This story is a fun adventure, following Krescent as she descends into deep mines on a dangerous mission. It was an entertaining story, great for anyone looking for a unique adventure.

I gave this story 3 stars. The story is full of made-up monsters and an intricate cave system, but nothing was described well enough for me to picture it; I felt disconnected from the scenes. Likely because I couldn't see the uniqueness of every situation and monster, the story got a little repetitive. There were also quite a few characters who didn't have a very distinct voice. The story was overall good.

As a note because I misinterpreted: the summary alluded to a possible enemies-to-lovers arc by stating her childhood enemy was going on the mission with her. This fact didn't affect the story much and did not create a major enemies-to-loves situation. If that's what you're looking for, you won't find it here!

An enjoyable, fast-paced YA fantasy. Wasn't my usual cup of tea but I enjoyed the unique setting and plot of this book. Would definitely.recommend to those who enjoy YA content.

A strong female lead and some pretty awesome fight scenes is what you will find in this book. If you are looking for something adventurous, with a little romance and you don't mind it being YA you will enjoy Somewhere in the Deep. Not to mention the cover is just stunning.

A rushed ending but super fun!

I loved the trek and adventures as our mc navigates a rescue mission alongside her childhood enemy. I liked the writing-it was easy to follow. The concept of fighting pits was very intriguing to me, and had to be a stand out point in the book. The mc's voice was clear and determined, and I enjoyed how she dealt with difficult decisions.

This is a South-Asian fantasy with equal parts heart and adventure- I don't think you want to miss this!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the e-arc!

This was a very standard modern YA. "Strong female lead," vague fantasy setting, villains who are inherently evil, pale skinned foreigners, romance. The first 25% or so was pretty interesting, and I enjoyed the monsters. I felt that the pace began to lag a bit once Kress and the others went down into the mines, and I found myself less drawn in during the middle of the book.

Kress was hired as a guard and is supposed to be the best monster fighter on the island, tasked with keeping the explorers alive. Yet she ignores signs of possible danger following them several times, which somewhat diminishes her supposed badassery. I also felt that it was overly convenient and slightly unbelievable that, if the Collector's plan had always been for the expedition to never come back, Beyorn would simply leave two monster fighters and some sturdy miners alive, just to "save bullets." It seems that the Collector would have given him instructions to kill them all and Beyorn would have planned accordingly, to ensure there was no chance of them escaping the mines.

The romance was a bit weak for me. I like the friends to lovers trope, and Rivan is a likable enough love interest; however we were basically thrown into Kress and Rivan having feelings for each other so we really didn't get to see that spark develop. At the risk of being cliche, it was too tell and not enough show. I didn't have much interest in whether they became a couple or not.

The fight scenes with the monsters were definitely the best parts, and I did really like reading the descriptions of unique creatures. I appreciate that a lot of thought went into creating these different animals. I wasn't as invested in the human characters as I was in the monsters, unfortunately. The reveal of the island gods was an interesting and unexpected twist, though I wish it hadn't been revealed only toward the end so that we'd had a bit more time to delve into this history.

All in all, the monster and god aspects of the story were very cool, but the characters and their relationships felt weak in comparison.

Title: Somewhere in the Deep
Author: Tanvi Berwah
Genre: Scifi, YA
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Seventeen-year-old Krescent Dune is buried under the weight of her dead parents’ debt and the ruinous legacy they left behind. The only way she can earn enough money to escape her unforgiving island is by battling monstrous creatures in an underground fighting pit. After a fight goes terribly wrong, she’s banned from the pits. Now hopeless, she is offered a deal: in exchange for the erasure of her debts, she must join and protect a hunting party for a rescue mission deep within the mining caves beneath the island.

Krescent is determined to keep her head down and fulfill her role as the dutiful bodyguard, even though she is trapped underground with her childhood enemy and a company of people who would gladly kill her if they knew who her parents were. As they come across creatures she believed only existed in legends, it becomes clear they are in far more danger than she could have imagined. But someone doesn’t want her to make it out alive. And she’ll have to figure out who before she’s left alone… in the dark.

I enjoyed this author’s first novel, Monsters Born and Made, but this one felt quite a bit more jumbled and chaotic. I loved Kress and Rivan and their friendship/potential for more, but I felt bombarded with new characters, new cultures, new historical “facts” that hadn’t even been mentioned in passing but were new suddenly key plot elements—deus ex machina. It just didn’t feel like a cohesive story, more like the author was grasping at straws.

Would a character and his culture, who had lived underground for generations in the dark and previously thought of as myth, really be able to speak coherently to surface dwellers able to use technology? I highly doubt it. But an inability to communicate didn’t work for the story, so they could—perfectly, no less—and there was no explanation for that bit of nonsense.

Tanvi Berwah graduated from the University of Delhi. Somewhere in the Deep is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Sourcebooks Fire in exchange for an honest review.)


(Blog link live 1/15.)

naauurr never again

1. friends to lovers?????? 👹🚨🪓🚫 and not even a pleasant one they're all lovey dovey rainbows and butterflies even though "they don't know the other's feelings"

2. wayyyyyy too long for a repetitive plot, half of fighting creatures on their way inside the mines, half fighting creatures on their way OUT

3. predictable plot twists except one about a character's identity and one that turns the whole thing into a cosmic affair

4. confusing /lacking descriptions, each new cave they entered in the mines looked the same, I had no idea what the fights looked like or how the space was set up

5. side characters not fleshed out. I will not elaborate

6. confusing monsters?? I will not elaborate

7. at one point we learn 2 people in the group share a secret trait, but the MC doesn't stop on that important information and doesn't really wonder who the other one is?????? wtf

8. for me the whole post mines thing doesn't make sense. I will, again, not elaborate

9. whatever sequel is planned after this, i would rather read 0 books in 2024 than read it

10. this is not meant to tear down the author I promise I just want to give my most sincere (and perhaps brutal) opinion, if friends to lovers and fighting creatures on and on are your thing go ahead 😃

[review posted on goodreads and instagram]

A good monster, creature from the depths, will always get to me. In Somewhere in the Deep there are also terrifying fights, being maybe trapped in a cave, and dangerous secrets. Every time I thought I knew where Somewhere in the Deep was going, there would be a shift and I'd sit shocked. In this connected world with Monsters Born and Made - just a little bit connected - this is a world of dangers in every shadow and the edge of desperation.

ARC sent by Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire.
Genre: YA Fantasy

Synopsis: Krescent Dune is an orphan. She fights dangerous beasts in the pits in order to pay off her family’s debt. She accepts a deal which will relieve her of the debts in exchange for leading a mission into mining caves, where she encounters more than just the deadly beasts hunting them.

Really vivid and clear world building, the writing itself isn’t world building heavy - but has just the right amount of information to help the reader create image of the island of Kar Atish and the creatures lurking beneath it.

Tanvi Berwah has done an amazing job bringing the world of Kar Atish to life, although I do wish there was a map at the beginning of the book, as it would have been easier to understand the layout of this story. I enjoyed the description of the creatures as they where distinctive and vivid making them more realistic, like the map, I would have liked images of the creatures in almost a journal like form, just do the visual representation was there!

Somewhere in the Deep is set in the same world as Monsters Born and Made, another book by Tanvi Berwah. I haven’t read Monsters Born and Made and I don’t think that you have to in order to read Somewhere in the Deep.
Somewhere in the Deep has made me what to further explore the writing of Tanvi Berwah as I find myself wanting more. I cannot wait to pick up more books from this author.

Somewhere in the Deep
by Tanvi Berwah
Fantasy YA
NetGalley ARC
Pub Date: Jan 9, 2024
Sourcebooks Fire
Ages: 14+

Krescent Dune is held accountable for what her parents did when she was a child, and now her only way of making money, to pay her parent's debt and to escape the island, is to fight in the pits against the monsters of the island, but a betrayal gets her banned from fighting.

With all of her hopes lost, a deal is placed before her: Lead an expedition into the deepest mines to search for missing explorers, and her debts will disappear.

I was hoping for monsters galore; yeah there were monsters but they didn't leap out of the pages at me. They weren't detailed or graphic enough to make me cringe or read with wide eyes. I mostly skimmed because they didn't grab my attention.

The story was good, but more creatures and their descriptions would make it a more interesting read. Just like the creatures, the characters also felt flat, not a lot of details to single them out, so I couldn't tell you much about any of them.

I feel that if more time was spent detailing the trek underground, in the dark, with information on their lighting, their weapons, and the underground was given more life. Rocks can look different...

Maybe it was the typical A B C of them walking down into caves, knowing there'd be creatures they have to fight, and they did, then walked some more, and another creature, etc, that made it a slow and kind of boring read. Something out of the blue could have been a slap in the face to make it more of an adventure.

2 Stars

A slow-build adventure story for any fan of YA fantasy! Somewhere in the Deep is full of unique creatures, characters you'll root for the entire way, and countless surprising twists and turns.

Kress is a great main character- she's sympathetic and tough, fighting her way through life with determination, but without being too bitter, despite her circumstances. That's a hard line to draw, and Berwah does it admirably. Helping her was the addition of Rivan, Kress's love interest and sometimes-conscience. His tenderness added depth to Kress that we wouldn't have seen otherwise, and the two of them were the most compelling in their fight for equality and their lives. The secondary characters took some warming up to, but they made a well-rounded cast.

The plot took some time to get moving, and was slightly hard to follow for the first half. Even though it isn't technically required, I believe readers would benefit by starting with Monsters Born and Made to have a better idea of the world and its components. Still, by the halfway point the action was nonstop, and I had enough grasp of the circumstances that I was really pulled in. Creatures, betrayal, ancient civilizations and modern monsters combined to make a rip-roaring conclusion that left me wanting more. For this installment, some readers may miss a clearly-explained world, but Berwah's choice to keep some of it shrouded in mystery and vague language leaves the potential for further discovery in other novels.

My one issue was that we spent a lot of time building to action, but then most of the action didn't get the page time to really make an impact. So many intense situations pressed into the last 25% or so kept me from really feeling the pressure of each.

Overall, an exciting and original novel. I genuinely hope Berwah continues to expand and explain this world she's created.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

This was such a unique story and the action just kept coming. I loved Kress & Rivan and the friendship/romance between them was so well done.

The monsters were awesome and I would have been terrified being in contact with any of them. Kudos to Kress for fighting them all the time. I liked all the twists that the story kept pumping out and the more I read the more I wanted to know.

The only thing that annoyed me was how everyone treated Kress about her parents. She had NOTHING to do with them and yet the entire island hated her and treated her like a monster. Why? She was a child when it happened. I can understand why you would be upset and angry over it, but to take it out on a kid? It just didn’t make sense to me how mad everyone was. And it was annoying every time it happened.

I haven’t read this author’s debut novel so now I’ll have to see how that one is too.

I originally requested <i>Somewhere in the Deep<i> expecting it to be something it wasn't, then realised what it was and didn't read it for the next few months because I thought it wasn't for me. However, after reading it, ohmygodit'ssogood.

So! Read <i>Somewhere in the Deep<i> if you enjoy:
- Class solidarity because honestly yeah
- Ocean-themed eldritch horrors
- Childhood best friends to lovers
- and a girl who can and will fight anything and everything if she must

I'll admit I don't have much to say on this book, for the most part every part of the book was excellent, but it wasn't perfect, which is why the 8/10 rating. Like the pacing was fantastic, but I would've preferred if Berwah had spent more time on the climax, not the final 50 or so pages, and given us a more meaningful resolution. The characters were incredibly fun, but many of them blended together and a handful of them felt fairly undefined. The romance was cute and didn't feel like it came out of nowhere, but the two LI's could've stayed friends and I don't think it would've changed much in the book. The worldbuilding was uniquely fantastic though, and all the compliments to Berwah for an incredibly intriguing world, yet not showing off her entire hand., I'm honestly considering picking up her other book just in the hopes of learning more about the world. I really liked all the creatures we say in this, and found the use and mixing of real world mythology honestly incredibly well done. More often than not when books try to mix cultures it comes off as crass and somewhat offensive, but Berwah's attempt felt a lot more natural because she was truly fitting these things to the world, and not vaguely reskinning them.

All in all, a good book, just... not perfect.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for providing an eARC to review!

Unfortunately I just found the writing really clunky and couldn’t see myself connecting with the story or the characters. I did get this arc like months ago so maybe it’s just an early version, but there were enough times that I stumbled over the word choices that it was pulling me out of what was happening.

It also felt like it was going to be a pretty run of the mill YA fantasy - an orphan girl who is unique in some way and has a boy supporting her for no real discernible reason apart from us being told they’re really close. Maybe it could have surprised me going forward, but I sadly just wasn’t really drawn in.

I think people who enjoyed Grace and Fury might enjoy this though as it has some similar elements.

Shout out to NetGalley, Sourcebooks, and Tanvi Berwah for the ARC!

Overall: 3.5/4 stars

I read the synopsis for SitD and immediately requested an ARC and I'm eternally glad I did. I went into this world (as it is the same universe as Monsters Born & Made, which I did NOT read) a little blind, but I don't think you need to read MB&M to be on top of everything. I went back and read MB&M and can definitively say they're hugely contrasting themes and I can see why the author even labelled them each other's antithesis.

The plot: 4/5; fast moving and easily engaging writing
Characters: 4/5 (Kress's opening scene is chef's kiss)

I really have no criticisms besides it didn't engage me as well as other YA books and it took me a bit to get INTO it. I struggled through the first half or so but I mostly felt like I was waiting for something to happen. That might be more about me reading way too many fantasy series and not enough standalones, though.

I will happily read more of the world in the future, definitely worth checking out!

“Today is not the day I die.”

"You can't pick who to love any more than you could avoid a tsunami splitting your body and leaving you strewn in the water."

“I'm not the monster they think I am, but I'm no better than one either.”

Wonderful, amazing, thrilling, fantasy book with great plot, action and characters!!! After reading Monsters Born and Made, I became an instant fan of this author !!! When I knew this book was on NetGalley… I needed to read it!!! So grateful I had the opportunity to jump back in this author’s world which I love. Her writing makes me feel part of the story and even though I would never be able to be in the main character me shoes, it’s still a fun and emotional ride !!! This time we have Kress, orphan trying to extinguish a debt, her parents left her with, with fights against terrible monsters. She is given the opportunity to be finally free and leave but she has to join a company of miners, who hates her, on an impossible quest in the deepest darkness. Only her childhood friend, Riven who loves her deeply can’t leave her alone so he joins her on the adventure. Amongst terrible fights, monsters made out of the deepest recesses of the earth, they will soon find out that the journey they embarked on is much more than what they expected!! A bit of magic, a bit of romance, a bit of found family and a lot of action made this book marvellous!!! And … Final epic battle to save the world … check !!! I’m a fan of this book and this author and conceding the bit of the cliffhanger left at the end of this story … I can’t wait for another one !!!!

“I am insane, I think.
From somewhere in the deep, a whisper.
And what makes your reality the sane one?”

"Kress, not even the ocean could have stopped me from finding you. It's about damn time you accepted that."

“And if Sollonia wants to threaten our world, this island will be ready.
I will be ready”

This was fine. I thought I would enjoy it a lot more than I did.

At first I really didn't vibe with the book, the characters were annoying and the world building was clunky and it was almost bashing you over the head with social class commentary. I still didn't like the characters by the end, but the world was unique and interesting enough to keep me engaged.

Overall this was nothing special, but it was decent.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My opinion was not affected by the free copy.

I honestly forgot all about this book. I was liking the beginning of it, but then it changed into a completely different plotline with all these characters I didn't know. I was lost and confused, and so I stopped reading. I never picked it up again. I feel bad about it and it's probably a decent book once you get into it, but the fact that it seemed to change plots really threw me off. Maybe it's just not a book for me.

Somewhere in the Deep drew my attention with that beautiful cover and once I read the summary, I knew I had to read it.

Kress had my heart from the moment I met her fighting monsters in an underground ring. The beginning of this story had me hooked, I did lose interest a bit as it went on but I can definitely see this being a well loved book. I enjoyed my time with it.

And we have another of Tanvi Berwah’s amazing stories! Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for sending me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Krescent Dune is a fighter in a fighting pit against sea monsters for scrips. Ever since her parents died, she’s been taking the brunt of their mistakes and is shunned by everyone from the island of Kar Atish. So when an opportunity presents itself for her to finally leave the island, she takes on the task of finding the men lost in the previous expeditions underground. But as they delve into an endless abyss somewhere in the deep, Kress soon discovers a horrible truth that could kill them all.

A book like this is why it’s incredibly important that stories are told. Tanvi Berwah’s writing has a knack for leaving everything to a reader’s interpretation which I think is very interesting. This South-Asian inspired fantasy novel is immensely reflective of what it means to live in an oppressive society and how creating an undeterred, united front can bring upon change. It has parallels to Monsters Born & Made, but as the author mentioned, is the complete antithesis of this novel and you will see the contrasting themes of both books pan out. Lastly, I find the prose here so much more riveting. The prose here is so much better, and shows us a delightful slowburn romance between. I would totally recommend!