The Vanishing Deep

I decided to give The Vanishing Deep a go after thoroughly enjoying Scholte's Four Dead Queens. Though the premise of this novel is very different, it still definitely intrigued me and made me want to learn more. I've read stories with similar plots to this before, but I was definitely the most captivated by this one. The world-building was so cool and intricate, it had me itching to learn more about everything. I also really liked the characters and the sisters at the heart of the story. Overall, it made for a very lovely read. The only thing I really don't like about is the cover. I don't think I'm going to purchase a physical copy unless the publisher creates an alternate dust jacket. I don't think this cover really does the book justice.

The Vanishing Deep is a story set in a future where most of the earth has been submerged underwater. The premise is really intriguing and one that we haven’t seen much of. The story brings up themes of sisterhood, love and loss, and the ethics around life and death. The protagonist, Tempest, was easy to connect to except for the fact that the author kept trying to paint her as socially awkward and off-putting…which isn’t how a protagonist should come off to a reader. So I suppose it’s a good thing that she was a sympathetic character to me despite supposedly being not one. It just felt like an unnecessary aspect of the character that the writer had tried too hard to implement for the sake of trying to make Tempest seem “different” or unique. Tempest seemed a perfectly worth and sympathetic protagonist without it. Also, the more I read, the more the explanations for the rules of the world bothered me. Many of the most important aspects of the magic system/science fiction, were simply stated as fact without any support, asking the reader to suspend their belief and simply accept what is being told to them. It seemed all too convenient and that was really dissatisfying. It was enough to make me want to put down the book. However, the story was an easy read—perhaps because it didn’t require the reader to go too deep as every aspect of the story was very superficial. Overall, I think it was a fun and easy read. It would definitely make an alright beach read. But there are so many other books that I would recommend reading over this one that are also fun and easy reads, but are also better developed and much more satisfying.

I really liked this book quite a bit. It was an interesting universe that was created and the story was well-written. I thought the characters were decently developed, the relationships and backstories were really solid. The issue I had was the ending. I just didn't feel like there was a huge payoff the way it was written. It could have gone two ways, a happily ever after, or a sad loss. It looked like it was going to go one way, and sort of moved back and forth between the two options throughout the final act which made for good suspense and kept me engaged. However, there was a point where the book should have ended, and it kept going, keeping the back and forth after there was no point in continuing. There was potential payoff, but we never got it. There were some loose ends that only really made sense if this was going to be a series, but I'm not sure the story lends itself to that.