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studiouspencil's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I loved a lot of the characters, particularly Doctor Toth and Olivia Sanderson, but I felt we never delved as deep as I wanted to go into their emotional states.
I thought Olivia was really interesting as autism representation. She reminds me of myself in that she’s clearly high masking and using scripts, repeated phrases, and and studying the people around her to get through social interactions. She’s constantly mentioned as having a flat affect and little to no emotion on her face unless she’s “performing” it deliberately, something I also struggle with. However I kept expecting her to crash. One cannot go through a deeply stressful situation like this as an autistic person without stimming, going nonverbal, melting down or shutting down, and just plain losing it. She seemed unrealistically composed to me.
As for the science. I’ve seen some complaints about the scientific infodumping but I LOVE the way marine biology was incorporated. Everything felt soooo realistic and it made things much eerier in my opinion. I could picture how these creatures looked and moved and thought and it was a constant reminder of how unexplored the ocean really is.
I enjoyed the ‘angler fish’ twist at the end but I thought the ending itself was a bit rushed- I would have liked to see the siege of the ship start earlier so we could develop who these characters are in a crisis before everything ended. I wanted to see more of the siren’s language and the captive siren. I wanted more tension around the toxin element, I wanted more moments where the mimicry came into play.
All and all a solid book with a rushed final section
Graphic: Gun violence, Animal death, Blood, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Ableism
Minor: Medical content and Misogyny
librarymouse's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Heads up: It's very gory. Remember going into the novel that mermaids originated from myths in which they lured sailors to their deaths to eat them.
The book does finish quickly after extended suspense, but I think I may enjoy that a good part of it was left unresolved. Tori coming to tolerate and then to love(?) Olivia was good closure for the plot point of Anne's death that started the novel, offering the possibility of Tori being able to move forward from her sister's death, if not move on from it. I hope there's a sequel. There's enough still left unfinished for one, though I've seen that the publishing company may have rejected McGuire's proposal.
Graphic: Gore, Murder, Cannibalism, Confinement, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Body horror, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Sexual content
Cannibalism tagged for humanoids eating humanscatinaflatcap's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Moderate: Violence, Animal death, Gore, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Medical content
Minor: Ableism and Drug use
itsheyfay's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Death, Blood, Gore, Grief, and Medical content
Moderate: Ableism, Drug use, Abandonment, Animal death, Toxic relationship, and Gun violence
Minor: Child abuse
aas's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Cursing, Violence, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Death, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Drug use, Blood, Gore, Murder, and Grief
trashkingmax's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Sexism, Gun violence, Drug use, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Murder, Drug abuse, Animal death, Alcohol, Abandonment, Death, Body horror, Gore, Violence, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Biphobia
Minor: Medical content, Sexual content, Xenophobia, War, Genocide, and Panic attacks/disorders
kelnicash's review against another edition
- 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? No
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Gun violence
thisonecassie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This is... I can't think of words that fully encompass how amazing this book is, so im gonna break it down.
Characters: each character is unique, no one feels same-y, nor do any of them feel flat, yes some of them are quite 'cartoony' or 'exaggerated' but it is a novel about killer mermaids for crying out loud, I think its allowed some loud personalities.
Relationships: the character dynamics and the relationships between all of the characters are explored with some amount of depth for nearly all of the characters who interact with one another (aided in part by the use of many points of view, ranging from a whole host of characters as well as a few instances of mermaid POV!!!) You root for all of the characters, even the ones that you don't like, and that in my opinion is what makes a good book great.
Writing style: I love how this book (as well as the novella prequel) is written, the entire book feels like a conversation between me the reader, and the book. (complete with parenthetical side statements about the wider picture and cosmic comedy of the situation at hand)
The horror: I get most of my guts and gore content from whatever executives thought they could get away with putting on tv (aka, criminal minds, bones, supernatural, and my fave the x files <3), so jumping into this amazing book with BLOOD!!! and GUTS!!!! I love it, I LOVE it!!!! i love the tense suspense, i love the pacing of the more intense scenes, LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!
overall: seriously, read this book, head the content warnings, but read it... its amazing. I LOVE it!!.
Graphic: Body horror, Gun violence, Blood, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Violence
Minor: Ableism
sonygaystation's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Body horror, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gun violence, Ableism, Animal death, Cursing, and Grief
Minor: Drug use, Death of parent, Medical content, and Sexual content
melliedm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Lesbophobia, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Blood, Violence, Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, and Misogyny
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Sexual content and Drug use