A review by ienbdri
Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield

adventurous dark informative sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Very interesting premise, sadly the writing and protagonists just didn't do it for me. I love the two perspectives and the ocean facts, it just was a really weird mix of genres and because of that nothing was really explored but instead mentioned once and never again, which left more questions than answers. For my personal liking it was also too little horror to be scary but too much for it to be a realistic story which is just a really weird mix and honestly,
when the monster or whatever it was (again, not explained) appeared I laughed just because it felt so random and out of place even though the entire book tried building up to it, In my opinion it should have focused either on the griefing/loss or on the horror/ocean part. As it is, they kinda cancel each other out in terms of credibility. The grieving part is so realistic and heartfelt but the other stuff isn't, so you don't really know what to trust (and not in an unreliable narrator kinda way, in an annoyingly unfinished way) but then again, there is too much deep and tragic stuff to fully enjoy the horror.
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