A Letter from the Lonesome Shore

I read A Letter to the Luminous Deep last year and absolutely loved it, finding it to be a well crafted, charming, romantic and character driven story set in a scholarly underwater world. As such, I was really looking forward to the sequel and found it lovely to be back with these delightful characters!Told once again in epistolary format, this one picks up the narrative a year and a half later as Sophie and Vyerin try to determine what happened to E. And Henery. The latter have found themselves in a different scholarly community where everything is so fact focused that a magical female figure who appears in the ocean is referred to as an 'illogical one'! It was lovely to see E. And Henerey's relationship develop and I also came to really appreciate Vyerin - "How I admire Vyerin's unwillingness to waste time bantering with the unworthy!" However, with the very long chapters I did find this one slower paced and a little less engaging than the first book, although it is certainly a must for anyone who enjoyed book 1 and wants to see how the story concludes.3.75 stars, rounded up to 4 stars for Amazon

This is a world I was sad to leave! E and Henerey are incredibly charming characters, with all of their individual quirks and personality traits. They're so unique and well written as characters, and I enjoyed seeing them finally interacting together instead of through letters. Their relationship is wonderful, full of acceptance and love, shared interests and all the other great things. I have such a soft spot for shy characters, and it made their progress together even more sweet. Beyond them, we are discovering a new world with new characters and it's built so well, with all of the mystery woven in and the distinct personalities of these somewhat mysterious people. Adjacent to this, we see Sophie and Vyerin pursue their mission to rescue their respective siblings - their own friendship continuing throughout. The author still manages to include letter writing, journal entries and scholarly notes within the book and it's a great way to see certain characters interacting from afar.Overall I'd say this is a very distinct and unusual series, and Sylvie Cathrall has crafted a magical and beguiling world beneath the waves and a whole host of wonderful characters (though E. and Henerey will forever be my favourites!). I've enjoyed exploring it all and look forward to whatever Sylvie writes next.I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝑬𝒎𝒐𝒋𝒊𝒔:📝🐠🪸🐋🏝️📚📑𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕: Book 2 in The Sunken Archives Duology, a science fantasy of manners for fans of Emily Wilde💙𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕:📝Epistolary Format🪸Light Academia📝Mysterious Underwater Society🪸Unique, whimsical world📝Exploration of Mental Health𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘: This was a great read, continuing on from the first book in the same dreamy almost ethereal way. The style of this is so unique and I love it- I can’t help but be reminded of the quirkiness of A Series of Unfortunate Events. E. is a FMC in the same vein as Emily from the Emily Wilde books and I find myself relating to her just as much. I loved watching E grow & develop in this book, with Henery by her side, & it was wonderful seeing character interactions we didn’t really get in book 1. Overall this felt like a good, fulfilling conclusion, answering the questions and loose threads from ALTTLD.𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Thank you to Orbit UK for sending me a review copy. This is my honest and unbiased review.

Once again told entirely in epistolary form, A Letter From The Lonesome Shore is an interesting conclusion to The Sunken Archive duology. Finally together in person, E. and Henerey are unexpectedly stuck in the new world they transported themselves to with the mysterious Structure at the end of the first book. They start building a life together there, while also striving to learn as much as they can about the new place they're in. On the other side are Sophy and Vyverin, their respective siblings, trying to find them and bring them home with the help of other Scholars.I found myself divided on this book. I once again admire the author's skill to manage to tell such a detailed story purely through letters and historical records, as well as the incredibly picturesque and magical world she created through the eyes and words of her characters. Thanks to Henerey and E.'s passion for the underwater world and its inhabitants, the readers get a very detailed picture of everything in this new world. I also loved seeing the two of them finally loving each other in person, with their shy love blossoming and their unwavering support of each other warming my heart page after page. The way they complement each other, support each other through their respective mental health struggles and grow their confidence as individuals while also developing their relationship... it was so precious!On the other hand, I felt the book was too repetitive and not much if substance actually happened. Character repeated lots of times how much they love and miss each other, the language in the letters was unnecessarily detailed or included too many side notes that distracted from the main point. The excessively formal language of every letter made it sound like almost every character had the same voice (except perhaps Sophy? Hers were a little different), so I often had to go back and check who was the "speaker" in certain sections. Moreover, the reveal was quite underwhelming, as it was all just "told" to the MCs within a chapter... and solved within the next. I feel the documents leading to the reveal could have been nicely interpreted throughout the first half of the book, slowly building it up.I enjoyed the introduction of some new characters, such as the Thirtieth Second Scholar and Lady L, and wish their correspondence had developed more towards the end!Anyway, I'd recommend this duology if you're looking for a truly unique fantasy, with its singular writing style (fully epistolary, very formal, almost always academic-style) and intriguing world-building.

Actual Rating: 4.5Last year, once I managed to connect, I fell head over heels for ’A Letter To The Luminous Deep’ so I was desperate to dive into this sequel. The characters, epistolary format and world itself (once I managed to wrap my head around some of its terminology) utterly blew me away. Plus, even within its letter format, it contained an intriguingly fleshed out plot that I longed to unravel within this sequel. Did I see the true answers coming? Definitely not. Are they the type that I’d usually envision working for me? Honestly no; if this had been described to me in advance I’d have been sceptical yet I utterly adored this book, even when it headed in a rather strange feeling direction. Maybe I should take this as a sign that I need to seriously start trying to check more sci-fi offerings out. Whatever the case I’ll definitely be watching out for whatever Sylvie Cathrall pens next.When I read the first book I think the characters probably struck me as the standout feature. Henerey was simply impossible not to fall for whilst E made me feel seen in a way that I truly did not anticipate. If anyone has ever struggled with OCD or severe social anxiety then E’s narrative is going to truly get beneath your skin. It’s so rare for this kind of mindset to get depicted so honestly and the level of understanding and compassion that Henerey showed towards E floors me to this day. The party/note scene from book one is still vividly set within my mind and this time round there were a few similar moments that truly made me melt a little bit. Admittedly there was the odd instant where Henerey’s complimentary manner felt a little too extreme (and it hurts to say so as I truly do consider myself somewhat of a Henerey fangirl) but overall I’m utterly besotted with this pairing.Other characters from the first book appear and I loved reading everything that they contributed to the overall novel too. Plus there were several new characters involved that I adored learning about; including one ex courier whose point of view I swiftly found myself falling for. These last segments appear less frequently, as they’re almost like intervals that split the narrative into parts, but I utterly adored these.So this time around the characters certainly continued to resonate deeply with me. Plus I was truly enchanted by the epistolary style that the novel was penned in. The whole story unfolds throughout a series of letters written between various characters which gives this novel a majorly cosy feel throughout. It’s charming, heartfelt and sure to bring a smile to your face on many an occasion. Although some of the terminology can feel a little complicated to wrap your head around initially. Maybe this wouldn’t have been the case if I’d read the previous novel more recently though.What truly struck me this time around though was how complicated the plot managed to become. With the previous book I felt similarly, sure, but ’A Letter From The Lonesome Shore’ managed to push this feeling so much further. The stakes were pretty damn exceptional; it introduced a whole new ‘realm’ (I could use more accurate labels but I want to keep things as spoiler free as possible) to discover and the truth about everything blew my mind. As I said above if someone described the realities of everything to me in advanced I’d have been sceptical as someone who considers some tales too ‘odd’ yet this one really resonated with me somehow.So ultimately I absolutely recommend checking out ’A Letter From The Lonesome Shore’. If you enjoyed the first book within the series then this is sure to be a similarly enchanting tale for you. And if you’re still to try it then I highly recommend picking it up; its a charming sci fi novel with memorable characters and a format that’s hard not to love. Over time it really digs into its sci-fi roots whilst maintaining its charmingly cosy feel throughout. Needless to say I’ll be watching out for more by this author.