Into the Drowning Deep
Ratings141
Average rating4
Outstanding, riveting. Full of fun characters and action. I loved the prequel novella, and this was such a treat to read as it's a proper-sized novel. The characters were great.
i like the premise of it. i just think i'm reading it at the wrong time, i'm not particularly in the mood to get through this book right now.
Contains spoilers
I'm torn on how to rate this one. 95% of it is 5 stars, fantastic, then the ending just...ended. All neatly tied up, one simple action and everything is solved, no more danger. It's really thrown off my whole experience with the book.
Still very much worth reading for Grant's take on the ecology of mermaids!
started out so strong and took me out of my slump but sadly the length ruined the experience for me. too boring at times and if I really think about it not much happend in this
I loved this so much. This is definitely unlike anything I've ever read before, and I'm so glad I chose to pick it up.
The writing was so beautiful. I loved the concept of it all, being set in the deep sea. I loved how scientific it was, all the jargon, I loved reading it all. I loved how the author discusses not only just the presence of mermaids, but also scientific discussion of their anatomy and the adaptations that allows them to survive in the deep sea.
The plot overall was very slow, and i definitely took my time to read this, but it picked up it's pace at the end. It turned into more of a horror. So that was fun.
The characters, I was unsure of so many characters being involved because I usually don't like that but this worked. I loved the characters too.
Overall amazing read.
3.5 ⭐️
Well, now I am terrified by the sea and its mysterious creatures. Thank you very much!
An enjoyable read! Slightly predictable but engaging!
3.5 ⭐️
Well, now I am terrified by the sea and its mysterious creatures. Thank you very much!
An enjoyable read! Slightly predictable but engaging!
Rating: 3.5 leaves out of 5Characters: 3/5 Cover: 4/5Story: 3/5Writing: 4/5Genre: Horror/FantasyType: AudiobookWorth?: SureHated Disliked It Was Okay Liked Loved FavoritedThe book started off pretty well. I enjoyed getting to know the characters, though some were meh to me, and the tension and build up was also a hit. Then the end started to come up and I was very iffy about it. Some things just... logically, for a human, didn't make sense. The thing that took the book down a good few notches was the solution to the problem. It had me WTFing big time. As for horror goes? It was, for me, a 2/5. It wasn't that scary but it wasn't horrible either.
This is going on my favorites shelf, for sure! I got everything I was expecting in terms of creepiness, and then I got more than I was expecting with the amazing characters.
This story would make an awesome limited series on Netflix, I can only imagine the things they could do with the special effects.
Although there is technically a book released before this in the “series”, I would say that is really a prequel to this one. Readers would get more out of both books if they read this one first and then Rolling in the Deep second. This is because Rolling in the Deep spoils the main mystery presented in this book.
There was a lot of setup and a really disappointing ending. It was too abrupt and just ended. Over 400 pages of buildup, of development and then it was over in about ten pages.
Not Satisfying.
I don't read a lot of horror novels, but this was a good one. I found it to be suspenseful and a page-turner. I am looking forward to reading more of this author's books.
I decided to pick this one up after reading the prequel “Rolling In The Deep”, a novella I really enjoyed. While this one has the same creepy, claustrophobic atmosphere it takes quite awhile for the action to begin. The first half of the novel takes the time to introduce the many characters and their motivation for wanting to find mermaids, with a lot of scientific explanation. About 100 pages in, I was regretting my decision to read. Maybe the length of the novella is what kept it interesting to me? But then, finally, shortly after setting sail the action slowly begins and then it doesn't stop until the end. It was the perfect blend of horror, gore and sci-fi.
Amai, nooit gedacht dat een schijtluis gelijk ik niet alleen plezier zou beleven aan het lezen van een horrorroman, maar er ook nog eens 5 sterren aan zou geven!
“It was beautiful, in its own terrible way.So many monsters are.”
Dit boek gaf mij hartkloppingen zoals een boek nog nooit aan mij heeft gegeven. Fantastisch opgebouwd, schitterend gebruik van perspectieven, afschuwelijk spannend, angstaanjagend, intens, claustrofobisch, intelligent en met zo'n plausibele verklaringen dat ik nog minder goesting heb om te gaan duiken of iets dergelijke. Ik heb het idee van een eindeloze, duistere diepte onder mij met ik weet niet wat voor dingen die onder mij door zwemmen altijd een enorm angstige gedachte gevonden. Ewel ja, dit boek heeft me nu niet bepaald van die angst af geholpen, haha.
Absolute aanrader voor thriller en horrorfans die houden van het gebruik van wetenschap om het onmogelijke echt te laten voelen.
This book is everything I wanted! Killer Mermaids, Check. Bisexual and Gay character, Check. Disabled yet very capable and intelligent characters, Check and Check.
Not to mention this just hits my own worse fears of being closed in my water or underground. So anything with those themes makes me super uncomfortable.
I felt like all the characters were real and fleshed out which is impressive for a large cast like this one. I liked the science and the twist at the end. Moreover, I enjoyed the themes of the book. You look at and question our conservation efforts and how we treat the planet, you look at the dangerous lines between curiosity and stupidity, and you question the need for understanding over revenge.
I enjoyed the style as well. You get quotes from the characters, news clippings, and blogs at the beginning of some of the chapters. Which adds to the mockumentary vibes.
It was just a book that made me happy. I'm excited to read more from Mira/Seanan soon!
Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire) did such a phenomenal job with this book. I don't think I've read a book in YEARS that I have wanted this badly to be adapted into a high-quality movie. Everything about this was great. The creativity in the way she imagined the cryptids, the characters, the tech involved... I just loved every minute of this. Really glad I picked it up.
What a great book. This book was very enjoyable, it was very gripping and hard to put down when i was reading it. The characters all felt very real to me, and the motivations of the many different groups felt accurate to what i would expect. The Science in the book was well thought out and expertly explained so all can understand what is going on. I also thought the plot was well executed and fell in line with how people act in real life
Spoilers for entire book
Going into this book i thought everyone was going to die. no lie. I'm glad everybody didn't die. Notable Deaths and my feelings:Heather: incredibly sad. loved the twins, didn't expect it so quickly or brutally. wish it hadn't happened.Ray(cameraman): didn't expect it. didn't like it. but i wasn't that involved yet. Ryan (Ex-BF): Glad he died. loved the method, accidently pricked with crustaceans. then his boss dies as well. made me laugh, they both died from their greedRandom Scientists: ehCaptain: called it, should've fixed those shudders soonerDolphins: I thought the dolphins might do something besides die. they didn't. loved getting the Dolphins PoV. if one had escaped would've been fine with me.Hunters (couple): predicted they were going to die from beginning, wasn't disappointed. I didn't predict the way they would die, but after miche? the wife died. i knew the husband would do the blaze of glory death. although it wasn't that glorious. Survivors:Dr. Toth: great, so focused on science, knew the mermaids were bad the whole time. very prepped. Loved that she learned some sign language, but only the science nothing else.Victoria (Tori): several scenes i thought she was going to die. and didn't. appreciated the fact that we get our main Character through everythingLuis (lab Partner): Thought he was going to die from foot wound, but didn't. also liked his attitude, and his mostly practical nature about whats happening.Holly, Hailee: Twin and Sister of Heather Accurate depictions of grief. anger, throwing yourself into work.Olivia: great representation of Anxiety/Nervous. loved this character. (didn't hurt that the last name was Sanderson)Theo: Imagine's director and "in Charge" of ship. lots of good scenes with him and him eating pot cookies at the end was really funnyWell thats everybody, that i want to talk about. Loved the fact that all the mermaids were Male, and the female was a super mermaid. like anglerfish. made sense to me.
mira grant really did that
- cool science-y ocean shit
- killer mermaids!!
- so fucking well written, legitimately felt like a real recollection of an event at some times
- female/female relationship!!
- autistic gay character!!
- 2 deaf characters who were represented rly well
So emotional! There was science and romance and horror and action.
I am really glad that I read the prequel first! That made this book a lot more powerful.
There were a whole lot of characters and I kept most of them straight. There were a few parts that seemed unnecessary and a couple things that didn't get followed up on, but that was minor. And the final twist was well hidden until the end.
The narrator of the audiobook did a good job, except for the woman hunter's accent. That wasn't consistent, but again that is minor.
This was a fabulous book!
from reviews, i was expecting this to be much scarier than it was?? idk it was more thrilling and intriguing than horror for me.
definitely recommend the audiobook!
Its a rare situation where a book drives me to write a review.
To start off, while I like horror, I am not a slasher/monster type horror. These subgenres bore me to tears. I am not a reader of action. Action scenes that drag on also bore me to tears, or more likely a nap. While I adore Science Fiction, the same aspects in it also put me to sleep.
Ideas people, IDEAS!
And, to start off, this book had ideas, and then it turned into a bad B horror movie.
So. The sirens were interesting. The fact that they appeared intelligent was interesting. The fact that they had not one language, but three, was interesting. Siren mimicry was interesting. The idea that they could use that mimicry for their own communication was fascinating. Siren autopsy, also quite cool (with an exception of Dr Toth). The idea of deep sea amphibians was cool.What was not cool? Everything else.Dr Toth's entire purpose was to stand around passively, sigh when something went wrong, tell everyone she could have told them that, and then go on to lecture (info dumps) in an overly dramatic and condescending manner.Mr Blackwell was incredibly passive. His entire job was to make sure no one got a couple brains cells moving and got the ship the heck out of there. Oh and to give something else for Dr Toth to be annoyed about.The relationship between Victoria and the reporter/personality (I forgot her name) made NO sense. They hate each other and then all of a sudden they are high school girls talking about how they have the hots for one another. And while blood shed and carnage goes on around them, go back to a cabin to have hot sex.Oh, and at the end of the book. They have just spent the last few days or so in hiding, being hunted, slaughter, dissolving bodies, horrors beyond belief, long swims in the ocean, trapped, almost drowning, and similar. And what do they do on the trip back to land? Have sex of course. Because everyone craves hot passionate sex immediately after this kind of emotional and physical trauma.Two female scientists, with the threat of siren attack imminent, abandon their deaf lab partner, go back to a cabin, get drunk on brandy with the door open, talk like 16 year old valley girls, and get slaughtered. Because the bad girls always die early in slasher horror movies. And this seemed to be the only reason for their very existence.I can't think of any character who wasn't flat or who actually followed any consistent behavior.Establishing communication with a Siren was cool. In a matter of a day or so be able to have built trust in that siren enough that it keeps the scientists from being slaughtered by others of its kind, communicate that it was a prisoner, and yet not have them even attempt to free it, was not consistent.And the shutters. Of course the shutters didn't work. They couldn't work. If they did, we wouldn't have as much of a bad B horror movie. Why the ship would be sent out with defensive shutters that did not work, I cannot comprehend. They knew what was out there. They knew what was very likely to happen. And yet, it worked 2 out of 5 attempts in testing, good enough!There wasn't even surprise about it. We knew the shutters didn't work as soon as we learned about the ship. In fact there was nothing surprising in the entire book. It was so obvious what was going to happen from the start.And we won't even go into the stupid. So many stupid things were done, just so we could make sure the siren attacks happened and kept happening. I hate stupid as an excuse. Its lazy. Characters make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. But OMG over and over and over, stupid after stupid after stupid.
Another frustrating part was that nothing was really answered. But, it looks like this is going to be a series, so I am more forgiving there. I'm assuming some answers might come later in the series. I have no desire to read them though.
Honestly, I'm giving this two stars because of some of the cool factors and could have been something more. Otherwise, it wouldn't even manage one star.
While this author writes very interesting and original stories, I just can't with the repetition. How many times do we need to be told a character dresses like Emma Frost, how scientists can be obsessive about their research, that it was so unlikely that two characters would become friends and did so against the odds, and pretty much every other character trait or thought? We get it, that one guy has a bad leg. And did you know that deep ocean depths can crush you? Well no need to worry if you don't, because the author hammers it into your head repeatedly over the course of an entire chapter. None of these repetitive points are included to further the plot, drive character development, or even investigate the point in more detail. No. They're just the same thing repeated again, as if the reader won't remember the fact on their own. If the repetitions were removed (which would seriously help the pacing and story overall), the book would probably have been a third shorter.
As for the good, there's a lot of diversity that is easily woven into the story without feeling contrived. The science talk was fun and most likely easy for most people to understand, if a bit fudged at times to make the story work. It felt a lot like Jurassic Park (the book, not the movie) with the cast of characters and multiple perspectives. It's an easy read and definitely a page turner with creepy and scary vibes at times. There is quite a bit of suspense and really interesting interactions with the mermaids. It's a fun twist on the mermaid myth, though the end was a bit boring. Kind of like Mira Grant wasn't sure how to finish everything once she wrote the “big reveal” (which wasn't big nor a reveal given all the repetition of a particular fact about the mermaids prior to that, and it was a huge stretch). She may as well have written “and then they found twenty dollars. The end.”
I keep holding out hope that one of Mira Grant's books will completely work for me. Three stars is fun! It's good, I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to some people, but I don't want to waste time on an author that always underwhelms me when I'm so excited for the premise. The stories and characters have so much potential, but the writing itself feels like a drag. It's like she gets in the way of her own good ideas. I want her to have more faith in the reader to remember things she's told us already, and I want her to really push these fantastic ideas she has to the absolute limit.