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lynxpardinus's review against another edition
4.25
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
unwise_samwise's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Violence, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Animal death
wvrambler's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Violence and Gore
Minor: Ableism
chris_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Medical content, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Gun violence and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug use and Ableism
queenpebbles's review against another edition
- 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
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
- 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
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,
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.
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 anxietycosmicsapphic's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Death, Ableism, Blood, and Gore
singalana's review against another edition
- 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
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
- 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
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
- 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
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