We Shall Sing a Song into the Deep

by Andrew Kelly Stewart

"A claustrophobic suspense novel of immense propulsive power."-Kim Stanley Robinson

A Canticle for Leibowitz meets The Hunt for Red October in We Shall Sing a Song into the Deep, a lyrical and page-turning coming-of-age exploration of duty, belief, and the post-apocalypse from breakout newcomer Andrew Kelly Stewart.

Remy is a Chorister, rescued from the surface world and raised to sing in a choir of young boys. Remy is part of a strange crew who control the Leviathan, an aging nuclear submarine, that bears a sacred mission: to trigger the Second Coming when the time is right.

But Remy has a secret too-she's the submarine's only girl. Gifted with the missile's launch key by the Leviathan's dying caplain, she swears to keep it safe. Safety, however, is not the priority of the new caplain, who has his own ideas about the mission. When a surface-dweller is captured during a raid, Remy's faith becomes completely overturned. Now, her last judgement may transform the fate of everything.

• ISBN10: 1250790875
• ISBN13: 9781250790873
• Publish Date: 9 March 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 176
• Language: English

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Andrew Kelly Stewart's debut novella, We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep has got to be one of the most unique reads I've ever had the luxury of experiencing, and I would like to think that this is saying something.

Remy is a Chorister, and while they remember a life before that, they don't remember much. Now it is their job to sing the Hours and keep the mission going. To keep souls and beings soothed. It's a sacred job, or so Remy has been told.

Remy and their cohorts all live onboard the Leviathin, one of the last nuclear subs – with a deadly mission. However, Remy has a secret of their, or rather, her own. She's a girl hidden in a group of boys, a secret which belies her sweet singing voice. And it's that difference that results in her getting tasked with an all-new mission.

“Our collective hum joins the unending chorus of loud pinging, knocking, clanging.”

I can tell you with complete and total honesty that I have never read a novella quite like We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep. It was richly detailed, wonderfully written, and oh so compelling. It also did an excellent job of getting that brain of mine working, coming up with theories and much more.

It took me a little bit of time to get into Remy's story, but once I did, boy was I invested in what was happening! It was fascinating, trying to figure out how the world got to this point, what was actually happening, and who was trying to get what done.

The best part? Or perhaps the worst, depending on how you want to look at it. There's this lingering sense of paranoia and claustrophobia. It gets worse with time, as it feels like the submarine which has been Remy's home begins to close in on her. It's terrifying. And brilliant.

This is one of those novellas that makes me excited to see what else an author will create in time. I can't wait to see what Andrew Kelly Stewart writes next, and I know I'll be reading it, whatever it is.

Check out more reviews over at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks