This book was a major letdown only because I had built up all these expectations in my head. THIS is why I don't read blurbs or even try to have any expectations of books but the COVER, the TITLE, like they were such automatic recommendations that I couldn't help myself.
I loved the characters and their characterisations, the sweet love blossoming between E & Henerey, the friendship between Sophy & Vyerin, the sibling dynamics (and yes, even Arvist much as I didn't like him, the way the sisters talk of him is interesting), and finally, the cool (somewhat claustrophobic and frightening too in my opinion ) nature of the world.
While I liked how the entirety of the novel was epistolary and while it was also quite interesting and entertaining to see the writer get all creative to get it all done through letters, transcripts etc, I wonder how Book 2 (which I have no plans of reading to be honest) would be. I can't imagine following the same format cuz it'd be too tedious and I don't know, boring?
I'd say the book got me vaguely immersed but not in the sense that I was immersed in the plot, rather the whole idea of an underwater world made be feel like I was literally immersed in its depths. I could resonate a lot with E but apart from that, I couldn't really connect deep enough for it to have made any sort of impact on me. There's a lot that confused me to be honest and maybe I can't blame the book but rather my own history and the way I consider the world to work clashes with the world that is built? Like there weren't enough explanation of the world? I mean I love fantasy and I love getting into different worlds but this book left me questioning more and perhaps a lot gets answered in the books to follow but I couldn't care less at this point. I give this a 2.75 stars.
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