Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

32 reviews

librarymouse's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Cannibalism, Confinement, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Body horror, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Sexual content

Cannibalism tagged for humanoids eating humans

aas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Violence, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Death, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Drug use, Blood, Gore, Murder, and Grief

trashkingmax's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.75

Into the Drowning Deep is a fantastic read. It has a slow start to introduce readers to a plentiful cast of characters that are so deeply human in a way that a lot of horror novels don't get into with secondary characters. Once the action picks up, though, it doesn't slow down. The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is that the ending felt a little too light on details.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Sexism, Gun violence, Drug use, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Murder, Drug abuse, Animal death, Alcohol, Abandonment, Death, Body horror, Gore, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Biphobia

Minor: Medical content, Sexual content, Xenophobia, War, Genocide, and Panic attacks/disorders

aseel_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? Yes

4.75

A super gripping novel, the premise is so fascinating and I loved all the different characters and their jobs/perspectives in academia. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Animal cruelty, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Death, and Murder

melliedm's review against another edition

dark 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

Holy shit. Holy shit holy shit holy shit. Look, if you like Alien and think the ocean is messed up, this is going to slap for you. Just read it already.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Blood, Violence, Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, and Misogyny

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Sexual content and Drug use

smellymiche's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Torture, Violence, and Murder

lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

The more I reflect on this, the less I like it.  The characters were for the most part barely sketched out and flat.  There was one character that felt real and interesting, but no one else.  I also genuinely didn't care about any of the characters.  Grant tries to give people depth and different issues, like deafness or having autism, so I appreciate that, but again, I didn't care about these people that were selfish and made idiotic choice after idiotic choice.  There is also SO MUCH info dumping.  Characters will be having a conversation and then we pause in the middle of it to have two or three pages of back story and exposition.  It completely brings the narrative and pacing to a halt.  A few things, like the actual layout of the boat and how the shutters were supposed to work was also confusing.  At one point, a character had to go only twenty feet, and they were acting like it was 200 yards.  Lots of things just felt off, or not thought through, and yet the book dragged on and on and on because of the constant exposition.  The ending is also abrupt and disappointing, and leaves things open for a sequel that never came (tbs, likely out of Grant's hands).  This is the second Grant/McGuire book I have read, and despite wanting to love them both so much, I have just been disappointed unfortunately. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Violence, Death, and Murder

markedwithanm's review against another edition

challenging 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Medical content, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Murder, Violence, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Gaslighting

robin_reads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.5

A siren horror book that was well-paced in my opinion and a nice change of genres. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Drug use and Alcoholism

Minor: Biphobia

frantic_vampire's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

Holy shit. HOLY SHIT! This was one of the most terrifying and also enjoyable reading experiences I’ve had in such a long time. I’m not usually a fan of the horror genre, but this? This was amazing and it was so cinematic that I got utterly lost in it. I loved every gory detail and I would happily dive back into this world for more.

I loved the way this story was told through alternating pov’s. We got everything from Tory (our semi main character), to the mermaids/sirens, to fish and dolphins, to literally everyone and everything in between. I also really liked that the more science-y side of this book was so accessible, it wasn’t hard to follow what was going on and things were explained in a way that makes sense. And I think that added so much to the overall experience!

I think this is honestly one of the best books that I’ve read all year, and that’s really saying something. I don’t think I can ever look at a cruise ship the same way again (not that I ever wanted to get on one of them anyway🤢). I already had a very healthy respect for the sea, but this book would put the fear of the gods in you if you didn’t. Into The Drowning Deep is getting a solid five stars. It’s one of those books that I think will stick with me for a very long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Violence, Ableism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Biphobia and Ableism

Minor: Cannibalism, Murder, and Confinement