Into the Drowning Deep (Rolling in the Deep, #2)

by Mira Grant

[Berls]

My top thoughts:
When Lenore asked me if I wanted to buddy read Into the Drowning Deep for the Recommend Me a Book Readathon (COYER Community), I was happy someone was going to push me to actually read one of the books I’d been recommended so I was in without even really checking it out lol! And then I started and basically couldn’t stop! I did slow down a bit so Lenore could catch up because OMG I just took off! So yes, it was good — but I will say I was a little disappointed with the ending.

What I liked/didn’t like:
Into the Drowning Deep captivated right off the bat. I will say it lost me a little directly after grabbing me because of the multiple POVs. There were so many people that I lost track and got confused a bit, Lenore aptly described it as “3rd person roaming” — I didn’t know names, I just figured out who it was based on what was going on. That said, with some time that confusion dwindled and I got so I knew them all very well. And the different POVs introduced a lot of really interesting vantage points, it was just initially confusing.

Quick note about the characters – I was really pleased with the diversity that Mira Grant included. We have LGTBQIA+ characters, disabled characters, as well as racially diverse characters .

This was a plot driven book, though, so a little character confusion wasn’t THAT big of a deal. I was more just incredibly anxious about the mermaids/sirens and what was going to happen. This is not your “ahh, mermaids are so romantic” book. They are TERRIFYING. I think I would describe this as Lovecraftian Horror — probably the main kind of Horror that I’m open too. I yelled at characters frequently for being dumb — because they are scientists who are brilliant and thus lack common sense LOL. Lenore and I chatted quite a bit throughout wondering when the next awful thing would happen and trying to predict who would actually survive this voyage to discover mermaids.

As much as I was sucked in and constantly on the edge of my seat, yelling at characters and covering my eyes (because that will keep things from happening lol)… the ending was kind of anti-climatic. I won’t spoil for you nor would I say it ruined the book – I’d definitely still recommend you read it – but it did knock my overall rating down a half-star. I wanted just a bit more from the conclusion.

As an aside — I was SO IMPRESSED with the scientific knowledge in this book. In fact, I was so impressed that I looked up the author to see if she was a scientist or something (she’s not, but as has audited college classes and it shows). Mira Grant is very skilled at giving you the details in the way you’d expect a scientist to be thinking through the situations while also not making it something that distracts or loses the novice reader. A hard line to balance, but she did it well and it brought an extra layer to the story.

Narration thoughts:
The narration was good and Christine Lakin delivered a solid performance. However, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book in audio — at least not to novice audio listeners. As I mentioned above, there are multiple POVs. At least 6… probably more. That’s an awful lot to keep straight when listening to a book with one narrator, no matter how good the narrator. This book really could have benefited from a full cast of narrators. I know, that would be expensive and is likely why it didn’t happen… but just be warned you may find it difficult to keep straight, at least at the start. I was actually able to listen at 2x speed and by about chapter 15 I wasn’t struggling anymore. I know Lenore almost DNFd until she switched to reading, though, for that very reason. So I’d definitely listen to Christin Lakin again, I just would be cautious about this book in audio.