FATHOMFOLK by Eliza Chan (BUDDY READ BOOK REVIEW)
At the end of last year, Nils and I had an online catch-up with Nazia from Orbit, and one of the books we both loved the sound of was Eliza Chan’s debut novel Fathomfolk, so we thought it would be perfect for a buddy read!
Revolution is brewing in the semi-submerged city of Tiankawi, between humans and the fathomfolk who live in its waters. This gloriously imaginative debut fantasy, inspired by East Asian mythology and ocean folk tales, is a novel of magic, rebellion and change.
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 top: peering down from shining towers 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 help her downtrodden people. 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 Nami, a know-it-all water dragon and fathomfolk princess – is exiled to the city, under Mira’s watch. When extremists sabotage a city festival, violence erupts, as does the clampdown on fathomfolk rights. Both Nami and Mira must decide if the cost of change is worth paying, or if Tiankawi should be left to drown.
Fathomfolk is available now, and you can order your copy from Bookshop.org
As always, let’s start with our first impressions.
Nils: I was first drawn to this novel because of that gorgeous cover art by Kelly Chong. The depiction of the sea dragons and mermaids just instantly made me curious to read this Asian inspired tale of mythological sea beings.
Beth: Same here! I’m an absolute sucker for Kelly Chong covers, and I love books inspired by South East Asian mythology!
Nils: They really are ones we instantly want to read!
When I first began reading, it took me a while to visualise Tiankawi, the half submerged city in which our story is set. I absolutely loved that the world was filled with kelpies, kappas, mermaids, sea dragons, sirens and sea witches, but I struggled to know exactly what each of them looked like and how they navigated through this world. However as you read on this does become clearer and Tiankawi comes beautifully to life. Beth also had the fantastic idea of creating a visual board of these sea creatures so we could keep adding pictures from Google as we came across an unfamiliar species, which I have to say was so fun to do.
Beth: I thought I was pretty good when it came to mythology, but there was plenty here that I hadn’t come across and was constantly Googling, so I thought it easier to put them in one place. You have to hand it to Chan, she’s included everything; from Asian water dragons and kappas, to Slavic rusalkas and Irish merrows, it’s positively teeming with creatures.
Like Nils, I did at first struggle to get a sense of this city with its areas that were submerged or partly-submerged, then areas that were built higher and higher above the water. It’s quite literally the higher up the social class you are, the further from the water you are, which said everything you needed to know about the prejudices of this society straight from the get go.
Let’s talk about the characters. Were there any in particular that stood out to you? That you sympathised with?
Beth: The first character we meet is Mira and it’s immediately clear she’s had a tough road to get to where she is, and she seemed to have quite the chip on her shoulder because of it, so it was difficult to warm to her when we first meet her. But then we meet her boyfriend Kai and he is adorable, they’re like opposites of each other in so many ways!
Nils: Oh that scene with Kai was so magical and romantic!
I think I was first drawn to Nami, our young sea dragon. Nami is headstrong to say the least and quite naïve. She’s the kind of character you simultaneously want to protect because you see kindness and compassion in her but you also want to shout at for being so easily led, for trusting those who are so clearly untrustworthy. Nami’s drive to change the world, to fight injustice head on and to create a better future for Fathomfolk was something I completely admired in her but in turn her idealism and her emotions blinded her to the bigger picture—yet how true is this for many people even today?
Beth I know you liked Nami pretty early on too, what did you think of her naivety?
Beth: Yeah I loved Nami and her journey! Like you said, she could be infuriating at times. She is so naïve, coming from a place of such privilege that her actions have completely different consequences for her than her friends who are less well-off, and she can’t even begin to guess at what they have to go through because of their misadventure with her. Although she learns a lot through the course of the story, and has her eyes opened to a certain degree, her naivety doesn’t completely leave her, does it? I think she’ll still have some shocks in the next book, bless her.
Nils: I’m curious to see her character grow in the next book!
I was also quite taken with Cordelia, our shape-shifting, deal-making sea witch. She reminded me somewhat of Ursula from The Little Mermaid with how deceitful and twisted she was. Cordelia switched sides depending on what benefited her the most and at first I found that kind of fun but as the story progressed and the stakes got higher, I wanted her to pick a side and help them because she really did have the power to do so. I think that is the point of her character though, you’re meant to both like and loathe her!
Beth: I never really knew what to make of Cordelia, so never really got to the point where I could say I liked her? But I agree, I don’t think you’re supposed to? She’s an extremely complex character with the influences of different worlds pulling on her, but the way she was constantly playing the different sides… she’s a shapeshifter in more than one sense, and I thought she was an interesting representation of the pressures of forced adaptability.
Nils: Like Beth mentioned earlier, I also found Mira, a half siren, a little too harsh and judgmental, however she did grow on me by the end. I feel like her character develops the most and by the end she’s much more mature. Her partner Kai was also interesting to discover more about, especially as he was at the forefront of Tiankawi’s political struggles between Fathomfolk and humans.
Beth: Yes, so to come back to Mira, I definitely warmed to her once we got past that hard exterior!
As much as I initially struggled with the worldbuilding, I cannot fault Chan’s incredible character work. The protagonists were all so complex and displayed a great deal of growth, but the many side characters also really stood out, didn’t they Nils? We both loved Mira’s mother Trish; she reminded me a little of my own mother, who, when she’s trying to get away with doing something she knows she isn’t supposed, plays heavily on the old “dumb blonde” routine, she’d use people’s expectations of her to her advantage, and this was definitely the case with Trish – Nami underestimated her a lot.
We absolutely hated Firth though, didn’t we!
Nils: Firth needed to fuck right off! He was such a manipulative character, always using his charm to lure Nami into every scheme he was involved with! I often wondered if he was a secret siren!
Beth: I hope we’ll find out more about him in the next book, seems there’s a lot of secrets there.
Nils: Trish was a gem though! I loved how she always tried to teach Nami some wisdom and take her under her wing without being overbearing.
There were a couple of different points of views, what did we make of the various ones? Did this structure work?
Nils: I think the structure worked well in the sense that each POV cleverly shows a different angle to the central conflict of the oppression of the Fathomfolk. For example Nami’s involvement with the rebel group, the Drawbacks, shows a much more aggressive way of wanting to achieve change whereas Mira and Kai showed how change could be made from within the government itself.
Serene’s character worked to show the side of the humans and what their view of the Fathomfolk were, which overall, wasn’t very favourable.
Beth: That’s a very good point Nils. This is very much a story about two very different cultures having to exist together, humans and Fathomfolk, and the prejudices and clashes that result. It’s a very relevant mirror to current issues in society that, in my white privileged position, were necessarily uncomfortable reading.
There are four points of view in total, and sometimes I struggled a little with how quickly we jumped between them. The chapters are short and snappy, which was great for the pace and action! But definitely kept you on your toes perspective-wise.
Nils: Yes I found this too. We do jump a fair bit, from character to character but also through time too. Sometimes it took me a while to fully grasp what was happening.
What did we make of Eliza Chan’s worldbuilding?
Nils: Intriguing! Myself and Beth had some great conversations trying to piece together some theories about the world, didn’t we?
I’m not sure how much to say here because I don’t want to give any spoilers but there were several mysteries throughout. There was the concept of the Onseon Machine which powered the city but no one knew how, the mysterious earthquakes and the concept of the Titan gods who disappeared. It was great discovering little nuggets of information and then watching it all chaotically unfold at the end of the novel.
Beth: Yes there were plenty of mysteries to try to work out together, and that was lots of fun. The magic system was pretty good too, I quite like a vague system, it feels more magical and less scientific. I found the cuffs Fathomfolk were made to wear to constrain their magic abilities an interesting aspect of the subjugation the humans enforced upon them.
Most of the book is set in the city, but there’s one chapter early on set in a Fathomfolk under-water city, and I really hope we see more of this in the next book, I’d have loved the opportunity to explore it and its differences more.
What were some of the key themes of the story that resonated with you?
Nils: Fathomfolk is largely about injustice, prejudice and oppression, as I’ve mentioned before the Fathomfolk species and humans struggle to co-exist, so there are some pretty powerful and important themes explored throughout.
There were characters such as Lynette and Firth who so clearly hated humans, perhaps with good reason but their actions were more for anarchy than actual striving for peace. There were atrocities committed by humans that had been covered up and buried, there were ways that they controlled Fathomfolk by placing power dampening bracelets on their wrists as Beth mentioned, and leaving them in poverty, enforcing curfews and blaming them for every disastrous incident. The central conflict was shown in a myriad of ways and they effectively do fill the reader with rage at it all so in that sense it does create some great tense moments.
However, I felt at times the themes were kind of shown in a heavy handed way and overtook the other elements of the plot, whereas I personally prefer a touch more subtlety and to have themes explored more adjacent to the plot. What did you think, Beth?
Beth: I agree, this was very much a story of two different cultures struggling to live alongside each other. The humans had created a climate crisis which caused the sea levels to rise and limited their options of habitation, and yet they had to control and exert power over those whose habitats they had encroached and destroyed with their pollution. There’s a great deal of hate and injustice, and Chan uses it all as a vehicle to explore the different kinds of existences people get caught up in at these times. Whether you should learn their rules and exist in their world and learn to play their game better than they can, like Mira, or whether you should rail and rebel against it and fight for your freedom through violence and chaos, like Lynette, Firth and the Drawbacks. Nami is caught between these two worlds. It did sometimes feel quite heavy-handed, I do have to agree with Nils; for example a scene where we read an injustice occur, the character involved would then explain and highlight the injustice for us, and that often felt unnecessary.
Are there any quotations from the book that particularly resonated with you?
Nils: I loved this description.
“Exhilarated and afraid.
Released from the fastenings that pressed against her in human shape. It had been so long since she’d had the chance to be in water dragon form. It felt familiar and yet different – like she had forgotten how to simply be. To exist without thinking about what it meant, what she meant. Her spines fanned up instinctively as she shook off the feeling, diving into the water.”
Beth: We also both loved the part where Nami dances in the underwater club!
She floated to the centre of the dance space. The sequence of moves came naturally. The dance of her mother, and her grandmother before that. Flowing arms stretching out and to her side, a roll forward and a twist of her legs. She was the rain, falling strong upon the land, filling the wide flood plains and turning them to lakes. She was the river, long and winding, veins through the land She sand as she danced, a low hum in the back of her throat…
What were your overall impressions?
Nils: Overall Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan excels at creating a fascinating unique underwater world whilst also reflecting upon themes of prejudice, oppression and political unrest. Chan’s debut is fun, thought-provoking and will have you racing to the end.
Beth: Despite a little floundering at the start, I was really drawn into this story and swept away by the mythologies and traditions. You can’t help but build strong connections to Chan’s characters, and share in their frustrations and anger, their complex relationships. It reminded me a great deal of Andrea Stewart’s The Bone Shard Daughter trilogy, so if you loved that, definitely pick this one up!
If you’d like to hear more about Fathomfolk, be sure to check out the blog tour!
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