sofija

not romantic not platonic but a secret third thing (so devoted the lines blur) (stanka and mesko)

I loved this so much probably my fav read of 2023 but Rebecca Kuang did not gaf about Victoire

( 3.5 ⋆ )

There are many benefits to being a marine biologist :D

I was expecting to love this book, especially when I was just a few pages in.
One of the complaints I heard a lot is the structure of the book, the two POVs and stories within said POVs being interrupted endlessly. I see where they're coming from, it does feel like ads sometimes when it jumps from the creepy submarine to some domestic slice of life scenarios.

That being said, I didn't mind it at all; I was enjoying the gradual buildup of the thriller/cosmic horror, Miri's grief and the fragments of her relationship with Leah, the discussions of loss, the analogies with the sea, and on top of all that the prose was genuinely beautiful.

The problem imo was that all of this led up to pretty much nothing. The buildup, I mean. It was frustrating to see that so many things are left unanswered at the end when being lead to believe otherwise throughout both the characters' pursuit for answers, which is basically the plot. Some parts could've been easily left out out, so I think it's a little unpolished in that sense.