A Letter to the Luminous Deep is by far the most unique and intriguing book I’ve ever read. To began the book is an aquatic, mysterious academia epistolary novel. In other words, it’s written completely in letters/correspondence. As for the academia and aquatic portions, the novel follows E. and Henerey’s letters to eachother while they make a world changing discovery and suddenly disappear. E’s older sister and Henerey’s older brother then began a correspondence to figure out what had truly happened to them in those final months and days leading up to their disappearance and possible death. The world this occurs in is mostly all ocean with only some islands. The characters are almost all scholars and the book is very heavily based on research and academics. As well aquatic/marine topics as they do most of their research in the ocean.

For starters, the worldbuilding in this book is truly immaculate. The author created such an immersive and beautiful world that honestly made me want to become a marine biologist after reading it. Not only that but she did a lovely job of also including more magical/mythical elements to make this a proper fantasy novel.

I thought the topics and overall plot of this book was super unique and interesting! I was always on the edge of my seat wondering what happened next and just waiting for the next letter between Henerey and E so I could see what happened to them. I loved learning what happened with Sophy and Vy as it made it much easier to understand and also allowed for insight of other events from those characters. 

The start of the book was definitely a little slow. However, it truly picked up at the end. And then the very last chapter was extremely long and extremely slow but much needed for the overall plot and set up of book 2 (which I’ll definitely be reading).

As things got discovered in the book, I can now look back and see all the subtle foreshadowing the author had planted from the very start! It was honestly so fun to try to figure out this mystery. As I’m typing this, I’m still wondering what possible things may occur in the next book. Sooo much happened in this one. I’m truly shook and it all feels so magical and real at the same time thanks the author’s good writing and worldbuilding skills.

The mini romance subplots between the different characters were so cute. Ofc my favorite was Henerey and E. Their romance was not the typical type you get from a book since it was mainly seen through letters. But also because E suffers from OCD, making her very anti-social and anxious. Henerey is also quite anti-social. But seeing them enjoy eachother’s company despite all of that was beautiful and adorable. Also this book is no spice and pure romantic gestures and affirmations. It was such a nice break from what romance has become more recently in books! 

I appreciated E’s representation of OCD and Anxiety within this book! I felt like I could relate to her on many levels of enjoying being alone and being stressed in large crowds or the presence of others and feel awkward about it! I also love how we saw her grow as a character throughout the entire book! By the end she was adventuring out more when before she wouldn’t have even left her room! It truly shows you can do anything no matter what!

This book is 100% at the top of my list for most unique and interesting structure, plot, and overall content/tropes/vibes. I really really enjoyed it and I find myself thinking of this mysterious and beautiful aquatic world and content quite often. However, while the author’s writing was beautiful and well-done. It’s difficult to read a book completely composed of letters. It can often get boring or feel like it’s dragging on (which is why it took me 2+ months to finish this.) I often had to take breaks and then come back a bit later. Because of the letters it was also difficult to envision what was going on in my head. There were very few descriptions of buildings and even less physical descriptions of the characters. I often times just made up what they looked like on my own since it didn’t really say until the middle of the book (and even then it was just a few characters). Some people may enjoy the creative freedom but I found it a little difficult. Once again it was just difficult to stay consistently interested in a book written from letters. At some points the letters would also just be academic info which could get boring. So because of all this I’m only giving it 3.5 stars. (But I still consider this a good rating and it’s definitely not a bad book and not the worst I’ve ever read).

Overall, I DID ENJOY THIS BOOK. It could just get boring and hard for me to stay focused on it. If you’re a fan of classics and heavy world-building and academic tropes then you will probably not be bored at all. But I did like this book and I 100% recommend it. Especially if you haven’t read an Epistolary before! I read this on my iPad but i definitely recommend getting a physical copy and ANNOTATE. Because of the academics and letters, this is a book that 100% deserves and honestly needs to be annotated. I think it would help with the experience and be less boring. So I may get a physical copy and go back and annotate it just like the characters!

Can’t wait for book 2! Please read this is you love the ocean, marine science, academia vibes, mystery, romance side-plots, and good but heavy worldbuilding! 

Or just read it if you’re looking for something unlike anything you’ve ever read before :)

Also thank you to the author and NetGalley for an arc. I’m sorry it took me so long to finish and review this book!