Eliza Chan
Author of Fathomfolk
About the Author
Image credit: Photo by Sandi Hodkinson
Series
Works by Eliza Chan
Associated Works
The Secret Romantic's Book of Magic: Twelve Spellbinding Romantasy Stories (2025) — Contributor — 38 copies, 1 review
The Iron Code — Contributor — 3 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Gender
- female
- Occupations
- writer
- Agent
- Alex Cochran
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Scotland, UK
- Places of residence
- "Glasgow, Scotland, UK" "Manchester, UK"
- Map Location
- UK
Members
Reviews
2.5/5
Political drama, us vs. them, and protecting what matters most.
Tiankawi is home to both humans and Fathomfolk—myriad of mythical sea creatures with powers. However, paradise it is not as humans still hold power over them and racism is still very much in the open. But underneath the waterline, political unrest is bubbling as the Drawbacks are gaining traction and support. Mira is a half-siren who is the first Fathomfolk to become captain. She is married to Kai, a sea dragon and Folk show more royalty, whom also is the first Folk to sit on the Council. They work together through bureaucratic red tape to pass a bill to help their fellow Folk live a less restrictive life.
Nami is Kai's little sister and has been sent to live with him after being too radical and getting arrested. She's swept up in the Drawbacks plight as she grows close to Firth who is instrumental in the group.
Cordelia is a sea witch and has been making bargains all her life, just like her mother and her mother before that. She plays a devious game between the waterlines.
Each person has plenty to lose in this political war as tension and hatred boil over.
---
I really wanted to like this, but I just couldn't. The beginning got so convoluted and the blurb never mentioned Serena or Cordelia, so I had to piece together way too much at the start. It's not just Mira and Nami. You have to persevere and you'll start building a better ground work. I did that, I kept trying, but eventually it stopped being worth the slog.
There's a lot of mythology here, there's a lot of different Folk and I found it interesting that they had powers to waterweave. It's an us vs. them mentality on both sides. All humans are the same, all Folk are the same. Even though there's numerous races and classes within all of them. It's political at its heart and there is nuance among the issues faced by everyone. I did enjoy that and I liked how Nami got swept up. But I also hated it because instantly you see the manipulation and it starts to drag and I lost interest.
Overall, I liked the broad strokes of all of this. I loved the commentary on race and class, I loved the Fathomfolk altogether. I loved the presence of the Drawbacks. I just didn't really like Nami and I wanted more Mira, but Cordelia was a delight.
I hope this book finds the right people. I know currently it's not, but it's not a terrible book. It's just really long (to me) and because I wasn't invested enough it dragged way too much. I will happily read more from her and I would come back to this again if I find myself loving her work. But for now, it's not for me.
Check your local library! show less
Political drama, us vs. them, and protecting what matters most.
Tiankawi is home to both humans and Fathomfolk—myriad of mythical sea creatures with powers. However, paradise it is not as humans still hold power over them and racism is still very much in the open. But underneath the waterline, political unrest is bubbling as the Drawbacks are gaining traction and support. Mira is a half-siren who is the first Fathomfolk to become captain. She is married to Kai, a sea dragon and Folk show more royalty, whom also is the first Folk to sit on the Council. They work together through bureaucratic red tape to pass a bill to help their fellow Folk live a less restrictive life.
Nami is Kai's little sister and has been sent to live with him after being too radical and getting arrested. She's swept up in the Drawbacks plight as she grows close to Firth who is instrumental in the group.
Cordelia is a sea witch and has been making bargains all her life, just like her mother and her mother before that. She plays a devious game between the waterlines.
Each person has plenty to lose in this political war as tension and hatred boil over.
---
I really wanted to like this, but I just couldn't. The beginning got so convoluted and the blurb never mentioned Serena or Cordelia, so I had to piece together way too much at the start. It's not just Mira and Nami. You have to persevere and you'll start building a better ground work. I did that, I kept trying, but eventually it stopped being worth the slog.
There's a lot of mythology here, there's a lot of different Folk and I found it interesting that they had powers to waterweave. It's an us vs. them mentality on both sides. All humans are the same, all Folk are the same. Even though there's numerous races and classes within all of them. It's political at its heart and there is nuance among the issues faced by everyone. I did enjoy that and I liked how Nami got swept up. But I also hated it because instantly you see the manipulation and it starts to drag and I lost interest.
Overall, I liked the broad strokes of all of this. I loved the commentary on race and class, I loved the Fathomfolk altogether. I loved the presence of the Drawbacks. I just didn't really like Nami and I wanted more Mira, but Cordelia was a delight.
I hope this book finds the right people. I know currently it's not, but it's not a terrible book. It's just really long (to me) and because I wasn't invested enough it dragged way too much. I will happily read more from her and I would come back to this again if I find myself loving her work. But for now, it's not for me.
Check your local library! show less
Originally posted on Just Geeking by.
Content warnings:
As listed on the author’s website:
Alcohol
Blackmail
Class discrimination
Coercive control
Confinement of a minority group (historical)
Corrupt government
Death
Kidnapping
Racism
Mild sexual content
Strong language
Verbal and emotional abuse
Violence
Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan is equal parts delight and frustration as she invites the reader to venture into a world where humans live in cities on the ocean alongside the Fathomfolk, people show more who have sea creature forms and magical abilities. The world-building is superb, and combined with Chan’s gorgeous writing, I felt like I had truly stepped beneath the sea. While some humans have adapted to their new neighbours, others are always looking to build walls between humans and Fathomfolk.
I liked the way that Chan chose to show the history of Tiankawi and current events through the eyes of three women from different ages and places in society. Serena, a human mother of two children and wife of the Minister of Defence, provides a view into high human society. In comparison, Nami is a dragon and considered Fathomfolk royalty, however, she has lived a sheltered life in a sea haven. When she is exiled to Tiankawi she is treated as a lesser being, a far cry from her royal upbringing, and throughout the book she learns a lot of hard truths.
Mira stands with a foot in both worlds. As a half-human, half-siren, she has struggled to find where and how she fits into either world her whole life. She has just been made Captain of the border guard and is painfully aware that the human council that promoted her is waiting for her to screw up so they can blame it on her Fathomfolk side.
Her perspective is imperative to the novel, and if I had any complaints, it is that I felt that her voice was drowned out a bit by Serena and Nami despite the synopsis suggesting that she was the main focus. Rather, it felt that Nami was more the focus, which I have no complaint about and understand it was necessary for the storyline, I’m just not a fan of being misled by a synopsis.
I mentioned that Fathomfolk is frustrating, not due to anything wrong with the novel. Chan approaches topics of marginalisation and alienation through a fantasy lens with a familiarity that is heartbreaking. It is clear that she has poured her own experience into this book, and as a disabled queer reader, many scenes were painfully recognisable.
I appreciated that Chan wove every marginalised identity into her universe. Fathomfolk features a queer normative society and as a result of the pollution humans have caused, Fathomfolk are developing a chronic illness called gill rot from spending time in the polluted water. It shortens their life span and is forcing them out of their natural habitat and onto land.
Fathomfolk is an extraordinary debut that draws on “Under the Sea” nostalgia and elements of fairytales, while also being reminiscent of the movie Waterworld. I don’t want to outright compare Fathomfolk to any of these because what Chan has created is unique and deserves to be viewed on its own merits. Fathomfolk reminds us that there is beauty in difference, but being different is a painful existence.
This is most certainly a must-read for 2024, and the way the book ends promises a dramatic sequel.
BLOG | REVIEWS | REVIEW SCHEDULE | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST |
show less
Content warnings:
Alcohol
Blackmail
Class discrimination
Coercive control
Confinement of a minority group (historical)
Corrupt government
Death
Kidnapping
Racism
Mild sexual content
Strong language
Verbal and emotional abuse
Violence
Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan is equal parts delight and frustration as she invites the reader to venture into a world where humans live in cities on the ocean alongside the Fathomfolk, people show more who have sea creature forms and magical abilities. The world-building is superb, and combined with Chan’s gorgeous writing, I felt like I had truly stepped beneath the sea. While some humans have adapted to their new neighbours, others are always looking to build walls between humans and Fathomfolk.
I liked the way that Chan chose to show the history of Tiankawi and current events through the eyes of three women from different ages and places in society. Serena, a human mother of two children and wife of the Minister of Defence, provides a view into high human society. In comparison, Nami is a dragon and considered Fathomfolk royalty, however, she has lived a sheltered life in a sea haven. When she is exiled to Tiankawi she is treated as a lesser being, a far cry from her royal upbringing, and throughout the book she learns a lot of hard truths.
Mira stands with a foot in both worlds. As a half-human, half-siren, she has struggled to find where and how she fits into either world her whole life. She has just been made Captain of the border guard and is painfully aware that the human council that promoted her is waiting for her to screw up so they can blame it on her Fathomfolk side.
Her perspective is imperative to the novel, and if I had any complaints, it is that I felt that her voice was drowned out a bit by Serena and Nami despite the synopsis suggesting that she was the main focus. Rather, it felt that Nami was more the focus, which I have no complaint about and understand it was necessary for the storyline, I’m just not a fan of being misled by a synopsis.
I mentioned that Fathomfolk is frustrating, not due to anything wrong with the novel. Chan approaches topics of marginalisation and alienation through a fantasy lens with a familiarity that is heartbreaking. It is clear that she has poured her own experience into this book, and as a disabled queer reader, many scenes were painfully recognisable.
I appreciated that Chan wove every marginalised identity into her universe. Fathomfolk features a queer normative society and as a result of the pollution humans have caused, Fathomfolk are developing a chronic illness called gill rot from spending time in the polluted water. It shortens their life span and is forcing them out of their natural habitat and onto land.
Fathomfolk is an extraordinary debut that draws on “Under the Sea” nostalgia and elements of fairytales, while also being reminiscent of the movie Waterworld. I don’t want to outright compare Fathomfolk to any of these because what Chan has created is unique and deserves to be viewed on its own merits. Fathomfolk reminds us that there is beauty in difference, but being different is a painful existence.
This is most certainly a must-read for 2024, and the way the book ends promises a dramatic sequel.
BLOG | REVIEWS | REVIEW SCHEDULE | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST |
show less
Many thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for an ARC of this book.
This debut novel is the first in a trilogy set in a dystopian fantasy world peopled by “fathomfolk”, so called because they are an adaptive species possessing qualities of both humanity and undersea creatures, and also by just plain humans. Thanks to ongoing environmental crises triggered by human greed, unthinking pollution of the water supply, and over consumption, the world is in a precarious state. Its inhabitants live show more mostly in semi-submerged city-states. Only two of these remain as ‘havens’, as they tumble like dominoes into a uninhabitable condition, and as neighbouring states go to war over scarce resources. Starvation and disease are rampant, and desperate refugees pursue dangerous and exploitative means to escape to the havens.
No exact period is established for when this is taking place, nor any exact geographic area. The places described are fictional lands with names drawn from a number of Asian cultures, past and present. But the story is uncomfortably close to what is even now happening on earth. The struggle for safety and the conflict between the privileged and underprivileged, in each society and in the world, are disturbingly familiar.
Author Eliza Chan was inspired by Asian myth and legend, and some of the character’s names, beliefs, rituals and symbols are recognizably Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Indian. The fathomfolk are not one people, and she shows how their differing customs and appearances also denote different castes and hierarchies. They include a minority of mixed-race people, like the main character, Mira, the half-siren half-human captain of the border guards, who knows full well that she was appointed not because of her high grades but as a “trophy”. She is meant to represent both the absence of racism in Tiankawi, a human-dominated half-submerged city-state, and its opportunities for the underprivileged. Her siren mother, whose name and customs suggest South Asian heritage, was a refugee who married a Tiankawian human. Her father’s family was always suspicious of the “estuary” child and her mother, and her father abandoned them when she was very young. Mira grew up in the city’s worst slum, where most of the refugees lived in abject poverty on rickety boats.
Most of the fathomfolk, mythical characters like sirens and water dragons (the highest rank among them), possess both amphibious characteristics and the ability to disguise as humans to avoid frightening humans, but mostly to protect themselves against human hatred. Even though there are instances of suspicion and prejudice within their own ranks, none are so arbitrarily hateful as the reigning humans. The fathomfolk can look human but can’t live without gills, the mark that gives them away. And so they are the ‘bottom feeders,’ among other derogatory terms, in a society determined to keep them contained there.
Chan tells an evocative fable-like story in this first book. The multilevelled world of submerged, semi-submerged and above-ground communities is colourful and lively, its clashing sounds and colours giving it a sensual texture. Mira’s self doubt, lack of confidence, and self-destructive compulsion to ‘play her part’ as subservient to her human commanders is very believable. As an estuary (mixed race) person, she fits nowhere. Her loving and devoted partner, the magnificent Kai, the water dragon lord and ambassador to Tiankawi from the only other remaining—but fast deteriorating—haven, is honourable and compassionate. For me, this is part of the problem. Except for a few depraved fathomfolk who exploit both sides, but whose personal histories at least explain why, the humans are a undifferentiated lot of nasties. Especially those in power, who are racist, anti-refugee, cruel and extremely class conscious—even to poor humans. While that is certainly believable, it’s also disappointing. There isn’t a single decent, humane, noble, human leader. Maybe that’s for Book 2. This one ends with the usual hook for the sequel, but one that is very well done. show less
This debut novel is the first in a trilogy set in a dystopian fantasy world peopled by “fathomfolk”, so called because they are an adaptive species possessing qualities of both humanity and undersea creatures, and also by just plain humans. Thanks to ongoing environmental crises triggered by human greed, unthinking pollution of the water supply, and over consumption, the world is in a precarious state. Its inhabitants live show more mostly in semi-submerged city-states. Only two of these remain as ‘havens’, as they tumble like dominoes into a uninhabitable condition, and as neighbouring states go to war over scarce resources. Starvation and disease are rampant, and desperate refugees pursue dangerous and exploitative means to escape to the havens.
No exact period is established for when this is taking place, nor any exact geographic area. The places described are fictional lands with names drawn from a number of Asian cultures, past and present. But the story is uncomfortably close to what is even now happening on earth. The struggle for safety and the conflict between the privileged and underprivileged, in each society and in the world, are disturbingly familiar.
Author Eliza Chan was inspired by Asian myth and legend, and some of the character’s names, beliefs, rituals and symbols are recognizably Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Indian. The fathomfolk are not one people, and she shows how their differing customs and appearances also denote different castes and hierarchies. They include a minority of mixed-race people, like the main character, Mira, the half-siren half-human captain of the border guards, who knows full well that she was appointed not because of her high grades but as a “trophy”. She is meant to represent both the absence of racism in Tiankawi, a human-dominated half-submerged city-state, and its opportunities for the underprivileged. Her siren mother, whose name and customs suggest South Asian heritage, was a refugee who married a Tiankawian human. Her father’s family was always suspicious of the “estuary” child and her mother, and her father abandoned them when she was very young. Mira grew up in the city’s worst slum, where most of the refugees lived in abject poverty on rickety boats.
Most of the fathomfolk, mythical characters like sirens and water dragons (the highest rank among them), possess both amphibious characteristics and the ability to disguise as humans to avoid frightening humans, but mostly to protect themselves against human hatred. Even though there are instances of suspicion and prejudice within their own ranks, none are so arbitrarily hateful as the reigning humans. The fathomfolk can look human but can’t live without gills, the mark that gives them away. And so they are the ‘bottom feeders,’ among other derogatory terms, in a society determined to keep them contained there.
Chan tells an evocative fable-like story in this first book. The multilevelled world of submerged, semi-submerged and above-ground communities is colourful and lively, its clashing sounds and colours giving it a sensual texture. Mira’s self doubt, lack of confidence, and self-destructive compulsion to ‘play her part’ as subservient to her human commanders is very believable. As an estuary (mixed race) person, she fits nowhere. Her loving and devoted partner, the magnificent Kai, the water dragon lord and ambassador to Tiankawi from the only other remaining—but fast deteriorating—haven, is honourable and compassionate. For me, this is part of the problem. Except for a few depraved fathomfolk who exploit both sides, but whose personal histories at least explain why, the humans are a undifferentiated lot of nasties. Especially those in power, who are racist, anti-refugee, cruel and extremely class conscious—even to poor humans. While that is certainly believable, it’s also disappointing. There isn’t a single decent, humane, noble, human leader. Maybe that’s for Book 2. This one ends with the usual hook for the sequel, but one that is very well done. show less
“She was tired of the broken system. Of trying to grow around a tangled fishing net that was strangling her.”
“Fathomfolk” by Eliza Chan is about water Fae and humans in a semi-submerged world. Tiankawi, a city for humans and Fae, where the humans reign is a beautiful and technologically advanced home to many who seek civil unrest. The humans live on the top of the city in their shining towers while the Fathomfolk (Sirens, Seawitches, Kelpies and Kappas) live in the dirty waters show more below. Mira, a half-siren, has just become captain of the border guard and is just trying to play the game in order to help her Fathomfolk people. Nami, a water dragon, is exiled from her home to Tiankawi to learn how to be responsible. Nami has a pension for trouble, and it isn’t going to change now, especially when she learns how the Fathomfolk are treated in the city. The city is plagued with extemists trying to change the power structure in favor of the Fathomfollk. Both must choose is the city and its people are worth the cost.
I really like the world building and imagery and the concept of the book was really good. The world is so unique and interesting especially the Asian culture throughout the entire book. However, the politics ended up being a bit confusing at times. I think I’d have liked it a bit more if it was just in one POV. In my mind the book is a mix of Raya and the Last Dragon mixed with Disney’s move Elemental. I gave the book a 3 out of 5 stars, lots of promise but I think it was too much at once.
-Multi POV
-Water Fae/Creatures
-Political Intrigue show less
“Fathomfolk” by Eliza Chan is about water Fae and humans in a semi-submerged world. Tiankawi, a city for humans and Fae, where the humans reign is a beautiful and technologically advanced home to many who seek civil unrest. The humans live on the top of the city in their shining towers while the Fathomfolk (Sirens, Seawitches, Kelpies and Kappas) live in the dirty waters show more below. Mira, a half-siren, has just become captain of the border guard and is just trying to play the game in order to help her Fathomfolk people. Nami, a water dragon, is exiled from her home to Tiankawi to learn how to be responsible. Nami has a pension for trouble, and it isn’t going to change now, especially when she learns how the Fathomfolk are treated in the city. The city is plagued with extemists trying to change the power structure in favor of the Fathomfollk. Both must choose is the city and its people are worth the cost.
I really like the world building and imagery and the concept of the book was really good. The world is so unique and interesting especially the Asian culture throughout the entire book. However, the politics ended up being a bit confusing at times. I think I’d have liked it a bit more if it was just in one POV. In my mind the book is a mix of Raya and the Last Dragon mixed with Disney’s move Elemental. I gave the book a 3 out of 5 stars, lots of promise but I think it was too much at once.
-Multi POV
-Water Fae/Creatures
-Political Intrigue show less
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