Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Into the Drowning Deep

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Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

11 reviews

trashkingmax's review

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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j_squaredd's review against another edition

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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

2.25

So much of the science in this book is so wacky and wrong, and the author clearly doesn’t know how academia works at all. The mermaids are absolutely unbelievable and so are the skills and circumstances of many of the main characters. If you’re going the sci fi route where the science is supposed to sound plausible, you need to do a lot more research. Maybe it’s because I have a STEM PhD, but I don’t see how this book is so highly rated.

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sav_22's review

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adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

I think that the writing in this is one of my favorite writing styles. The plot, however, could have been a little stronger. I would have liked to also see the characters develop just a little more; for such a long book, I feel like

you only get attached to Olivia because you get the most out of her character dev. I think the other characters were flat in growth and could have been pushed more within the narrative but weren’t. These characters are trapped together on a floating impending cemetery—use that to build tension!!! Explore rivalries, clashes in the romance, depth in the choices they make. I like the characters but I could have lost just about any of them and not been emotionally impacted except for the twins and Hallie.

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ches2496's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

A satisfying sy-fi thriller. I loved how the author did a deep-dive (pardon the pun) into mermaid biology. The author also did a good job of making even the unlikable characters sympathetic. Definitely going to look for more by this author.

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theaceofpages's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I have read some of Mira Gant's books before (not recorded on here) and I found this was the same blend of attention-grabbing tension and questioning why I like this book. The writing is addictive, but at the same time it doesn't particularly stand out. I don't mean that in a bad way though. It was a fun read, which is what really matters.

The crew of the Atargatis disappeared near the Mariana Trench. Seven years later, a second ship is sent out to try to find out what happened. The footage says mermaids but the world doubts this is true - particularly since the ship was sent by an entertainment company. Unfortunately for everyone involved, they are real. And they are hungry. The ship soon finds itself under attack by creatures from the deep, who seem determined to drag everyone on board under the waves.

Overall I loved this book. It was more than a little creepy and had a great tone. I imagine it would be even worse if you are already afraid of the sea and what lives down there. It was a little repetitive at points though (certain details being repeated more frequently than necessary) and, unfortunately, while not a bad one, I found the ending a little bit disappointing and rushed, Especially after the long build up. As a biologist, I also loved the scientific aspects of this book. I'd love to know what the scietists are up to. (although I take offense at the fact that security members think we can't take care of ourselves. Maybe a hoard of mermaids is a little different, but field biologists are definitely not soft). But at points the science is questionable. Or a wrong term is used. Probably not noticeable to non-scientists though. The example which sticks with me most (because of its simplicity) was the use of the word necropsy - a dissection with the intent to find the cause of death - rather than dissection. Small things though and probably wouldn't be picked up by most.

If you want a book about vicious mermaids killing people who can't get away, this is the book for you. It features a diverse cast, where the diversity simply is and the people are allowed to just be people. It did take a bit of time to get into, but it definitely starts getting tense when the mermaids emerge.

Some notes on some of the content warnings:

Death, gore, blood, etc:
A lot of people and mermaids are killed.
Grief:
Surrounding deaths caused by the mermaids
Animal death:
Both on page and described by two hunters on the ship. Don't want to give more details because of spoilers.
Confinement:
To various degrees - areas ranging in size from ship to pipe.
Medical trauma:
A character gets poisoned by an unknown mermaid-related venom and has terrible side effects, which they are treated for. There is also a dissection.
Chronic illness:
A character has nerve damage he has to take injections for (pain management)
Drug use:
Cannabis is allowed on the ship. Weed infused chocolate balls are used to teat pain.
Biphobia:
An off hand comment, which is later clarified. The character has heard it before though.
Ableism:
A deaf character gets upset at so few people being able to use sign language. It seems most characters didn't even know she would be there (one person mentions having seen the manifest beforehand and someone else replies it would have been nice if the rest of them had). Unintentional, but is taken as ableism by the character, who gets upset).
Drowning

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punkrockingnerd's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

As a person who loves dolphins? Horrified. As a person who has difficultly with gore? Horrified. As a fan of mermaid and/or siren cryptids? I'm a little excited! But overall, horrified

Ms. Mira, I reject your reality about Twitter, Cecil, and Kearney AND SUBSTITUTE MY OWN!

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jackolanterns_in_august's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

5.0

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talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

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

2.0

Very few things in books have made me as irritated as this exchange (edited slightly for brevity):

"If they have a language -- not just one language, but two languages, one spoken and one not -- and if the complexity of their spoken language is anything like the complexity of their singing, they must be sentient."
"Cats meow and know what they're saying. Birds sing. That doesn't make them smart."
"There's a lot of difference between a song that basically says, 'Hey, come fuck me' over and over again and a distinct, signed language."

Let's unpack some of this!

1) Sentience =/= (human-like) intelligence. Most animals are recognized as sentient beings; this is the entire point of animal welfare.
2) There are some debates around applying labels of intelligence to animals, but since it seems mostly accepted in this setting that animals (like dolphins) are capable of intelligence, it is very widely studied and accepted, even beyond deeply scientific spheres (thus not even really justifying the character without a background in science expressing this view), that birds* possess some level of quantifiable intelligence.
3) If it is specifically on the basis of "distinct language"**, many bird species do in fact use this, and not just for mating calls! Even if you look beyond stereotypically smart corvids and parrots, who are famously capable of mimicking human speech, plenty of birds have complex call/song systems to indicate danger (for instance, chickadees have varying calls depending on the exact predator they've spotted) and other purposes.

* I'm ignoring cats as an example because I don't know enough to counter that, but I'm sure saying they're not smart is not true either.
** This seems weird in and of itself when most animal intelligence surveys focus on memory, reasoning, learning ability, tool use, etc, but communication can be studied as a signifier of intelligence so I won't nitpick it as hard.

The lack of cursory research in this very basic area -- not to mention frequent references to "us," implying modern primates, "leaving/coming from the sea," with continuous implications that such an exit was because of a humanoid competitor, which just shows a poor understanding of evolution all around (especially when the character saying it has multiple biology degrees), and some other nitpicks (like forgetting the existence of lungfish) -- stripped any interest I otherwise would have had in various other scientific tangents, since I was no longer confident enough in the author's knowledge to trust her descriptions. The hard sci-fi angle feels (if you'll excuse the slight pun) shallow, with the author seemingly wanting to skate by on an introductory biology course and artistic license. To be fair, with speculative fiction some suspension of disbelief is always required -- but if your setting is an explicitly realistic, grounded one filled with ostensibly intelligent, educated scientists, of course I'm going to expect super simple scientific facts to be portrayed accurately.

Though that bit and others alone certainly soured my reading experience, I had a multitude of other problems, to the point where I waffled for a while between 1 and 2 stars for my rating. Ultimately, I suppose I can see where others might enjoy the novel, so I left it at the latter, but it's certainly not a higher-leaning 2 as other books might have been for me.

First and foremost: The writing. Listen, I will cop to the fact that I'm a pretentious person whose writing is reasonably pretentious, but there is a natural level of pretentiousness and then a tryhard one. This is the latter. It, in line with its confidently spoken but dubiously accurate scientific tangents, tries so hard to be smart and unique that it wraps back around into being insufferable to read. More than a few lines seem to be written just to be quotable and poetic, since in context they're jarringly out of place -- notably, one description of a bulge in a character's pocket as, instead of just belonging to the gun he has on him, "[speaking] of gunfire and violence." The dialogue in particular is stilted and weird and very far from natural human speech, which is kind of ironic considering how crucial a theme communication is. In general, the purple prose Grant weaves is, while superficially elegant, against the purpose of the novel: A thriller fundamentally does not work when there's enough breathing room to drag out extensive descriptions and work in paragraphs of background information and introspection on the characters and their lines of work.

As for those characters, I found them painfully uninteresting and difficult to connect to. Stories like this, where anyone can, at least in theory, die, require that kind of investment -- a character death is, to me, meaningless if it provokes no particular emotion. Character backstories are fleshed out to an almost unnecessary degree, and yet I couldn't tell you who most of the characters were as people, what their interests (beyond, in many cases, science) were, what their defining personality traits were. Characterization depends more on what the story needs than what actually fits the character's personality or feels like something an actual human would do, resulting in a lot of questionable and outright idiotic decisions. Some secondary characters are only introduced after the 70% mark, and others only shortly before then, when the action requires their existence. Other characters disappear for chapters on end or full stop, their final fate a mystery. Nothing is done to distinguish different characters' narration (which is presented in third-person omniscient already, another strike against attempted suspense) or dialogue; if you struck names and some descriptions from the dolphins' brief perspective, it would blend in seamlessly with every other PoV.

It's also difficult to react to character deaths when none of the in-universe reactions are especially strong. An exploration of different expressions of grief -- and the complications that would lead to when action was necessitated -- could have fit in really neatly and not disrupted too badly from the plot, but emotional beats are given very little time to linger before pushing onto the next sequence, leading to weird moments that don't fit into the current stakes or tone at all. One could argue that few characters are given the time to process matters and react appropriately, and of course there's no one right way to respond to bereavement, but when the reactions are lackluster all across the board -- with one or two notable exceptions -- that doesn't hold up as well. Deceased characters are also rarely acknowledged after the fact, with even Tory's sister, whose pre-novel death drives her motivation, only coming up in critical moments.

The pacing, in general, was pretty poor. At least 40% of the novel could have been trimmed out to its benefit -- it takes a while for the plot to really kick in, and then it drags on for a long time only to rush into its ending. Some character/setting details don't come up until they're absolutely necessary, leading to a couple of deus ex machina moments rather than more reasonable foreshadowing. The final major reveal comes across as contrived at best, and an ass-pull contradictory to former established facts at worst, with some prior sprinklings of hints but nothing strong enough to really justify it as a proper conclusion, and things wrap up without properly resolving either the plot as a whole or any characters' lives.

Some character dynamics were interesting -- Jillian and Theo's, for instance, as well as Tory and Luis's friendship, and as unlikable as both individuals were there was a certain intrigue to Jacques and Michi's relationship -- but the forced romantic subplot was not one of them. The first two interactions between Tory and Olivia have them on hostile terms; after starting to resolve their differences, their very next interaction establishes infatuation with no lead-in or room to develop. Their relationship itself forms awkwardly and under odd circumstances, and how underdeveloped they both are as characters eroded any potential for chemistry.

As for the actual plot, it was fine -- a bit too close to a corny Syfy movie in some places, but I did like the basic ideas and some developments as well as the multimedia format used in between parts (however grating some of the actual content thereof was). Even if it was handled poorly, I liked the basic gist of the ultimate twist, and in general felt like the sirens -- the very central point of the novel -- were relegated to mere plot elements and not truly explored in as great detail as they could have been.

On the representation side of things: The three major characters of color, I felt, were depicted awkwardly at best. Whiteness is, overall, presented as the default in character descriptions, with characters of color quickly established as such but white characters pretty much never specified to be so. Furthermore, any cultural connection is stripped down to centuries-long whaling in Michi's family -- referenced as dubious motivation for her being a big game hunter who kills for the (sometimes explicitly sexual) thrill, things that go completely against traditional Japanese whaling values; historical whaling practices are not equivalent to the modern commercialized form thereof -- and Jillian's connection to the sea and appearance. Luis's Mexican heritage is only mentioned once or twice. Another major character has a Hebrew middle name, as revealed in one scene, but her religion/ethnicity are never really established outside of that. Though the setting isn't necessarily one that allows for extensive exploration of character backgrounds and habits, that doesn't seem to matter anywhere else, so some effort to acknowledge upbringing and language, if nothing else, could have at least been extended.

I found the disabled/neurodivergent representation more palatable, although I have my issues with it as well. While the basic mechanics of Theo's chronic illness and the Wilson twins' deafness are portrayed decently enough, at least the latter two and their older sister's characterizations seem to revolve around being d/Deaf, and around the hardships thereof by extension. Olivia being autistic, while adequately coded throughout (if a bit constrained to social difficulties and overlooking other traits), is also only explicitly mentioned when ableism faced from her parents is mentioned. Portraying ableism experienced, as well as difficulties of navigating an inherently inaccessible society, is obviously an important part of portraying disabled characters, but it can drag a bit to see disabled characters almost exclusively experiencing trauma and adversity. Speaking as an autistic and physically disabled person -- yes, being disabled is hard! Experiencing ableism is hard! But disabled lives are not composed entirely of strife and pain, and seeing some joy to offset the largely negative experiences would have helped a lot.
I was a bit uncomfortable with the descriptions of Holly's voice as well, which came across as varyingly infantilizing and dehumanizing, but I'm not d/Deaf/HoH so YMMV on that.

All in all, there are some strong ideas at play in Into the Drowning Deep, but unfortunately, in my eyes it fails as both science fiction and horror, with its many flaws detracting majorly from what positives it does have going for it.

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elfeeza's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

4.5 stars

This book was a little hard to get into at the beginning but once you get past the science talk and look at it like a sci-fi movie, in my case, it remind me so much of The Abyss, it gets easier to read and becomes more interesting especially when all the cast members come together to board the ship and the adventure starts soon afterward.

I can imagine how this is labelled as horror but it didn’t scare me at all. However, I do n discount the horror elements of the book. I was just not afraid because I have decided in my mind that this was similar to The Abyss.

I enjoyed the writing style. It was accessible once you get used to the science talk. The storytelling was good and it kept me at the end of my seat especially towards the end of the book because I just couldn’t wait to find out how it ended. The ending was satisfying though a little predictable but I’m not mad at that. It didn’t reduce my enjoyment of the story at all. The only reason this book wasn’t a 5-star read was the fact that it didn’t capture me right at the beginning. And I also mentioned earlier in my reading journal here that I was getting tired of the author repeatedly stating something about 2 groups of people on board the ship, one referring to the choice of crew and one related to a couple of the characters. That’s all I can say without spoiling it too much for you guys. Let me know if you feel that way about this point when you read this book.

I liked most of the main characters. The cast was a colourful lot in terms of personality. One of the characters suffered from autism I believe and I guess she was a in the high-functioning spectrum from how she responded to the events in the book. We have a pair of deaf twins, a homosexual and a bisexual character represented in the book and well, a while lot of scientists who are often portrayed as aloof and almost unfeeling when it comes to their work. To my understanding, all the characters are white caucasians. This last fact doesn’t bother me. I understand when writers choose to write characters that they are most familiar with and do not see that as being prejudiced.

There are some trigger warnings in this book for body horror and claustrophobia so if these things trigger you, take note. Oh and if you are afraid of or nervous about the ocean, this is not the book for you unless you’re like me who loves the sea but also gets nervous about its depth and about what could possibly be in all that dark depth but can still put a certain distance between myself and the story by telling my mind that this is just a work of fiction, then you might be able to read and even, like me, enjoy this book.

On the whole, I enjoyed the book tremendously and I would want to continue on with the series, I believe this is the first book in a series. And I would like to read more books by Mira Grant.

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michaelamiller's review

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mysterious tense slow-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? No

4.5

It's a little slow, at first, but there's a moment ("HEATHER. HEATHER PLEASE.") where it takes off and doesn't look back. The plot is the focus, but the characters were diverse and interesting in their own right. Not a ton of re-readability, but it is absolutely worth the one read you'll get.

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