A Letter to the Luminous Deep (The Sunken Archive #1)[June 5, 2025]

[Yanique, Thread Master]

This is a Buddy Read for A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall starting on June 5, 2025.


Happy Reading!

[Paula]

Thank you :)

[Johanna]

I am glad: notifications are finally (after several months!!) working again. I am able to start joining again, now when I see better what's happening 🙄

[Nirkatze]

Thank you also!

1. A Letter to the Luminous Deep (Jun 5)
2. A Letter from the Lonesome Shore (Jul 5) [link]

Availability?
I often see #1 on sales.

[Nirkatze]

Speaking of which--currently on sale on Chirp:
https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Started... the early letters are super short... stop paying attention for a second, and it's on to the next letter...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Near 50% already...

Took me awhile to get used to the story, and the fact it alternates between the 2 MCs falling in love long distance, and their siblings trying to piece together their relationship and location from correspondence, a year after the fact...

I'm still probably missing details listening on audio, but I'm enjoying it, and it's general coziness, even if details pass me by about the larger fantasy story...

[Nirkatze]

Started! I actually picked up a physical copy to follow along with, and it really helped solidify who was who and what was what. Also, man, the names are spelled NOTHING like I imagined with just the audio--and then there's the interesting thing on how last names are combined with marriage (I think), so E is Cidnosin, but Sophy is Cidnorghe post marriage. Both Vyerin (Which I totally heard as "Byron) and Henery (which is totally not just Henry) are Clel though, which makes me wonder about the marriage thing.

Through Chapter 9. I have a lot of questions though--(view spoiler)[like, where exactly is the Deep House, the Atoll, the university Sophy started or the one where everyone was studying at? With the extreme emphasis on seas and exploration, it almost makes me wonder if they aren't on Earth, but instead on some alien oceanic planet... If it's explained early on, I missed it.

I'm also super curious--WTH happened to E & Henery? They both died... at the same time... due to something. And the back of the book just says "vanished" instead of died, so that gives some hope!

The epistolary nature is giving me serious Jane Austen-esque vibes. Only esque, because I can't actually think of an Austen book written in letters. Seems like it should've been a thing though. It's rather cute seeing the friendship slowly bloom into more for the lost siblings, and their elder siblings become friends as a result... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Names feel Welsh

[Nirkatze]

Hm. Wouldn't've thought that, but sure why not... Not enough w's and l's and ch's... Finished and I sadly lost focus near the end... fortunately I have a trusty hardcopy to reference... (view spoiler)[Meant to comment midway during the dinner party and express my indignation on E's behalf! Her brother just barging in and changing things without a by-your-leave! When the family already knows how much she is affected by unplanned changes! How cruel!

Both E & Henery's dislike of social situations and abrupt change is something I resonate with, and is a common trait in people on the spectrum...

I'm really curious about the "artifact" and hope that E & Henery show up in the next book! (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I mostly meant Welsh in that way of unusual pronunciations... Siobhan is Shivan, etc...

Especially seeing that Cidnorghe...

[Nirkatze]

LOL true, that!

[Johanna]

Chapter 4
(view spoiler)[The world they are living in sounds pretty unique and I am not 100 % sure if telling about it through these letters is the best way to do worldbuilding. But it sounds fascinating. Two are missing but how and where. I don't think we know much more at this point. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Yeah, that's a central question in the whole book... kind of like the two timelines are working towards a shared moment...

[Johanna]

Chapter 9
(view spoiler)[Now it's clear the whole book is written as letters and I am getting used to it. I love how both missing persons are pretty introverts and how they still could create this friendship and maybe even something more. But what's this bowl, can't wait to find out. I was also surprised to get to know how their entire home is as ruins nowadays. Something happened there and I think both missing persons were there when it happened. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Ditto!

[Johanna]

Chapter 13
(view spoiler)[This is dragging. Things go forward super slowly, maybe it doesn't help how the same scene is sometimes told from different POV's (E writing to Henery about it, then to her sister). And those scenes aren't even that important to go through several times. And I am a bit confused what this book is about. I mean what is going to happen? Well they disappear but oh boy we have a long way to go there. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yea... it's a bit of a mixed bag... and a duology... alot of the true answers can't fully play out until book 2 next month...

[Paula]

I just liked the slow paced journey. And the epistolary format. I haven't read a book like that so it was a delight

[Nirkatze]

I liked it a lot better on reread, with an idea of where things were going and why... first read was a bit dragging, not having that sense.

[Johanna]

Your comments make me more eager to see where this is going!

[Johanna]

Finished
(view spoiler)[Pheww, I finally finished. This was way to easy to leave aside. Telling the story made it first harder to relate to characters. I think it was easier after some point but especially worldbuilding was almost non-existent. And because this was told through letters there was so much babbling. I can't stand that. And this was so predictable after a certain point : when Jaime told about Fleet it was clear that's where E & Henerey are, you knew Sophie is going after them, that Ridge project and what they found there has also something to do with the same etc. And that happened pretty early so the rest of the book was just waiting when we finally are there. The story itself was okay but told like this + this page amount wasn't a perfect match with me. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

I hear you--that's pretty much how I felt the first time 'round...

[Johanna]

Unfortunately it seems like notifications aren't working anymore, that's a shame 😑 Buddy reads in this group are hard to do without getting a message if someone has commented. I hope they'll start working soon, and not after couple months like last time.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Johanna wrote: "Unfortunately it seems like notifications aren't working anymore, that's a shame 😑 Buddy reads in this group are hard to do without getting a message if someone has commented. I hope they'll start ..."

log out of your account and back in... your profile says goodreads thinks you haven't been active since April... goodreads stops sending daily notifications if you haven't been "active" in 60 days... logging out and back in fixes that... it's a bug I first noticed around January, that solves many issues caused by the email changes in September... I mention it in threads anytime people start having problems...

[Johanna]

Thank you!! I'll do that

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

hopefully you're getting notifications now... I see you're activity has updated to this month...

It doesn't fill in the notifications you failed to get, sadly... only new ones... which this should be...

[Johanna]

It's working again ❤️