Unstuck Pages
  • Home
  • About
  • Gushes and Rants
    • How I write reviews
    • Latest reviews
    • Reviews by Author
    • Reviews by Title
    • Review Requests
  • Features
    • Blog Tour
  • Contact Me
Top Posts
Cold Cruel Kiss by Toni Anderson
Loverboy by Sarina Bowen
Shipped by Angie Hockman
Flight by Laura Griffin
Sweet Dandelion by Micalea Smeltzer
Hard Pursuit by Pamela Clare
Ever After Always by Chloe Liese
To Whatever End by Lindsey Frydman
Yes & I Love You by Roni Loren
Mission: Her Justice by Anna Hackett

Unstuck Pages

Gushes and rants about fictional worlds

  • Home
  • About
  • Gushes and Rants
    • How I write reviews
    • Latest reviews
    • Reviews by Author
    • Reviews by Title
    • Review Requests
  • Features
    • Blog Tour
  • Contact Me
Action/AdventureAdvanced Reader CopyMystery/CrimeNetgalleyReviewsSpeculative FictionSyfy

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

written by Dísir 16th October 2017
Into the Drowning Deep by Mira GrantInto the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant
Series: Rolling in the Deep #1
Published by Orbit on November 14th 2017
Pages: 512
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
three-stars

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.

‘Into the Drowning Deep’ delivers a potent cocktail of bloodthirsty monstrous mermaids, blood spatter and gore with aplomb. It’s also that kind of popcorn-throwing syfy-horror-fantasy I expect at a viewing of any apex-predator movie—a thrilling, entertaining and highly campy ride up until the credits roll—which the book delivers.

Just don’t take it too seriously, which, with the aid of popcorn and a few laughs along the way, is rather easy to do.

The writing is visually striking, though distant and sometimes cynical with a tendency to go off rambling tangents in the way I would associate with authors like Michael Crichton, Steve Alten or Peter Benchley. Despite the premise, it is rather slow-going and the introductions to all the other characters (with the parenthesis of their background lives happening too often, just like this) so it means that things don’t really get underway until half the book’s gone by. But once the ship sets sail, expect the blood and gore to splash everywhere thanks to mermaids that are the furthest from Disney’s red-haired Ariel and her trusty sidekicks; these ones eat man for their delicious flesh and won’t stop till they get their fill.

Fighting, dissection and loads of chomping ensue, which might be one of the best bits for me, the other being Mira Grant’s ability to slip into various writing styles. Innocent animals as well as people are taken apart in grisly glory courtesy of very sharp teeth, amid the frantic guesswork behind the evolutionary path of the fanged-tooth sirens/mermaids, along with (some moralising science-speak) about humanity’s whirlwind path of destruction and how everything is interpreted through a framework only we can understand and deem superior.

With constantly changing POVs, Grant doesn’t make out any clear hero but neither are they particularly likeable enough that you get invested in them. The story is after all, more plot- than character-driven as the ultimate goal here is to uncover the mystery of the strange happenings deep in the Mariana Trench. Still, it suddenly comes to a climax after a slow build, before quickly plunging to a half-hearted resolution, leaving the dismembered body parts, gore and some very angry humans and sirens in their wake. The clean-up and aftermath happen ‘backstage’, but the idea of man’s survival typically hangs in the balance with a conclusion that suggests there might be room for a sequel—this much we’re simply told as the sun sets yet again on the impasse of man vs. the deep.

three-stars
Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant was last modified: October 15th, 2017 by Dísir
  • Related Posts
Accidentally in Love by Laura Drewry
Beyond the Limit by Cindy Dees
One Hot Summer by Melissa Cutler
Darkening Skies by Bronwyn Parry
Then Came You by Kate Meader
ARCNetgalleySpeculative Fictionsuspense-thrillerSyfyUgly pokey aliens
0 comment
0
Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Dísir

previous post
Man Candy by Jessica Lemmon
next post
So Over You by Kate Meader

You may also like

Disturbing His Peace by Tessa Bailey

1st March 2018

Don’t Speak by Katy Regnery

15th March 2017

Desert Rose by Laura Taylor

7th August 2014

Genesis by J.M. Madden

6th July 2018

Talk of the Town by Rachael Johns

16th May 2017

Her Touch by Alexa Riley

18th February 2017

Illegal Contact by Santino Hassell

18th August 2017

Tailored for Trouble by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

2nd July 2016

Locked, Loaded, & Lying by Sarah Andre

14th June 2015

All About the D by Lex Martin and Leslie McAdam

6th September 2017

@2016 - PenciDesign. All Right Reserved. Designed and Developed by PenciDesign


Back To Top