A Letter to the Luminous Deep (The Sunken Archive, #1)
Sylvie Cathrall
A charming fantasy set in an underwater world with magical academia and a heartwarming penpal romance, perfect for fans of A Marvellous Light and Emily Wilde's Encylopaedia of Faeries. “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
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0**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.**
DNF @ 21%
This novel is first and foremost an epistolary novel. Lucky for me, I am fond of epistolaries, letters, diaries, journals of all sorts! Readers shall begin to make their acquaintance with the siblings Cidnosin (E.-rather suddenly gone missing, Arvist- perpetually self-interested, and Sophy- very much accounted for). In addition, readers shall encounter communique from the siblings Clel (Henerey-equally suddenly gone missing and presumably with E.- and Vyerin-also present and accounted for).
Sophy and Vyerin compile known letters between their respective siblings E. and Henerey as they try to determine what may have happened that led to their aforementioned disappearance. Their exchanged communications are interspersed with the letters their siblings wrote and with relevant excerpts of texts or public accounts of events.
The success of an epistolary novel (at least for me!) is in the voices of the characters being clear through each writing. I have letters from friends and have read historical letters between companions (for entertainment and for scholarly pursuits!); one can nearly always tell prior to the closing who is writing to whom in the exchange. This is the major let down for me of this novel- while there may be four or more sources of letters, there is one, solid, overarching voice that does not vary. I hope you might have noticed the (somewhat peculiar!) way I am writing this review. The parenthetical asides. The overabundance of exclamation points. The unnecessarily formal address broken up (rather unevenly, mind you) by wistfulness or playfulness. The entire book is written in this fashion. The plot moves at a snail's pace. Out of desperation, I looked at reviews only to learn that the "voice" issue remains throughout and that the plot does not begin to thicken until approximately 75%.
TLDR; this work was a mismatch for what I can tolerate for extended periods of time in prose. Wishing the author much success and hoping this book (with stunning cover art!) finds its audience. I confess; it was not me.
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