I really wanted to love this one but it ended up evolving into something I really didn’t care for. The first half of the book is fantastic — a sci fi survival story that I was really enjoying as we explored the underwater areas post-earthquake with our main character. Then in turned into some strange love story at the second half. It felt like two different books in one. I could barely finish it.

"Fault" by Lumen Reese tells the story of Lucille "Ceely" Bennett, a grieving mother whose world is shattered when a cataclysmic event causes a chunk of the California coast to sink into the Pacific Ocean. Among the millions who perish are Ceely's two children.

Driven by love and fury, Ceely builds a submarine equipped with mechanical arms and powerful harpoons, intent on descending into the ruins of Los Angeles to retrieve her daughters' bodies. But her mission takes a dangerous turn when she encounters the Thing, a monstrous entity that emerged from the Earth's core during the catastrophe.

As Ceely hunts the creature across oceans and decades, she confronts her grief and seeks vengeance against the Thing that stole her children from her. "Fault" is a gripping tale of loss, determination, and the lengths a mother will go to in order to protect and honor her loved ones.

unfortunately i had to dnf this.
i really really wanted to like this because i love creature horror especially in the ocean but this was so unbelievable - not from the creature but from the mc. i cannot spoiler anything but it had me eye-rolling every other paragraph.
no that was definitely not for me.

This book grabbed me immediately and did not let go. I absolutely adore underwater monster books. This was a fun read.

***** I have received and read an e - ARC from NetGalley in exchange for giving my honest feedback. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.*****

I wanted to love this book. The concept was amazing and I was looking forward to reading it.

If I had bought this book or borrowed it from a library, I wouldn’t have finished it, but since it was a review, I struggled through.

Considering this book describes a monster, you really don’t see enough of the monster< and that was the main reason I wanted to read this book.

I thought I was getting an angry and grieving mother version of Jason Statham in The Meg. That was not the case. To be a creature feature, the 'creature' is very rarely shown. You hardly get to see it and that does not work towards the book's benefit in my opinion. There is, of course, and need for suspending one's belief when reading something like that, which I don't usually struggle with. The main character made so many questions decisions and just felt unbelievably dumb? I wanted a creature wreaking absolute chaos but got oil digging details and a deranged mother harboring her children's dead bodies instead.

I really wish the first chapter was a standalone short story because it had a completely different tone than the rest of the book. I was skimming by the end because I just didn't care about the characters and their one-dimensional motivations, and the romance subplot was contrived and unneccessary. As many other folks commented, there are so. Many. Descriptions. Of. Meals. I never felt like I knew anything about the protag beyond the reuniting with her children thing, which I didn't connect with at all. Three stars rather than two for the weird little administrative guy; I wish the book had been more about him.

Fault started out moving so slow. Even though the stakes were high throughout this books, I found myself bored.

I wanted to like this book. I desperately wanted to like this book. I love giant monster/kaiju stories and I was excited to read a book about a gigantic water based kaiju that destroyed a large part of California. While I did like small parts of this I have a lot of complaints. This review is going to have spoilers in it so read with caution.

To start with positives I really liked the monster for the short amount of time that you see it. I really liked the design and the scale of it. You could see how much of a gigantic threat this thing would be if it existed in the real world and it was terrifying. I liked the writing around him and how some of his attacks were described in the book. Also all of the food talk made me hungry. (It felt like they talked about what meals they had every day way more than a lot of other stuff in the book.)

That is pretty much the only good thing that I can say about that though. I have plenty of complaints though so buckle in.

The main monster of this book is barely in the book despite the fact that he is on the cover. The characters talk about him for sure but I wanted the actual creature to be in the book more. I swear the actual monster is on the page for a good 3-4% of the book. I don't care about your oil drilling operation book. I want to see the monster. You don't even get to see him that much when he first emerges because for some reason there is a 30 year time jump at the start of the book. At the start of the book the female main character decided that she is going to recover the bodies of her two children that died in the emergence of the monster and somehow builds a submarine in some guys barn in 10 days. (She's an engineer. I still don't buy it.) She also attached harpoon guns to the sub because she somehow thinks that this is going to injure/kill a mile long monster that just climbed out of a volcanic rift? (For serious the book mentions this thing shaking lava off itself like it was water but she thinks that harpoons are going to hurt it.) This triggers some kind of defense mechanism of the monster that shoots her 30 years into the future. So you don't even get to see the aftermath of his emergence first hand. Every time the monster shows up its gone a page or two later. Other than after picking up a survivor from an attack by it on a yacht the thing is barely talked about in passing. This severely needed more creature action.

Instead of being mainly about the actual monster thing that's actively swimming around in the ocean, the book is mainly about oil drilling. Yes, oil drilling. Apparently this thing is drawn to the vibrations from oil drilling and it would come to attack any standing oil rig so the solution the book comes up with instead of green energy or literally anything else is to invent flying oil platforms that can fly away when the monster attacks it. This leaves the oil tanker that the rig was pumping oil into vulnerable to attack and apparently this means that no-one wants to work on them. I mean its not like oil companies are multi billion dollar conglomerates that can afford hazard pay to people that are actually qualified to work on tankers like this. No, they have to hire dangerous criminals and excons that are barely qualified do take care of themselves let alone run the ship.

Speaking of excons, after out main character is pushed forward in time 30 years she is picked up out of the ocean by the oil tanker. She works out a deal where she cooks for them and they give her a space to repair her slapped together submarine. I admit that I liked most of the staff of the tanker despite the whole excon thing. (Two crew members do try to attack her and one other crew member that was trying to defend her but that is resolved quickly.) There is a romance that is shoved into the plot with the captain of the tanker and our MC that I hated. It seemed very forced and rushed. I think that the book would have been just as strong with that taken out.

I am also really not a fan of how the book ended. It is revealed at the end of the book that part of the repairs that the MC has been making to the submarine that she built was adding a device that will lure the monster to her and basically a gigantic taser to zap said monster with. She has a theory that 100% does not make sense (and it is pointed out to her that it doesn't) that maybe if she attacks this thing with electricity and provokes its defense mechanism with that it will send her back in time instead of forward and will even bring her kids back to like (she's had their bodies in a freezer in her sub this entire time). She manages to lure the monster to her with the tanker chasing her down trying to stop her, triggers the defense, have her heart stopped instead of time traveling, going to a kind of purgatory, comes back, and then decides fuck it, I'm gonna try to attack it again.

Overall I have to say that the book annoyed me and didn't make a whole love of sense, even in a universe that contains a kaiju that destroys California. The plot is ridiculous, the romance is bad, and the monster isn't in it nearly enough. A sequel is baited at the end but I doubt I will read a follow up. Overall I'm not sure I recommend this book at this time.

This started off horrifying and cool. Then got dull and odd. There's this gigantic aquatic creature and destruction that you can't imagine. Ceely, engineer extraordinaire, wants to rescue her deceased children from the creature by building a submarine to collect their bodies. She some how gets catapulted 30 years into the future. She ends up on a ship and what does her brilliant mind do while aboard? She works in the kitchen. How quaint. Unexpected romances happen and the ending is ambiguous, which I hate. None of the characters are very interesting--the circumstances are though. I wanted more of the creature. Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC

I was intrigued by this book 'cause I love horror stories revolving around large bodies of water and books that are set on ships. I was hugely disappointed. The horror elements were far too minimal for my taste and I felt the author had too many elements in the plot.

Parts of the book are told from different POWs of characters, and even though I usually like this narrative choice, here it felt more of a gimmick and a way to add padding to the story. Also I found some of the side characters much more interesting than the main character.

The writing and plot had some nice moments here and there, and I found the writing easy to read but it wasn't enough to make me give this book more than one star.

If you decide to pick up this one I hope you get more out of it than I did.

Fault has a promising premise, but was so disappointing.

I can appreciate a bait and switch when what we end up with is exciting or interesting, but I would not have requested this if it hadn't been for the description, which ultimately all happened in the first handful of pages. I think the writing was lacking some skill and nuance, and the story felt confused and rushed.

I couldn't finish reading the book because the first twenty pages that I read, it felt like a synopsis, or transcript idea for a book to be written. I apologise but I won't be able to read this book further.

I really tried to enjoy this book, but I just couldn’t. I was intrigued by the description and hopeful for a creature feature. Instead, it was more of a strange sci-fi with romance sprinkled in. I found the writing style made for a difficult read. The story also moved so fast at the start; by page 25 Ceely had already lost her children, grieved her loss, built a submarine and was in the ocean to retrieve their bodies.

Props to the author for the author’s note at the start because it made me laugh.

Thank you to Netgalley and Victory Editing for the advanced reading copy.

This is the perfect book to read following the Titan submarine incident. Homegirl just makes a homemade submarine to find her dead children's bodies. I can't pretend I wouldn't want to do the same thing.
I love this. The sea is so terrifying,
Aging is also terrifying.
Make this a movie. It is weird AF and fun. Listen I hope in 30 years I can still seduce a ship captain.

I was really excited to read this book as it sounded great.
However, i dislike romance, i don't read romance, and i expected a sea monster mystery thriller.
Apart from that i enjoyed the other aspects of the book.

Overall: 3/5

Sea monster time travel?! Fault was cool. I enjoyed the story and thought it was an entertaining read. I was surprised by the romance element and slightly disappointed by how much it drove the plot, but I still enjoyed it. This isn’t something i would typically read, so it was nice to read something different.

Although I am not a romance reader, I thought those aspects written well, better than a lot of other spicier bits I’ve read before.

While i wouldn’t necessarily call this a romance novel, be warned that a romantic relationship drives a lot of the plot. The first bit is somewhat misleading and not what you will find throughout the rest of the book. Unfortunate because i really liked the first part!

All in all, this book is less than 300 pages so it’s not a huge commitment. Definitely worth giving a try!

Book Review: "Fault" by Lumen Reese - A Gripping Tale of Grief, Revenge, and Unconventional Love

"Fault" by Lumen Reese is a remarkable novel that captivated me from beginning to end. This gripping story takes readers on a thrilling journey through grief, revenge, and the power of a mother's love. With its unique blend of science fiction and emotional depth, this book stands out as one of my favorite reads in recent years.

One of the aspects that truly stood out to me was the book's pacing. Reese masterfully weaves together different parts of the story, each told from the perspective of various characters. This narrative technique adds depth and richness to the overall plot, keeping readers engaged and eager to uncover more. The shifts in perspective allow us to witness the diverse emotions and motivations that drive the characters, making them feel incredibly real and relatable.

The core premise of "Fault" is a unique take on a sci-fi trope, which sets it apart from other books in the genre. At its heart, this novel is about the profound grief of Lucille 'Ceely' Bennett, a mother who tragically loses her two children in the cataclysm. Ceely's determination to build a submarine and retrieve her daughters' bodies is fueled by an unwavering love and fury that resonates deeply with readers.

In addition to the captivating plot, Reese skillfully intertwines a unique and unconventional romance into the story. This aspect adds another layer of complexity and depth to the narrative. The portrayal of love in "Fault" challenges traditional notions and explores the unexplored territory of relationships. It was refreshing to see this unconventional love story unfold and witness the characters' growth and transformation through their connections.

Reese's descriptive prose is a standout feature of this book. The author's vivid and evocative writing style painted vivid pictures in my mind, bringing each scene to life. I could easily visualise the settings and immerse myself in the characters' experiences. The attention to detail and the ability to create such a vivid atmosphere enhanced the overall reading experience and made it truly unforgettable.

In conclusion, "Fault" by Lumen Reese is a must-read for fans of science fiction, thrilling adventures, and stories that explore the depths of human emotions. With its impeccable pacing, unique storyline, unconventional romance, and vivid imagery, this book has all the elements of a truly outstanding read. I highly recommend "Fault" to anyone seeking an engaging and thought-provoking journey that will leave a lasting impression.

I really enjoyed FAULT!
It was a great read and I really liked the characters.
While i was surprised that romance was a big part of the book. I still really enjoyed and I even liked the romance!
There was some really good scenes in the book with the creature that I really loved!

I definitely highly recommend this book!
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I recieved an ARC of this from Netgalley.

This book really surprised me. From the synopsis I thought it would be a straight up cheesy creature feature of a book. No real depth but a whole lot of fun. What I got instead was some complicated characters dealing with loss, grief, trauma and how to move on. The book moved at a good speed and, although I would have enjoyed more of the creature being front and centre, I really enjoyed this book and practically read it in two sessions.
If you are looking for an action packed hunt of a Moby Dick style this book may disappoint. But I think what you get is actually better, and at times is much more tension filled because you really come to care for the characters.