An sich sehr interessant. Aber dieses alte Briefe lesen hat es anstrengend gemacht. Vorallem da alles so gefühlslastig war… Die Story hätte (von der Art wie miteinander geschrieben wird) genau so gut im Mittelalter spielen können. Spielt aber wohl eigentlich in der Zukunft. Hätte man die Geschichte einfach aus der Sicht von E. und Henery erzählt, wäre es in meinen Augen sinnvoller gewesen. Naja… meiner Meinung nach Potential vergeudet, nur um auch mal ein Buch in einem „interessanten“ Format schreiben zu können.

When I requested this book, I did not know that this book was made for me. I'm so glad I didn't miss out. My heart warmed with all the scholarly aspects between socially awkward people that are all gooey at the core. And I've always been fascinated of stories that unfold a plot, and even more characters, purely through correspondence. So for a short recommendation I'd say if you vibed with Love Virtually ('Gut gegen Nordwind'), This Is How You Lose The Time War and Emily Wilde, this might be the book for you. This book has multiple POV in different timelines, but the way it's structured makes it easy to follow. Even in the audiobook, as the POVs are narrated by very different and very fitting voices.

The world that unfolds is really fascinating, mostly sunken after an event called 'The Dive ', and with many secrets that are yet to be explored. Even more fascinating than the world though are the characters that you get to know purely by letters. It might take a while to attach to them, but when you do, you're hooked - I promise. I won't retell the plot, because you should not pick up this book for plot (let's say if Emily Wilde was too slow and not enough plot for you, you probably won't like A Letter to the Luminous Deep either). However, what finally unfolds I did not see coming, and I can't wait for book 2 to fill this fish-shaped hole in my heart. 4,5/5 stars Thank you @netgalley and @hachetteaudio for the eARC! #ALetterToTheLuminousDeep #Netgalley #Bookstagram

I received this book as an audiobook ARC through Netgalley. Opinions are completely my own though. This had a lot of ups and downs for me. The first chapter completely hooked me in and for the first 25% or so I was really invested then the shortcomings of this book sadly became clearer. I think the story is solid but has a few problems - of which most are self imposed. First the good: I did find the love story and letters between Henerey and E AMAZING. I ate every single letter between them up. I thought their dialogue was cute and charming and they both were dorks with social as well as mental health issues I could relate to. They both felt complex and had such an amazing dynamic with each other and it reminded me of the feeling Divine Rivals gave me. I also think the world was interesting and intriguing and wished there would have been more descriptions which were really good at times. I also liked the talk about scholarship and would have wished for it to be more of a focus. The audiobook was also REALLY good from a technical stand point. The narrators are absolutely great and they really immersed myself into these characters. I loved the duett narration and think that it really enhanced my experience. I think the biggest problems are 1) The self restricting format - which leads to 2) suspension of disbelief issues and 3) lampshading 1)The self restricting format This book in it's entirety is compromised of physical documents in various formats. It's cool and fun in theory but sadly leads to a few issues. Often times Character A will tell character B in a letter "hey attached you will find document X" but rather than instantly after finishing the letter from A showing us document X you'd multiple times get interludes from character B first and then reading document X. This was sometimes confusing but even if it wasn't it disrupted the flow immensely for me. The format also lead to problem 2) suspension of disbelief issues EVERYTHING is a physical piece of paper so you are supposed crack your suspension of disbelief to 100 for a lot of different things. In my opinion the whole set up of the siblings piling together documents of E and Henerey to find out what happened to them is a really idea but who would do that by faxing letters with documents attached back and forth? They even meet in person once but cant compile the documents at that meeting because then there wouldnt be a document the book can show us to tell us what happened. They could just have met up a few times in person to figure everything out and it would have worked way better in my opinion. Would have also been an oppurtunity to get a bit more "show" and less "tell" in. It also creates the issues of having to have some form of physical document in scenes where it makes no sense. Why would E and Henry have a whole, long conversation on the back of a gala program when meeting up in person for the first time. A few sentences? I could believe that but all that was written in that chapter? Nope. Also "Hey we have highly advanced underwater and deep sea exploration technology but still rely on physical postal service/basically Fax technology to communicate" Also Also "Oh no I don't read these documents before sending them to you I'd rather wait the X weeks we've been faxing back and forth to find out what happened to my brother that mysteriously vanished a year ago so that I can react to these revelations in my faxes to you" 1) and 2) come together in problem 3) lampshading. It doesnt make sense for some things to be said in letters and the book knows this which is why the book tries to make fun of it - which I hate. There were so many "Oh I don't even know why I'm writing this" and "Do you remember when X happened? Of course you know (but I still had to tell the reader what happened)" moments and the first time it was funny and self aware but it happens too many times that it really irritated me near the end. I also had my problems with the pacing. I think this book could have been shorter with a heavier focus on E and Henry and would have been better for it. Critique of the Ending: <spoiler> What frustratres me the most is that Sophy and Vyerin werent even able to lift the mystery themselves. The reveals happen through other characters who had the answers all along but just didnt come forward with them. Also the "reveal" of the mystery isnt even a full on "reveal" but rather a "here are all the puzzle pieces please come back for book 2 to actually put them together" <spoiler> I really don't know what my exact feelings about this book are. I am invested and I did have moments where I enjoyed myself a lot but sadly it has very obvious flaws that drag this down to a 3 star read to me.

This book was unusual, but in a very good way, I liked it a lot! It's an epistolary novel about siblings and couples, about loss, mental health and academia, set in a world where there is only very little land and most people live on (or in) the ocean. Together with Sophy and Vyerin we discover the fates of their lost siblings, while reading their correspondence from before their disappearance. This plot structure worked very well for me, I was intrigued to find out what happened to them and at the same time loved to see their love and friendships respectively develop through the letters and notes they send each other. Usually I tend to miss direct conversations and actual meetings in epistolary novels, but this one managed to bring across all the important feelings and thoughts beautifully. The writing itself was also amazing, there were various distinct voices transported in the letters and the characters really came to life through their writing. E. and Henerey have such a beautiful writing style, rather old-fashioned but in the best way! I really liked it. The world was super interesting with all its different scholars and vessels and habitats and creatures! I can say that I've never read a book about a world like this and I thought it had the right amount of detail. Some scenes were a little difficult to imagine but that's also due to the epistolary form of this book I think. Towards the end it was very gripping, though the last few letters were a bit anti climactic, but maybe that was just because I was so tired. Overall I'd recommend this book to everyone who likes to read slow-ish fantasy set in an oceanic world and epistolary novels Thanks to orbit and netgalley for the arc!