With a tagline that grabs the eye rather aggressively, 'Daeios: 140 Feet Down' by Colleen Eccles Penor is a dystopian thriller I couldn't pass up.

Apocalyptic weather conditions have reached a peak and the 'Elite' at a million dollars per spot minimum, are fleeing the Earth's surface. After a harried search for her drug-addicted brother Jace, Shea and her family barrel along the roadways in an RV trying to reach shelter before the storm is out of control.

Arriving at the underground stronghold moments before lockdown, they expect to survive only about a year with the supply levels.. and that year will be spent in a cavelike vault as protection from the climate above.

Soon after settling in, they start to realize everything is not as it seemed. Though Shea and her dad visited many times leading up to the lockdown so they'd easily remember the drive and have an idea how things worked within the community, once everyone is trapped inside.. things change and not for the better.

Daeios Elders who run the community claim direct instructions from God and roll out a forced 'repopulation' program for all fertile females amongst them. Little by little, the men who aren't Elders are beginning to disappear, and soon.. others start to go missing as well.

Heavy handed punishments such as light deprivation and music torture are just the beginning.

This is really more of a dystopian survival/revenge story, like a sci-fi 'The Handmaid's Tale' version of 'I Spit On Your Grave.' So, beware.. lots of triggers here for anyone susceptible to violent assault, torture, rape, murder, gaslighting, sexual manipulation, suicide, and probably a few other things I'm not even thinking of. Mostly it's mentioned in passing as dreamed memories or after situation observations, but it still might be a bit much for some readers.

For me, despite all the relatively wild elements of the story, it was still incredibly dull. A lot of what was happening was very obvious and the strange style the author chose to use.. almost felt closer to stream of consciousness than standard storytelling.

Though everyone's in pretty dire straits, most characters slip in and out of their trauma with such ease it's like they're playing pretend with their emotions. While there were backstories present, with that manner of just shrugging them off, there was no investment for me and I really didn't care much about anyone which made the book feel like it was just filled with violence without reason. Instead of utilizing what happened along the way to connect to the reader, it was just so much background noise.

Pretty disappointing, overall.

i really enjoyed reading this book, the characters were great and I really enjoyed the combination of mystery and scifi.

Thank you NetGalley for a complimentary copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

DAEIOS
By: Colleen Eccles Penor


*REVIEW* ☆☆☆☆
I've always been a fan of apocalypse and dystopian scenario stories, so DAEIOS was easily something I would choose to read. The story is good. While not wholly original, it is still very intriguing, entertaining and dramatic. The tension runs high at times, but the characters handle things fairly well. Overall, I enjoyed reading this book, and I do recommend if you like end of the world stories.

What can I say about this book? Wow!!! Wow!!! And Wow!!!
This is the authors debut novel and what a fantastic debut! Bravo!
The author engaged me in the plot from the very beginning. This is one of those books you will have a very hard time putting down. This book is a tragic dystopian story about a young college girl named Shea who is living in 2034 and there are a lot of bad things happening with the weather that endangers the earth and all those living on it. Shea's parents take her and her drug addicted brother and younger sister to a place built 144 ft into the earth. It is called Daeios; run by a group of religious gentlemen to save humanity. Shea and her mom soon discover that things are not what they seem. And so begins a story so quick moving and action packed you will be turning the pages oh so fast! I found this book so easy to read and so hard to put down.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK!
I can't wait to read Colleen Eccles Penor's next book. This is definitely the best book I've read so far in 2020, in fact in the last couple of years!

I'm so grateful to #NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced review coy of this book!

This was an exciting, fast-paced dystopian thriller.

Shea is a young woman at college, living the college lifestyle. The weather is out of control and causing widespread devastation and worsening to the point where it will soon be almost un-survivable. Shea's parents are part of a strong church community which has prepared for this well in advance by creating a vast underground fortress-like shelter where so-called superior humans will escape to and form a new society.

The race to get to the isolated shelter is, in itself, tense and eventful. Once Shea and her family arrive they are welcomed warmly, but from then on the suspense increases as the shelter is locked down against the weather outside, but also meaning that the members inside now cannot leave. The cult-like activity of the church leaders, "Elders', raise suspicion in Shea, while at the same time she is forming a strong attraction for a young man called Julian. This relationship was the weak part of the story because Shea arrived at the shelter filled with regret over her last boyfriend and by the end of her first day was half-way in love with Julian. It just didn't ring true at all. However, that said, the creepy setting and oppressive atmosphere combined with the strongly portrayed characters and fast moving action made this a minor consideration.

This was a real page-turner and kept me guessing how everything was going to turn out.