A review by nocturnalbookworm
100 Fathoms Below by Steven L. Kent, Nicholas Kaufmann

dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

 This pulled me in from the beginning and kept me guessing throughout. It was a face paced and bloody story that did an excellent job of setting the claustrophobic scene. This book takes place on a submarine and Kent and Kaufmann did an excellent job of setting the stage and emphasizing the feeling of being trapped. Though the reader can pretty much figure out its vampires early on (so much so I wouldn't even consider it a spoiler), the reveal to the characters is slow and makes sense. I appreciate that the crew of the Roanoke seemed to not just blindly accept it and it took time to really come to that conclusion. It felt like there was an appropriate level of denial and it felt realistic, which I like in a supernatural creature story. The tension in the book was kept up from the very moment of chapter 1. The only thing that didn't make this a 5 star read for me was that a couple of the "surviving" moments of some characters felt a little too lucky. However, I will say that this book doesn't hold back on killing characters you fully expect (and hope) will make it to the end. Even with those moments, I was still left scared that some characters I had grown attached to wouldn't make it. As well the characters that I didn't care for that ended up dying I felt like there was justice in their deaths and I found them very satisfying when they happened.

This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings