I have been subscribed to a book subscription for a few months, and this is one of the first books I got. The book is gorgeous, especially when you remove the dust jacket, and the sprained edges give it a finishing touch. I don’t think I have ever read a book about mermaids except the ones in the Harry Potter books and The Little Mermaid. This made me very excited to start reading. 

This book is about a semi-flooded city named Tiankwani. Humans and Fathomfolk live together in this city, but they aren’t in harmony. The humans live in skyscrapers high above the water where the fathom folk live, but there is a big problem: the water is polluted.

“I tell you every month, and it’s like your ears are blocked, Auntie. I don’t eat sweets.”

Eliza Chan, Fathomfolk

In the book, we follow the characters Mira and Nami. Mira is the captain of the border guards. She is the first Fathomfolk with a rank this high up. But this doesn’t mean she has the respect of the people under her command. The second character, Nami, is a water dragon with more to say than she should; because of that, she gets sent off with a guest by her mother. Nami makes Mira’s work even more difficult than it already is. 

“Kai’s fingers fumbled over the holes of the bamboo flute and failed miserably. He threw the offending instrument across the room with a curse. “My murderous little sister, what else are you here to destroy?”

Eliza Chan, Fathomfolk

I found this book hard to get into. I even restarted it after reading the first 100 pages. I thought I must have missed something because I couldn’t make out an actual storyline. Even after finishing the book, I still felt nothing for the characters, and there wasn’t something that stood out to me as the main plot. 

I always feel a bit sad when I don’t like a book because I know the author put a lot of effort into writing it, but this one isn’t for me. 

I am going to give this book two stars.