Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

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Title: Into the Drowning Deep
Author: Mira Grant
Series: Rolling in the Deep #1
Published by: Hachette Audio, Orbit
Release Date: November 14, 2017
Format: Audiobook, ebook
Narrator: Christine Lakin
Pages: 562
Length: 17 hours and 15 minutes
Genres: Thriller, Horror, Mythic Fiction, Science Fantasy
Source: Libby, Overdrive
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2022 Audiobook Challenge, Lenoreo's 2022 COYER Summer, Lenoreo's 2022 Diversity Reading Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ IndieBound ✩ iTunes ✩ Libro.FM ✩ Chirp
My rating:

Blurb:

New York Times bestselling author Mira Grant, author of the renowned Newsflesh series, returns with a novel that takes us to a new world of ancient mysteries and mythological dangers come to life.

The ocean is home to many myths,
But some are deadly...

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 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.

My Review:

3.5 stars — This book was VERY much outside of my comfort zone.  I won’t say there was no romance, but it truly was the backgroundest of background romances.  I was anticipating a story told from one major POV (with maybe sprinklings of others), but this was truly a large cast book.  That doesn’t tend to be my favourite, because I want to connect with and root for somebody you know?  But I was surprised by how much the mystery/plot eventually pulled me in and how much I cared about certain characters even if time was split between them.

I say eventually pulled me in, because I will admit the start took me a bit to get attached.  There is inevitably a lot of people to introduce, to get to know, a lot of set up required.  And having, at that time, already figured out it wasn’t just going to be Tory’s story, I wasn’t sure if I was that gung ho about it.  My mood might have contributed as well, but it is a long book, and I was tempted to DNF it — not because it was bad, but I just wasn’t feeling that compelled.  But luckily I was buddy reading it, which is a motivator, and it was a recommendation.  I slept on it, decided to stay the course, and things started picking up once we got on the ship.

And like I said, I was surprised at how many people I was either attached to or at least fascinated by.  Tory and Olivia were definitely my faves, Olivia was kind of awesome.  Luis was fun, Dr. Jill and Theo were oddly fascinating, and the Wilson sisters were great.  I even had a Michi moment, but mostly I just hated the Abneys.

I really loved all the little science mysteries along the way, the things we learned.  It felt very authentic, not too whimsical at all.  So much tried to be grounded or related to aquatic science.  And it wasn’t so bogged down with it that a layman would get bored…just enough to entice and give realism.

There were a few things I would have loved to have seen explored a bit more, especially the Wilson sisters stuff.  And I will admit, the ending felt a bit anti-climatic to me…I was surprised I was at the end and that was it.  And…I’m a greedy reader and always prefer longer epilogues.  This one was okay, but I’m always going to want more.

The narrator for this one was pretty solid.  I wasn’t thrilled with her accents (mostly Michi’s), but her pacing was good, her voices were distinct, and her emotions were there.  I think it wasn’t the narrator so much as I would have appreciated a full cast to make it easier to follow the POVs…but even that might not have been doable, because they would switch in the middle of a section.

So yeah.  I definitely enjoyed myself, but honestly?  I think the most fun part was reading with someone else and talking about it along the way.

COYER Community: I buddy read this book with Berls from Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life, and she gave it 4 stars (her review).  We stayed pretty close in this one, trying to match pace, and I had an absolute BLAST chatting with her about it!