Welcome to Litsy!

The whole story was told through letters and it was a bit hard to relate to characters first and they stayed a bit distant. All their voices were similar and sometimes you had to double check who's letter to whom were you reading.

This was a slow book, but atmosphere was nice & cozy.

This was predictable: when something important was revealed I knew immediately how this was going to end.

The world was intriguing!

#WickedWords @AsYouWish

This book is an onion of intriguing layers, from the love story in letters unfolding between E and Henery to the friendship formed between their siblings Sophie and Vyerin as they seek to understand E & H's disappearance, not to mention the fantastical nature of this watery world and its academic social structure (and hints at extraterrestrial origins?)

Also love that this is an #OwnVoices novel in mental health and in love story via pen pal!

February is the month where I kept falling asleep while reading, so it took me forever to get through books, lol. Almost done with the tagged book, too, which has been fascinating but also taking a long time to read.

I seem to be in an epistolary novel spurt - teaching So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ to my World Lit class next week!

An imaginative tale of a world very different, told in letters. I wasn‘t sure how I‘d get along with the format, and I did find it rather slow going at first. But the mystery of what happened to E. and Henerey drew me in, as their siblings worked to solve their disappearance. The world building is charming and thorough, and the characters appealing and enjoyable to spend time with. I‘ll definitely read the sequel.

Dear Scholar Clel,

Instead of reading further, I hope you will return this letter to its envelope or, better yet, crumple it into an abstract shape that might look quite at home on a coral reef.

#FirstLineFridays

E. Cidnosin witnesses strange, giant eel-like creatures and starts a correspondence with scholar Henerey Clel. This leads to investigating a mysterious structure and the pair‘s disappearance.
E.‘s sister Sophy and Henerey‘s brother Vyerin delve into their siblings‘ exchanged letters to find out what happened.

If you want something different, cozy with a good mystery, academia with some excitement, all told in letter format, this is for you.

This is going to be one of the best surprises of the year! Told entirely through letters, articles, etc., the pacing is not fast, but it was captivating. A unique world is created, and the characters all felt distinct & interesting. I think this was helped by the excellent audiobook narration provided by four different readers. Some romance, some academia, some laughs, some anxiety-overall excellent storytelling. And also - what a gorgeous cover!

“Dear Scholar Clel,
Instead of reading further, I hope you will return this letter to its envelope or, better yet, crumple it into an abstract shape that might look quite at home on a coral reef.”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

This book was a grab-without-looking-and-go read. So glad I grabbed it now. It's beautifully written, and the mystery plot at its core is both curious, fantastical, and utterly tantalizing. To say nothing of the adorable romance as well, which was giving “waterlogged Jane Austen,“ an aesthetic I never knew I needed.
As a lover of the ocean, romance, epistolary novels, and well-crafted prose, this was a big win for me. Looking out for the sequel!