Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

61 reviews

jessicastaylor's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

This was a really, really good book. It focuses on the horror aspect of mermaids/sirens and that was a fun spin to see on things. My only real complaint was that it ended really fast. It all got wrapped up in almost a chapter at the end, and then that was it. I know it was quite a long book already, but the ending just felt rushed to me. That said, I still loved it. The rep was fantastic, the storyline was engaging, the writing style was immaculate. Highly recommend! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death, Murder, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Confinement and Grief

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

shadestate's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Loved the premise and most of the book. The ending felt a bit rushed, but I think that's because she meant to write a third book to finalise those open ended threads. Loved the world building. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Ableism, Death, Blood, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Violence, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, and Confinement

Minor: Emotional abuse

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Grief, Violence, Gun violence, Animal death, Blood, Medical content, and Ableism

Moderate: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Mental illness, and Confinement

Minor: Biphobia

pancaaakes's review against another edition

emotional informative 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

4.5

Overall really good! I loved a lot of the descriptions, part of why I have liked all of her books I have read. I liked the characters for the most part, i liked how different they were from each other. The ending did feel a little rushed, and left it kind of open about the mermaids and their fate. Not necessarily bad, but I wanted to know more. I also loved that there were characters with disabilities, and a bi mc without it being a focus. It was nice for a change to read as a bi person. Some of the different POV’s and inner monologue got a little old, and I wish the monologue from the mermaids and the dolphins weren’t in the book… sometimes too many pov’s are not a good thing. But it didn’t ruin it for me. I think it was neat to write characters with such differing views and opinions and personalities.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death

deedeeroo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Did I know I needed killer mermaids? Nope. But I did. 
I normally don’t love horror but I really enjoyed the mix of fantastical and science and thriller.

Recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Grief and Confinement

queenpebbles's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Cursing, Ableism, Medical content, Alcohol, and Confinement

Minor: Drug use and Sexual content

kingcrookback's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.25

I can't quite put my finger on exactly why, but even though the story felt pretty decidedly medium-paced, this book felt long. Maybe it's the amount of exposition and introspection that's included. It's kind of an odd feeling, especially since I feel like this story could be pretty neatly (and entertainingly) encapsulated within the time constraints of a feature-length film.

First, the positives. With all the exposition, the premise feels sufficiently grounded in modern-day science and technology, even though this is very clearly science fiction. (Warning, though: if you have any climate anxiety, this book might exacerbate that.) Grant's pretty good at building tension, especially via dramatic irony. While the story is generally told in third person limited POV, sometimes the perspective will "zoom out" at the end of a passage and you'll get a glimpse just outside of the characters' perspectives. It feels very cinematic. I also appreciated that Grant wrote ethnic, queer, and disabled diversity directly into the story--and my appreciation for this is twofold. On the one hand, as a woman of color, I liked that some of the diversity had absolutely nothing to do with the plot. People in real life aren't non-white/queer for "a reason," and for too long creators have hidden behind narrative relevance as an excuse for not being diverse in their depictions. And on the other hand, as a disabled person, I also enjoyed that some of that diversity served a narrative function.

...however. There are some things about this book that I didn't enjoy, the pacing being one of them. The semi-epistolary introductions for each of the "acts" of the novel were interesting...for maybe the first half. After that, they didn't have much of an impact. I didn't feel a connection to any of the characters--which is not to say that I didn't like them. I just didn't care enough about them to form any feelings for them either way. (Except for Jacques Abney. His self-aggrandizing internal dialogue grated on my nerves. Points to Grant for that one, I guess.)

There were also some scenes/character actions that strained my credulity to the point of annoyance. I don't mean the suspension of disbelief necessary that allowed me to buy into the story's basic premise: sirens in the Mariana Trench; that part's fine. But some of the characters' internal dialogues and interactions just struck me as kind of weird. For example, sure, conventionally attractive people are generally aware that they're conventionally attractive and that there are both privileges and expectations associated with that, especially if they're women. It signals a sense of both self-awareness and social wariness for a character to be aware of that--but it felt so weird for characters to think and say it so explicitly and in such a blasé way. It doesn't hit the ear as natural-sounding dialogue or natural-feeling social interaction. Some of the minor characters' logic is also completely opaque to me. Specifically,

when Daryl, the younger engineer, somehow came to the conclusion that the sirens had "someone on the inside" helping them with the hunt/slaughter. Try as I might, I can't fathom what path of logic would have led him to that assumption. Even hysterical panic, which he did not seem to be in, doesn't explain it, in my opinion.

This is one of the few books I'm actually giving a star rating, and that's because I didn't really enjoy it all that much. With most of my other reads, while I can detect their flaws, I can usually find some kind of value in them (ex: it speaks to the times, the social climate, etc.). The flaws in this book just got on my nerves.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Gun violence, Grief, and Medical content

Minor: Ableism, Biphobia, Misogyny, and Sexual content

some sections might trigger fear of drowning; much of the book, especially the first half, might aggravate climate anxiety

singalana's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Medical content, and Blood

Minor: Ableism, Sexual content, Alcohol, Drug use, and Grief

jjjreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Genocide, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Violence, Vomit, Abandonment, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia

Minor: Cursing, Sexual content, and Alcohol

chrisljm's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

3.5 stars; What I liked about this book was that it felt like a movie. I enjoyed the storytelling as well as the format Mira Grant utilized. I also appreciated the themes she touched on within the book. However, there was just such a lack of urgency surrounding the character’s behaviors, and the groups of characters were also way too isolated from each other in my opinion. You planned to be on a ship surrounded by violent creatures and you didn’t implement better communication features? Like not even some walkie-talkies?? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Death, Body horror, Gun violence, Blood, Violence, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Excrement, Alcohol, Grief, Medical content, Biphobia, Drug use, Cursing, Child death, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, and Confinement

Minor: Sexual content