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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is excellently well-written; extremely tense, atmospheric, and dread-inducing; and compelling.
It kind of falls apart at the end though. Without going into spoiler territory, I'll just say that there are a few things that either don't get wrapped up, or get wrapped up a little too quickly and with too little setup to be truly satisfying.
It kind of falls apart at the end though. Without going into spoiler territory, I'll just say that there are a few things that either don't get wrapped up, or get wrapped up a little too quickly and with too little setup to be truly satisfying.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore
Moderate: Animal death, Sexual assault
Minor: Kidnapping
Alright. Im calling it quits. This is like my 4th time trying to get through this book and It's just not going to happen.
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
The ending didn’t come together as smoothly as I was hoping and I had a lot of unanswered questions but it was still another solid horror from Mr Nick Cutter
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The Deep is my first real venture into reading horror. It truly did unsettle me, at times I felt a bit claustrophobic, like I was crammed in tubes at the bottom of the ocean. However, there were multiple points that took me out of the immersion.
There are quite a bit of moments where the descriptions lean sexually. There’s a moment in the first quarter of the book where a pair of satellite dishes are described as “concave breasts” that made me stop and just go ??? There are tense moments where some things are described as being “almost sexual”, but the characters are supposed to be in immediate danger. Personally, it took me out of the experience here and there.
I liked the characters well enough, though I will say that the dog, LB, is the character I had the most sympathy for. The humans, though? I didn’t feel much connection to them.
The ending is where I was really lost. While it does tie up a lot of things, connects a lot of dots, I really wasn’t expecting the turn the book took. I’m not sure how I expected it to end overall, but it certainly wasn’t that. It left me more confused than anything. There are a lot of moments where Luke comes to, or wakes up, that it sort of lost me between where reality for Luke begins and ends, which I suppose is why I didn’t take the ending very seriously.
For me, the book started off very strong. It took me almost a month to get through. Opening and reading, no issue, I flew right through it. But putting it down and sitting with what I had read? Thinking about what had happened to the characters, not knowing what could happen to them, thinking about just how far underwater they were and how dark and eerie the station was, that’s what had me putting off picking it up again.
I liked it, but I really was not about that ending.
There are quite a bit of moments where the descriptions lean sexually. There’s a moment in the first quarter of the book where a pair of satellite dishes are described as “concave breasts” that made me stop and just go ??? There are tense moments where some things are described as being “almost sexual”, but the characters are supposed to be in immediate danger. Personally, it took me out of the experience here and there.
I liked the characters well enough, though I will say that the dog, LB, is the character I had the most sympathy for. The humans, though? I didn’t feel much connection to them.
The ending is where I was really lost. While it does tie up a lot of things, connects a lot of dots, I really wasn’t expecting the turn the book took. I’m not sure how I expected it to end overall, but it certainly wasn’t that. It left me more confused than anything. There are a lot of moments where Luke comes to, or wakes up, that it sort of lost me between where reality for Luke begins and ends, which I suppose is why I didn’t take the ending very seriously.
For me, the book started off very strong. It took me almost a month to get through. Opening and reading, no issue, I flew right through it. But putting it down and sitting with what I had read? Thinking about what had happened to the characters, not knowing what could happen to them, thinking about just how far underwater they were and how dark and eerie the station was, that’s what had me putting off picking it up again.
I liked it, but I really was not about that ending.
Warning: spoiler alert. Okay I did enjoy the flow of the writing. Some scenes were a little too jumpy for my taste (had to go back to reread). The main thing that bothered me was the scene where we learn that their mother was SA Clayton…like really? The book is almost finished and we get that? It wasn’t even used in a way to justify Clayton’s mentality it was so random. It felt cheap, like a last minute spook addition. Also what is it with Stephen King like writers need to write women’s/children’s bodies in such a weird creepy way. I need the story to scare me not the way a writer wrote a woman/child.
I am deathly afraid of the ocean, it’s an irrational phobia that smothers me on beach trips. After hearing that this book is almost exclusively set in the deepest point of the ocean I saw an opportunity to challenge my phobia. Exposure training if you will.
This book gripped me, glued my face to the pages and made me intensely uncomfortable.
At times it was the mental equivalent of having wet socks, squeaking inside your shoes and getting steadily clammier.
I was disgusted, revolted, yet my brain said “more”
Regarding the ending (spoiler free) : I’m not quite sure what I just read, it almost crossed into an eldritch horror that the mind quite comprehend.
I’m confused, but not in a bad way?
Idk, do with that what you will.
This book gripped me, glued my face to the pages and made me intensely uncomfortable.
At times it was the mental equivalent of having wet socks, squeaking inside your shoes and getting steadily clammier.
I was disgusted, revolted, yet my brain said “more”
Regarding the ending (spoiler free) : I’m not quite sure what I just read, it almost crossed into an eldritch horror that the mind quite comprehend.
I’m confused, but not in a bad way?
Idk, do with that what you will.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault