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A review by liamliayaum
The Light at the Bottom of the World by London Shah
2.0
Content warnings: attempted murder, death, government meddling, kidnapping, racism, religion, water (setting is all underwater)
Leyla McQueen is a sixteen year who has suddenly found herself living on her own when her father is taken by the police. But Leyla's world is not the one we know. A meteor caused massive changes to the planet and forced humans to adapt to living in the depths of the ocean. Leyla's world is one of underwater vessels and racing around the wreckage of London. The yearly London Marathon is coming up and Leyla knows that if she can secure a spot, and win, that she as a winner can ask for the release of her papa. When things go awry, Leyla must leave everything she knows behind in search for answers and justice. Will Leyla find what she seeks or will she be lost to the depths of the ocean?
I wanted to like this book, but I had so many issues with it. There seemed to be a lot of capitalization, which I understand is a stylistic choice but it irked me that capitalizing a word (such as Bracelet) was the author's go-to for making something "different" from our world understanding. The plot was simplistic and predictable. For example, the beginning of the novel is all about hyping up for the London marathon, with not much else discussed.
Leyla herself as a character was annoying. While having a single focus isn't a bad thing, it hurt the overall development of her character and took away from depth. She was predictable in her actions and the budding romance with Ari was almost cringeworthy, like watching a bad middle school he/she/they likes me does he/she/they like me back? She was also dependent on her dog, which a lot folks are heavily intertwined with their pets so I can forgive Leyla there but how do pets survive under the water when it seemed like most were killed and/or why does a common citizen get to have a pet when they are so rare?
Which leads me to my next set of questions: the world building. While it was briefly explained and alluded to throughout the book how humanity got to living underwater, I had so many questions that went unanswered. The idea of some event forcing humanity to adapt to something truly different is intriguing, but it didn't seem to be a fully designed idea. How did humans develop and create all the technology in, supposedly, a short amount of time? How did a meteor not wipe out every living thing on the planet? How did humans build facilities that survived the meteor collision? How were living facilities built at "ocean" floor, which is really the current land surface? How does the pressure of the water not kill everyone?
There was also a predictable and constant undercurrent of big government and media propaganda that was both unsettling and similar to current world happenings. Which, again, the intentions of the government were predictable. Overall, I struggled so much with this book and at multiple points did not want to finish but as I read this as a part of book club, I felt I had to. Even though the ending was a bit of a (predictable) cliffhanger and this is book one in a duology, I doubt I will pick up the second one because frankly, I'm just not interested in knowing how it all ends.
Leyla McQueen is a sixteen year who has suddenly found herself living on her own when her father is taken by the police. But Leyla's world is not the one we know. A meteor caused massive changes to the planet and forced humans to adapt to living in the depths of the ocean. Leyla's world is one of underwater vessels and racing around the wreckage of London. The yearly London Marathon is coming up and Leyla knows that if she can secure a spot, and win, that she as a winner can ask for the release of her papa. When things go awry, Leyla must leave everything she knows behind in search for answers and justice. Will Leyla find what she seeks or will she be lost to the depths of the ocean?
I wanted to like this book, but I had so many issues with it. There seemed to be a lot of capitalization, which I understand is a stylistic choice but it irked me that capitalizing a word (such as Bracelet) was the author's go-to for making something "different" from our world understanding. The plot was simplistic and predictable. For example, the beginning of the novel is all about hyping up for the London marathon, with not much else discussed.
Spoiler
From the time that Leyla's name gets drawn to the predictable end with her winning the race, was very short in terms of the overall book. It was at least five chapters of hype for one chapter of mediocre description. Once the marathon was over, I sat there wondering what the next thirty some chapters of the book could be about.Leyla herself as a character was annoying. While having a single focus isn't a bad thing, it hurt the overall development of her character and took away from depth. She was predictable in her actions and the budding romance with Ari was almost cringeworthy, like watching a bad middle school he/she/they likes me does he/she/they like me back? She was also dependent on her dog, which a lot folks are heavily intertwined with their pets so I can forgive Leyla there but how do pets survive under the water when it seemed like most were killed and/or why does a common citizen get to have a pet when they are so rare?
Which leads me to my next set of questions: the world building. While it was briefly explained and alluded to throughout the book how humanity got to living underwater, I had so many questions that went unanswered. The idea of some event forcing humanity to adapt to something truly different is intriguing, but it didn't seem to be a fully designed idea. How did humans develop and create all the technology in, supposedly, a short amount of time? How did a meteor not wipe out every living thing on the planet? How did humans build facilities that survived the meteor collision? How were living facilities built at "ocean" floor, which is really the current land surface? How does the pressure of the water not kill everyone?
There was also a predictable and constant undercurrent of big government and media propaganda that was both unsettling and similar to current world happenings. Which, again, the intentions of the government were predictable. Overall, I struggled so much with this book and at multiple points did not want to finish but as I read this as a part of book club, I felt I had to. Even though the ending was a bit of a (predictable) cliffhanger and this is book one in a duology, I doubt I will pick up the second one because frankly, I'm just not interested in knowing how it all ends.