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velvetsilk42's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship
Moderate: Gaslighting and Body horror
Minor: Slavery
guessgreenleaf's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Body horror, Death, Murder, Grief, and Violence
flowingleaves's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic friendship
slighte's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Loved the fantasy world and learning more about it and its history throughout the book. Loved the plot. Loved the deaf rep - this was integrated really well throughout and echoed really well with irl Deaf culture! However it did feel a little longer than it needed to be, and although the story relies on the toxic friendship, it did get a bit tedious and I was expecting a more emotionally triumphant moment in the ending of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship and Violence
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Slavery, Animal death, Murder, Blood, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail
Additional content warning for drowning, a fair bit of this takes place in submarines/underwatersandy_dream's review
dark
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Violence and Body horror
Minor: Murder
mar_gier's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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? Yes
3.75
I liked this book, but it was... weird. Like, really weird. A good-weird, but also a weird-weird. Like, Unraveller this book should really be considered a horror book as well as a fantasy book. (Also this book should definitely be classified in the dark fantasy subgenre of fantasy.) Deeplight was honestly even more dark and unsettling to read than Unraveller.
But yeah, I don't know, I guess it's cuz I found creepy Lovecraftian sea monster-gods and evil magical purple-black not-actually-seawater more disturbing than a dark fantasy about a dark magic forest with a mind of its own. I guess the latter just felt less unnatural to me for whatever reason. (Plus, the deep ocean is super freaky.)
Even though I did enjoy it, it also kind of disturbed me the same way that Subnautica does, so I couldn't quite give it four stars. But if you like Frances Hardinge's other books, and weird, unsettling fantasy is your thing, you'll probably like this book.
But yeah, I don't know, I guess it's cuz I found creepy Lovecraftian sea monster-gods and evil magical purple-black not-actually-seawater more disturbing than a dark fantasy about a dark magic forest with a mind of its own. I guess the latter just felt less unnatural to me for whatever reason. (Plus, the deep ocean is super freaky.)
Even though I did enjoy it, it also kind of disturbed me the same way that Subnautica does, so I couldn't quite give it four stars. But if you like Frances Hardinge's other books, and weird, unsettling fantasy is your thing, you'll probably like this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse
aqulia's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book is so good. Hark's character development was amazing. Quest was also such a good character. And the way the god's memory was still affecting people was just *chefs kiss*.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship
Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Slavery, and Kidnapping
Doestourneuse's review
adventurous
challenging
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? It's complicated
4.25
This is a wonderful, brilliant concept. Compared to other books of FH’s that I’ve read, I found it extremely heavy.
Hark scavenges with his ‘friend’ Jelt. When a job goes wrong and he is caught, he ends up as an indentured servant to a curator in an institutional home for former priests of his archipelago’s since-departed gods, which presents an opportunity for a new life once his indenture is up. Jelt finds him and presses him to use his new position for more criminal activity - because as Hark puts it, if Jelt can’t have something, no one can. The boys’ discovery of a dangerous relic of the gods that might lead them to uncomfortable knowledge of their true nature puts them, and the whole archipelago, in danger. Hark will have to use all his resources and the help of Selphin, a rebel member of a local gang and the ‘sea-kissed’ (deaf) community, to save himself - that’s if he decides that he wants to go against his friend’s orders to do so.
I think FH is one of the most brilliant children’s authors I’ve ever read (I wish I could get books for adults this good), her writing style, characterisation and worldbuilding are flawless. But I found this quite unpleasant reading. From the outset, Jelt is an emotionally manipulative bully, and the drama hinges more on whether Hark will break away than it does on the main plot. I think it would be brilliant for a child who is similarly under the thumb of a ‘friend’ who is a jealous bully holding them back, but otherwise it’s a little didactic and introspective. There is a somewhat unnecessary spiel about how Hark thinks belief in gods is stupid, this feels a little precocious and something similar has appeared in Hardinge’s other books. It leaves a sour aftertaste and in the case of this book, which is about gods, it actually makes the conclusion less interesting. The character of Selphin could have been given more POV chapters earlier to round the book out.
Hark scavenges with his ‘friend’ Jelt. When a job goes wrong and he is caught, he ends up as an indentured servant to a curator in an institutional home for former priests of his archipelago’s since-departed gods, which presents an opportunity for a new life once his indenture is up. Jelt finds him and presses him to use his new position for more criminal activity - because as Hark puts it, if Jelt can’t have something, no one can. The boys’ discovery of a dangerous relic of the gods that might lead them to uncomfortable knowledge of their true nature puts them, and the whole archipelago, in danger. Hark will have to use all his resources and the help of Selphin, a rebel member of a local gang and the ‘sea-kissed’ (deaf) community, to save himself - that’s if he decides that he wants to go against his friend’s orders to do so.
I think FH is one of the most brilliant children’s authors I’ve ever read (I wish I could get books for adults this good), her writing style, characterisation and worldbuilding are flawless. But I found this quite unpleasant reading. From the outset, Jelt is an emotionally manipulative bully, and the drama hinges more on whether Hark will break away than it does on the main plot. I think it would be brilliant for a child who is similarly under the thumb of a ‘friend’ who is a jealous bully holding them back, but otherwise it’s a little didactic and introspective. There is a somewhat unnecessary spiel about how Hark thinks belief in gods is stupid, this feels a little precocious and something similar has appeared in Hardinge’s other books. It leaves a sour aftertaste and in the case of this book, which is about gods, it actually makes the conclusion less interesting. The character of Selphin could have been given more POV chapters earlier to round the book out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Body horror
julianship's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3.5 stars. I really wanted to like this book more than I did, unfortunately. It took a tremendously long time to get going– there's so much setup, and while the last third of the book is fantastic, the beginning really drags. The premise and worldbuilding are exactly up my alley– I love a book that grapples with the material traces of the past, in this case, deeply dangerous artifacts of dead gods. But the book simultaneously took a very long time to tell me interesting and fairly fundamental details about basic worldbuilding while getting off to a slow start (usually it's one or the other!)
I didn't dislike Hark, our POV character, but I found his relationships with other characters frustratingly one-note, in particular the emotionally (and eventually physically) abusive friendship he has with Jelt. I get that this is YA, and we're not always going to get profound explorations of the psychology of a dangerous relationship. But I still wish that we'd seen a side of Jelt that hadn't just been him belittling Hark; the book told me that existed, but because I never saw it on page, it was harder to empathize with Hark's loyalty and inability to leave him behind. Hark cares deeply about Jelt while feeling trapped by him. This is part of the psychology of abuse– it's never just bad parts, or it wouldn't be so hard to leave. The book clearly wants me to feel that tug towards Jelt even while finding him monstrous, but I just can't find it in me– he's never anything but an asshole on page, and not even in a fun way.
That aside, there are some really delightful moments in the book– for my qualms with the pacing, Hardinge's prose is excellent, particularly in action scenes and body horror moments, and the climax is truly gripping. Selphin, who's a Deaf side character we get to see more of in the second half of the book, is a delight, and I could honestly read a whole book about her instead. Overall, I really liked the handling of Deafness/Deaf culture in a world where people who go down into the depths often come up with hearing loss, making it a badge of honor. Initially, I thought, oh, this is a fun worldbuilding detail, but Hardinge doesn't fall into the trap of forgetting about a character's disability or magicking it away when it becomes inconvenient for plot reasons. As Selphin becomes more integral to the story, her Deafness ends up shifting the course of the plot in interesting ways.
Overall, there are great moments in this one, but it took long enough to get going that I had a hard time appreciating them. In part, maybe this is because I did it as an audiobook with a narrator I didn't love. Joshua Akehurst does an acceptable job, but his delivery feels a little flat, even at a higher speed (which is my usual fix for an unengaging narrator.)
I didn't dislike Hark, our POV character, but I found his relationships with other characters frustratingly one-note, in particular the emotionally (and eventually physically) abusive friendship he has with Jelt. I get that this is YA, and we're not always going to get profound explorations of the psychology of a dangerous relationship. But I still wish that we'd seen a side of Jelt that hadn't just been him belittling Hark; the book told me that existed, but because I never saw it on page, it was harder to empathize with Hark's loyalty and inability to leave him behind. Hark cares deeply about Jelt while feeling trapped by him. This is part of the psychology of abuse– it's never just bad parts, or it wouldn't be so hard to leave. The book clearly wants me to feel that tug towards Jelt even while finding him monstrous, but I just can't find it in me– he's never anything but an asshole on page, and not even in a fun way.
That aside, there are some really delightful moments in the book– for my qualms with the pacing, Hardinge's prose is excellent, particularly in action scenes and body horror moments, and the climax is truly gripping. Selphin, who's a Deaf side character we get to see more of in the second half of the book, is a delight, and I could honestly read a whole book about her instead. Overall, I really liked the handling of Deafness/Deaf culture in a world where people who go down into the depths often come up with hearing loss, making it a badge of honor. Initially, I thought, oh, this is a fun worldbuilding detail, but Hardinge doesn't fall into the trap of forgetting about a character's disability or magicking it away when it becomes inconvenient for plot reasons. As Selphin becomes more integral to the story, her Deafness ends up shifting the course of the plot in interesting ways.
Overall, there are great moments in this one, but it took long enough to get going that I had a hard time appreciating them. In part, maybe this is because I did it as an audiobook with a narrator I didn't love. Joshua Akehurst does an acceptable job, but his delivery feels a little flat, even at a higher speed (which is my usual fix for an unengaging narrator.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Body horror, and Bullying
akira516's review
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Very Slow and boring. It tries to over explain what's happening which makes it even more confusing. The ending was weird and didn't wrap it up at all. There was only one likeable character who dies at the end The villain is annoying and the plot line is obvious. The main characters relationship is terrible.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Murder and Death