. It really is a stunner of a cover, and the premise of the book sounded fascinating. An East Asian-mythology inspired story pitting humans against fathomfolk—creatures who exist in the water, and have magical powers, this one sounded like it was right up my alley.

The world building was an absolute standout in this book. We’re given the basics of this society, where humans are given the better living conditions, above the submerged parts of the city, and the various types of fathomfolk are relegated to the polluted waters at the bottom of the city. Even worse, living in those polluted waters causes the fathomfolk to suffer from an incurable, fatal disease called gill rot. In addition, we also get to hear all about the politics of the different factions in the city—the humans, the fathomfolk, and the extremists who don’t see change happening fast enough for their liking. The fathomfolk have different abilities, and Chan explains some of it in the story, but I really would have liked to learn more about the different abilities of other types of fathomfolk, but other than that, the world building was incredible.

Unfortunately, there were a lot more things about this book that led me to struggle to connect with the story and stay invested. The story is told through the perspective of three different female characters—Mira, the captain of the border guard; Nami, the rebellious and well-born cousin of Mira’s romantic partner, Kai; and Cordelia, a sea witch dead set on gaining power and resources, with no thoughts of who she hurts in the process. While the different perspectives give readers a somewhat well-rounded view of who has the ability to create change in fathomfolk society, it also provided for a disjointed and choppy reading experience at times. 

In any stratified society, there’s going to be prejudice. This book is no different, and we see Mira experiencing this most often, bridging the gap between humans and fathomfolk in her job, and breaking barriers for fathomfolk in reaching new occupational heights.

The first portion of the book starts off a bit slow, allowing readers to absorb the complex world that Chen has created. Even so, there were parts that I found myself having to go back and read chapters or sections more than once to grasp events and concepts. Political fantasy novels always toe a fine line of incorporating a really complex series of political concepts and factions working towards their own aims, and going over the line into a story that becomes too complex and loses your readers. And unfortunately, this book falls into the second category. It felt even more confusing to me, because combined with the overly complex political landscape that made the plot lines difficult to follow after a while, the writing for this adult book felt as though it was more YA oriented. I honestly thought that this was a YA book until after I finished reading. Even the romances felt YA in that they was very minimal actual romance happening. 

Overall, I really struggled to enjoy this one. I didn’t want to DNF, and genuinely thought that it would get better and start to make sense for me, but it just kept dragging on. The pace sped up, but it felt a bit on the rushed side for me, and made it more difficult for me to follow along with all of the complex politics. This one certainly sucked me in with the gorgeous cover and the promise of the mythology, but all I was really able to identify was a strange last-minute addition of story elements from The Little Mermaid, which came from Hans Christian Anderson, who as far as I know, isn’t East Asian but Dutch. So I’m curious to find out what East Asian myths were incorporated in this story, but probably will not be continuing on with this series.

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