Balancing on a thin point between Science Fiction, Thriller, and Horror, INTO THE DROWNING DEEP transcends genre to be an engrossing, heartbreaking, thrill ride. Reminiscent of JURASSIC PARK, but with oh so much more science and process to enjoy, this meticulous world captivates even as it kills.

My favorite urban fantasy worlds posit one magical addition, one transformative difference, and spin from that a world both familiar and fundamentally different. INTO THE DROWNING DEEP takes place less than a decade in our future and instead of adding magic builds a terrifyingly realistic scenario of what will be revealed in the world we already live in. Each change is a tiny delight, made all the more realistic by the meticulous scaffolding connecting back to our present day. Engrossing from the start, my only disappointments lie with the ending, where the constraints of starting a series seemed to short circuit the realistic world building up to that point. This is a criticism that can only be supported by further research, however, and I will gladly dive in to future books to test my hypothesis. A long time fan of Mira Grant's fantasy persona, Seanan McGuire, INTO THE DROWNING DEEP will definitely lure me into Grant's back catalog as I wait for Rolling in the Deep to continue.

A terrifying adventure for process nerds and science enthusiasts, INTO THE DROWNING DEEP spares no expense in humanizing the characters that followed a siren song out into the unforgiving ocean. With one notable, and ultimately forgivable, exception, Grant lavishes detail and humanity on her characters, but not much sympathy in the face of danger. Nature is red in tooth and claw, and in this world, and perhaps our own, that is magic enough.

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

I just want to thank Netgalley for letting me read this book for an honest review. Into the Drowning Deep was amazing. I fell in love with this book as soon as I was finished with the first page and from that point, I couldn’t put this down. It was a perfect mix of sci-fi and fantasy with a lot of adventure.

The story was so well written, leaving me breathless reading this. The plot and world was so unique, nothing like I have read before and it is hard explaining why I love this book without spoiling half the book. But pretty much, I encourage everyone who loves a dark, horror filled fantasy with killer mermaids to pick this up. This book has become one of my favorite reads of the year. It has LGBTQ+, Killer Mermaids, and it is honest to goodness SCARY AS HECK.

For real, if you don’t like scary, I recommend you skip this book. Because this is one of the scariest books I have read in a very long time.

Otherwise, READ THIS BOOK. 5/5 stars, minimum!

Science expeditions to the deep, open open to prove killer mermaids exist? YES. YES. This book exceeded my expectations and I absolutely loved it. I cannot WAIT for the sequel.

Summary from Goodreads:

"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."

My Thoughts:

Yes! This book was just as good as I had hoped that it would be - actually I would say it was even better. I'm going to start off by stating for the record that I love, love, love Grant's Newsflesh trilogy (of which I've read each book multiple times minus Feedback which I haven't read yet). Because I love those three books so much, I've been very hesitant to pick up anything else by her. Not because I don't expect to love everything that she writes. At this point I actually do expect to love all of her books. But more because I remember clearly the first time that I read Feed and how it managed to rip my heart out after I had come to care about the characters so much. That might sound slightly like a spoiler so I won't say more than that. I just knew that there was a good chance that anything else I read by her would either not live up to my very high expectations or would also rip my heart out. I told myself though that I wasn't waiting to read this one and I'm so glad that I didn't. It was absolutely fantastic! Yet again I found myself completely immersed in this world that Grant has created. This time though there was a creepy horror movie vibe to the book that I just couldn't get enough of. Killer mermaids folks.....that should tell you everything that you need to know.

One of the things that I really loved about this book was the characters. Grant has a knack for creating characters that I really come to care about. These characters were no different and I grew to care for them at my own peril. As soon as you start reading this book, you basically know that things may not turn out well for everyone. In fact, just from reading the summary you can see that they are heading straight into the danger zone in the attempt to determine what actually happened to the Atargatis so long ago. Cue the creepy horror music from here on out. The author starts dropping hints from the very beginning that things may not go as planned. It adds this layer of tension to the story that made for quite the reading experience. I won't say too much more but the comparisons to horror movies should tell you all you need to know. And yet again I say, killer mermaids folks. This book was everything I wanted to read and didn't even know it! I basically couldn't stop reading this book. I ended up finishing it late in the night because I just needed to know how it was all going to end. I was thrilled when after finishing I realized that it looked like this is going to be part of a series. I can't wait to read more! Also, there is a prequel that I need to check out as soon as possible because I just can't get enough of this world that Grant has created!

Overall, I can tell you that this book will easily be on my best reads of 2017 list! It was such a great reading experience and just writing up my thoughts has me so excited to read everything else that Grant has written. I've always wished that they would have made a movie (or movies) based off of the Newsflesh trilogy. I have to say that this book would make an amazing horror movie as well! I will always sing Grant's praises because her books are just that good! The worlds that she creates are just so unique and complex - I just can't say enough good things about her or her books. This book was dark, tense, and so flipping good that I can't even talk coherently about it. I'm going to need a copy of this one for my own shelves for sure! Highly, highly recommended! Readers of horror, science fiction, everyone really....check this one out!

Bottom Line: One of the best books that I have read in 2017! I don't need to say more than that!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.

I’m a big fan of this author whether she’s writing under the name Mira Grant or Seanan McGuire. About two weeks before this book came up as available for review I read two of her YA fantasies, Every Heart a Doorway and Down Among the Sticks and Bones, back to back. And loved every word. So when I saw that she had a new release coming up I jumped at the chance to read it early.

Honestly? I didn’t fall into this book easily. It took me until about the 30% mark to become engaged enough to steadily keep reading. The beginning is all set-up, jumping between time periods and introducing all the characters who will play significant roles. There’s Tory, whose sister perished in the first disaster, and her lab partner Luis, who funds their research by using his über rich family’s money. Dr. Toth whose life’s work is the study of mermaids, and her estranged husband Mr. Blackwell who after a life changing injury went to work for Imagine entertainment. And so many more. They are all, for different reasons, desperate to get back out to the Mariana Trench. So when Imagine decides to send out another vessel filled with scientists in order to finally answer the questions about the existence of mermaids and what happened to the Atargatis, they sign on willingly.

This book freaked me out. For real. Ms. Grant’s writing is so scientific and matter of fact. At times I almost felt like I was reading a book on marine biology or oceanography. The endless ocean and it’s inhabitants are still a huge mystery to the scientific community and she uses that to full effect. From reading the blurb you would assume that this book is about bloodthirsty mermaids who live in the ocean depths, and you’d be partly right. What you don’t get from the blurb is that Into the Drowning Deep is also about man’s quest to discover and dominate every place on earth, even if they are encroaching on another’s territory. It made me think about the environment and the treatment of animals. About what humans do in the name of science and advancing knowledge and technology. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

All of that was interesting… then the mermaids showed up and I realized something. Being drug down into the depths of the ocean with no air or light is probably my greatest fear. The first death came rather quickly and the vivid descriptions of this character’s last moments gave me nightmares that night. I wanted to pick up right where I left off to find out what happened next, but I also didn’t because holy crap merpeople were scaling the sides of what amounted to a cruise ship and all the people on board had nowhere to go because THEY WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN. Eek!

In the end I did pick it back up and finish. I mean how could I not? Into the Drowning Deep is smartly written, with wonderful character development and mythological creatures that chilled me down to my bones. At times I wanted to skip over all the scientific jargon and explanations and just find out who was going to live and who was going to get chewed on next, but when I finished I realized that the contrast between sober science and bloodthirsty creatures is what made this book even scarier. I probably won’t ever do a reread of Into the Drowning Deep, but I’ll always remember it.

Favorite Quote:

Humanity was cruel, and if you were prepared to try and find a bottom to that cruelty, you had best be prepared for a long, long fall.

I was a johnny-come-lately to Mira Grant (though I've loved Seanan McGuire, her alter-ego for lo, these many years). I was tired of zombies. But I finally picked up Feed, then blazed through the series, consuming as much Mira Grant in my path as possible. She's brilliant.

And then I heard she was going to put her horror spin on mermaids. I LOVE mermaids, guys. LOVE them. So I built it all up in my mind that it was going to be my favorite, favorite book of 2017. And guess what? IT PRETTY MUCH IS. She knocked it out of the park.

Mira Grant took a fantasy creature that has been Disneyfied, and she turned it into a terror. It's a miraculous transformation.

So read it. And never go into the ocean again, and shudder at the mere mention of a cruise.

Netgalley ARC.

I have a very real fear of the open ocean. Any place deep enough to contain multiple whales is clearly a terrifying place humans are not meant to explore. This book takes place a few years after the action of Rolling in the Deep, a previous Novella about the Atargatis disaster. I did not read Rolling in the Deep and it didn't hamper my enjoyment of Into the Drowning Deep.

This book is legitimately terrifying. There's a bit of a slow burn, the action doesn't really get started until a third of the way through the book. This plotting really adds to the tension once the action really gets going, and allows us to get to know a number of the people on the boat. The "mermaids" and their destruction are brutal. There are graphic descriptions of violence throughout the book. The attack is truly terrifying, I really wasn't sure if anyone would survive.

What I liked most was the scientific descriptions of the mermaids and other creatures of the deep found by the scientists. I'm not a scientist so I can't attest to the possibility of accuracy, but the scientific conclusions seem plausible to me. I also liked the diverse cast of characters. There are white characters, minority characters, straight, gay bisexual, deaf and handicapped characters. I always appreciate this in Grant's work.

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Creatures, animals, monsters - it's all degrees, isn't it?
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Nature is bigger and weirder than anyone ever wants to think it is.
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I LOVE Mira Grant (and her other writings as Seanan McGuire). She has a totally immersive storytelling style that I nearly always lose myself in (the lone exception: Swallow Road)... This latest is no exception - this time, she's tackling mermaids. Yes, you heard me - mermaids. But don't picture Disney - these are mermaids red in tooth and claw, and they're fantastic!!

The story is a quest to discover what happened to the Atargatis - a ship sent on expe"dition by a "mockumentary" entertainment company into the deeps of the Marianas Trench. The ship is lost at sea (well, technically its crew is - the ship is eventually found) but some mysterious leaked video footage has raised more questions than answers - and those questions are decidedly weird. Tory lost her sister on the Atargatis, and she's not at all put off by the weird - so when an opportunity arises to join the follow-up expedition in search of "the Truth", she's in.

The resulting story is full of mystery, secrets, weird science, even weirder flora and fauna, and an incredible cast of main and supporting characters that are sneaky and glorious and strong and weak and thoroughly marvelous. In her inimitable style, Grant not only creates an entire world, she populates it in an entirely original fashion - and throws in a twist at the end (literally the end - like 3% of the book left, the end) that ties it all together but not entirely and leaves just enough room for more books... That's one of the things I love about her, incidentally - most of her books can be read as one-offs because the stories do have resolution of their major arcs, but there's nearly always a "but what about..." moment (or two or three) that lure you back in.

The other thing I love is her writing style and way with words. Simply told, she's a great lyrical writer who manages to keep the pace steady and the tension constantly building and ebbing, in a tidal sway of teasing excitement and creepy suspense. She always has at least one super-snarky female lead character (here it is without a doubt Dr. Toth) with biting insights into the human condition (even when the condition at issue isn't human). She writes great characters and gives them great lines - and those are peppered throughout great stories. You can't ask for much more in a horror story/thriller...

You won't look at the ocean in exactly the same way again - this is Jaws for the 2010s. It's brilliant and a head rush of a read and I couldn't put it down - except at night, because I'm a little wimpy... ;)

Tory Stewart's sister was lost when she was aboard the ship Atargatis. The whole ship was lost and there were video clips of what looked like Mermaids destroying them. But they were always discredited as being an hoax.

Now the film company that sent Tory's sister out on the quest to find mermaids is sending another crew out. This time they are collecting all the super smart scientists and have built a disaster proof ship. (That always turns out so well)
Tory agrees to be on the ship and maybe have answers to what exactly happened to her sister and as an extra bonus she will get to find out if mermaids really do exist.



Sounds pretty decent doesn't it? And it is. Mira Grant did her research on this book, it's believable enough that I got sorta claustrophobic several times. I'm scared shitless of stuff in the ocean anyways so this was totally the world of nightmares for me.
She took the reader into the world of the Marina Trench and even made me stop reading several times to look up stuff. I like when a book makes me do that.

Then toss in some mythical creatures and it's totally my jam. These aren't the sweet little singing type of mermaids either. These suckers will eat your face off.

That's a win from me.

The book is extremely read-able and the things that kept me from going all fangirly were few. The repetition was the biggest thing. I don't have to be told the same thing over and over. I might not be the smartest cookie around but I usually get it after a bit.
The length for the book really felt like it wasn't needed.
There were so many characters that I couldn't be bothered with getting attached to any of them. I just wanted the critters to eat them all.

So I'm rating this book as middle of the road. I liked it and will probably read another one of this authors books but I'm gonna let other people cut in line before me. (Mermaids might be there to eat our faces anyways.)

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

Well, this was terrifying. Into the Drowning Deep is all the best of the horror genre - tense atmosphere, creative horror, interesting characters, fantastic writing, and something going on beneath the surface. I had this book marketed to me as bi mermaid horror, and I’d definitely call that accurate.

Perhaps the biggest strength of this book is how tense it is. I’ve seen one or two reviewers complain about the slow pace or about nothing happening until the end, but to be honest, I found this book the opposite of slow. Between flashbacks and ominous quotes and the tone, there's sense of terror pervading Into the Drowning Deep from page one. You know something is going to happen. You just don’t know exactly what.

And then you wish you didn’t know. (Trigger warnings for a couple of really terrifying scenes and minor body / eye horror.)

The plot feels all the more compelling due to our attachment to the cast of characters. With so many interesting leads and so much fantastic character development, I found it hard to even pick a favorite. My original draft of this review had "icon" written next to literally four different characters.
🍁Tory Stewart, sister of one of the dead and an icon for bi scientists everywhere
🍃Luis Martines, her nerdy, rich, and freaking adorable assistant
🍁Jillian Toth, our resident badass half-Hawaiian scientist, post production problem child, and overall icon
🍃Theo Blackwell, Jillian’s physically disabled and tiniest-bit-morally-grey ex-husband
🍁Olivia, the bi and autistic camera operator and maybe my favorite character
🍃Ray Marino, Olivia's assistant and camera operator
🍁The Wilson sisters, including older sister Hallie, the freaking awesome sign language translator and possible mermaid contactor, and deaf twins Holly and Hannah, an underwater explorer and a data analyzer
🍃Jacques and Michi Abney, a possibly-murderous hunter power couple
And speaking of character casts, if you’re looking at this list, you’ve probably noticed: this book is super diverse. I’m really shocked more people aren’t flocking towards authors like Grant / McGuire for diverse rep; she strikes a great balance between exploration of oppression and marginalization and not making the entire plot based on the fact that these characters are queer. Their marginalization is integral to their character arcs, but also doesn’t form their entire characters. Which hi, hello, is that not the perfect balance?

And while this book is super low on romance, the one major romance plot is basically my new favorite sapphic ship. If anyone’s participating in December’s #SapphicAThon, definitely add this to your list.
“When someone kills an American citizen, we don’t say, ‘Oh well, we killed one of theirs last week; we’re calling it even,’” she said. “We declare war. We sweep civilizations off the face of the globe. They won’t care that they started it. They’re only going to care who finishes it, and to be honest, I’m not sure it’s going to be us.”

And the thematic work is so good. With an exploration of reality shows, environmentalism, generational conflict, and around twenty different social issues, this book feels from the heart. And it's also a horror book. It's as if Mira Grant woke up one morning thinking to herself “what does this random blogger named Elise on goodreads want to read?” and then wrote that exact thing. oh my god I loved my experience reading this book so much.
“They were still miles from home, adrift on an uncaring sea, and the worst was yet to come. The worst was always yet to come.”

My one possible quibble would be the ending. While Grant offers a conclusion for our characters, and even a few reveals as to what exactly is going on, not everything is so tight - a lot of loose ends as to the science are left behind, and I’m guessing there’s going to be a sequel. Which is the littlest bit terrifying. Not that I don't worship Mira Grant's writing but she, as a person, scares me.

VERDICT: I mean, if constant terror, a huge diverse character cast, sapphic girls, killer mermaids, and some environmentalism thrown in doesn’t sound amazing you, then you probably shouldn’t even be following my blog. Into the Drowning Deep is maybe one of my faves of the year and I’m considering raising my rating to a five every second I spend typing this. spoiler: I did. Give this a try. I'm begging.

This plot-driven book, takes place in modern times but with a twist- there are mermaids, and of course they like to nibble on humans. For the first time in the history of science, there is evidence to support the mermaid theory and Imagine Entertainment plans on their legacy being tied up with this discovery. The main narrative follows Tory, who has lost her older sister in Imagine Entertainments mockumentary in search of mermaids. We follow some of the other players and their interactions with the mermaids. There's some action, and suspense particularly at the end. The book spends a lot of time validating the existence of mermaids, which didn't really help me get into the book but set up the premise very thoroughly that this could be a possibility. After all the build up the end kind of caught me by surprise with how quick it was. Really not a bad book, but it was just so so for me personally.

If I ever decide to make a list of the most disappointing books I've read, you can bet that this one will be number one. It pains me to say that, but it's only the truth, and it's something I have to get past.

Into the Drowning Deep starts off with the most thrilling and horrific scenes being played out for you, all interspersed with another characters grief. The beginning was such a gut puncher, that I couldn't let myself stop reading before the book was over. My mind kept going to man-eating mermaids and for some reason my mind wouldn't let it go. I wanted to horror, I wanted the gore, and I loved how I felt immersed in the story and the thrill of it all, despite the safety of my bed. I 100% was convinced that this would be a book that I finished in one sitting.

But then the brick wall happened.

After the introduction, after the flashback ended, Into the Drowning Deep was loaded with so much science jargon and character development and so much more, basically everything that's not horrific, that I was bored to tears. I couldn't bring myself to pick up the damn book, but it killed me to not pick it up because, y'all, man-eating mermaids. So I pushed through it, and it felt like I was just reading nothing. It was all developmental, and rising action, and I was just so bored. I was waiting for the man-eating mermaids to converge, for the blood-bath to start, but it didn't start until I was about 80% into the novel.

And that last 20% is what brought the rating down so much.

Not only was some details completely unbelievable, but there was literally no climax and resolution to speak of. Throughout the book, there were tiny hints that pointed out that the people were missing something, but at the end, it all amounted to nothing.

Now, the book does have some amazing diversity that I wasn't expecting. The main romance is sapphic, between an autistic girl and a scientist. But my ARC mentioned autism once, and never touched on it again, and didn't even clarify who was autistic (the only reason I know the character is actually autistic is because someone with a finished copy mentioned it.) There were also two deaf characters, multiple ASL users, and lots of POC. And that's why this book got a higher rating: good representation. Otherwise, I would have tanked this review.

Another small thing that really bothered me throughout the book was the cisnormavity. They spoke in terms of man/woman, he or she, etc. They even assumed that the mermaids were all female, and then all male. What irritates me the most is that they straight up say that mermaids might not have a gender binary, but what do they do? Shove gender stereotypes on all of them.

3 stars - Overall?

This review is more rant-y than my other reviews, but that's because I'm seriously very disappointed in this novel. There was so much potential in the concept of man-eating mermaids, but in the end it was just a science-y novel with too many ideas floating around, and an interesting start.

Would I Recommend?

I mean? Man-eating mermaids. So, yea, try it out, if you can handle explicit gore. But seriously, it slows down a lot after the introduction. It was pretty hard to read.

"Mankind has a responsibility to the Sea."

I loved this book! It is a little bit of everything. I loved that it was intelligent, well researched, fascinating, entertaining and had me at the edge of my seat. This was a real page turner for me combining horror and mystery with science. A book about Mermaids you say? I say it is a book about greed, the quest for knowledge, a quest for answers, sea life, scientific exploration and of course, mermaids. This book is also about what happens when what you go searching for, finds you. What happens when your need for answers clouds your judgement? What happens when the worse happens and you are on a boat in the middle of the Ocean?

"Nothing is worth the risk of being lost."

Seven years ago, the Atargatis, set off to film a “mockumentary” off the Marina Trench. No one survived that voyage. Footage was found that showed a horrible slaughter on board. The footage was written off as a hoax. But there are those who thought the footage was real. There were surviving friends and family members who wanted answers. There were those who saw this as an answer to his/her life's work. There were those who saw this as the opportunity of a lifetime to do research, to hunt and to find answers. They know the risk and they are all happy to undertake it. This will make them famous. They will be the ones who can validate if mermaids really do exist, or they will be the ones to dispel the myth. They see this voyage as a win-win situation.

Thus, a new ship sets off for the Marina Trench. Full of scientists, doctors, hunters, dolphins, the latest technology and a journalist to record it all. These people have seen the footage. Some believe the footage to be real, some believe it is fake, others go believing they will not survive the scientific exploration. There are a lot of crew members and scientists on this ship (cruise ship). I will not describe the individual people except to say that one character, Victoria Stewart, a marine biologist, lost her sister on the Atargatis so hers is the most personal story, but is still one of many. Another positive of this book is that although this book has a lot of characters, it was not distracting in the least bit. This book is so wonderfully written and thought out that having a huge case of characters is not confusing at all. It is easy to keep track of them as they all have distinct personalities. You will never confuse one character for another - even in the case of twins, YAY! Speaking of the characters, they were all believable. Some are instantly like-able, some seem a little aloof, some had ulterior motives, etc. These characters had flaws and felt very real.

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

Once the ship gets to the Marina Trench, the Mermaids make their appearance. Yes, readers, characters you find like able will meet their demise. The Sea can be a cruel place and mermaids are NOT Ariel from the Little Mermaid. They are intelligent, brutal, violent, crafty and dangerous. The crew and scientists quickly learn that they are dealing with creatures who have adapted so well over time that they can survive in the sea and on the boat for periods at a time. The scientist believe they are on the safest boat, it was designed to keep them safe, it is technologically advanced and built to withstand almost anything - ALMOST anything.

I was not expecting to LOVE this book as much as I did. This book is so wonderfully written and there are sections that are told from various points of view. We see the POV of a dolphin, a mermaid, and several characters. This was done brilliantly! I honestly think this was one of the smartest horror books I have ever read. The scientific terms, the medical terms, etc. never weigh down the story or make it hard to understand. I think they actually enhance the story. I don't think I have ever said that before. I think it is a rare gift to be able to make, say, marine biology make sense to a non-scientist.

Plus, this book is pretty much non stop suspense. I was actually nervous while reading this in parts. Who will live? Who will die? Don't forget they are on a boat in the middle of the ocean, who will save them? Can they be saved? Will they save themselves? What happens when you walk into a lions den - or in this case explore a mermaid's trench? Well, what did you think was going to happen?

"And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee." -Nietzsche

This book is beautifully written, clever, creative, suspenseful, thought provoking, creepy, eerie and at times horrific. The storytelling is riveting. I literally could not put this book down. This book does not disappoint. As the "pages" turned this book got better. The story built and there were so many characters to like and root for. Knowing that they all can't survive adds to the suspense and drama of the book. Grant also has very vivid descriptions in this book, I could imagine what the mermaids looked like, I had images in my mind for all of the characters.

Not a fan of horror? Take a chance on this book! It's intelligent, entertaining and so very good! A book about mermaids? One might say, "eh, not for me" well, think again! I LOVE when a book can knock my socks off. This one did it. It's a heart pounding voyage that I am glad I took while sitting safely in my chair.

I highly recommend this book!!!

Thank you to Orbit books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"The Ocean is the last great mystery of the world."


Mira Grant's Into the Drowning Deep is the first standalone novel from the author while being set in an entirely new world. The premise of sea creatures of legend coming to life is perfectly suited for what fans have come to expect from Grant: unique characters, illuminating and fun science, and a singular ability to play on our most basic fears. For those who are saying,"Hey, wait a minute! This isn't a standalone! It's part of a series!" I say undo thee, NOPE! Here is where things really get twisted.

In 2015, Grant released a prequel called Rolling in the Deep, which I did not read nor do I believe that you have to in order to enjoy what Grant is trying to put together in this story. Rolling is a story that is set in 2015, seven years before this story takes place. In the prequel, the author tells the story about the Atargatis which traveled to the Mariana Trench to do a so called cryptid mockumentary about mermaids. What the crew never expected to find was actual mermaids. Unfortunately, all hands were lost. Footage that was leaked has been deemed both a hoax and proof that mermaids really do exist.

Fast forward to the year 2022. Imagine Network, which sent out the Atargatis in 2015, has spent the past 7 years putting together an entirely new ship, and now it's time for a different cast of characters. When approached by Theodore Blackwell, Victoria "Tory" Stewart, agrees to go along with a group of new scientists and researchers as brilliant as she is. Others include her partner Luis Martines, Dr. Jillian Toth, (who has been warning about the existence of mermaids for years), Olivia Sanderson is the media personality this time around taking the position that Anne Steward held onboard the Atargatis, and, of course, Theodore Blackwell as representative of the Imagine Network.

For Tory, this is all about closure. Tory's older sister Anne was onboard the Atargatis when it was attacked and her body was never found. For 7 years, Tory has been guided by a determination to find out what really happened to her sister and bring back closure to her family. Armed with state of the art technology which she has spent years accumulating, hunters, and experts across almost all fields of scientific research, Tory may find what she's been searching for. But, will that search lead to history repeating itself? 

Mira is a brilliant writer, of that you should never doubt. She is able to cobble up twisted as well as interesting facts that highlight the danger that this cast will face this new expedition to the darkest, deepest part of the ocean. I will say this, have patience with this book from the start. There is a whole lot of science-y stuff that Grant uses to fill her world, and why her characters are so important to the telling of this story. At about 50%, things really get swinging into motion and all hell breaks loose. Grant is blood thirsty. She loves to put her characters in terrifying positions and let them struggling to get themselves out. 

I requested this book from the publisher because I've been interested in marine biology for years. While growing up, I was a fan of French explorer Jacques Cousteau, and others that came after him. I was impressed not only by the technology that he was credited with, but by his discoveries as well. When it comes to researching the depths of the ocean and what it may or may not hold within the deepest, darkest places like the Mariana Trench or the Challenger Deep, my imagination runs wild. While the richest countries in the world have been spending trillions of dollars on space exploration, the oceans of the worlds have gone largely unexplored. Grant leaves readers with the theory that mankind walked away from the waters, but the waters, and the mysteries it contains, never forgot about mankind.

Terrifying and stunning at the same time, I couldn't put this book down! I can't wait to dive into more work by this author!

I went into this book already loving the author. She is one of my favorites. This was a great book. It did not disappoint me in any way. Loved it!

Set roughly a decade after the ill-fated research sojourn of the Atargartis (depicted in the novella Rolling in the Deep), the Imagine Entertainment network has once again set its eyes on the mermaid prize, assembling a new crew to set sail aboard the Melusine. Acting as right-hand man to the CEO of Imagine, Theo Blackwell has put together a crew of the world's foremost marine scientists, including Victoria (Tory) Stewart, sister to Anne, an Imagine corespondent whose life was claimed aboard the Atargartis; his ex-wife, Dr. Jillian Toth, the world's foremost expert on mermaid mythology and one of the few believers in the legitimacy of the Atargartis footage; and new Imagine correspondent, Olivia Sanderson, an autistic Olivia Munn-like figure who explores her world through the safety net of cosplay, a videocamera and constant reportage.

Into the Drowning Deep is both a sequel to, and a minor reboot of, Rolling in the Deep, and oftentimes feels like a deeper, expanded edition of that former novella. This is by no means a bad thing, though. While I enjoyed Rolling in the Deep a great deal, I also felt it was too short; it sped by too quickly and the characters didn't get a lot of attention before they were torn apart. In a lot of ways, this novel corrects some of the issues I had with Rolling in the Deep and is a better work for it.

At over four hundred pages, this is a pretty thick novel. Mira Grant spends plenty of time developing her large cast, providing us with plenty of richly diverse heroines to root for, and a few unsavories to cheer toward their demise. Equally rich, perhaps even richer, is the science itself. Grant has a terrific knack for taking the mermaids of mythological legend and giving them an incredibly strong scientific foundation and a real-world basis to exist. These creatures come across as a realistic and terrifying threat, and once the action heats up in the close quarters of the Melusine, there's a thick Jaws meets Aliens vibe that I flat-out loved. Few authors combine scientific realism with horrifying madness as well as Mira Grant. People looking for a natural successor to Michael Crichton would do well to read Grant's work immediately, and I suspect she'll be doing for mermaids what Crichton did for dinosaurs.

My only complaint is that the ending gets a bit rushed and some of the threats presented do not get the payoff they deserve. However, I'm weighing this against the implicit promise of the book's epilogue, and this novel's billing as the first book in what looks to be a new series (with Rolling in the Deep listed as a 0.5), that we'll be getting at least one more dose of mermaid mayhem somewhere down the pike. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that such a release comes soon because, frankly, I need that sequel right freaking now.

[Note: I received an advanced copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley.]

ARC provided by Hachette in exchange for an honest review.

“Ships kept on disappearing. Since the start of man’s relationship with the sea, ships kept on disappearing. So assume the mermaids have never forgotten about us. We wrote them off as legends as soon as they were no longer knocking on our front door.”

This is such a hard review to write, but I suppose three star reviews usually are. I just feel really torn on this one! I loved so many aspects of this, but ultimately I feel like this just wasn't a book for me. I still encourage anyone who is intrigued by the synopsis to pick it up, especially if you like horror with science!

“Are mermaids real? Yes. Are mermaids friendly? No.”

Into the Drowning Deep is technically about killer mermaids, but it’s so much more than that. It’s about society and how we don’t take care of the habitats we are inhabiting, let alone the ones we aren’t. It’s about how we view animals as lesser, and we are supposed to use them as a means to further education and technology without ever getting emotionally involved. It’s about how humans do horrible things to our planet that is 71% covered in water, and one day it might be time for someone else, besides humans, to say enough is enough.

Ultimately, this book stars a cruise-like ship, that is traveling to a place in uncharted territories to the Mariana Trench, where a tragedy happened many years ago. On this ship, we get to see the crew and learn their backstories on why they were chosen for this expedition where they will once and for all find out if mermaids exist.

This book has so much good: the writing was so lush and beautiful in Seanan McGuire /Mira Grant’s signature way. This book is smart, and I actually learned quite a few things about aquatic life. This book is queer, and I was living for every aspect of this budding F/F romance the entire way. This book is filled with action and is so fast paced. This book has some amazing moral discussions that I think a lot of humans would benefit from thinking about.

“When someone kills an American citizen, we don’t say, ‘Oh well, we killed one of theirs last week; we’re calling it even,’” she said. “We declare war. We sweep civilizations off the face of the globe. They won’t care that they started it. They’re only going to care who finishes it, and to be honest, I’m not sure it’s going to be us.”

As for what didn’t work for me: this book is honest to God scary! I mean, for the most part the characters are trapped in the middle of a dark ocean, cut off from society, facing ocean-dwelling creatures that, up until this point, have only been in fantasy. I’ll admit, I’m a baby. I didn’t like to read this book at night (which is when I do most of my reading) and I didn’t like to read this book alone. I’m sure many of you will pick this book up and laugh thinking about how I couldn’t handle the spookiness, but it’s the honest to god truth on why I didn’t enjoy this novel as much as I feel I should have.

Content Warnings: Gore, a lot of blood, violence, death, and things in those similar veins.

Overall, and like I stated above, I still completely recommend this book. I can still see what an amazing and powerful book this was, while also just knowing that it wasn’t for me. And I ultimately hope you guys still pick this one up, because it’s unique, haunting, and so very powerful.

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