Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan is a fantasy debut and the first book in the Drowned Worlds duology (3.5/5 stars)

Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan is a fantasy debut and the first book in the Drowned Worlds duology.

The semi-submerged city if Tiankawi is home to both humans and those known as fathomfolk–sirens, sea-witches, kelpies, and kappas. However, the humans tend to live in high rises and the fathomfolk live in the polluted waters below. After an anti-human extremist group starts a wave of violence at an annual boat race, the clampdown on fathomfolk rights begins.

This duology takes bits and pieces from various Asian mythologies, along with folklore from the British isles. I love reading speculative fiction that is based off of various mythology systems, and I especially love reading about folklore I am less familiar with.

There are three main POV characters that we follow throughout the book: Mira, a half-siren and newly promoted captain of the border guard; Nami, a pampered water dragon newly arrived to the city; and Cordelia, a sea-witch who’s pulling the strings beneath and throughout the city. The publisher’s blurb notes that this is a story of revolution, so please keep in mind there will be various amounts of violence throughout the book.

I didn’t quite understand the whole political structure of the city or how it interacts with the politics of the fantasy world it’s set in. That being said, I was mostly here for the vibes and to follow some characters as they make good and bad decisions. I definitely wanted to shake Nami several times because she’s very stubborn and naive, but I’m glad that she is willing to learn from her mistakes and past prejudices.

The book could have probably had another editing pass, because it felt a little on the long side for me. I also wish we would have dug a bit deeper into our POV characters, because I never fully felt emotionally connected with them. Those seem to be common traits that I see in debut novels, though.

I hope there’s more scenes with Eun, my favorite rumpled librarian, in the next book.

CW: violence, murder, racism, xenophobia

I received a complimentary review copy from Orbit Books and Hachette Audio. All opinions contained herein are my own.

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