Reviews

Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly

bickie's review against another edition

2.0

Court intrigue with mermaids, river witches, and deep connections to Atlantis. Cool world-building. This book does not stand on its own with a plot; it just stops after the end of one of the challenges faced by the main character and the mermaids she joins along the way. There is no satisfying end; however, I didn't really care what happened next enough to spend time reading the next books. The main characters fall flat somehow, as though they are two dimensional even though they face complex issues in their pasts, present, and futures. They are leaving the safety of childhood, learning about scary and evil things happening in the world, and that their world-views are more simplistic than reality. They are deciding who they want to be in their worlds, but required to do so very quickly. Romance takes a backseat after the Dokimi ceremony; girl-power is prevalent, particularly in Seraphina's matriarchal society. I thought it was odd that there was no "princess" mermaid that seemed to be from an African country though other continents seemed represented. This book could be good for middle grade graduates of Emily Windsnap. Some questions for discerning readers: Is Mahdi really the party-boy he seemed to become all of a sudden? Is Vallerio trustworthy? Isn't it fishy that Ondalina and Miramar both think the other is attacking them with region-specific tactics but Sera and Astrid do not think their realms attacked? [mild teen romance with a little kissing; violence and torture (cutting off of digits, iron collars and gags, some serious baddies); only cursing is "wrasse" used as "ass" in various connotations like "bad-wrasse" or "wrasse-kicking"] Grades 5-8

maddycat13's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, and War

eljoseph24's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

2.5

disneygirl08's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

kaelyn_simone's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

• 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

5.0

pizzamyheart's review against another edition

3.0

I'm a fan of Jennifer Donnelly's other books and was really looking forward to this. I felt like it couldn't decide if it wanted to be j fiction or ya. I've seen libraries list it as both. Some of the terms seemed a little too big for junior fiction. I loved many of the puns. especially currensea! I known it's part of a series but I would have liked a little closure on some characters, mainly blu. Some parts seemed to drag but I felt like overall she built up the characters well and made a charming underwater world. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

Jennifer if you see this, please no more aconyms! Seeing "fomo" in a mermaid world? I understand it's modern terminology but no.... please no.

howlintherain's review against another edition

1.0

I was unfortunately unable to finish this book. I got about 100 pages in before I decided that I simply wasn't enjoying it enough to continue, which is a huge disappointment for me. The largest, most glaring flaw (in my opinion) is one that is built at a structural level. I feel like the author just took human culture, stuck it underwater, and added some nautical-themed slang (there was a lot of random Latin thrown in that was explicitly stated as Latin??? and I get that this is YA, but what the heck are the logistics of mermaids wearing very human sounding clothes????). I didn't feel like I was reading about another species and there wasn't the type of creativity and world building that I expect from this type of fantasy. If this story was set above ground featuring humans, and I didn't go in with that expectation I might have enjoyed it better, but, as it stands now, the underwater setting just seems wholly unnecessary. Other than that, the book was alright. Not spectacular, but if you want to read it with my review in mind I won't stop you.

north_willow's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.0

gingerbread_void's review against another edition

3.0

I was really hoping to enjoy this book. I used to really enjoy mermaid tales and books that took place under the water. I found this one to have very unique premise so I bough tit for my younger sister and she praised this book so I read it.

I sadly was not that big of a fan of it. I really liked the plot the characters of the book. It was a great start to a series and the chartist were fun I just did not care for the writing. I never really cared that sort of writing and it felt out of place in this book. I was expecting something a bit more light hearted and the writing did not fit it at all.

This book was unique and I’m sure plenty of people who enjoy that kind of writing will enjoy it the book just wasn’t for me.

ameserole's review against another edition

2.0

This book did absolutely nothing for me.

Spoiler

It took me 2 weeks to read this book. That should definitely come as a damn shock to the people who know how much I read within a day, week, month. No book should take that long for me to read.

Deep Blue sounded like an amazing read and I was so happy it was on Kindle Unlimited. However, once you start reading this you-thought-it-would-be-super-amazing book you realize it is anything but amazing.

Spoiler

First, you're basically being repeatedly punched in the face with all of the info dumping. But then you realize wow I should probably take a breather and think about what has been said. No, don't do it - it's a trap! Then while you're reading more of it you're wondering what the hell some of this stuff is that is being said. You patiently wait for things to be described to you like it was in the beginning and it never comes. You don't get explanations on half of the stuff you wanted explained.



For example, Walrus Cheese. What the ever-loving fuck is that?! How is made?! Where does it come from?! ALL GOOD QUESTIONS. Nothing is explained about it and now I don't want to know anything about Walrus Cheese ever again. I never want to read about it, eat it, smell it, or anything ever again.



Other than that, some scenes just felt way too rushed. For example, the fighting scene. Also, I didn't really like the ending. Well, I didn't really like the whole book because like I said earlier it just didn't do anything for me. I was bored the whole time. I honestly motivated myself to keep reading it by reading other books or watching tv and just reading during commercial breaks. This was a tough read for me and I'm scared to read the rest of this series. I hope the next book is way better than this one.