Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant | Spoiler Free Book Review

Title: Into the Drowning Deep
Author: Mira Grant
Publication Date: November 17, 2017
Genre(s): Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Siren/Mermaid
Source: Amazon Wishlist (I’m actually not sure who sent this since Amazon didn’t include a note, so thank you!)
Pages: 440
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Synopsis

Seven years ago, the Atargatis set off on a voyage to the Mariana Trench to film a “mockumentary” bringing to life ancient sea creatures of legend. It was lost at sea with all hands. Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a maritime tragedy.

Now, a new crew has been assembled. But this time they’re not out to entertain. Some seek to validate their life’s work. Some seek the greatest hunt of all. Some seek the truth. But for the ambitious young scientist Victoria Stewart this is a voyage to uncover the fate of the sister she lost.

Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the waves. But the secrets of the deep come with a price.

Review

Once again, huge thank you to Chelsea for recommending this book to me. I swear, half the books I read this year were solely because I heard her talk about them and was like “yup, need to read that.”

Now, this book…this is a book I was SO excited to read.

I don’t know how many of you know this about me, but I LOVE the ocean. I’ve been obsessed with the ocean ever since I was little. Like I’ve wanted to be a mermaid ever since I was little, I’ve swam in the ocean several times (at several temperatures lol), and the ocean is my favorite body of water.

So yeah, any book that takes place on/in the ocean is one I’m prepared to love!

Now, the big question: did this book deliver?

Um yeah, I think it did. I wasn’t “scared” or anything, but the ending is something I’m still thinking about (we’ll get to why later on) and the book was…unsettling. Despite not being scared, there were a lot of things that I liked!

“The seas did not forgive, and they did not welcome their wayward children home.”

—>characters<—

Okay, so one of my issues with this book was how many characters there were. I started to confuse certain characters and was a bit overwhelmed.

Now this can just be me. I listened to the audiobook of this one on my car ride and this was the second to last book I actually listened to, so it very well could’ve just been me. I also listened to this one in one sitting (minus a few gas station stops), so again, it could have just been information overload.

That being said, any book with a large cast of characters is tricky, especially when there are multiple POVs. These characters need enough time to be fully developed but not too much time to slow the plot. This book verges on the line of having too many characters and not enough time to flesh them all out.

“It was beautiful, in its own terrible way.
So many monsters are.”

–>plot<–

As for the plot, I liked it. It was pretty straight forward, but a lot of fun. And wow, if you have a fear of the ocean, this book may keep you up at night and will not encourage you to take a dip any time soon.

I like how the first 100 or so pages were introducing the main characters and their history with the Atargatis. We meet the rest of the crew shortly after they aboard the ship, and it was a solid introduction.

The book did slow a bit once we got on the ship to the first scene with the horror of the deep. Actually the meat of this book is a lot of day-to-day tasks on the ship, which is fine. There’s enough hinting at the horrors to come that kept me intrigued, but if some of this stuff was cut, I wouldn’t have minded.

Towards the end of the book [POTENTIAL SPOILERS], lots of action scenes happen at once and the book got REALLY good. I was on the edge of my seat during this entire blood bath, eager to know what happened. I also liked how creative this book got with exploring the danger of the deep. Probably the only thing I didn’t like about this was how the carnage kind of just…stopped. The tell us about the big danger, then nothing. Two days pass and then we flash forward a bit in the future. I don’t know, I guess I just wanted a bit more.

Everything aside though, I’m still thinking about that big threat and damn.

I love how this book plays with our innate fear and curiosity about what’s really out there, and how we really don’t want to know.

“This was where darkness went to live forever, growing deeper and more powerful as the eons passed it by.”

Final Thoughts

If you like Seanan McGuire’s (aka Mira Grant’s) quirky writing style, books about the hidden horrors of the sea, or creepy/spine tingling books, I think you’ll really like this one. There’s a lot that get’s you thinking about what’s really out there and there’s a lot about this book that is super plausible, which is even more terrifying.

I did want a bit more out of the climax of this book, but overall I really enjoyed it. I’ve already recommended this one to some people and I hope we get more in this world.

I love books that keep me thinking about them after I finish them and this one really hit the mark for me.

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