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overbooked207's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
π In Deeper Waters by F.T. Lukens Book Review π
7th book of January 2022 and 7th of the year:
I loved the adorable relationship, the familial love and bonds, the magic and adventure, the themes of being yourself and helping those around you the way they need you to, the inclusion of mermaids and travel, and the queerness in this book! The cover is also gorgeous! However, I did want to bring up the fact that I saw this advertised as a completely light-hearted queer pirate adventure, and unfortunately, I think that I would have enjoyed it more had I gone into it without that expectation. The main characters are not pirates, and, while it is still fun and has light-hearted moments, it was a bit darker/brought up a few heavier things/themes than I expected from said advertisements. The fact that it did deal with less light-hearted things is not at all bad, though! I just, unfortunately, went into it excited about one thing and was confused when I didn't get it instead of just going into it and enjoying the book that it is, which is also very good! I recommend picking it up and am excited to read other books by the author, but I just wanted to bring it up so people who want to pick it up know! TW for kidnapping, vomiting, blood, death, discrimination, fire/fire injury, injury description, dehydration, starvation, being put in a claustrophobic cage/confinement, cutting/self-harm, alcohol, implied suicide, torture/imprisonment, homophobia, and traumaπβοΈπ§π³οΈβπ
7th book of January 2022 and 7th of the year:
I loved the adorable relationship, the familial love and bonds, the magic and adventure, the themes of being yourself and helping those around you the way they need you to, the inclusion of mermaids and travel, and the queerness in this book! The cover is also gorgeous! However, I did want to bring up the fact that I saw this advertised as a completely light-hearted queer pirate adventure, and unfortunately, I think that I would have enjoyed it more had I gone into it without that expectation. The main characters are not pirates, and, while it is still fun and has light-hearted moments, it was a bit darker/brought up a few heavier things/themes than I expected from said advertisements. The fact that it did deal with less light-hearted things is not at all bad, though! I just, unfortunately, went into it excited about one thing and was confused when I didn't get it instead of just going into it and enjoying the book that it is, which is also very good! I recommend picking it up and am excited to read other books by the author, but I just wanted to bring it up so people who want to pick it up know! TW for kidnapping, vomiting, blood, death, discrimination, fire/fire injury, injury description, dehydration, starvation, being put in a claustrophobic cage/confinement, cutting/self-harm, alcohol, implied suicide, torture/imprisonment, homophobia, and traumaπβοΈπ§π³οΈβπ
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Death, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Confinement, Homophobia, Alcohol, Excrement, Gore, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Vomit
gabrielle1908's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, and War
mayakinsley's review against another edition
adventurous
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury
reader_in_the_meadow's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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? Yes
4.0
In Deeper Waters by F.T.Lukens is a 2021 high fantasy YA novel. It tells the story of Tal, a pribce who gets kidnapped to instigate a war.
The plot was awesome! The way it developed over time was astounding. I loved that it went a completely different way than I expected it to go. It also was quite fast paced what really helped this book.
The characters in this book were really well written. They all had a uniquely different personality from one another and still had good chemistry between one another. However, I felt that some of the characters fell of the bandwagon and were a bit underdeveloped.
The representation of a pansexual character was pretty awesome, as this was actually the first book I have read with pansexual representation. Another bonus point for not making it the characters whole personality.
The writing was pretty average. It was not high staking or low staking, so it wasn't hard to read this book. The writing also allowed to completely focus on the story rather than having to struggle with underszanding the words. i also felt the writing atmospheric.
I liked that there was a continuing red line throughout the story, however, I thought that this book was somehow lacking something, but I cannot tell what.
Please note that this book can get graphic with depictions of blood, vomit and likewise things.
The plot was awesome! The way it developed over time was astounding. I loved that it went a completely different way than I expected it to go. It also was quite fast paced what really helped this book.
The characters in this book were really well written. They all had a uniquely different personality from one another and still had good chemistry between one another. However, I felt that some of the characters fell of the bandwagon and were a bit underdeveloped.
The representation of a pansexual character was pretty awesome, as this was actually the first book I have read with pansexual representation. Another bonus point for not making it the characters whole personality.
The writing was pretty average. It was not high staking or low staking, so it wasn't hard to read this book. The writing also allowed to completely focus on the story rather than having to struggle with underszanding the words. i also felt the writing atmospheric.
I liked that there was a continuing red line throughout the story, however, I thought that this book was somehow lacking something, but I cannot tell what.
Please note that this book can get graphic with depictions of blood, vomit and likewise things.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Torture, and Vomit
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Misogyny, and Sexism
solly's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
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? It's complicated
2.5
There's nothing inherently terrible about this book, but I was mostly bored reading it.
The character arcs are a little weak and all over the place, the pacing is a little weird. The characters are cute but not very complex. The plot is very, very predictable, I was surprised by exactly zero reveals, and guessing wasn't very rewarding either, it just all felt too obvious. The stakes and dangers never quite feel real.
I think if you go in expecting a cute fairytale type story, it's a fine read, and I'm pretty sure the fairytale vibe is what the author intended. There's not a lot of complexity though, and I struggled with some of the consequences of this fairytale story choice. Like, the perfect royal family, where everyone is good and cares about their people and is beloved throughout the kingdom. I'm wayyy too bitter to buy Perfect Royals stories. All the court machinations also felt too easy. It just really wasn't a representation of royalty that worked for me, because of the aforementioned lack of complexity.
The main characters were cute together, and the last chapter did make me smile. The banter is cute, the siblings love is nice. It just didn't quite feel earned. The conclusion of the love story felt a little easy. There's those big stakes and the way it's resolved is just... way too easy and kind of boring. I think I would have been more on board with the out of nowhere fairytale HEA if the story leaned a little more into the gruesomeness of fairytales in places.
Anyway it's not a bad book by any means. There's nothing glaringly bad that bothered me except some off pacing and character development. But I think you have to have very specific expectations of what this story is before going into it to appreciate it, and it just didn't match with my taste in fantasy stories/romances.
The character arcs are a little weak and all over the place, the pacing is a little weird. The characters are cute but not very complex. The plot is very, very predictable, I was surprised by exactly zero reveals, and guessing wasn't very rewarding either, it just all felt too obvious. The stakes and dangers never quite feel real.
I think if you go in expecting a cute fairytale type story, it's a fine read, and I'm pretty sure the fairytale vibe is what the author intended. There's not a lot of complexity though, and I struggled with some of the consequences of this fairytale story choice. Like, the perfect royal family, where everyone is good and cares about their people and is beloved throughout the kingdom. I'm wayyy too bitter to buy Perfect Royals stories. All the court machinations also felt too easy. It just really wasn't a representation of royalty that worked for me, because of the aforementioned lack of complexity.
The main characters were cute together, and the last chapter did make me smile. The banter is cute, the siblings love is nice. It just didn't quite feel earned. The conclusion of the love story felt a little easy. There's those big stakes and the way it's resolved is just... way too easy and kind of boring. I think I would have been more on board with the out of nowhere fairytale HEA if the story leaned a little more into the gruesomeness of fairytales in places.
Anyway it's not a bad book by any means. There's nothing glaringly bad that bothered me except some off pacing and character development. But I think you have to have very specific expectations of what this story is before going into it to appreciate it, and it just didn't match with my taste in fantasy stories/romances.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Violence
Minor: Misogyny
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