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A review by atrailofpages
The Descent of the Drowned by Ana Lal Din
3.0
Thank you to Netgalley, Ana Lal Din, and White Tigress Press for a free ebook copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
I first want to say this book covers a lot of very deep and dark subjects. Here are some trigger warnings: this book does discuss assault(a lot), human and child trafficking, drug abuse, and violence.
Now I’m normally one for dark books and dark stories, but even for me, this book was a bit difficult to handle and get through. I though eventually something good would happen, but it never become truly lighthearted, everything wrong just seemed to happen, which is unique for me to read in a book.
This story follows Roma and Leviathan who live very separate lives. Roma is basically a glorified prostitute who is supposed to be descended from the goddesses, and Levi is basically the bastard son of the king, or lord of the land. They both have dark pasts, or dark events that have occurred to them.
I really admired Roma for being so strong throughout the book despite what had happened to her in the past, and doing her best to protect her brother, her sisters, and other female friends. It is just awful, so awful what happened to her. There were many times when she wanted to give up. And she had said one time that she maybe she didn’t have the courage to end her life. Well, I think it takes courage to keep going, to fight and keep living, not give up. I’m glad she kept going, especially when nothing ever went well for her, ever.
Now Leviathan, or Levi, I love him. I love to read about a dark morally grey character that is trying to figure out who he is, who he should be, what he should be, what he should do. Should he be like his cruel and terrible father, or his lovely and kind mother? This boy is fighting some dark events that happened from his past, and he knows he’s responsible and it’s created this monster out of him, and yet, he wants to fight his violent tendencies. He wants to do what is right. I loved his growth through the book from being violent and pretty much uncaring, to someone actually trying to take control of his life and actions and be a better person. He was my favorite character and had the most growth in my opinion.
Now the story was different and much darker than what I am used to. What I do wish is that there was more world building. I was unsure where anyone was located, or how far the different places people went were. I also was confused by the timeline. I thought it was a fantasy world set more in the past, and yet there were some random modernness to it, such as the guns, the cigarettes, and some of the dialogue.
That is really my only qualm about the book. Otherwise, it is a unique world, with unique characters, and seriously a unique story. And the way it ended, I’m just left wondering what????? Like what just happened? It took an even darker turn and I didn’t even know that could happen at this point! I’m unsure whether I will read the next book only because this story was so dark, and it was difficult to get through. Maybe after a year or and a lot of lighthearted reads, I will be able to read the sequel
I first want to say this book covers a lot of very deep and dark subjects. Here are some trigger warnings: this book does discuss assault(a lot), human and child trafficking, drug abuse, and violence.
Now I’m normally one for dark books and dark stories, but even for me, this book was a bit difficult to handle and get through. I though eventually something good would happen, but it never become truly lighthearted, everything wrong just seemed to happen, which is unique for me to read in a book.
This story follows Roma and Leviathan who live very separate lives. Roma is basically a glorified prostitute who is supposed to be descended from the goddesses, and Levi is basically the bastard son of the king, or lord of the land. They both have dark pasts, or dark events that have occurred to them.
I really admired Roma for being so strong throughout the book despite what had happened to her in the past, and doing her best to protect her brother, her sisters, and other female friends. It is just awful, so awful what happened to her. There were many times when she wanted to give up. And she had said one time that she maybe she didn’t have the courage to end her life. Well, I think it takes courage to keep going, to fight and keep living, not give up. I’m glad she kept going, especially when nothing ever went well for her, ever.
Now Leviathan, or Levi, I love him. I love to read about a dark morally grey character that is trying to figure out who he is, who he should be, what he should be, what he should do. Should he be like his cruel and terrible father, or his lovely and kind mother? This boy is fighting some dark events that happened from his past, and he knows he’s responsible and it’s created this monster out of him, and yet, he wants to fight his violent tendencies. He wants to do what is right. I loved his growth through the book from being violent and pretty much uncaring, to someone actually trying to take control of his life and actions and be a better person. He was my favorite character and had the most growth in my opinion.
Now the story was different and much darker than what I am used to. What I do wish is that there was more world building. I was unsure where anyone was located, or how far the different places people went were. I also was confused by the timeline. I thought it was a fantasy world set more in the past, and yet there were some random modernness to it, such as the guns, the cigarettes, and some of the dialogue.
That is really my only qualm about the book. Otherwise, it is a unique world, with unique characters, and seriously a unique story. And the way it ended, I’m just left wondering what????? Like what just happened? It took an even darker turn and I didn’t even know that could happen at this point! I’m unsure whether I will read the next book only because this story was so dark, and it was difficult to get through. Maybe after a year or and a lot of lighthearted reads, I will be able to read the sequel