Fathomfolk
core novel 2024 Fathomfolk
Record
| First published | 2024 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.14 (4,921 ratings, collected 2026-08-28) |
| Page count | 448 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780316564922 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
Fathomfolk is set in the partially flooded city of Tiankawi, where humans and mythical water creatures called fathomfolk are officially meant to coexist, but systemic discrimination keeps most fathomfolk confined to poverty while the human population thrives. The novel follows Mira, a half-siren serving as a border guard captain who is trying to push for change in the fathomfolk's status from within the city's own institutions, and her partner Kai, a water dragon and diplomat whose own position straddles the divide between the city's ruling human class and the fathomfolk communities he comes from. As tensions between the two populations simmer toward crisis, Mira and Kai's efforts to work within the existing order are increasingly tested by the limits of what incremental reform can actually achieve for a population the city was never built to fully include.
Where it sits
- Universe: Fathomfolk
- Series: Fathomfolk core; position 1 of 2 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Eliza Chan
Awards (verified)
- British Fantasy Award (Best Fantasy Novel (Robert Holdstock Award)), 2025: nominated; Shortlisted alongside the eventual winner, Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi. Same sourcing note as the Masquerade win: the award body's own site was not reachable for this research pass; corroborated instead against a dedicated awards-tracking database's year page.
Notes
- From the series record (Fathomfolk): An ongoing secondary-world fantasy series set in the flooded city of Ea, following water-spirit and siren "fathomfolk" navigating prejudice among humans; no further volume was confirmed as of this research pass.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series Fathomfolk: position 1 of 2: next Tideborn (2025)
Sources
- Series listing on the project's rating platform, Drowned World by Eliza Chan
- https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/eliza-chan/fathomfolk/
- Science Fiction Awards Database, British Fantasy Awards 2025
← Fathomfolk dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.