Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

61 reviews

midnightcomets's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

 Horrifying, deep and dark and deranged. I love this book. Into the Drowning Deep is a story about the darkness of the deep, the human tendency to always explore, and always try to conquer, and the hope that can be found even in the worst occassions. It is a tale about nature's power, about the unknown, about cryptids and monsters, whether imagined or real, and about how we always want to know, no matter the cost.

It is a story that I enjoyed cover to cover, that I read while in the sea on purpose, that made me shiver and shout and feel so many million things, and it is one of the best things I read this year, an absolute delight on so many levels. For fans of horror, please read it. For fans of the Vast in the Magnus Archives, please read it squared. For fans of the sea, and its delightful, fascinating secrets, this is going to be the best time in your life. Also, a lot of love and respect for the author and the research she put into this book. I learned so many new things, and it even made me see so many different angles on various issues. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Biphobia and Ableism

shannasbooksnhooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

"'It's matching the sounds made by a human throat while completely submerged,' said Jillian. 'It shouldn't be able to do that. Human speech underwater doesn't sound like human speech. It sounds like something dead and drowned and distorted. Whether it's thinking about the adjustments or doing them automatically, it's matching something that shouldn't be able to match. That's incredible.'"
Can we say "perfect summer-to-autumn transition read"? I think we can. This book had just the right amount of summer (oceans, marine life, yachts, etc.) and autumn (mystery, suspense, death, etc.) vibes. This book did take a bit of time to pick up with the modern-day story, but once it did, it was so good. (Although, I will say the end of the epilogue confused me a bit. I had to read the last two chapters before the epilogue a couple of times, but even then I was confused. I think it was just the wording of it.) I did have a few issues with the book, which will be hidden due to spoilers. This book was, overall, a fun read despite my issues with it. And it was so interesting seeing all of the perspectives - not just humans, but mermaids and dolphins as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Grief, and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Ableism, Medical content, and Cursing

Issue One: The. Dolphins. Blackwell's reasoning was sound, but even if we were able to communicate with dolphins, I don't think his logic applies to non-humans, no matter what the dolphins "agreed to." Blackwell may not have "intended" to send them to their deaths by having them go to the mermaids, but that possibility (and eventuality) should have been considered and been at the forefront 24/7 considering what the mermaids are capable of, as seen on the Artagatis. Issue Two: The Abneys. I know there are people like this. But I will never not like people like this. I just loathed them with my entire being in each of their scenes. Issue Three: Killing off one of two deaf characters. I don't know what's been said about this by deaf readers, and either way, I'll let their comments (whatever and wherever those are) be loudest. While it was nice seeing that for a presentation, I don't think the deaf character should have been killed off.

A small part of me wanted Jillian and Theo to get back together after this, but I knew that was more of a pipe dream for them rather than an actual possibility. You can't always get past the hurdles in a relationship.

dogearedbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

A lot of fun! A good starting point for horror as well, would make a great adaptation if they could get the Siren right. Also scientists can be as stupid as everyone else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, and Medical content

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Gaslighting

bookbunnie's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• 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

Read this book if you love sea monsters, a plausible theory as to the biology of mermaids if they existed, and a diverse cast with clearly defined goals. 

Do not read this book if you need a lot of character development, are looking for a more traditional mermaid, or aren’t interested in a battleground of science. 

I loved this book and didn’t want it to end. The cast of characters held my interest and I enjoyed how their turn on the page gave a concise slice of their worldview, goals, and personality. It was really fun to watch all these scientists put things together to try and figure out how the mermaids worked. I am definitely not a marine biologist or scientist in any capacity, but I like when things make sense, and the science in the book felt plausible enough to me as a layperson that I was like “damn yeah maybe that IS how they would work.” 

The climax was a little underwhelming, I would have liked to see more of the *finale,* but it wasn’t as long and drawn out to me as a lot of actiony books are, so it didn’t ruin the book for me. 

I wouldn’t shut up about mermaids the entire time I was reading this. It was so fun, one of my favorite books that I’ve read this year! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Cursing, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Ableism and Toxic relationship

marareading's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

Wow. I am not a horror reader, but this has me glued! So good! The pacing is so good. Such a great balance of story and scary. It was thrilling, mysterious, and I didn't feel like it had any elements of scary moments or gore that weren't there to move the story. It was great. I loved the sapphic, autism, and ASL rep. I also loved that it wasn't the principal reason for those characters to exist, but added to the story. There was a lot of depth to the characters. 

Tory's sister went on the Atargatis ship with a crew to film a documentary for Imagine entertainment company about the potential of mermaids. No one ever returned. However, there was some footage of "killer mermaids" that did return that was never truly proven to be real or not. Now, after several years of research, Tory had a chance to join another crew to go back to the Mariana trench and try to discover the truth. We find out what truth is in the Mariana trench and what may have really happened to the original crew. 

This story has a great balance of story and thrills. I would recommend this to readers who don't normally love horror, but do love intense thrillers and don't mind some blood and gore in their story. The end came a bit too quickly for me, but I have heard there may be a sequel? If so I'm in line on release day! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Blood, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, and Medical content

charley34's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Animal death, Grief, and Violence

rachaeldamms'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Grief, Death, Body horror, Biphobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

laurajones's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Grief, Death, Gore, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Ableism, Animal death, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement and Medical content

Minor: Biphobia, Fatphobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Drug use, and Sexual content

patchespapercut's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.0

Oof— conceptually, this book was made for me. I love claustrophobic creepy stories and the deep deep ocean scares me. Unfortunately this was insanely boring for me, and  the characters drove me nuts. There was a lot of strange dialogue too, that didn’t seem like it fit with the story.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Drug use, Animal death, Death, Gore, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

cryptidkay's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.25

 This book came highly recommended on several best horror lists I looked at following my yearly kid-fic deep dive in 2021. The horror sections of this novel are gory and satisfying in the way all monster horror should be. Visceral descriptions make this a great choice for anyone who is a fan of modern slasher flicks but also needs to have a healthy fear of the ocean. I enjoyed reading it and getting to know the characters trapped on this Saw cruise. The scientists can be a bit info-dumpy but the science is almost believable enough that, since the book takes place in 2022, if I get news of something being pulled from the ocean, I'm moving farther inland.

It is a bit of a long haul though. There are a lot of characters to meet and figure out their motives, why they were on the ship, why you should care about them... There's also a lovely and modern queer romance. To me, it seemed a bit out of place in regards to the plot (especially since it comes in so late in the game after everyone knows that the sirens are killing people) but I understand that it is representative of the same thing going on elsewhere on the ship amongst the background characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Chronic illness, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content