Reviews

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

taygram's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

ramintah's review against another edition

challenging hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

qinnatmyun's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

kaytlynnschehl's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

emma_ekb's review

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. this novella is an iteration of a story first told through song by Drexciya and clipping. essentially, the wajinru are a group of merpeople who are the descendants of enslaved pregnant african women who were pushed off boats during the transatlantic slave trade.

one of the merpeople, Yetu, is charged with carrying all the memories of her people. she can remember every traumatic moment of the wajinru’s history. meanwhile, her people live without those memories until the annual Remembering. 

ultimately this story is about the importance of remembering our ancestors and our history, and the cost of being the person to hold those memories? it’s also about the beauty of being part of a collective and having a shared history and remembering where you came from. the story is told with such care and thoughtfulness and while it was hard to read at times (and hard to process), i do think this is essential reading. it makes me want to read more afrofuturism

psanders's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

kateannesandefur's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

5.0

thepetitepunk's review against another edition

3.0

Mixed feelings. The writing was absolutely gorgeous and I loved the atmosphere, but for a fantasy-type story, I jut thought it was too short. I also thought The Deep took some strange turns that left me a bit confused. As some points I felt like I was just reading some kind of weird alien aquatic erotica. But who knows, maybe I just didn’t understand it.

islareid's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

jae_28's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

 I honestly don’t know how to rate this book because it made me feel so many things. It’s devastatingly profound and complex, and I was stunned and lost through so much of it lol. Reading this felt like sitting underwater for its entirety. This heaviness weighed on me because of that, along with the contents of the story. My mind’s been coaxing me to write something involving merpeople and this was insightful and inspiring. I definitely plan on rereading this multiple times and researching the supplement materials that brought about the story’s origin. Maybe then I'll be able to give it a proper rating. I recommend reading this physically (do not go audio) and take your time with it. That's what I should've done lol.