Book Review: Into the Drowning Deep (Rolling in the Deep #1) by Mira Grant

Book Review: Into the Drowning Deep (Rolling in the Deep #1) by Mira Grant

Rating: 5 Stars

 

Published November 14th 2017 by Orbit

Summary: Seven years ago, the Atargatis set off on a voyage to the Mariana Trench to film a “mockumentary” bringing to life ancient sea creatures of legend. It was lost at sea with all hands. Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a maritime tragedy.

Now, a new crew has been assembled. But this time they’re not out to entertain. Some seek to validate their life’s work. Some seek the greatest hunt of all. Some seek the truth. But for the ambitious young scientist Victoria Stewart this is a voyage to uncover the fate of the sister she lost.

Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the waves.

But the secrets of the deep come with a price.
(from Goodreads)

Review:

"It was beautiful, in its own terrible way. So many monsters are."

Yeah sure, mermaids are all well and good until they come and EAT YOUR DING-DANG FACE OFF. OK, I completely loved this book. I love all things mermaids (or sirens, as the case may be) and so many mermaid-ish things I read are teenage girls discovering they're a mermaid princess, or teenage mermaids just wanting to be part of your world, and blah-dee-freakin'-blah. These are not those type of mermaids. These mermaids want to EAT your world.

"The Atargatis hadn’t found the mermaids through a free and open exchange of ideas. The Atargatis had found the mermaids because the people on the ship were made of meat, and the mermaids had empty stomachs that they wanted to fill. That was how you found things, in the sea. Be delicious. That was all you ever had to do."

I did not read the prequel novella, Rolling in the Deep, before reading Into the Drowning Deep, and I can assure you that you can read this for full effect without reading the prequel. There are a lot of characters in what is essentially an ensemble piece, and they all had their own unique little quirks and foibles for there being so many of them. A lot of times upon finishing a book I couldn't tell you the names of the hero and heroine, let alone all the supporting cast. But let me give you the run down.

Dr. Jillian Toth is a total badass and by far and away my favorite character. Actually she reminds me of someone…

"Do I think they found mermaids? Yes. Of course I do. And I think the mermaids ate them all."

-Dr. Jillian Toth

Her (estranged) husband, Theo, is a suit for Imagine who is also badass in his own, quieter and more bespectacled way. He reminds me of Kyoya Ootori from Ouran High School Host Club in some ways.

Michi and Jacques are (badass) big game hunters, Michi being a hot Aussie of Japanese descent and Jacques being a somewhat deranged French-Canadian. Olivia is a hot blonde reporter for Imagine that's a cosplay queen that always dresses in Emma Frost closet cosplay, and is followed around by her burly cameraman/bodyguard Ray. Tory is a hot bi scientist who lost her sister on the first mermaid mission (the Atargatis) and is accompanied by her too much money friend Luis who is essentially a cryptozoologist that plays with sonar. Hallie is the hot hearing older sister scientist to hot twin redheads Holly (another scientist, biology maybe?) and Heather (who drives something called a Minnow that's like a super fancy diving bell submersible thing) - all three of whom are hot, did I mention that? Daniel the hot tattooed cetologist (I may have misspelled that, but it's some sort of scientist that involves dolphins. I dunno, don't ask me). Daryl and Gregory are two quasi-bumbling engineers who remind me a little bit of some cartoon character duo or other that I can't quite place.

So essentially, you have a whole bunch of hot scientist ladies, and some guys who may or may not be hot. That's about the only thing that bugged me about the entire book, that all these nerds in one place and either somehow we just happen to randomly focus on the ones that are hot, or they're ALL hot science nerds (at least the ladies, anyway). I don't know about you, but my experience science nerds tend to not be so hot. I'm not saying they're NOT hot, but there shouldn't be a 100% hit rate on attractive ladies in a pool of, like, half a dozen women. Oh, but there's lots of diversity because Michi is Japanese/Australian, and Heather and Holly are deaf, and Tory and Olivia are bi/lesbian (Tolivia 4eva, btw), and Jillian is older. …Anyway, I digress.

There is mighty gore, and coming together and a coming apart of peoples, crazy stuff and plot twists about mermaids and their biology and their motives. There are plenty of other things I want to say, but almost all of them would be spoilers of some sort, so I'll just settle on HOLY CRAP, this book is amazing.

If you can survive long enough (translation: if I mermaid doesn’t split its face in half to chomp you with the billions of needle teeth jutting out of its gaping maw…) you might just get to stick around for Book #2 (which I assume is coming, since this one is titled as being Rolling in the Deep #1).