Genre: And the mermaids go chomp chomp.
Basic Summary: Seven years earlier, a research vessel made to do a mocumentary goes to see to be lost. Proof of mermaids pop up from that disappearance. However, a boat full of scientists think it’s a great idea to go looking for the mermaids.
Rating: 5/5
Warnings: People get eaten. In detail. There is death and gore and it is GLORIOUS.
Review:
The thought of mermaids being killer creatures isn’t new to me. I’ve been seeing more works supporting mermaids being more “I’ll eat your face” instead of “Part of your world”. However, until Into the Drowning Deep, I hadn’t read any of the novels supporting this idea.
I’m so glad I started with Into the Drowning Deep.
With a cast of diverse scientists, not just in specialty but in their lives, the bulk of the story takes place in the near future of 2022. The technology introduced in this near future isn’t a stretch. I was impressed the most with how much research seemed to have gone into this book. Granted, I’m only minimally familiar with a few concepts Into the Drowning Deep covers. So, either the writing is just really good at being convincing or there was a butt ton of research. I’m going with the latter.
The plot in itself is well rounded and weaved with individual character plots. Tory’s plot of revenge and vindication of her sister makes a great reason why she joins the voyage of Imagine attempting to find proof of mermaids. Hell, Dr. Toth and her reasonings of validation and just wanting to see what she knew would be there all along had me drawn in.
The core group of characters felt well rounded and unique. Character development was well done throughout. I could see the changes Tory was going through as well as Dr. Toth and Mr. Blackwell. Also, character interaction was believable.
Now, the writing…oh, the writing…it was a good balance of showing and telling. The author does a wonderful job of giving related information and describing the scene and action going on. Also, if you are a fan of suspense and some gore, this book is great for that.
A five star read all the way through. I’ll be interested to read more of this author and their work.
(Also, Mira Grant is a pseudonym for Seanan McGuire, in case you want to read even more of their work.)
May you get lost in a book,
Chrissy
Sounds like a good one! I haven’t read this one, but I did like Feed and Parasite by Mira Grant.
I’ve seen those books in stores and they are now on the list!
One of my favorites. Her Newsflesh series is on my top ten as well!
I’m going to have to check out that series, too! I just got Every Heart a Doorway from the library. She’s becoming an author that I’m going to have to read all her works.
Killer mermaid sound so cool! This synopsis reminds me a little bit of the sirens in To Kill a Kingdom, which is one of my favorite books so far this year. The benevolent mermaids from stories like Disney’s The Little Mermaid are fine, but the evil ones are much more interesting.
Also, I didn’t know that Seanan McGuire had a pen name! I read Every Heart a Doorway earlier this year and fell in love with it. I would love to see how that whimsical writing style translated in a YA about killer mermaids!
Yes, the evil mermaids are more interesting. 🙂 I’m going to have to read To Kill A Kingdom. It’s going on the tbr!
I’m reading Every Heart A Doorway now and I love Seanan McGuire’s writing style.
I had no idea that was Seanan McGuire! I would love to check this out as I love her Wayward Children series. 🙂 To Kill a Kingdom was my first killer siren/mermaids book and I loved it so much!
I really need to check out To Kill a Kingdom now. I’ve heard it from two people now and you say you love it. Done deal. And I just finished reading Every Heart A Doorway. She’s just such an amazing author.
Yay! I’d love to hear your thoughts. So glad you liked Every Heart a Doorway. This is one of my favourite series. 😍
It is a great series. Seanan McGuire made a huge fan of me.