A review by berrybeaver
Deephaven by Ethan M. Aldridge

dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I appreciate a good mystery, and I think the author gave it their best shot, which I respect.

Deephaven has all the elements I was looking for: a dark and mysterious setting, a protagonist who likes to solve puzzles and put together clues, and danger. There's also some beautiful artwork as well!

My issue was that I felt the book's pace was unjustifiably slow. After the main mystery was introduced and established, it seemed like every chapter focused on Nev puzzling over more and more clues, and not much else besides waiting for even more clues to appear. It wasn't until
chapter 13 or so,
that Nev started to piece together the clues into some kind of answer. It was a little disappointing to see some other character have to tell Nev what the answer was, instead of them figuring some things out on their own.

There were some points where they did do some detective work,
like decoding the journal.
Specifically when Nev
translates the parts about "transformation."
At that point, the audience (even a young one) can feasibly guess that
the beast is a human that transformed
but Nev was still stumped. For me it was difficult to suspend my disbelief.

I also thought the magic part of the setting took a pretty long time to get a foothold. Only in
chapter 13 did Nev learn that they could even use magic,
which I thought was a little late, plot-wise.

I think overall: I like the art, I like the gothic vibe, I like the premise and initial mystery, and I like the author's vision. The plot itself fell a bit flat for me due to pacing decisions, but I would like to try the sequel. Also, I haven't read the author's graphic novels yet, which I'm hoping play more to their strengths.
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