Another excellent novella from Tor, they're almost always an auto-buy for me at this point! The beautiful, descriptive writing adds to the fascinating worldbuliding of a post-apocalyptic society, focused on a group in a slowly failing submarine. Deep sea vehicles give me claustrophobia which added to my reading experience. Remy was wonderful to follow in this coming-of-age novella.

The theme was interesting and the writing is beautiful. The ending felt too vague but this is still a page turner, one of the better ship-set SFF I've read.

An interesting, atmospheric book. My first by the author, and certainly intriguing enough to leave me interested in reading whatever he comes up with next.

This story was heartbreakingly good. So original, so brilliant, and I'm still thinking about it now, months after I finished the read. I don't believe I've ever read anything approaching this story before--a post-apocalyptic band of misfits living on a slowly-decaying submarine. Wow. If that doesn't interest you, then we don't have much in common (and also, you're probably a weirdo). This was lyrical, suspenseful, tragic, and I couldn't wait to turn the page and find out what would happen next (and next, and next). Please buy this book.

Suspenseful, reflective, and moving, Stewart's coming-of-age novel is jam packed with ideological doubts and hidden schemes.

Remy does not question her world until her only tether to it dies.
Is the world truly filled with poison? Or is it still inhabitable? Will peace come?
I had doubts just like her.

The action moved the story along at a heart-racing beat. Remy's mission had me biting my nails the whole way through. The hope which exists in this story is fragile, but it remains. I was anxious and enthralled all at once.

I was so intrigued by the premise of this novella. The cover immediately gave me chills as I HATE the deep ocean but the premise of a nuclear sub sounded so intriguing. This is not the easiest book to understand at times, as the beautiful descriptions sometimes made it a little hard to understand what was happening. It’s a lovely, timeless, incredibly inventive tale, but I have one complaint. The unnecessary description is so heavy as to be distracting, while the actual plot feels like a bad haircut, hacked too short. That’s perhaps to be expected given the fact that this book is tiny even for a novella— but it felt unnaturally abbreviated.
Full review to come on my YouTube channel.

Not usually the type of book I’m into, but the idea was one I was into and what a delightful break this was. Haunting and fast paced, easy read in the best possible way with a really novel concept.

The last nuclear missile rests in the hands of a cult of singing monks aboard a submarine, in a post apocalyptic world. Their final mission is to fire this missile when God calls for the last judgement. Remy, the head chorister, is concealing the fact that she is the only girl aboard an all-male vessel. When the captain dies and a newer, harsher captain takes over, Remy finds the fate of the world resting in her hands. This was a sharp, brutal and oddly beautiful dystopian coming of age. The writing won’t be for everyone as at times it’s rather odd, but I found it fit the story. Really enjoyed this strange and unusual novella.

I thought there would be more whales.

No really. I was expecting whales. Or sea monsters. Or an incredibly epic sea battle. Or something. Anything.

This novella has a pretty familiar premise—alternate history, isolated and unaware protagonist, semi-dystopian setting. None of these elements are my favorite thing to find in a book, but the undersea setting intrigued me, and indeed proved interesting for a while until I discovered that what was going on here was...Pretty much the same thing that’s always going on in books like this.

The “singing” element of this—which was clearly intended to be powerful and poignant—falls completely flat, and while I didn’t dislike the protagonist, I didn’t feel like I got to know her well enough to truly root for her.

Some of the flaws in this are just consequence of length, which perhaps suggests that this needed to be a full length novel for the story to feel full enough. But at the same time, the big reveal is trite and anticlimactic, so perhaps it’s good that more pages weren’t spent on it.

In all, this just wasn’t engaging enough for me. And, y’know....I thought there would be more whales.

“We Shall Sing a Song into the Deep“ by Andrew Kelly Steward [3.5]

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this review copy

I like a lot of the tor.com novellas and have read a lot of them by this point in time. If you read a novella you have to accept that the following things happen from time to time: you probably want the story to be longer, you probably want to know a lot more about the world the story takes place in, and you probably find that a lot of the not so important characters are characterized by one or two simple traits.

Some of this is true for this novella as well, some of this is not. But first things first, what is Steward's novel actually about? It is a coming of age story about a girl in a male only environment, disguising herself as a boy. Most of the book takes place on a submarine and Remy, our female main character, has ownership of the key that is needed to launch the last missile. When a person from the surface is captured the novel's plot picks up the pace and never stops until its ending. While I find this premise really intriguing, I do not like that it is sometimes marketed as similar to The Hunt for Red October because I think the biggest similarity is that both take place on a submarine and I think it does a disservice to Steward's book to raise this expectation.

This book is very beautifully written. Steward's writing style matches the tone of the story perfectly and while I think sometimes the prose gets a bit too purple for my taste the prose is still very enjoyable. My favorite scenes relating to Steward's use of prose were those that were connected to the religion the people of the submarine follow. The religion was also one of my favorite parts of the setting and I would have loved to explore it more but as I mentioned above, when you read a novella, you sign up for shorter stories and sometimes they lack a thing or two you would have loved to read more about.

The setting and the society depicted are really interesting in more aspects than their religion even though the religion shapes the society to a high degree. I would have loved to see different aspects of the society, not only those related to Remy but Steward does such a good job bringing the setting alive without showing a lot of the nuances. The reader can easily fill in how most of the people live and what the usual problems of the people might be. Instead Steward directs the reader's interest din the direction of the aspects directly relating to Remy's story and Steward does a god job illustration Remy's daily life on the one hand and her problems and dreams on the other hand.

The plot is interesting but predictable. That does not have to be a bad thing, this book is short and trying to surprise the reader a lot of times might do more bad than good for the story. But when one has a plot that leans more into the predictable, the characters should be interesting, Sadly Remy is the only slightly interesting character in the whole book. And I did not even care for her that much. The other characters are more or less walking stereotypes and while this works in novellas a lot of times it did not work for me in this one. I felt like the author wanted me to care for some of the characters and I had a really hard time doing this.
This also ties into how the ending fell flat for me. I would have cared a lot more for the ending if I cared for the characters.

This wasn't for me, unfortunately. The premise sounded amazing when I first started but I wasn't a fan of the writing style. It was stilted and I had a difficult time engaging with it. The characters also were a bit flat and it was difficult trying to connect with Remy. I am still curious to see what Stewart puts out next because this novella had great potential.

**Thank you to NetGalley and Tordotcom for the eARC copy of this book in exchange for honest feedback!**

At 160 pages this incredible story left me wanting more. Just the synopsis alone fully grabbed my interest and I knew I needed to read this book. What I DIDN'T know was the emotional rollercoaster I was in for.

The main character, Remy, is aboard a retired nuclear submarine run by an order of monks who believe women shouldn't exist and all boys must be castrated to "reach salvation." The ship is carrying a nuclear missile that the order of monks will release at the time of the "second coming," releasing all those worthy of salvation.

The monks tell Remy and the other children that they "rescued" from above the water, that the world is poisoned, and only evil doers live above the water. I found this story to be an incredible example of how extreme religious indoctrination can be in some cases, as the characters struggled with their own beliefs and desire for free will.

I don't want to say much else and risk spoiling anything, but if you're thinking about it - you should absolutely read this book. If you like post-apocalyptic themes, anything involving cults, or crying (a lot,) you should check this out.

This novella had such potential, but sadly it didn't quite work for me. I was initially drawn in my the premise — a doomsday cult hiding away on a submarine deep in the ocean — but I never felt fully immersed in the story or its characters. In particular I had a hard time connecting with the narrator, who was felt pretty flat and predictable. Still, I enjoyed the writing style of the story and am interested in reading more from the author!

Stewart takes a well worn YA premise-- survivors of an apocalyptic event sequester themselves inside an isolated facility, their children are raised to believe the outside world is uninhabitable, all may not be what it seems-- but there's an important caveat.

This time it's on a submarine.

It's well-written if a bit rote. Compared to the lived in depiction of life on the boat, certain aspects of the novella feel underdeveloped. The villains are too single-minded. The religion the crew develops over time doesn't feel weird enough. (Dagon is mentioned at one point, then never again.) And the story feels incomplete without an extended epilogue.

But that aside, it's that story you like, now slightly creepier and on a submarine. Let's not get greedy!

Based on some of the blurb descriptions – which call this a combination of the SF classic A Canticle for Leibowitz and the military suspense classic The Hunt for Red October, I went into this book with certain expectations – in spite of never having read Canticle.

(A Canticle for Leibowitz is so foundational to SF that even if you haven’t read it, you’ve heard of it and have at least a vague idea of what it’s above. And there are plenty of summaries available to fill in any gaps.)

So, expectations. Expectations that weren’t exactly met. Which doesn’t mean that they weren’t exceeded – because they were. We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep takes elements from those books cited, a post-nuclear-apocalyptic world and a story that is steeped in nuclear brinkmanship and set in the claustrophobic confines of a submarine, turns those expectations upside down and sends them on a deep dive into times and places that the reader – or at least this reader – was not expecting.

Because in spite of that tantalizing combination of antecedents from the blurb, this story isn’t really all that similar to either of the other books.

But the crew of that submarine, the former U.S.S. Leviathan, thinks that it is. They believe that they world has ended in a nuclear holocaust, that civilization has fallen and that the survivors outside of their ship are diseased and savage and mutated. And out to get them.

And they’re almost right. Also, totally, completely, utterly and absolutely wrong.

Escape Rating A-: Like A Canticle for Leibowitz, this is a story that combines the worship and rituals of a Catholic monastery with a post-apocalyptic world. Then it turns the rest of the classic story upside down.

Not that the apocalypse doesn’t happen in both stories, but that’s where the similarity ends. Canticle is about the preservation of knowledge, where Song is actually about its destruction. The mission in Canticle is the result of the destruction, where the mission in Song is about the cause. It also feels like Canticle is honest about its faith where Song is about the corruption of it.

Also, a bit of Lord of the Flies wouldn’t be out of line in the description of what went into the mix for this book. Because in the tiny world of the Leviathan there’s definitely more than a hint of power corrupting into repression and violence, bullies rising to the top through the success of their bullying, and thought police – to mix in yet another classic metaphor – suppressing everything that runs counter to approved thought and belief.

And there’s more than a touch of alternate history mixed in, but I’ll leave for you to discover.

While the story has a bit of a slow start – because conditions aboard the Leviathan are grim and gruesome and dark and dank. And the main character seems to be scared, defenseless and alone and it looks like things are only going to get worse but not necessarily more exciting. At least at first. (But then it’s a very short book so the slow start doesn’t take all that long to get beyond.)

And the reader does go into the story with all those assumptions. But as we follow Chorister Remy around on this ship that is so obviously on its last metaphorical and mechanical legs, the assumptions start peeling back like a rotting skin, only to reveal that the rot goes all the way through to the bone.

But those bones conceal a whole lot of truths. And once Remy starts to see those, it’s a race to see whether anything, or anyone, can be saved. Or should be.

The nitty-gritty: A strange, sad, claustrophobic tale, with unexpected moments of beauty and hope.

I can honestly say I’ve never read anything quite like We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep. This is a dark, atmospheric tale—verging on oppressive—that weaves together several unusual elements: a submarine called the Leviathan commanded by a religious zealot who has stolen young boys from above and forced them to join his doomsday cult; an apocalyptic future (or perhaps an alternate history, I’m not sure) where the world has been nearly destroyed by nuclear war and is populated by “Topsiders” who are a threat to the men and boys on board the submarine; a group of young castrated boys called Choristers who are literally forced to sing for their supper; and a young girl named Remy who is pretending to be a boy but is in fact the only female on board. In its deepest chambers, the Leviathan carries the last nuclear missile on Earth, which will be released as soon as God gives the word, sending all those on board to their Last Judgement. But when a prisoner from the surface is brought below, Remy’s worldview shifts. Has everything she’s been told about the world above been a lie?

This short novella is simply dripping with atmosphere, and in my opinion it’s the strongest thing about the story. Stewart’s prose brings the dark, dank bowels of the Leviathan to life, and I can assure you after reading this story, I never want to find myself inside a submarine ever! I could hear every ping and clank, every rush of steam through the pipes, even the drone of the sub’s motors. The crew are almost starving to death and survive on the scant fish they bring in from the ocean, as well as mushrooms harvested from the steamy lower tunnels (ewww). The reactor is bleeding poison into the air and slowing killing everyone. In the lowest reaches of the Leviathan, those boys who have committed one sin or another become the Forgotten and are banished to perform the most dangerous maintenance jobs next to the sub’s nuclear reactors. Add to this the fear of the ancient submarine breaking down and the threat of the Topsiders and the broken world above, and you can see how the characters are in a constant state of unease.

There is an air of sadness to the story that rarely lets up. Something terrible has happened to the world above, and the crew of the Leviathan believe they are only safe underwater, despite the hardships they go through. I felt awful for poor Remy and the other Choristers, who have been brainwashed to believe that the world above is evil and the only way out is through death. It’s that typical cult scenario that I’ve read many times before, but it never fails to break my heart.

And yet, there are some oddly beautiful moments. Remy’s friendships with the other Choristers are so sweet. As weird as it was, I also loved the idea of a choir of young boys singing Compline and Vespers every day, their lives ruled by the Hours. Remy was chosen for her beautiful singing voice, and singing not only comforts her, but she's proud of what she does. We also find out that two whales often follow the sub, singing back and forth together, and I loved how this parallels the Chorister's singing on the Leviathan. Remy is always listening for them, as if they’re a sign that things are still OK. Remy herself is surprisingly upbeat considering that she was kidnapped from above when she was only five years old and doesn’t remember anything about her previous life. 

Once Remy meets the prisoner, a Topsider named Adolphine, the story takes on a certain urgency, as Adolphine convinces Remy to try to escape. I have to admit I found it very hard to give this novella a rating, but I finally settled on four stars simply because I think it has many special and unique qualities. However the overall feel of the story is very depressing and weird, so this isn’t going to be for everyone. I’m intrigued by Andrew Kelly Stewart, though, and very curious to see what he writes next.

Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.

If there is something we always wish there was more of, it is the role of religion within science fiction stories. Neither of us is at all religious, but religion is nigh inescapable within the human experience. For it to just disappear, or not have a meaningful place within a world that is far beyond our own feels off sometimes. So how can we pass up a story that melds a nuclear apocalypse with religion? Due to a logistical error and someone (*cough* Brandee) misreading our calendar, Alex and Brandee teamed up to review the powerful forces at play in Andrew Kelly Stewart’s debut novella, We Shall Sing a Song Into The Deep.

A lone submarine called The Leviathan traverses the ocean with an all-male crew after a nuclear fallout has ravaged the land. The inhabitants–members of a religious order– pass the time in prayer while desperately trying to keep the deteriorating sub afloat. The world is slowly fading away, at least that is what the protagonist is made to believe. A young girl hiding among the crew, Remy knows little about life outside The Leviathan. However, secrets begin to unravel as her captain falls ill and entrusts Remy with the launch key to the world’s last nuclear missile. A new leader takes the helm and begins preparations for the Second Coming, with plans to launch the missile and deliver God’s Last Judgement. The crew’s days are numbered, and a hostage taken from the surface opens Remy’s eyes to the truth – it seems her Brothers have been keeping secrets of their own. Holding the world’s future in her hands, Remy must combat her beliefs and determine her true purpose.

We Shall Sing has a lyrical beginning that pulls you deep underneath the waves. It’s downright enchanting…at first. About halfway through the story, there is a defining shift in Stewart’s writing. The second half of the book loses its hushed, reverent approach and turns its turbines into overdrive to propel the now predictable plot forward. In terms of worldbuilding, we know little about the “Topside” world that exists on the surface. However, Stewart does a splendid job bringing you into Remy’s world on The Leviathan. The daily grind of the religious order is captured alongside mechanical details about the submarine, effortlessly easing you into their small, severe world. However, as the second half becomes more of a thriller, the descriptions and atmosphere take a backseat as exposition takes the forefront.

The characters follow a similar path to the atmosphere. Remy herself is easy to follow, as she seems wary even after several years amongst the crew. But she’s also instilled with purpose, much like the rest, but is questioning in the way a child insulated from the world would be when given an undue amount of responsibility. She is a delight in the first half but seems to very quickly acclimatize to the new situation halfway through, and it’s a little jarring. The side characters are recognizable archetypes but Stewart adds intimate details that really flesh them out, even if they don’t have much to do. They make the submarine feel like an enclosed ecosystem that has learned to make do with whatever resources it has.
Alex


This is a tough one for me because I was particularly excited to read this novella. Its premise was so unique within post-apocalyptic fiction. Stewart hooked me deep, luring me with his siren song as he sang about life on the ship. It felt enclosed, filled with purpose, and sailing slowly to its horrid task. Where the book fell apart for me was the halfway point, as the prose switches to a more standard action-oriented and dialogue-heavy affair. It’s abrupt and really pulled me out of the story. My least favorite thing about post-apocalypse stories is when it comes time to talk about the actual apocalypse, I just lose interest. The disaster never feels as interesting as the flow of life after the end. Stewart, for his part, imagines an interesting one, but it’s delivered in such a matter-of-fact manner, it’s impossible to question it from a reader’s viewpoint. I felt it should feel like the story Remy has been told all her life, but instead it just immediately reeks of fact, and Remy adapts to it incredibly quickly. It changes the rest of the book so that the two halves feel very different from each other. It should have felt like a revelation and instead, it just was. Stewart was able to make it feel tense towards the conclusion with a couple twists and turns here and there, but I wasn’t as engrossed.
Brandee


The element that drew me in like the tide was Stewart’s integration of religion into the story. I was fascinated by the belief system the Brothers established and how it attached itself to the sub’s radioactive power. Religion created interesting dynamics, and I enjoyed seeing how the crew’s beliefs played out. The creative doctrine and cult-like ongoings are definitely the novella’s shining stars. The story itself is well-rounded overall, but it clearly reads like two separate pieces. The beginning was hypnotizing, but the shift quickly snaps you out of the story – eventually dampening the rest of the tale for me. I was ultimately satisfied after reading, yet wished that holy energy had permeated the story until the end.

We both agree that Stewart excelled in capturing an often ignored human experience in the aftermath of nuclear fallout. We Shall Sing A Song Into The Deep was a presentable, and often engaging, story despite its balancing act. If you can marry the story’s poetic beginning with its determined end, the novella accomplishes much.

Rating: We Shall Sing A Song Into The Deep – 7.0/10
-Alex and Brandee

"We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep" is a lovely, lyrical novella about music, faith, and nuclear apocalypse. Remy is a member of a religious order which travels the world's oceans on a submarine equipped with the last nuclear missile in existence, the leader of the order's chorus of castrati, and - though this is a secret to almost everyone else on the ship - the only girl on board. After another woman is taken on board, a prisoner from Topside, Remy begins to question her world, her beliefs, and what she's been told all her life.

The worldbuilding in this was exquisite; I often find that spec fic novellas which rely on a lot of worldbuilding can be tricky to pull off, but the author has done so admirably here. Information is given to both the characters and the readers very naturally, and is generally not difficult or overwhelming to follow, and the little details (like teeth as a form of currency on the submarine!) made the setting feel very fleshed out and alive. The characters, too, are well-developed, and I found Remy's character arc compelling and believable. The writing style is lovely, easy and enjoyable to read. My one major critique is that, in my opinion, the major 'plot twist' was fairly easy to predict, which I felt detracted a bit from the tension of the last third or so of the book.

I'd love to see this expanded on in further books, especially if it's a continuation of Remy's story. I will certainly be following this author's future works, and I'd recommend this wholeheartedly to anyone who enjoys this genre.

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor Publishing for an e-ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest review!

This was an interesting, if short read. The characters drew me in quickly...I liked that all were very dedicated to the end purpose, albeit different reasons. Yes, I would have liked a "little" more substance to them, but maybe that's for a different story? The setting was obviously claustrophobic (and well done).

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a masterpiece in the making. A beautifully written dystopian, nautical, and nuclear armageddon tale, following Remy in learning truths hidden by religious brainwashing.

I’ll start with the style. I don’t usually like purple prose or writing that is too lyrical, and while this book seemed that way especially in the beginning, i absolutely loved the writing style in this book. I got absorbed into the story and the author weaved the tale, wrote the book, in a way that captures my attention solely to character and the plot. I only had a vague reminder of the writing style being that lyrical as i read through simply because i was too focussed on the character. Remy, oh remy. I have no words to describe how much her story impacted me. It was the perfect mix of character depth, backstory and development that continued to move the story forward.

The plot I believe was one of the most unique plots ive ever read!! The beginning and ending breaks my heart, and the middle kept me at the edge of my seat. The sombre undertone and the atmospheric way it was written just makes the plot so much more worthwhile. There was a clear and distinct voice leading a carefully laid out plot that had build up, tension and pay off. The themes it explored were handled so well. Religious trauma and cult, the way it was executed felt like the necessary research was done! And an amazing story all round.

I can think of few things that could’ve been done better. Maybe this is just my preference but i’d have loved to know more about the world building. Im left with WANTING SO MUCH MORE FROM THIS WORLD!!!! and i wish id gotten it especially considering the way it ended. On top of this side characters could’ve been developed more!

All in all this was a great read, and a short one too! So definitely give it a try!! Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/ Forge for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley.

Trigger warnings: castration, blood, religious cults