Reviews with content warning for War - Soul of the Deep

Reviews tagging 'War'

Soul of the Deep by Natasha Bowen

20 reviews

calamitywindpetal's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative 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? It's complicated

3.0

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vercopaanir's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

Overall I loved it! I think Natasha Bowen makes a great use of foreshadowing and is just a great writer. I didn’t see the character development that I was hoping for—there is a specific flaw of the main character (in my opinion) that seems to get a lot of attention but that never improves—but there still is character development.

My biggest gripe, if it can be called that, is that the plot twist is almost the same as it was in Skin of the Sea! In SotS, one of their traveling companions betrays them. In SotD, one of their traveling companions betrays them. The methods are different and the characters are different, but it’s basically the same twist. I feel like that made SotD a little less exciting.

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paigeinabook's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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stardust_heidi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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

4.5

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sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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

3.5

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syd_s_r's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

4.0

Although I didn't enjoy this quite as much as the first book, it was still a very enjoyable read. And we get to see Simi and her squad go on another quest, which I loved.

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nicolewhopickedthisbook's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional slow-paced

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

4.0

Watch the livestream discussion
https://youtu.be/2LbrV9BWz9E

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antonique_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious sad 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

4.0

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instalovewithbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful sad 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? No

4.0

Soul of the Deep is a finale that leaves lots of questions unanswered, but my god, it is so good. I teared up in a few parts as well. I listened to most of the story but wanted to finish it tonight so I could focus on other audiobooks. 💖 I read about 80 pages, and it was so great.

If you loved Skin of the Sea, continue the duology.

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maaikereadsbooks_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-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

3.75

Many thanks to Penguin Random House Children’s UK and Natasha Bowen for the advanced copy of Soul of the Deep via NetGalley, in return for my honest and unbiased review. Quick note: I don’t recap plots in my reviews, as it’s easy enough to read the book’s synopsis and blurbs, I purely focus on my feelings & opinions of how the books makes me feel.

Soul of the Deep is the sequel to Skin of the Sea. I had not realised this upon beginning the book and found it difficult to get into the story and would say it’s difficult to read as a stand-alone. I ended up getting Skin of the Sea from the library, reading it, and then picking up Soul of the Deep again at 25% in and it finally made sense.

Unlike the previous book, the author was more adept at weaving the folk tales and histories into a compelling narrative in this sequel. In the previous book, the information felt a bit ‘crammed in’ and forced, but it flowed more naturally into a cohesive narrative in this story.

Although the story was interesting, it still lacked something for me. I prefer character development over plot in my reading, and this book is definitely much more plot-driven than character-driven. There is very little character development. Although there is talk of feelings and love between different characters, everything feels very shallow, and although there are many memory scenes played out, even these feel opaque and lack depth of feeling.

For plot and research, this book is rich and well-thought-out. For character-development and emotion, however, it is lacking and flat.

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