I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall Series: The Sunken Archive #1
Published by Orbit on April 25 2024
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 400
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Charming and witty, this highly imaginative epistolary novel shines with humor, warmth and wonder.
LETTER FROM HENEREY CLEL TO E. CIDNOSIN, 1002
“My dear E.,
I feared that writing to you after the wonder of meeting you in person might feel somewhat diminished. Indeed, I find it frustrating to be faced with the empty page as my only audience—I much prefer your wry glances in response to my bumbling words. Yet there is mothing that can altogether remove the joy I experience when communicating with you in any format.”
Never have I been so glad to have gone back and finished a book that I struggled with, and I can’t believe I nearly missed the chance to read this luminous debut. A Letter to the Luminous Deep is a story told exclusively through letters and journal entries, in two different time lines. Not only is it a lovely, slow build romance between two of the characters, but it’s a tantalizing mystery that becomes more fantastical as the story progresses. Sylvie Cathrall is a debut author, but she writes as if she’s a seasoned pro, and even better, this is a start to a series.
Here’s the set-up: Through a series of letters, we meet E. Cidnosin and Henerey Clel, who begin a correspondence after E. sees an unidentified sea creature through the porthole of her underwater dwelling, Deep House. She’s a fan of Scholar Clel, who is a natural historian and well known in his field, and E. thinks he might be able to identify the creature. E.’s letter charms Henerey, a mild-mannered scholar who is only too happy to send a reply, and thus a wonderful friendship is born—which later grows into a deeper relationship.
However, there is a twist. We are reading E.’s and Henerey’s letters after a terrible tragedy befell the two. E.’s sister Sophy and Henerey’s brother Vyerin begin their own correspondence after the (assumed) death of their siblings, trying to make sense of what happened. As they send letters back and forth, they also share E.’s and Henerey’s letters to each other (Sophy has found Henerey’s letters in E.’s bedroom and Vyerin has found E.’s letters) and in this way they not only witness the burgeoning relationship between the two, but they begin to piece together the events that led to their mysterious disappearance.
That’s more or less the plot, which I’ll admit sounds a little thin, but the joy of this story is the way the information unfolds. Now, I did struggle with this book in the beginning. You might notice the characters’ names are a little unusual, and it took a while for my brain to accept them. The story has a fairly large cast of characters, most of whom I haven’t even mentioned, but E., Henerey, Sophy and Vyerin are the four with the most page time. This is a slow burn story that takes its time getting to the main plot, so my advice is to embrace the experience, because eventually you’ll find yourself immersed completely and you won’t want to stop reading. The letters are formal but chatty, and the characters go off on tangents in the middle of explaining things, so it can be frustrating at times and easy to lose the story thread. But really, this chattiness is all part of the charm, and it didn’t take long for the writing style to grow on me.
There were two standout elements for me: the characters and the world building. Let’s talk about the characters first, starting with E. and Henerey. E. is a fascinating woman. She lives in a world where scholarly pursuits are extremely important (more on that later), however she is not a full scholar herself. She’s also an introvert and has extreme anxiety, and I loved the way her mental issues are presented and explained. She goes to therapy, but in this world psychiatrists are called “Physicians of the Brain,” how quaint is that? As an introvert myself, I really related to her, especially when her beautiful underwater home is “invaded” by her brother and his wife, without any advanced warning! Henerey also suffers from anxiety, and this gives them common ground from which to build a relationship. Really, these two were so sweet, and their relationship was so refreshingly chaste, I couldn’t help but wish them the best.
Sophy was a wonderful character as well. She is a scholar and is off on her own adventure, investigating deep sea creatures at a remote underwater location called the Ridge. Her letters to E. are full of excitement and passion for her field of study, and we also get a glimpse into the core mystery of the story—what happened to E. and Henerey and how it relates to what Sophy finds on her expedition, as well as how that ties into the Structure that appears outside of Deep House. Sophy has her own romance going on with a female explorer named Eliniea Forghe, and her letters to E. include all the longings and uncertainties that come with a new relationship. I loved their sisterly connection, and their love for each other simply beams from the page.
And the world, well, I feel as if I’m still immersed in it, even though I finished reading this days ago. This is post apocalyptic fantasy, but it also has a vintage science fiction feel as well. Imagine visiting Tomorrowland in Disneyland in the 1960s, and that’s the sort of vibe I got from the story. I loved the combination of low-tech (mail boats delivering letters) and high tech (personal underwater living spaces called “Bubbles”), and the old fashioned practice of writing letters to communicate was the perfect way to tell this story. I loved the scholar-based world, where education and learning are highly prized commodities, and there’s a lot of back-and-forth scholarly sparing between characters that worked surprisingly well.
The underlying mystery in the story is fascinating and revolves around a cryptic object that appears one day in the ocean outside of Deep House. This “Structure,” as E. refers to it, is both beautiful and ominous. No one can explain it, but later it plays an important role in the story. Cathrall refers to an ancient race called Antepelagic (aliens perhaps?) whose crumbling structures and artifacts are strewn over the sea floor. Who are these creatures? And what do they have to do with the Structure and the disappearance of E. and Henerey? By the end of the story we’ve learned some things but not others, so the mystery will continue in the next book.
I couldn’t be more excited for the sequel, especially since the author didn’t explain everything at the end of A Letter to the Luminous Deep. For jaded readers looking for something entirely different and heartwarming, I urge you to give this book a try.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
I’m so glad you loved this so much when you gave it another chance. I really felt for E too, especially when her brother decided to throw a party like that. I really could have slapped him then. Anyway I loved how charming this felt too and was really surprised by how much it left me longing for the sequel. For a story told through letters I wasn’t expecting the plot to grip me so much.
Me too! I can’t wait for the sequel, especially with that ending!
Glad you ended up enjoying this one so much in the end. It does sound very good, and has elements that always make me want to read a book – storytelling through letters and journals, and taking place in two different time lines. I love that cover too. Great review 😀
Thanks! The letters were so fun to read:-)
While I understand that this book might require the kind of commitment I’m not ready to give it right now, I’m very curious about your description of the overall story as “post-apocalyptic fantasy”: it’s so intriguing that I know I will have to see for myself, one of these days…
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
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It just felt that way to me, it felt like a fantasy but there was also a catastrophic event that changed the world.
I love it when a story sticks around like that, making you still feel immersed in the world after you’re done reading. I like the excerpt you included too. I’m a little curious about this one now.
I thought it was lovely, a nice change of pace from what I usually read.
This sounds lovely! I skipped right by it when I saw it come up on NetGalley and elsewhere, but I realize now that I need this book in my life!
It was so good!
Yet another book I want even more after reading your review but I need to chill on buying books right now because there are a couple coming out in May that I really want. Bookworm problems! One particular thing I love that you mentioned is how they call psychiatrists physicians of the brain. Thanks for sharing!
The story had almost a Regency feel to it, I loved the writing:-)
Gorgeous cover. I’m happy you were able to enjoy it. I’m not sure I like the format but maybe.
It’s very different, but I thought she did a great job.
I’m so happy you gave it another chance and ended up liking it so much! I agree, this felt like something different and I think that’s one reason I was so hooked since I really didn’t know where the author would take the story.
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Yes, it was so different but in a good way:-)
I was curious to read your thoughts on this one. I have read some mixed reviews and, to be honest, I was quite ready to just pass this one but now… I can’t, because reading your review made me so curious!! Thanls for sharing!!
It really worked for me, you might enjoy it too:-)
Thanks for the review. I’m very tempted to pick this up now.
I hope you like it if you do:-)
Well I’m very glad to hear it was worth going back to. It would have been unfortunate if you’d gone back just to stumble with it twice.
Which I’ve done before, lol. I’m very glad it ended up working out.
I’m struggling with this one currently. I can sense that it is picking up but I’m need to force myself to keep reading. It is good to know that people think that it is worth it.
I felt the same way, I just could not get into it. I took a break and went back to it and just made myself read 50 pages or so and it suddenly clicked. Maybe that would work for you, but if not just move on!
I really loved the worldbuilding, and I think she did a great job conveying that through letters…but I really struggled with the writing style all the way through. I had trouble telling the characters apart and kept getting confused. I think if she chose to do the sequel as non-epistolary I would give it a go, but I was also happy how it ended.
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I’m glad giving it another chance paid off. That usually doesn’t happen! I think I’ll need to be in the mood for patience when I try this one.
A superb review, Tammy:)). I’ve just completed this one this morning – and I struggled with this one, too. But for me, it was Sophy’s and Henerey’s grief for their lost siblings that had me having to break off. But like you, I’m so glad I continued to read on – the way the plot steadily unfurled to reveal something else going on was very clever:)).