Reviews with content warning for Violence - Into the Drowning Deep

I was all set to give this 5 stars based on the premise- evil flesh eating mermaids, WLW, autistic and disabled rep, hard sci-fi, but I found the writing a bit off putting. The third person omniscient made me feel detached, and the sort of dry statements that are common in this style drained a lot of the tension for me.
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

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librarymouse's review against another edition

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dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

Seanan McGuire as herself and as Mira Grant always has such a strong writing style, making her characters funny even in the darkest of settings and situations. I read this before I read Rolling in the Deep, and I'm glad I did for the sense of mystery that choice allowed. McGuire is very good at feeding readers bits of information that become pertinent to the plot in such a way that plot twists feel more like pieces of a puzzle finally fitting together, as opposed to the rug being pulled out from underneath the reader. I do really enjoy how competent the characters are and I loved the disability representation. Having multiple physically and socially disabled characters in a story added so much nuance to the storytelling and the interactions between characters.

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.

I was listening to this on audiobook while driving, and when I got to my destination, I paused it and told the friend I was meeting "There's not much book left, and it's not getting better 😐," in reference to the characters' situation. The storytelling was uniformly enjoyable!
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.

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lady_smith's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

I read this because it was on a list of fantasy books with excellent representation, but I cannot in good faith give it a star rating.

On the one hand, it is a very well-written book with detailed science, engaging and diverse characters, vivid descriptions, and a good plot. So objectively it should get at least 4 stars for all that.

But I'm writing this review 2 years after reading it and honestly cannot reread the SYNOPSIS without starting to hyperventilate because this book was so bloody terrifying (for me). I know there are people out there who would enjoy the stress of

following worker dolphins' last thoughts before they are massacred by ~~mer~~murdermaids

but I'm not one of them. So in my heart I'd give this like -50 stars because I'll never be comfortable with mermaids again, except that it wouldn't be fair to the author, who clearly was writing this for an audience that isn't me.

So if you like mermaids, oceans, boating, or HEA... probably don't read this book.

If you like terrifying monsters attacking a bunch of characters that you're emotionally invested in... go for it??

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maryam16080208's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

3.0

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midwifereading's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

I was ready to love this book. I love sci-fi thrillers, and I heard that it wasn't as "horror-ish" as many other books labeled as horror. Plus, mermaids. Of course I picked it up! 🧜🏻‍♀️

But I have mixed feelings.

First, what I liked. The mermaids/sirens. Guys. 😳 They were so well-written, beautiful, terrifying, and realistic. The research that went into this book was obviously deep and meticulous. It rivals a good Crichton novel, frankly. We get a couple of places where the POV is theirs, and those are fantastic!

The tension and suspense are also well done, in my opinion, and even when you can tell, before the character realizes it, THAT THERE'S A SIREN ON THE CEILING, it still plays well. If it were a movie, you'd want to yell at the characters to turn around and run. So obviously, it kept me turning the pages. It's exactly what you expect in a thriller as far as that goes, though the body count isn't as high as I expected among the cast of characters. (Yes, I'm a little bummed--not enough blood and torn clothes and messy hair at the end, lol.)

There is also a chapter from the POV of some dolphins trained to attempt communication with the monsters, and that was one of my favorites. I wish it had been longer. The author's talent shines in these alternate POV passages, in my opinion.

The first death scene we witness is intense, claustrophobic, and frightening. I loved it!!! This character, of course, thinks she can push the limits , ignores her safety team, then pays the price spectacularly! There's a certain poetry to her death that sets up the rest of the story so well, a la Crichton, and then...well...it gets stickier after that.

Grant's writing style feels very young -- not immature, by any means, but definitely young. A lot of on-the-nose exposition regarding some heavier topics that felt out of place and shoehorned in. I can't really put my finger on why, but I imagine experience will really hone the author's skill, and I can see her becoming a truly great sci-fi writer.

Her characters are all pretty well sketched out, but don't feel finished. My favorites were Jillian Toth and Luis Martines, although I really only liked Luis. I agree with other reviewers that note that the interactions between characters don't feel quite organic, especially the mini-romance-subplot between Olivia and Tory. It just feels out of place to me. Man-eating mermaids on the loose and two people already dead? Sure! Let's get it on! Um. What? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Also. There were a lot of parenthetical passages that really didn't need to be there. Almost like an afterthought shoved in so we can understand what's going on in someone's mind. This is one area where I can see something really unique in her writing style that I think could very well turn out to be her signature, and the thing that makes her great. She's not there yet, but I hope she keeps going.

As for the ending, I felt as though none of the characters really accomplished what they set out to do, except (maybe) Jillian. It was a little unsatisfying to me, for a few reasons. While I don't need everything tied up in a neat little bow, I do need some closure. It's not "cliffhangery" enough to leave me wanting more, and not "answery" enough to leave me some satisfaction. It felt...abrupt.

Again -- I think Grant has something amazing to offer, and I hope she keeps writing. Especially about these sirens.🤩

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asafekindofhigh's review against another edition

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adventurous dark informative mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

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