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“I can’t fathom them, and neither can you.”
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 up: 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, which in turn leads her to commit a deadly crime. When Nia won’t cover for Bernice’s actions, she turns on Nia, chasing her into the deadly coastal waves.
But the timing is right and the elementals have better ideas: the moment the girls go under, Bernice is commandeered for Arahab’s task force, and Nia is turned into a strange and powerful new 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.
Cherie Priest, who stormed onto the scene with the stunning Southern Gothic trio that began with Four and Twenty Blackbirds, now brings the same masterful writing and unforgettable characterization to the realm of near-contemporary rural fantasy. The result, Fathom, is fast-paced, stunning, and quite unlike anything you’ve ever read.
A decidedly dark departure from Priest's Eden Moore saga (Four and Twenty Blackbirds, etc.), this stand-alone novel is equal parts horror, contemporary fantasy and apocalyptic thriller. During a summer vacation to her aunt's coastal Florida home, innocent teen Nia sees her cousin Bernice commit a brutal murder and then get dragged into the ocean by a monstrous water witch. Nia becomes inadvertently entangled in a conflict between primordial creatures that endangers the very existence of humankind. Entombed in stone for countless years, Nia eventually emerges from her cocoon transformed, only to realize that an old god is close to awakening and destroying the world. Priest's haunting lyricism and graceful narrative are complemented by the solemn, cynical thematic undercurrents with a tangible gravity and depth. This is arguably her most ambitious-and accomplished-work to date. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Long before humans populated Earth, monsters and creatures now regarded as myths roamed the world. The Creator banished or destroyed these terrible creations before turning the world over to the human race, but a few still linger, seeking to regain their sovereignty over the planet. In coastal Florida, a young woman once imprisoned in a statue and a handful of other reluctant heroes stumble headlong into a battle to protect the planet from a return to madness. Priest (Not Flesh Nor Feathers; Wings to the Kingdom; Four and Twenty Blackbirds) again demonstrates her keen eye for detail and ambiance as she re-creates an enchanting part of America as the setting for a tale of horror of biblical proportions. Part fairy tale, part work of modern gothic horror, Priest's latest belongs in most libraries.
—Jackie Cassada
This novel was quite unlike anything I’ve read before. Cherie Priest quickly became one of my favorite authors with her Clockwork Century series. I breezed through Boneshaker, Clementine and Dreadnought, and loved them all. That said, this work by Priest is an entirely different beast from those novels. However, it is worth mentioning that it is still undeniably Priest. The styling is masterful, and her great skill at story-crafting makes the book an interesting and enjoyable read. Having always been a bit of a mythology geek, I very much liked the idea of the gods, goddesses, and the like. Crafting a story about these beings into one about Florida takes skill, and Priest manages it more than capably. One of my favorite things about this book is that, near the end, all of the many story threads and arcs come together to form a nice, neat close. As I reader, I enjoy the realizations of “oh, that’s why the that happened the way it did!” I would recommend this novel to readers who enjoy fantasy, particularly if they enjoy urban fantasy, dark fantasy, and a heaping dose of mythology.
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Posted October 1, 2008
Fathom is one of those books that starts right off the bat creepy. Priest's gift for putting you on edge is very evident in this book. I must have muttered ' Oh Oh' at least ten times in the first 50 pages of Fathom. A departure from the Eden Moore series, Priest's well honed story telling skills are top notch in Fathom..And seriously old gods, sea monters and witches...What's not to like?
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Overview
“I can’t fathom them, and neither can you.”
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...