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Fathom
The ageless water witch Arahab has been scheming for eons, gathering the means to awaken the great Leviathan. She aims to bring him and the old gods back to their former glory, caring little that their ascendance will also mean an end to the human race. However, awakening the Leviathan is no small feat. In fact, Arahab can't complete the ritual without human aid. Arahab's first choice is José Gaspar, a notorious sea pirate from eighteenth-century Spain. But when the task proves too difficult for Gaspar, she must look elsewhere, biding her time until the 1930's, when the ideal candidate shows a slightly deranged teenager named Bernice. Bernice is sophisticated , torn from New York and forced to spend a miserable summer on Anna Maria Island, a tiny rock off the coast of Florida. She's also been saddled with the companionship of her farm-raised cousin Nia. Eventually, Bernice's disenchantment gives way to rage and she commits a deadly crime. When Nia won't cover for Bernice, she turns on Nia, chasing her into the deadly coastal waves. But the elementals have better the moment the girls go under, Bernice is commandeered for Arahab's task force, and Nia is turned into a strange and powerful creature by a servant of the earth who doesn't want to surrender his green fields and muddy plains―not yet , at least. Add in a hapless fire inspector who's just trying to get his paperwork in order, a fire god whose neutrality has been called into question, and a bizarre religious cult, and rural Florida doesn't seem quite so sleepy anymore. With Fathom , Cherie Priest brings her masterful writing and unforgettable characterization to the realm of near-contemporary rural fantasy. The result is fast-paced, stunning, and quite unlike anything you've ever read.
380 pages, Paperback
First published November 25, 2008
14 people are currently reading
757 people want to read
About the author
Cherie Priest
73 books4,374 followersCherie Priest is the author of about thirty books and novellas, most recently the modern gothics It Was Her House First, The Drowning House, and Cinderwich. She's also the author of the Booking Agents mysteries, horror projects The Toll and The Family Plot – and the hit YA graphic novel mash-ups I Am Princess X and its follow up, The Agony House. But she is perhaps best known for the steampunk pulp adventures of the Clockwork Century, beginning with Boneshaker. She has been nominated for the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award, and the Locus award – which she won with Boneshaker.
Cherie has also written a number of urban fantasy titles, and composed pieces (large and small) for George R. R. Martin’s shared world universe, the Wild Cards. Her short stories and nonfiction articles have appeared in such fine publications as Weird Tales, Publishers Weekly, and numerous anthologies – and her books have been translated into nine languages in eleven countries.
Although she was born in Florida on the day Jimmy Hoffa disappeared, for the last twenty years Cherie has largely divided her time between Chattanooga, TN, and Seattle, WA – where she presently lives with her husband and a menagerie of exceedingly photogenic pets.
Cherie has also written a number of urban fantasy titles, and composed pieces (large and small) for George R. R. Martin’s shared world universe, the Wild Cards. Her short stories and nonfiction articles have appeared in such fine publications as Weird Tales, Publishers Weekly, and numerous anthologies – and her books have been translated into nine languages in eleven countries.
Although she was born in Florida on the day Jimmy Hoffa disappeared, for the last twenty years Cherie has largely divided her time between Chattanooga, TN, and Seattle, WA – where she presently lives with her husband and a menagerie of exceedingly photogenic pets.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 113 reviews
February 18, 2010
Nia and her unstable cousin Bernice flee into the ocean, one to be captured by a water witch who wants to awaken the sleeping Leviathan and bring on the apocalypse, one to be rescued by a disgraced god who is not yet ready for the end of the world. With the broadest scope of Priest's novels, Fathom has the potential to be her best work yetbut for want of a protagonist, the novel flounders. Neither a fun read nor particularly meaningful, the book is a disappointment and I don't recommend it.
I've read four of Priest's prior novels, and she's generally a very technically skilled writer with tight plots, solid characterization, and plenty of detail. Her books are swift reads, have an interesting Southern Gothic flair, but for the most part they're forgettablefor all their technical skill, they lack the vital artistic spark which would make them meaningful. Fathom (like Dreadful Skin, my favorite of Priest's novels) has the potential to break that mold: from country girls to elder gods, with more lyrical prose than Priest's usual, the book spans a vast range and could have great nuance and meaning.
But Fathom does not succeedin fact, it's my least favorite of Priest's novels. What the book needs is a protagonist. It offers plenty of potentials, but none of them work out: one is actually an antagonist, one's a sidekick, one is too mysterious, and the intended protagonist is encased in stone (literally!) for half of the bookand when freed, she follows directions more than she thinks for herself. The book jumps between points of view and temporary protagonists, preventing the reader from making an emotional connection to the story or characters. Without a sense of action and anticipation, the book seems to lack purpose despite the strong plot. Fathom may be ambitious, as stories of elder gods often are, but it doesn't actually say much other than "let sleeping gods lie."
There's no outright reason to avoid Fathom. It has a lot of potentail: unique mythology and magic, uncommon characters, an intriguing premise, gritty detail and brutality, and a promising mix of lyricism and plot. But all in all, though the book isn't outright bad it fails to be easily readable (as many of Priests novels are) or deeply meaningful (as this one could be), and so it is something of a disappointment. Priest reaches further with Fathom and I commend that effort, but she reaches so far that her great technical skill fails herand that artistic spark never emerges. I wanted to enjoy this book, but I didn't, and I don't recommend it.
I've read four of Priest's prior novels, and she's generally a very technically skilled writer with tight plots, solid characterization, and plenty of detail. Her books are swift reads, have an interesting Southern Gothic flair, but for the most part they're forgettablefor all their technical skill, they lack the vital artistic spark which would make them meaningful. Fathom (like Dreadful Skin, my favorite of Priest's novels) has the potential to break that mold: from country girls to elder gods, with more lyrical prose than Priest's usual, the book spans a vast range and could have great nuance and meaning.
But Fathom does not succeedin fact, it's my least favorite of Priest's novels. What the book needs is a protagonist. It offers plenty of potentials, but none of them work out: one is actually an antagonist, one's a sidekick, one is too mysterious, and the intended protagonist is encased in stone (literally!) for half of the bookand when freed, she follows directions more than she thinks for herself. The book jumps between points of view and temporary protagonists, preventing the reader from making an emotional connection to the story or characters. Without a sense of action and anticipation, the book seems to lack purpose despite the strong plot. Fathom may be ambitious, as stories of elder gods often are, but it doesn't actually say much other than "let sleeping gods lie."
There's no outright reason to avoid Fathom. It has a lot of potentail: unique mythology and magic, uncommon characters, an intriguing premise, gritty detail and brutality, and a promising mix of lyricism and plot. But all in all, though the book isn't outright bad it fails to be easily readable (as many of Priests novels are) or deeply meaningful (as this one could be), and so it is something of a disappointment. Priest reaches further with Fathom and I commend that effort, but she reaches so far that her great technical skill fails herand that artistic spark never emerges. I wanted to enjoy this book, but I didn't, and I don't recommend it.
October 19, 2009
As a caveat, I found the description on this edition of the book quite misleading. Its tone is glib. Phrases like "task force" and "add in a hapless fire inspector who's just trying to get his paperwork in order" cultivates a tongue-in-cheek feel that made me expect a zanier book than Cherie Priest delivers. So if you're basing your decision to read the book on the description, don't be surprised if Fathom defies your expectations.
That's essentially Fathom in a nutshell: it defies expectations. At least it did mine. Priest blends traditional fantasy with pantheist and polytheist pantheons to create a dark fairy tale of family and transformation. While her writing style is exquisite, ultimately, I was left disenchanted by the story itself.
Set in 1930s Florida, Fathom concerns the machinations of the elements personified. The water witch Arahab wants to remake the world by waking the Leviathan, which slumbers deep beneath the Earth. A demoted elemental, nicknamed Mossfeaster, who now oversees the process of earthly decay sets out to thwart Arahab's plans. Stuck in the middle are four mortals: an eighteenth-century pirate, a deranged New York teenager, her Florida country cousin, and the aforementioned "hapless fire inspector."
Bernice and Nia are cousins, the classic "city girl/country girl" pairing that starts many a story set in rural areas. When Bernice attacks her stepfather, who has perhaps been abusing her (we only have her word on it, although I gather we're supposed to believe her so she becomes a tragic character), and ends up killing him, she implores her horrified cousin to help her hide the evidence. Nia refuses, setting off a dramatic chase sequence that culminates in a deadly encounter just off shore.
This is where the description deviates from the story. Maybe it's just me, but the way the description was worded made it sound like this part of the story would last longer. It happened in about a chapter. Arahab takes Bernice and transforms her into some sort of water creature; Mossfeaster turns Nia into a stone statue so she can gradually transform into something he can use as an ally. And Bernice's mother just . . . leaves, for no satisfactory reason.
As Bernice and Nia each come into their powers and confront the fact they are no longer mortal, their respective "sponsors" are setting plans into motion. Arahab wants Bernice to help ex-pirate José Gaspar sail a ship deep into a fissure in the ocean floor and wake the Leviathan. Bernice, however, isn't quite ready for the end of the world—she was only nineteen when she died, and she thinks it's awfully rude of Mother to try to end the world before Bernice has had a chance to experience more of it. So she concocts a plan to weaken her Mother, just enough to delay the end of the world for a century or two. But Arahab didn't get to be Big Water Witch on Campus by being dense, oh no. She knows all about Bernice's penchant for treachery, and Bernice's plan backfires, costing Gaspar his life. Not that I liked him much anyway.
Meanwhile, Nia emerges from her cocoon stone shell as an incredibly durable person in bad need of a haircut. She's aided by Sam, the hapless fire inspector, who obediently hijacks vehicles on demand and pays the ferry toll. Together, they're going to help Mossfeaster prevent Arahab from waking the Leviathan. Along the way, we get an interesting comparison between two types of elementals: Mossfeaster, who views humanity as a potential ally, and after getting to know Sam, a little more respect; and Arahab, who views humans as just a particularly annoying form of animal, easily crushed if in the way. Even though she displays "love" for her "children" Gaspar and Bernice, we see that her love is merely another tool she employs to get what she wants. Mossfeaster, on the other hand, never claims to hold any love for Nia—although it does care for her more than it will admit. She is just a tool who happened to come along at the right moment. However, since Mossfeaster wants to prevent the end of the world, its amoral nature is slightly superior to Arahab's.
I apologize if my tone verges on sarcasm in places, as it doesn't do justice to Priest's writing. Fathom was a pleasure to read; however, it doesn't seem to hold up under any sort of serious scrutiny.
At first glance, Fathom's plot seems like a welcome diversion from the sword-and-sorcery epic fantasy method of saving the world, consisting of massive armies, dragons, wizards, etc. Instead, we've got elementals battling it out through proxies in 1930s Florida, hijacked ambulances and fire wagons, and an iron tower. Unfortunately, scratch away the superficial differences, and the plot becomes paper-thin. And there's just not enough of a plot to stretch for as long as Priest does, which is why I felt like the book was oddly paced compared to how the description makes it sound.
The same can be said for Fathom's characters. Bernice and Nia are supposed to be mirrors for Arahab and Mossfeaster. Family battles family. Yet the thematic importance of these conflicts is hollow, for Priest gives neither side enough motivation. Bernice is just downright evil, either because she's always been that way or because her stepfather abused her. So naturally, she does what an inherently evil minion will do and betrays her own "Mother," even though Mother is also "evil." Nia, on the other hand, is just resigned to helping because she has nowhere else to go—her life as she knows it is over because she's spent several years trapped in statue form while her family grieved and moved on. And she does precious little in the book except run very fast to different places. Likewise, Sam is the token human for the good guys, whose seemingly-major role steadily dwindles as the story progresses. Unfortunately, there are no characters to admire in Fathom, because none of them seem very real or interesting.
Most of the gestures in Fathom are token, like this book is the skeleton of a fantasy story rather than an actual story. Parts are missing, whether they're plot points or character motivations. I get the impression that those missing parts exist, but Priest fails to communicate them, or imply them in her characters' actions. As a result, the story never takes on a life of its own; the characters never become more than players on a stage. Fathom is easy to read, and enjoyable on the surface. Beneath that, however, lurks little nutrition.
That's essentially Fathom in a nutshell: it defies expectations. At least it did mine. Priest blends traditional fantasy with pantheist and polytheist pantheons to create a dark fairy tale of family and transformation. While her writing style is exquisite, ultimately, I was left disenchanted by the story itself.
Set in 1930s Florida, Fathom concerns the machinations of the elements personified. The water witch Arahab wants to remake the world by waking the Leviathan, which slumbers deep beneath the Earth. A demoted elemental, nicknamed Mossfeaster, who now oversees the process of earthly decay sets out to thwart Arahab's plans. Stuck in the middle are four mortals: an eighteenth-century pirate, a deranged New York teenager, her Florida country cousin, and the aforementioned "hapless fire inspector."
Bernice and Nia are cousins, the classic "city girl/country girl" pairing that starts many a story set in rural areas. When Bernice attacks her stepfather, who has perhaps been abusing her (we only have her word on it, although I gather we're supposed to believe her so she becomes a tragic character), and ends up killing him, she implores her horrified cousin to help her hide the evidence. Nia refuses, setting off a dramatic chase sequence that culminates in a deadly encounter just off shore.
This is where the description deviates from the story. Maybe it's just me, but the way the description was worded made it sound like this part of the story would last longer. It happened in about a chapter. Arahab takes Bernice and transforms her into some sort of water creature; Mossfeaster turns Nia into a stone statue so she can gradually transform into something he can use as an ally. And Bernice's mother just . . . leaves, for no satisfactory reason.
As Bernice and Nia each come into their powers and confront the fact they are no longer mortal, their respective "sponsors" are setting plans into motion. Arahab wants Bernice to help ex-pirate José Gaspar sail a ship deep into a fissure in the ocean floor and wake the Leviathan. Bernice, however, isn't quite ready for the end of the world—she was only nineteen when she died, and she thinks it's awfully rude of Mother to try to end the world before Bernice has had a chance to experience more of it. So she concocts a plan to weaken her Mother, just enough to delay the end of the world for a century or two. But Arahab didn't get to be Big Water Witch on Campus by being dense, oh no. She knows all about Bernice's penchant for treachery, and Bernice's plan backfires, costing Gaspar his life. Not that I liked him much anyway.
Meanwhile, Nia emerges from her cocoon stone shell as an incredibly durable person in bad need of a haircut. She's aided by Sam, the hapless fire inspector, who obediently hijacks vehicles on demand and pays the ferry toll. Together, they're going to help Mossfeaster prevent Arahab from waking the Leviathan. Along the way, we get an interesting comparison between two types of elementals: Mossfeaster, who views humanity as a potential ally, and after getting to know Sam, a little more respect; and Arahab, who views humans as just a particularly annoying form of animal, easily crushed if in the way. Even though she displays "love" for her "children" Gaspar and Bernice, we see that her love is merely another tool she employs to get what she wants. Mossfeaster, on the other hand, never claims to hold any love for Nia—although it does care for her more than it will admit. She is just a tool who happened to come along at the right moment. However, since Mossfeaster wants to prevent the end of the world, its amoral nature is slightly superior to Arahab's.
I apologize if my tone verges on sarcasm in places, as it doesn't do justice to Priest's writing. Fathom was a pleasure to read; however, it doesn't seem to hold up under any sort of serious scrutiny.
At first glance, Fathom's plot seems like a welcome diversion from the sword-and-sorcery epic fantasy method of saving the world, consisting of massive armies, dragons, wizards, etc. Instead, we've got elementals battling it out through proxies in 1930s Florida, hijacked ambulances and fire wagons, and an iron tower. Unfortunately, scratch away the superficial differences, and the plot becomes paper-thin. And there's just not enough of a plot to stretch for as long as Priest does, which is why I felt like the book was oddly paced compared to how the description makes it sound.
The same can be said for Fathom's characters. Bernice and Nia are supposed to be mirrors for Arahab and Mossfeaster. Family battles family. Yet the thematic importance of these conflicts is hollow, for Priest gives neither side enough motivation. Bernice is just downright evil, either because she's always been that way or because her stepfather abused her. So naturally, she does what an inherently evil minion will do and betrays her own "Mother," even though Mother is also "evil." Nia, on the other hand, is just resigned to helping because she has nowhere else to go—her life as she knows it is over because she's spent several years trapped in statue form while her family grieved and moved on. And she does precious little in the book except run very fast to different places. Likewise, Sam is the token human for the good guys, whose seemingly-major role steadily dwindles as the story progresses. Unfortunately, there are no characters to admire in Fathom, because none of them seem very real or interesting.
Most of the gestures in Fathom are token, like this book is the skeleton of a fantasy story rather than an actual story. Parts are missing, whether they're plot points or character motivations. I get the impression that those missing parts exist, but Priest fails to communicate them, or imply them in her characters' actions. As a result, the story never takes on a life of its own; the characters never become more than players on a stage. Fathom is easy to read, and enjoyable on the surface. Beneath that, however, lurks little nutrition.
July 26, 2009
A very long time ago on a Livejournal Community called Gothic Babes I saw a post by a writer calling herself WickedWish. She had written and published a book called Four and Twenty Blackbirds. I thought she was interesting and so I paid attention to her journal for a while, because even though her book wasn't a national bestseller and she still worked a dayjob I thought her writing style was interesting enough that she was going to publish something worth national attention. I was, of course, quite right and she's become quite the popular fantasy author. Good on Cherie. Now that I've regaled you with my tale of discovering her so long before you did, let me tell you about this book. It is dark and quick and epic and slippery. The point of view switches pick you up and drop you down into the important parts, there is not a lot of fat in this book. There is also no mercy. Characters you like will die; characters you hate will live.
I took away one star because I felt like there was more to this story, that there were some blank pages waiting to be filled in. But there were pirates, and sea monsters, and stone girls and gods and monsters, and murder and mayhem and what more could you as for really? Not much, if you ask me.
I took away one star because I felt like there was more to this story, that there were some blank pages waiting to be filled in. But there were pirates, and sea monsters, and stone girls and gods and monsters, and murder and mayhem and what more could you as for really? Not much, if you ask me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 19, 2009
Cherie Priest's Fathom claims on its inner flap that it is "quite unlike anything you've ever read", and I'll give it this, it's right.
Nia is visiting her cousin Bernice and other family members on a island in Florida when Bernice unexpectedly commits a crime--and when Nia refuses to help her cover it up, the two of them are in turn ambushed during their struggle by a water goddess bent on using Bernice to further her aim of awakening a being even older and more powerful than she. Nia is transformed by an earth elemental, and set against Bernice and another human that the water goddess transformed. After several years the two cousins are reunited to discover they're on opposite sides of the struggle between the powers. And Bernice realizes that maybe she's not so much a supporter of her water-witch creator's agenda after all.
While Fathom does maintain a good pace, it's nonetheless a subtler and lower-key story than a lot of what gets sold in urban/contemporary fantasy right now. There's nary a vampire or werewolf or were-anything to be seen. While the lead female characters are vibrant and interesting characters, they aren't the "ass-kicking bounty hunter/witch/zombie-raiser" archetypes you see all over the urban fantasy landscape right now. There isn't a breath of romance anywhere in the story, which is a period piece, set right around when the Depression is getting underway, rather than in the present day. And the monsters of this story are primal, elemental beings--gods setting off against each other and using human pawns to further their agendas. There's a mythic air to this novel that I just don't find in a lot of my current reading, and it was a pleasure to see.
Priest's overall voice in the story was a bit hard for me to follow at times, but this isn't a bad thing; it actually contributed to the feel of this story as one that's more about the conflict between the elemental creatures Arahab and Mossfeaster than it is about Bernice or Nia or any of the other human characters that show up during the course of the plot. The rhythm of the prose is unusual, too--strange and heavy in places, like Nia, transformed into a daughter of stone. So if you take a stab at this one, mind your feet going in, and look out for bodies of water. Four stars.
Nia is visiting her cousin Bernice and other family members on a island in Florida when Bernice unexpectedly commits a crime--and when Nia refuses to help her cover it up, the two of them are in turn ambushed during their struggle by a water goddess bent on using Bernice to further her aim of awakening a being even older and more powerful than she. Nia is transformed by an earth elemental, and set against Bernice and another human that the water goddess transformed. After several years the two cousins are reunited to discover they're on opposite sides of the struggle between the powers. And Bernice realizes that maybe she's not so much a supporter of her water-witch creator's agenda after all.
While Fathom does maintain a good pace, it's nonetheless a subtler and lower-key story than a lot of what gets sold in urban/contemporary fantasy right now. There's nary a vampire or werewolf or were-anything to be seen. While the lead female characters are vibrant and interesting characters, they aren't the "ass-kicking bounty hunter/witch/zombie-raiser" archetypes you see all over the urban fantasy landscape right now. There isn't a breath of romance anywhere in the story, which is a period piece, set right around when the Depression is getting underway, rather than in the present day. And the monsters of this story are primal, elemental beings--gods setting off against each other and using human pawns to further their agendas. There's a mythic air to this novel that I just don't find in a lot of my current reading, and it was a pleasure to see.
Priest's overall voice in the story was a bit hard for me to follow at times, but this isn't a bad thing; it actually contributed to the feel of this story as one that's more about the conflict between the elemental creatures Arahab and Mossfeaster than it is about Bernice or Nia or any of the other human characters that show up during the course of the plot. The rhythm of the prose is unusual, too--strange and heavy in places, like Nia, transformed into a daughter of stone. So if you take a stab at this one, mind your feet going in, and look out for bodies of water. Four stars.
April 27, 2016
Fathom isn’t my favourite of Cherie Priest’s books (the honour for that goes to Bloodshot and Hellbent, by an awful long way), but it was an interesting read. It felt somewhat… inconclusive, because in the end, nearly all of the actions of the book mean nothing. One character in particular just seemed to be there to be described in a quirky way in the summary (“add in a hapless fire inspector who’s just trying to get his paperwork in order”). It was particularly odd because it wasn’t a quirky sort of book at all; it was more dark and weird, with elementals and a whole supernatural world crawling under the skin of normal life. And then that character exited the plot with almost no impact on it; he was just a convenient way of getting from A to B, and then he’s gone.
Still, that darkness and power, the transformations of the characters who get caught up in it, are fascinating — and the loneliness of Mossfeaster is portrayed well, his half-indifference belied by his interest in his creation, by his desire to keep her close. I wanted to know more about Mossfeaster and his past, and Arahab, and the fire elemental too whose existence was only really touched on…
The weirdest point, though, is the depiction of Berenice. There’s a handwave towards setting her up with motivations (she claims to have been molested by her stepfather), but most of the time she just seems spoilt, petty, and… well, evil. Arahab was more ambiguous, with her genuine love for her ‘children’, her drive. Berenice seemed pretty much just out for herself, and it never really went any deeper than that.
This all sounds very lukewarm, but it was a fascinating read. I’d love to have spent more time exploring the mythology and less on the hapless fire inspector or Berenice’s plotting.
Originally posted here.
Still, that darkness and power, the transformations of the characters who get caught up in it, are fascinating — and the loneliness of Mossfeaster is portrayed well, his half-indifference belied by his interest in his creation, by his desire to keep her close. I wanted to know more about Mossfeaster and his past, and Arahab, and the fire elemental too whose existence was only really touched on…
The weirdest point, though, is the depiction of Berenice. There’s a handwave towards setting her up with motivations (she claims to have been molested by her stepfather), but most of the time she just seems spoilt, petty, and… well, evil. Arahab was more ambiguous, with her genuine love for her ‘children’, her drive. Berenice seemed pretty much just out for herself, and it never really went any deeper than that.
This all sounds very lukewarm, but it was a fascinating read. I’d love to have spent more time exploring the mythology and less on the hapless fire inspector or Berenice’s plotting.
Originally posted here.
February 27, 2009
Cherie Priest is an author better known for Southern Gothic fiction and, despite its Florida locale, Fathom is a slight deviation from that area. Fathom certainly makes use of Priest’s familiarity with that genre but places more emphasis on the fantastic elements and overarching plot than on the setting and atmosphere of the story. In essence Priest trades elements of horror for elements of the fantastic to craft a story more in vein with Charles de Lint than say Edgar Allan Poe.
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May 20, 2020
I've not read all of Priest's works (yet), but Fathom feels different from everything else I've read of hers. I know it's an earlier work, but it's her fourth novel, the first outside of a series that she wrote, and I was expecting Big Things from it. In some ways, that's what I got; it's about Elder Gods and timeless beings with more power than humans can fathom (see what I did there?), and how they pull in acolytes to do their bidding. In other ways, though, it isn't that at all.
For one thing, the tone of the novel is inconsistent. We get the heavy and the dark and the serious, but we also get characters who are glib and say ridiculous things. There are works of fiction where these two styles work together (The Cabin in the Woods, for example), but for some reason they just didn't blend well here. It was also hard to care much about what happened, since the only real protagonist in the book didn't have anything to do for the first half of the book. The antagonists were so hateful that it didn't leave anyone to sympathize with, and it created a huge disconnect with the story.
I never could get a good feel for what the horror or the fantasy or the magic was, exactly. There was at least one clever bit in the story, but it didn't have any build up that I could see, so when it happened, it came without much explanation or foreshadowing. I'm used to these kinds of books having a rigid magic structure, upon which the plot hangs, but I didn't get a good sense of it here.
This book won't stop me from reading the rest of Priest's works, since I've read enough of her books to know what she can do, but Fathom isn't her best effort. It felt too much like a trunk novel.
For one thing, the tone of the novel is inconsistent. We get the heavy and the dark and the serious, but we also get characters who are glib and say ridiculous things. There are works of fiction where these two styles work together (The Cabin in the Woods, for example), but for some reason they just didn't blend well here. It was also hard to care much about what happened, since the only real protagonist in the book didn't have anything to do for the first half of the book. The antagonists were so hateful that it didn't leave anyone to sympathize with, and it created a huge disconnect with the story.
I never could get a good feel for what the horror or the fantasy or the magic was, exactly. There was at least one clever bit in the story, but it didn't have any build up that I could see, so when it happened, it came without much explanation or foreshadowing. I'm used to these kinds of books having a rigid magic structure, upon which the plot hangs, but I didn't get a good sense of it here.
This book won't stop me from reading the rest of Priest's works, since I've read enough of her books to know what she can do, but Fathom isn't her best effort. It felt too much like a trunk novel.
March 27, 2025
'Fathom' is an odd book to try to describe. Believe me, I've tried.
When people asked me about what I was reading, I struggled to summarize the plot and characters in a helpful way. There's a water witch who's maybe a vindictive goddess. There's a pirate who's lived a surprisingly long time. Early on, one cousin tries to murder another - the attempted killer is transformed and the potential victim is preserved in stone. The water witch has a plan to reshape the world, and it's been a long time coming. There's a massive tower of bells built on a mountain of iron, haunted by the ghost of its builder.
The thing is, I enjoyed 'Fathom' quite a bit. It's a fantasy novel set in a roughly modern Florida, and Cherie Priest strikes a natural balance between the magical elements at play and the practical expression of the modern era. The stakes start out seemingly small, but become pretty epic by the end. And finally, most importantly, Priest takes all the different characters and plot points listed above (plus a few details I skipped) and weaves them together into an engaging, original story of ancient magic and the people that get swept up in it.
'Fathom' may be a tough book to describe, but it was a pleasure to read.
When people asked me about what I was reading, I struggled to summarize the plot and characters in a helpful way. There's a water witch who's maybe a vindictive goddess. There's a pirate who's lived a surprisingly long time. Early on, one cousin tries to murder another - the attempted killer is transformed and the potential victim is preserved in stone. The water witch has a plan to reshape the world, and it's been a long time coming. There's a massive tower of bells built on a mountain of iron, haunted by the ghost of its builder.
The thing is, I enjoyed 'Fathom' quite a bit. It's a fantasy novel set in a roughly modern Florida, and Cherie Priest strikes a natural balance between the magical elements at play and the practical expression of the modern era. The stakes start out seemingly small, but become pretty epic by the end. And finally, most importantly, Priest takes all the different characters and plot points listed above (plus a few details I skipped) and weaves them together into an engaging, original story of ancient magic and the people that get swept up in it.
'Fathom' may be a tough book to describe, but it was a pleasure to read.
May 29, 2015
It's difficult to judge how much I might have enjoyed a book by how quickly I read it. Some books I slog through, but, generally, the less I'm enjoying it, the faster I read it so I can be done. But sometimes, I come across a book that has tight tension and good characterization that's anything but a chore to finish, and I keep absorbing words until I'm out of pages. This book was definitely the latter case; I was disappointed to be done. Not because the plot wasn't resolved (it was), but because it meant I had to say good-bye to the characters and the world.
The plot follows the plans of Arahab, a semi-deity of the sea who wishes to wake Leviathan, who sleeps beneath the Earth and whose waking will wipe out humanity. For that purpose, she recruits José Gaspar, a nineteenth-century pirate, and Bernice, a young woman whose spoiled nature quickly goes beyond breaking plates to committing murder.
Meanwhile, in a twist I took for punishment for refusing Arahab's offer of immortality, Nia, Bernice's cousin and witness to murder, is locked into a statue, helpless to do anything but observe and feel. The situation matched so many of my nightmares that I couldn't leave the book there; I had to read another couple of chapters that didn't focus on her helplessness and eventual mental numbing just to get to sleep.
Luckily, Nia is not left there. She's actually undergoing a metamorphosis within that shell of stone, and, luckily, awakens before Arahab's plans have fully come to fruition. One might argue it's a little too coincidental, but one hopes the one responsible for putting her into the stone shell would know enough for her to be done before it's too late.
In fact, all of this comes about just in time, and then it's a race to save the world before Leviathan wakes. Priest puts the reader into the moment, invoking all five senses without bogging down the action with boring description. There's a lot going on in that climactic scene, but I was able to follow it just fine.
Priest also keeps from bogging down the book with boring intermediary scenes that show relationships developing, which made me feel a little lost in the middle parts of the book. There are several relationships that develop between the start and end, but that I didn't entirely understand the dynamics of, because their development was left out. It's probably best that they're left out, because they would've dragged the book down, but it felt like listening to a couple you don't know bickering over breakfast, at times.
Oddly, though I know little of the Leviathan mythos, that part didn't lose me. The barest facts are conveyed, and the character who knows the pertinent bit shares it in essential tidbits without lecturing us or his audience. The dialogue never felt forced or like the characters were talking for our benefit.
Overall, I enjoyed this book more than Boneshaker, which I read around this time last year, and which took me a lot longer to get through. If Priest had been able to replicate the pacing and immediacy of that book the way she did Fathom, I think I would've enjoyed it a whole lot more.
The plot follows the plans of Arahab, a semi-deity of the sea who wishes to wake Leviathan, who sleeps beneath the Earth and whose waking will wipe out humanity. For that purpose, she recruits José Gaspar, a nineteenth-century pirate, and Bernice, a young woman whose spoiled nature quickly goes beyond breaking plates to committing murder.
Meanwhile, in a twist I took for punishment for refusing Arahab's offer of immortality, Nia, Bernice's cousin and witness to murder, is locked into a statue, helpless to do anything but observe and feel. The situation matched so many of my nightmares that I couldn't leave the book there; I had to read another couple of chapters that didn't focus on her helplessness and eventual mental numbing just to get to sleep.
Luckily, Nia is not left there. She's actually undergoing a metamorphosis within that shell of stone, and, luckily, awakens before Arahab's plans have fully come to fruition. One might argue it's a little too coincidental, but one hopes the one responsible for putting her into the stone shell would know enough for her to be done before it's too late.
In fact, all of this comes about just in time, and then it's a race to save the world before Leviathan wakes. Priest puts the reader into the moment, invoking all five senses without bogging down the action with boring description. There's a lot going on in that climactic scene, but I was able to follow it just fine.
Priest also keeps from bogging down the book with boring intermediary scenes that show relationships developing, which made me feel a little lost in the middle parts of the book. There are several relationships that develop between the start and end, but that I didn't entirely understand the dynamics of, because their development was left out. It's probably best that they're left out, because they would've dragged the book down, but it felt like listening to a couple you don't know bickering over breakfast, at times.
Oddly, though I know little of the Leviathan mythos, that part didn't lose me. The barest facts are conveyed, and the character who knows the pertinent bit shares it in essential tidbits without lecturing us or his audience. The dialogue never felt forced or like the characters were talking for our benefit.
Overall, I enjoyed this book more than Boneshaker, which I read around this time last year, and which took me a lot longer to get through. If Priest had been able to replicate the pacing and immediacy of that book the way she did Fathom, I think I would've enjoyed it a whole lot more.
Read
August 27, 2016Fathom - Cherie Priest
Very strange plot, definitely grabs you. Mythic fantasy. Light reading.
This is a difficult genre to write. There is a thin line in making believable fantasy. There are moments when this book slips, but Priest brings it back, which gives it just a little camp edge, probably intentionally. Most certainly Priest is a clever writer, who is pushing some boundaries here, twisting events in unexpected ways.
I can't recomend this unreservedly, but i was pleasantly amused.
Priest is clearly a talented author, and i look forward to where she goes with her writing.
This book would work well with readers 12 and up. No sex. Some violence, but a clear line between good guys and bad guys, and the moral lines of violence.
I reread this -- I've been thinking about the Mossfeaster after reading Vessel and Solsvart by Berit Ellingsen, which is really excellent by the way, and you can go find that on-line.
Some short excerpts from both works for comparison of Mossfeaster and Vessel. Very mild spoilers follow.
Characters: Nia, Mossfeaster, Sam, Bernice, José, Arahab
BTW: Bok Tower and Garden is for real!!!
Very strange plot, definitely grabs you. Mythic fantasy. Light reading.
This is a difficult genre to write. There is a thin line in making believable fantasy. There are moments when this book slips, but Priest brings it back, which gives it just a little camp edge, probably intentionally. Most certainly Priest is a clever writer, who is pushing some boundaries here, twisting events in unexpected ways.
I can't recomend this unreservedly, but i was pleasantly amused.
Priest is clearly a talented author, and i look forward to where she goes with her writing.
This book would work well with readers 12 and up. No sex. Some violence, but a clear line between good guys and bad guys, and the moral lines of violence.
I reread this -- I've been thinking about the Mossfeaster after reading Vessel and Solsvart by Berit Ellingsen, which is really excellent by the way, and you can go find that on-line.
Some short excerpts from both works for comparison of Mossfeaster and Vessel. Very mild spoilers follow.
Characters: Nia, Mossfeaster, Sam, Bernice, José, Arahab
BTW: Bok Tower and Garden is for real!!!
November 1, 2010
If pressed to sum up "Fathom" in one word, that word would be "anti-climactic." On one side of the plot there's the wicked, murderous Bernice, her companion and adopted brother, Jose, and their "mother," the sea witch Arahab. On the other, there's , Bernice's cousin Nia, rescued from drowning and transformed into a fast, powerful creature "made from stone; the shunned outcast creature Mossfeaster; and Sam, the paper-pusher who just wanted to go home. One side tries to bring about the end of the world by waking Leviathan, a giant God who sleeps beneath the sea, beneath the earth; the other tries to prevent it... apparently.
It's well-written and the plot is intriguing, but the novel's ending left much to be desired. The giant God, on the verge of waking, is soothed back to sleep by the lullaby of a sound played on the bells within a giant tower. Nia discovered that Leviathan slumbers just beneath the tower, and... that's it. Add in the island's strange cult whose origins and motives are frustratingly never illuminated and the questions such as "Why couldn't Mossfeaster just get to the fire God's servant before he created the trinket Arahab needed?", "What about the ship-through-the-earth thing? If that wasn't necessary why not go the 'call' route in the first place with José?", and "What's to prevent Arahab from grabbing another human tomorrow, transforming him/her, and having another call made?" and I was left wholly unsatisfied by the book's end. There's a difference between an open-ended ending and an ending riddled with loose threads. Fathom's ending falls into the latter category.
It's well-written and the plot is intriguing, but the novel's ending left much to be desired. The giant God, on the verge of waking, is soothed back to sleep by the lullaby of a sound played on the bells within a giant tower. Nia discovered that Leviathan slumbers just beneath the tower, and... that's it. Add in the island's strange cult whose origins and motives are frustratingly never illuminated and the questions such as "Why couldn't Mossfeaster just get to the fire God's servant before he created the trinket Arahab needed?", "What about the ship-through-the-earth thing? If that wasn't necessary why not go the 'call' route in the first place with José?", and "What's to prevent Arahab from grabbing another human tomorrow, transforming him/her, and having another call made?" and I was left wholly unsatisfied by the book's end. There's a difference between an open-ended ending and an ending riddled with loose threads. Fathom's ending falls into the latter category.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 31, 2010
I love Borders (can I say that?). I really do. Here's why: When they have an educator's week, they mean all educators, not just k-12 grade. I love that.
It helps because I am addicted to book buying. I can't buy just one book. It doesn't work. I swear the book gets lonely by itself in the bag. It starts to cry. It's very sad.
Anyway, I picked this help during educator's week in part because it sounded more interesting than Boneshaker and because it was educator's week.
Ms. Priest, I'm buying your other books.
Her writing is wonderful. There is not a wasted word. The action is quick. I don't want to spoil it for you, so the only thing I will do now is chant:
They had it coming!
They had it coming!
They had it coming!
They had it coming!
Mossfeaster is cool!
Mossfeaster is cool!
Mossfeaster is cool!
Once you read it, you'll understand.
It helps because I am addicted to book buying. I can't buy just one book. It doesn't work. I swear the book gets lonely by itself in the bag. It starts to cry. It's very sad.
Anyway, I picked this help during educator's week in part because it sounded more interesting than Boneshaker and because it was educator's week.
Ms. Priest, I'm buying your other books.
Her writing is wonderful. There is not a wasted word. The action is quick. I don't want to spoil it for you, so the only thing I will do now is chant:
They had it coming!
They had it coming!
They had it coming!
They had it coming!
Mossfeaster is cool!
Mossfeaster is cool!
Mossfeaster is cool!
Once you read it, you'll understand.
March 21, 2010
This was my least favorite Cherie Priest book I've read, although I don't mean to suggest it's bad by any means. It's an interesting fantasy novel that I read in two sittings and enjoyed, but it's also a book filled with characters that lacked purpose. Some "elementals" take hold of humans to have them do their bidding, but even after all the supernatural intervention, the humans don't really achieve anything. When I read a fantasy novel, I usually go into it assuming that the good guys will save the day, but here it didn't seem like the good guys had to do anything to uphold the status quo, they just had to wait for the bad guys to fail. Lots. I'm also not sure how the end was a resolution to anything.
I'd recommend Priest's Eden Moore trilogy or Boneshaker instead of this one.
I'd recommend Priest's Eden Moore trilogy or Boneshaker instead of this one.
March 18, 2009
Duelling powers, one water, one earth, take over cousins as they drown in the 1930s. Arahab, a water goddess who wishes to wake Leviathan and destroy the world to gain his favor, remakes the murderess Bernice to survive in the water and through time. Mossfeaster fixes a cocoon of stone around Nia and waits for her to become as stone, to be a fitting player in opposition to Bernice and her goddess.
It's . . . beautiful, creepy, alien, familiar, and sweeping, all together. I loved the servant of Vulcan, who doesn't have a big part, but makes an impact all the same. And I love the bare humanity of Bernice and Nia, even as they stumble through their new, inhuman lives and destinies. Cherie just keeps getting better!
It's . . . beautiful, creepy, alien, familiar, and sweeping, all together. I loved the servant of Vulcan, who doesn't have a big part, but makes an impact all the same. And I love the bare humanity of Bernice and Nia, even as they stumble through their new, inhuman lives and destinies. Cherie just keeps getting better!
November 18, 2010
This book is blessedly weird.
Read my full review here:
http://bookwormblues.blogspot.com/201...
Read my full review here:
http://bookwormblues.blogspot.com/201...
dnf_2009
November 10, 2015~260 pages in and I just don't care.
September 9, 2017
I'm having a hard time reviewing this book because I feel like I never really understood it. The prose is fine, even lyrically pretty at times. The plot progresses without stalling out, although I wouldn't call it fast-paced, necessarily.
I guess it's really the pacing that I had a problem with. I was never sure who the book was supposed to be about, since it jumps around constantly and at random. The whole thing felt uneven.
Was it about Nia, possibly the only sympathetic character? Was it about her relationship to her evil cousin? (Bernice pissed me off in general, again because it wasn't clear what her deal was. She's evil, I get that, but what does she want? Did she actually get raped and is that why she's crazy? Was that a lie and she's just psychotic? WTF?) Or was it a larger scale story about the elementals/gods?
Plus everyone seems to have complicated plans and be hiding things. Priest seemed to want to simultaneously keep the story ~mysterious~ and cool but also show us every tiny scene and character. And can we talk about Gaspar? His seemed like the coolest story in the whole thing until I realized it sounded too good. Then I looked it up and she'd basically rewritten the Wikipedia page for what's apparently a real folk legend. Dumb.
tl;dr - It was uneven and confusing, with potentially interesting ideas wrapped in decent prose but not ever allowed to make sense.
I guess it's really the pacing that I had a problem with. I was never sure who the book was supposed to be about, since it jumps around constantly and at random. The whole thing felt uneven.
Was it about Nia, possibly the only sympathetic character? Was it about her relationship to her evil cousin? (Bernice pissed me off in general, again because it wasn't clear what her deal was. She's evil, I get that, but what does she want? Did she actually get raped and is that why she's crazy? Was that a lie and she's just psychotic? WTF?) Or was it a larger scale story about the elementals/gods?
Plus everyone seems to have complicated plans and be hiding things. Priest seemed to want to simultaneously keep the story ~mysterious~ and cool but also show us every tiny scene and character. And can we talk about Gaspar? His seemed like the coolest story in the whole thing until I realized it sounded too good. Then I looked it up and she'd basically rewritten the Wikipedia page for what's apparently a real folk legend. Dumb.
tl;dr - It was uneven and confusing, with potentially interesting ideas wrapped in decent prose but not ever allowed to make sense.
August 2, 2024
I always hesitate in giving a 2-star review; I think to myself, "Did a serial killer choose poisonous octopuses as their weapon of choice? Did the author obviously have a child eaten—off screen—by an alligator when they realized they had introduced one too many truly irritating children?" Neither is true of Fathom, and yet this is completely tedious and poorly written, which is disappointing from an author whose work I have enjoyed in other books.
The characters are deadly boring, and despite the long, long stretches of backstory we get for them, they are completely flat and unappealing. The plotting is also so poor that the "climax" involves nonsensical strings that the author needs to pull. The putative main character—Nia—has no reason whatsoever to feel any responsibility toward her psychopathic cousin (and it's not as though there's any reason to think Nia has some abstract superior morality), yet the character is pointlessly dragged along, only to be left behind.
I get that writers sometimes have concepts they are in love with that they feel compelled to try to get out into the world, but this had zero interest to me, particularly given how little apparent attempt the author makes to do the necessarily structural and stylistic work to translate this outside of her own head.
The characters are deadly boring, and despite the long, long stretches of backstory we get for them, they are completely flat and unappealing. The plotting is also so poor that the "climax" involves nonsensical strings that the author needs to pull. The putative main character—Nia—has no reason whatsoever to feel any responsibility toward her psychopathic cousin (and it's not as though there's any reason to think Nia has some abstract superior morality), yet the character is pointlessly dragged along, only to be left behind.
I get that writers sometimes have concepts they are in love with that they feel compelled to try to get out into the world, but this had zero interest to me, particularly given how little apparent attempt the author makes to do the necessarily structural and stylistic work to translate this outside of her own head.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 7, 2017
This is essentially the story of Nia, a teenage girl in early to mid 1900s Florida, her transformation into something supernatural, and her battles with ancient gods.
I loved the world that Priest painted here. I was absolutely sucked into this place and felt the prose just flowed as the world was described. That ability to suck me in is really why I've rated this book so highly. The environment was enchanting. The supernatural creatures were at times creepy and other times fascinating, but they always seemed interesting.
The one great flaw, though, is that the protagonist has almost no agency. This was something that came to me only upon reflection, however, and didn't disturb me as much as it might have. Many things happened to her, and she followed a lot of directions, but decisions didn't really ever get made.
Still, I found this novel nearly impossible to put down, and that gets it high marks.
5 of 5 stars.
I loved the world that Priest painted here. I was absolutely sucked into this place and felt the prose just flowed as the world was described. That ability to suck me in is really why I've rated this book so highly. The environment was enchanting. The supernatural creatures were at times creepy and other times fascinating, but they always seemed interesting.
The one great flaw, though, is that the protagonist has almost no agency. This was something that came to me only upon reflection, however, and didn't disturb me as much as it might have. Many things happened to her, and she followed a lot of directions, but decisions didn't really ever get made.
Still, I found this novel nearly impossible to put down, and that gets it high marks.
5 of 5 stars.
October 16, 2020
Ancient Gods and Goddesses waging an ongoing battle. Humans stand in the way, playing their own little games. Sometimes casualties happen and that's where our adventures begin. As opposing entities converge two cousins become pawns of a feud that will destroy life as they know it and future generations will be entangled in their snare as well. What ripples affect can never be the same again and in this story Priest reaches out to land and sea and shows us exactly how small we are. A tale full of horror, human and abhorrent and beyond our understanding and of the most human of all emotions, loss and jealousy. A little mind jumbling at times but leaves a trace long after you close the book. Priest is a definite add on to the shelf when you're looking for a book that jiggles that door you keep closed at the back of your mind. Looking forward to reading something more by her in the future.
May 26, 2018
Lovecraft meets elemental fantasy. Lot of mythic promise lurking in the premise. One ancient goddess wants to wake Cthulhu. One ancient god wants to keep singing the lullaby that keeps him asleep. One dark night each gets a cousin to transform into something rich and strange. Bells are rung. We swap steam-punk for flappers. Also there is an insurance guy and a firetruck.
It's soothing in its way, and a good bus book. If there was a little deeper level, I did not see it.
It's soothing in its way, and a good bus book. If there was a little deeper level, I did not see it.
June 14, 2019
It definitely took some concerted effort to get through the early pages of Fathom but I have enough confidence in Cherie Priest that I stuck it out. Once the framing got out of the way and the plot really got rolling it was a treat. Wildly inventive and lovingly brutal, the story hooked me completely.
October 17, 2023
The details in the book were overall immersing but sometimes repetitive and muddled the storyline. I liked the pacing of the book despite how descriptive it was. The multiple character POVs advanced the plot while leaving the reader to pice together what was happening. I read this quickly as I was quite curious as to what would happen next.
June 26, 2017
Priest's story weaves mythology with the paranormal in a dark
fantasy set in 1930's Florida.
There are very subtle influences of: Poe(The Bells), Lovecraft and Melville.
fantasy set in 1930's Florida.
There are very subtle influences of: Poe(The Bells), Lovecraft and Melville.
April 8, 2018
What a page-turner! I couldn't put it down.
April 21, 2018
Not my favorite priest
October 8, 2016
I've liked Cherie Priest for a little while now; ever since my brother's girlfriend handed me a copy of Boneshaker, I've been trying to pick up as much of her work as I could, finishing the Clockwork Century series, and reading the Cheshire Red books (which I wish, wish, wish that she'd return to.) Fathom always appealed, because it was a standalone, and I picked it up and put it down about three or four times over the past few years. Working out my Halloween TBR, I thought it was finally time.
The beginning was slow going, admittedly. It took me a couple of sit-down sessions to really get into it, but once I did, I tore through it.
I loved the setting. You don't find many historical pieces that take place in twentieth century Florida, let alone historical fantasies. Priest writes about the locales with affectionate knowledge, and highlights the Gothic qualities of the Sunshine State.
I adored the characters. Though this is also the source of the only real complaint that I have, because I feel like... Priest always gives the illusion of her books being deeply about women. Women are always at the heart of them, to be sure. But I feel like they get less development than the men; there is never a time when we get anything from Bernice's POV, despite the fact that she's (arguably) one half of the book, and with all of her plotting, and mental machinations, I'd have loved to spend one twisted moment in her head, to get a feel for the way she thought about... well, anything really. There's a point where she tells Nia that she always has her reasons but she didn't know if they were valid to anyone else or if her cousin would even begin to understand. Okay, so show me.
I felt like Bernice could have almost have been, in, say, Gillian Flynn's able hands, a deeply complex and interesting character, if never sympathetic. There's too much of the feminine (and psychotic) mystique to the author just saying, OOOH, it's a mystery, you'll never understand! But I want to. Especially at the end when she accidentally... er, does something really harsh. I suppose we're meant to think it's nothing to her, but even if it is, I want to know. I want to read it from the author. She does seem genuinely horrified, whether for angering Mother to the point where the water witch is prepared to kill her, or for the act itself, or maybe both, we don't know. We can infer, but...
I think we're supposed to be flatly happy that horrifyingly violent and nasty things happen to her, but it just kind of made me sick. I wasn't entirely down with it, though I definitely think she deserved a comeuppance and a half. She just seems pathetic at the end, and adding violence to that was just sort of stomach-churning.
The book gets better with this in its second half, when Nia "hatches." And while I'd been truly enjoying the book before that, that's when I decided it was a favorite. She's a sweet, sort of haplessly likable heroine, and the horrors she endures during the story feel all the more hideous for it. Sam, Mossfeaster, Edward, Jose--they're all enjoyable characters to read about, if not all entirely the most sympathetic. And not all that deserve to live will. People you like will die, and people you don't like will live. And if I had one complaint about that, it would be that the two deaths are abrupt, considering how much investment you build in each character.
All in all, it's a completely original fantasy about the war between elementals, working in tiny bits of Lovecraft mythos, in an almost-modern setting. It was a completely unique book, and surpassed even Boneshaker as my favorite work of Priest's.
The beginning was slow going, admittedly. It took me a couple of sit-down sessions to really get into it, but once I did, I tore through it.
I loved the setting. You don't find many historical pieces that take place in twentieth century Florida, let alone historical fantasies. Priest writes about the locales with affectionate knowledge, and highlights the Gothic qualities of the Sunshine State.
I adored the characters. Though this is also the source of the only real complaint that I have, because I feel like... Priest always gives the illusion of her books being deeply about women. Women are always at the heart of them, to be sure. But I feel like they get less development than the men; there is never a time when we get anything from Bernice's POV, despite the fact that she's (arguably) one half of the book, and with all of her plotting, and mental machinations, I'd have loved to spend one twisted moment in her head, to get a feel for the way she thought about... well, anything really. There's a point where she tells Nia that she always has her reasons but she didn't know if they were valid to anyone else or if her cousin would even begin to understand. Okay, so show me.
I felt like Bernice could have almost have been, in, say, Gillian Flynn's able hands, a deeply complex and interesting character, if never sympathetic. There's too much of the feminine (and psychotic) mystique to the author just saying, OOOH, it's a mystery, you'll never understand! But I want to. Especially at the end when she accidentally... er, does something really harsh. I suppose we're meant to think it's nothing to her, but even if it is, I want to know. I want to read it from the author. She does seem genuinely horrified, whether for angering Mother to the point where the water witch is prepared to kill her, or for the act itself, or maybe both, we don't know. We can infer, but...
I think we're supposed to be flatly happy that horrifyingly violent and nasty things happen to her, but it just kind of made me sick. I wasn't entirely down with it, though I definitely think she deserved a comeuppance and a half. She just seems pathetic at the end, and adding violence to that was just sort of stomach-churning.
The book gets better with this in its second half, when Nia "hatches." And while I'd been truly enjoying the book before that, that's when I decided it was a favorite. She's a sweet, sort of haplessly likable heroine, and the horrors she endures during the story feel all the more hideous for it. Sam, Mossfeaster, Edward, Jose--they're all enjoyable characters to read about, if not all entirely the most sympathetic. And not all that deserve to live will. People you like will die, and people you don't like will live. And if I had one complaint about that, it would be that the two deaths are abrupt, considering how much investment you build in each character.
All in all, it's a completely original fantasy about the war between elementals, working in tiny bits of Lovecraft mythos, in an almost-modern setting. It was a completely unique book, and surpassed even Boneshaker as my favorite work of Priest's.
February 19, 2011
It's so much easier to explain what I don't like about books than what I do like about the ones I love. But I enjoyed Fathom enough that I feel compelled to make the effort.
This novel feels like a chip off a larger diamond of a story: something incomplete, sharp-edged, yet glorious. It follows the supernatural adventures of farm-girl Nia: her introduction to a sea-witch/goddess bent on destroying the world, her transformation into a creature never before seen on the earth, and her attempts to foil the efforts of the sea-witch Arahab. In parallel, it follows her sophisticated, murderous cousin Bernice, who is reborn as Arahab’s creation and tool.
A humble creature of earth and decay, Mossfeaster, is aware of Arahab’s plans and works over decades to stop her. Nia becomes part of his arsenal, along with other people that Mosseater convinces to help save humankind.
Fathom’s plot kept me reading and guessing until the very last page. I also enjoy the way Cherie Priest writes: not overblown or cloying, but clear and vivid. She manages to convey settings that I can practically step into without an excess of verbiage (which for an impatient reader like me, is a gift from heaven).
One of my favorite things about this book is that the supernatural creatures come off as truly non-human, not just super-powerful humans. It lent Fathom an air of authenticity that is often missing in books involving god-like beings.
I hope that Fathom has a sequel that resolves the fates of the characters and the world in a more permanent way. But, then again, maybe I don’t. In a way the nebulous ending suits the story. Perhaps a reconstruction of the full diamond wouldn’t be an improvement on the chip Priest has given us.
This novel feels like a chip off a larger diamond of a story: something incomplete, sharp-edged, yet glorious. It follows the supernatural adventures of farm-girl Nia: her introduction to a sea-witch/goddess bent on destroying the world, her transformation into a creature never before seen on the earth, and her attempts to foil the efforts of the sea-witch Arahab. In parallel, it follows her sophisticated, murderous cousin Bernice, who is reborn as Arahab’s creation and tool.
A humble creature of earth and decay, Mossfeaster, is aware of Arahab’s plans and works over decades to stop her. Nia becomes part of his arsenal, along with other people that Mosseater convinces to help save humankind.
Fathom’s plot kept me reading and guessing until the very last page. I also enjoy the way Cherie Priest writes: not overblown or cloying, but clear and vivid. She manages to convey settings that I can practically step into without an excess of verbiage (which for an impatient reader like me, is a gift from heaven).
One of my favorite things about this book is that the supernatural creatures come off as truly non-human, not just super-powerful humans. It lent Fathom an air of authenticity that is often missing in books involving god-like beings.
I hope that Fathom has a sequel that resolves the fates of the characters and the world in a more permanent way. But, then again, maybe I don’t. In a way the nebulous ending suits the story. Perhaps a reconstruction of the full diamond wouldn’t be an improvement on the chip Priest has given us.
July 3, 2015
As you can see from my other reviews, Cherie Priest is firmly planted at the top of my Authors Y'all Should Be Reading Already list. If you're not much for steampunk or psychics, try Fathom, which is about
a battle between Elementals to save humanity and the humans who are "called into service" to help.
Arahab is a water witch, capable of manipulating oceans, lakes and even puddles. For millenia, she has plotted to awaken the Leviathan sleeping at the center of the earth. She's been searching for humans who could actually get down into the core to plant a 'call' totem and get things moving. So far, she has only found one human deemed capable of the task: Jose, a pirate who drowned himself to avoid capture. But he's tried once and failed, so Arahab's on the prowl for a deckhand.
Up on land, a farmgirl named Nia visits her spoiled cousin, Berenice, who is staying with her mom and stepfather on an island in the Gulf. When Berenice nearly drowns, she is taken by Arahab; Nia is swept up onto the shore and into the form of a statue. Workmen find her and leave her in the aunt's garden. The aunt flees town and slowly statue-Nia goes crazy trapped in her shell alone.
Enter Sam, a slightly bumbling insurance agent called by a possible buyer to inspect the grounds and a creature called Mossfeaster, who forms out of whatever earth-y matter is at hand (vines, dirt, rotting plants, other fun stuff) and is determined to stop Arahab. First, however, he has to save Nia before a group of local nutjobs have one too many midnight ceremonies around her and bring on the attention of something bad.
This is where I stop telling you stuff and you start reading instead.
Interested? Thought you might be.
Slightly deterred from diving or gardening? Sorta suspected that, too.
a battle between Elementals to save humanity and the humans who are "called into service" to help.
Arahab is a water witch, capable of manipulating oceans, lakes and even puddles. For millenia, she has plotted to awaken the Leviathan sleeping at the center of the earth. She's been searching for humans who could actually get down into the core to plant a 'call' totem and get things moving. So far, she has only found one human deemed capable of the task: Jose, a pirate who drowned himself to avoid capture. But he's tried once and failed, so Arahab's on the prowl for a deckhand.
Up on land, a farmgirl named Nia visits her spoiled cousin, Berenice, who is staying with her mom and stepfather on an island in the Gulf. When Berenice nearly drowns, she is taken by Arahab; Nia is swept up onto the shore and into the form of a statue. Workmen find her and leave her in the aunt's garden. The aunt flees town and slowly statue-Nia goes crazy trapped in her shell alone.
Enter Sam, a slightly bumbling insurance agent called by a possible buyer to inspect the grounds and a creature called Mossfeaster, who forms out of whatever earth-y matter is at hand (vines, dirt, rotting plants, other fun stuff) and is determined to stop Arahab. First, however, he has to save Nia before a group of local nutjobs have one too many midnight ceremonies around her and bring on the attention of something bad.
This is where I stop telling you stuff and you start reading instead.
Interested? Thought you might be.
Slightly deterred from diving or gardening? Sorta suspected that, too.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 16, 2015
Hmmm... Many mixed feelings about this book. It's my first Cherie Priest, and I have a couple of her other books that I'm really anxious to read (Maplecroft, Four and Twenty Blackbirds), and I really loved her writing style, descriptions, and language, but I just didn't love this as much as I thought I might. I'm not a fan of the ocean, which probably should've sent up a red flag, but there were other things I didn't like either. The characters felt flat and a bit forced, and I especially didn't like I don't know, so there were just some plot issues too that irked me. And as 'Lovecraftian' as it's lauded to be, it wasn't as grand or on the cosmic scale I was expecting I guess.
Either way, I'll still read the others, as the subject matter of those is more up my alley, and I do still like her writing style.
Either way, I'll still read the others, as the subject matter of those is more up my alley, and I do still like her writing style.
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