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A review by strin012
Daughter of the Merciful Deep by Leslye Penelope
4.0
I met Leslye Penelope in the fall of 2022 at a women writers fair in Maryland. That was when I learned about and heard her discuss her book, The Monsters We Defy, which I loved. The book and audiobook are both outstanding. When we met, she asked where I was from, and I told her I was from Alabama. She then shared with me that she was working on the manuscript that would eventually become this book, a tale based on the towns that were flooded to generate power across the southeast, including one near my hometown. Since that conversation, I have been patiently waiting for this novel to come out, and I’m glad to say the wait was well worth it. Daughter of the Merciful Deep is a novel. I will definitely be recommending to my fellow Alabamians and other book loving friends. The story and characters were compelling and beautifully rendered in this book, and helped get me through a reading slump.
In particular, I loved the relationship between sisters, Jane and Grace, and appreciated the portrayals of life in a small town, as well as examining the reasons people stay in, leave, and return to small communities. The depictions of community and nosiness disguised as concern were both hilarious and a little too true for comfort. I will say that I found the multiple timelines in the beginning of the story to be a little difficult to follow, but I don’t know that there would have been a better way to convey that information to the reader, all of which is necessary to understand the full picture later in the story. I would also recommend to readers that they flip to the back of the book to read the author’s note before beginning the book. While it does contain a light spoiler, I think the scene setting in the author’s note helps the reader better grasp some of what is going on in the background of the story and understand Jane’s character a little bit better as well.
Overall, I would recommend this book to people who enjoy fantasy, tales about small towns, depictions of tight-knit communities, and people who need a little magic in their life.
In particular, I loved the relationship between sisters, Jane and Grace, and appreciated the portrayals of life in a small town, as well as examining the reasons people stay in, leave, and return to small communities. The depictions of community and nosiness disguised as concern were both hilarious and a little too true for comfort. I will say that I found the multiple timelines in the beginning of the story to be a little difficult to follow, but I don’t know that there would have been a better way to convey that information to the reader, all of which is necessary to understand the full picture later in the story. I would also recommend to readers that they flip to the back of the book to read the author’s note before beginning the book. While it does contain a light spoiler, I think the scene setting in the author’s note helps the reader better grasp some of what is going on in the background of the story and understand Jane’s character a little bit better as well.
Overall, I would recommend this book to people who enjoy fantasy, tales about small towns, depictions of tight-knit communities, and people who need a little magic in their life.