Reviews

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

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unexplainabl's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

5.0

I...I don't think I can do a review right now. I'm kind of in shock that I've finished this. I want more...I want a second book; I want to know what happens next. Like, ugh, I don't even know there is just so much more I want to know...

Either way, this is definitely up there in my top 3 favourite books of the year and I highly recommend it. At first, I wasn't too sure I was going to like this as it is a SFF and I'm not much into Fantasy, but the story and the characters grabbed me instantly. I LOVE that there is a f/f romance in this book but it's not the entire plot, it's just a cute little romance amongst all the terrible things happening. Also, there is an autistic main character who is LGBT, which I enjoyed.

tisaallen's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book scared the heck out of me. It’s been a while since a book made my heart race, but I’m terrified of the ocean and this book leans hard into scary ocean monsters.

Content Warnings

mirrormemory's review against another edition

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slow-paced

1.0

candacekell's review against another edition

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4.0

I am mermaid obsessed. The book is good; until the end. How anticlimactic:/

ale_irigoyen's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

The Atargatis set sail seven years ago towards the Mariana Trench in hopes of filming mermaids in their natural habitat, after a couple of days of radio silence, the ship was found without a soul on board; the videofootage was recovered, and the world dismissed it as a hoax. Now, Tory has been invited to the Melusine to go back to the Mariana Trench, and find the answers to her sister's death. The crew hopes to find mermaids, but there might be something different coming for them.
Killer mermaids indeed...
I liked the fact that this was scientifically researched, and seemingly possible; which makes the premise of this book a lot more scarier. Suffice to say, I will now fear the deep ocean more. The way Mira Grant (cough... cough... Seanan McGuire) described the first kill was scary, I got actual chills running down my spine and I felt anxious.
However, I believe the book would have worked better for me if it were shorter. The action is only 20% of the book, and some of the scenes were off-page and the reader got to read the aftermath. Other than the first kill, the others that were described weren't as engaging nor scary... only gory. There were too many characters whose POVs I wasn't interested, but I did like the times the reader was able to see through the eyes of the killers, that was interesting and I wish we could've gotten more.
Now, onto the ending. That's were the book really lost all credibility to me.

The fact that Tory was in imminent danger, and in the water mind you, and the sirens weren't going for the kill? After it was acknowledged that they were opportunist killers? I just can't believe she could've survived, she should've died. None of the main characters were killed, again, not believeable. The ending was rushed, and the way they survived was too easy IMO.

There were some loose ends that I would have liked to be addressed in an epilogue, but alas they were not.

erica13's review against another edition

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4.0

Originally a 4.5 ⭐️, but thinking back, I’m kinda disappointed by the ending. Other than that, I really liked the plot and the detail that went into it!

Sometimes I felt that it was too “wordy”, where we got too deep into the thoughts of characters or got more information than we needed (and I’m a science nerd! I like hearing about it! But sometimes I felt like we needed more story than fact, or less on how a character was reflecting on the meaning of life when they should’ve gotten their shit together.)

I did truly appreciate Mira Grant taking the time to understand the details of any topics she discussed, not just the science of it all! Overall a great story, but wish the ending was different.