Firstly, I will divide my review into two parts as my feelings regarding the book changed halfway through…
So allow me to introduce you to the first part: I was a boat adrift the vast ocean for the most part and at least, in terms of plot. It took me a while to actually grasp what was happening (again, plot wise), where were we in the story and the general vibe of what the story was actually going to be about. I read the first part relatively quick and really enjoyed it - because I’m nosey and wanted to keep reading other people’s correspondence! They’re something so forbidding and cheeky about reading these characters’s private correspondence and I enjoyed it greatly!
In the second part, things have definitely picked up and by then you already know these few characters so well that you’ve managed to grasp the plot, where it’s going and start theorising on how E. and Henerey vanished (spoiler alert: E. and Henerey are utterly cute!). There’s secrets hidden in plain sight and discoveries that would change the world they know. It’s actually quite hard to describe without giving away any spoilers so I’ll just say: it’s epistolary style made it absolutely enjoyable and you could still feel the action, the emotions and above all, know these characters on their core!
The Epistolary format is what I think that makes this story stand out in a crowd: it was divine to read this book that way and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way! These are long, old-fashioned letters that no one writes anymore and there was this nostalgia (almost a phantom memory really as I only sent a few proper-ish letter myself) of times when you couldn’t just text someone and get a quick reply straight after. There’s this nurturing, this eagerness, this politeness that is very delightful to read. I am excited to see if the next book will follow the same style or if this author will go to the standard writing style format.
The reasons I’m only giving this 4⭐️ is purely because the first half was indeed slow and if not for my hidden nosey nature, I probably would have left it as it is. The second reason was actually the lead up to the cliffhanger of an ending: I got a bit confused with some revelations and some whys as to things happened x or y or z. There was quite a bit of miscommunication (miscommunication that you don’t catch in the beginning due to the letters), it definitely feels like there’s missing information or just randomly given/discovered information on the last couple chapters.
