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A review by annamickreads
Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan
5.0
JUST when I thought that I could not be more impressed by Rick Riordan. At 24 without the nostalgia blinders of 12-year-old me re-reading Percy Jackson for the 329045yth time, I thought this was no small task. I am so pleased to say I was entirely wrong.
"Daughter of the Deep" is the story of Ana Dakkar, a young woman who is attending the mysterious Harding-Pentcroft Academy in California. When a terrible accident befalls the Academy, it's up to Ana and her classmates to navigate an emergency and some serious revelations about the deaths of Ana's parents (and the founding of the school itself.)
There are so many things to love about this book. One of them is that Rick's writing somehow manages to quickly give personalities and individual stories to Ana's many equally talented classmates — no easy feat for a book under 400 pages. I think what really worked in Rick's favor was having his two sensitivity readers, Riddhi Kamal Parekh and Lizzie Huxley-Jones, in addition to Roshani Chokshi's guidance. All of Rick's books until this point have been primarily told from a white male perspective, but Ana's voice and experiences felt so distinctly her own I was really proud of how far Rick's storytelling has come.
From a story perspective, it's clear that so much thought and research has been put into every element of this book. From the marine biology components to the basic ship knowledge to the references to "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and "The Mysterious Island," I learned a LOT that I didn't know about underwater exploration in these pages — more than I expected to, to be honest. Sometimes this can be a challenge especially to sea-incompetent readers like me, but if you are patient, there's a lot to love about the story.
While some of the twists in the book felt a little predictable to me (did anyone read Caleb's lines in Luke Castellan's voice? no? Just me? I'm broken? Ok cool) I don't think predictability is a bad thing — it gives the reader the ability to feel satisfied with the ending, which I definitely was. Also, no spoilers, but potential redemption arc for [redacted]? I'm here for it.
Ultimately, I really loved that the themes in this book were centered around collaboration, cooperation, and COMMUNICATION. There's a truly brilliant line Ana has about overcoming obstacles by being in open communication with other people, and I am so excited to continue to see these themes play out in future books.
TL;DR once a Rick stan always a Rick stan I guess!
"Daughter of the Deep" is the story of Ana Dakkar, a young woman who is attending the mysterious Harding-Pentcroft Academy in California. When a terrible accident befalls the Academy, it's up to Ana and her classmates to navigate an emergency and some serious revelations about the deaths of Ana's parents (and the founding of the school itself.)
There are so many things to love about this book. One of them is that Rick's writing somehow manages to quickly give personalities and individual stories to Ana's many equally talented classmates — no easy feat for a book under 400 pages. I think what really worked in Rick's favor was having his two sensitivity readers, Riddhi Kamal Parekh and Lizzie Huxley-Jones, in addition to Roshani Chokshi's guidance. All of Rick's books until this point have been primarily told from a white male perspective, but Ana's voice and experiences felt so distinctly her own I was really proud of how far Rick's storytelling has come.
From a story perspective, it's clear that so much thought and research has been put into every element of this book. From the marine biology components to the basic ship knowledge to the references to "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and "The Mysterious Island," I learned a LOT that I didn't know about underwater exploration in these pages — more than I expected to, to be honest. Sometimes this can be a challenge especially to sea-incompetent readers like me, but if you are patient, there's a lot to love about the story.
While some of the twists in the book felt a little predictable to me (did anyone read Caleb's lines in Luke Castellan's voice? no? Just me? I'm broken? Ok cool) I don't think predictability is a bad thing — it gives the reader the ability to feel satisfied with the ending, which I definitely was. Also, no spoilers, but potential redemption arc for [redacted]? I'm here for it.
Ultimately, I really loved that the themes in this book were centered around collaboration, cooperation, and COMMUNICATION. There's a truly brilliant line Ana has about overcoming obstacles by being in open communication with other people, and I am so excited to continue to see these themes play out in future books.
TL;DR once a Rick stan always a Rick stan I guess!