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This is the discussion thread for the Summer 2024 Group Read Into the Drowning Deep in the category Fiction: Cryptids. Please post your comments here. This thread is not restricted to those choosing this book for task 20.10, feel free to join in the discussion. Warning- spoilers ahead!

The requirement for task 20.10: You must participate in the book's discussion thread below with at least one post about the contents of the book or your reaction to the book after you have read the book.

This book has a prequel -- Rolling in the Deep (audible plus). I listened to it November 2023.

I'm about halfway through Into the Drowning Deep and I can confirm that you do not need to read the prequel. I liked the prequel and would recommend it, especially if you are interested in this book. It is short, only 128 pages. It fits a few tasks

However, sometimes none of the group reads are appealing and you just pick the least painful one to you. If you are avoiding this one because of the prequel, it is entirely unnecessary.

Into the Drowning Deep
6/4/24
4 stars

I found this entertaining in the same way Relic, Jurassic Park, and Extinction are. It's not perfect. There are definitely a bunch of TSTL moments. It was longer than I wanted it be. I have no idea if any of the "science" makes sense and I don't care. Overall, a fun book to listen to. I will check out other books by this author. I plan to recommend it to my son.

Thank to the nominator of this book.

Susan A wrote: "Into the Drowning Deep
6/4/24
4 stars

I found this entertaining in the same way Relic, Jurassic Park, and Extinction are. It's not perf..."

Thanks for note about Relic - I’m planning on using it for Nick’s task

I *finally* finished this one. It felt like a 900-page book with how long it took me to finish. I was very intrigued by the premise of the book, and it was recommended highly on a podcast I love, so I was delighted to see it was the Group Reads pick of the season. Unfortunately, it ended up being a mid book for me. I was looking for more of the (view spoiler)[tension and buildup of Heather's Challenger Deep scene (hide spoiler)] and less of the science, I guess. Also, I have a question, and maybe I just missed this while reading it. I'll include spoiler tags just in case.

(view spoiler)[Considering the history with the Atargatis, I would think Imagine would be more cautious with the Melusine if things starting to get violent. From what I recall, the only reason the ship remained in that location was because the general sentiment on the boat was "the science is worth the risk", but that feels flimsy to me. I would think they would just leave and regroup, maybe take a week to get the shutters working (???!) and make a safety plan once they had a confirmed sighting of a mermaid or even after the first death. Not necessarily to abandon the mission, but to reassess and pivot. Did I miss something? The engines were blown? Something? (hide spoiler)]

Anyway, 3/5 stars for me here. I may read the prequel in the future. James Cameron, this has your name written all over it. This book is begging for an adaptation.

i'm kind of conflicted about this - i liked the premise and exploring how mermaids aren't necessarily the Ariel that we all know and love. But I felt the stupidity of many on the ship was just too much to deal with - it felt like Imagine was only in it for the horror/money (honestly, come to think about it - my bet is that was their plan - let everyone get massacred and then sell the movie for millions)...

but I do like mira grant's world-building - and like above, i think this could be a decent movie adaption.

Susan A wrote: "This book has a prequel -- Rolling in the Deep (audible plus). I listened to it November 2023.

I'm about halfway through Into the Drowning Deep and I can confirm th..."

So, does reading the prequel actual spoil any reveals in Into the Drowning Deep? I'll probably read both (I like Seanan McGuire, and Mira Grant is her alias), but I'm not sure which to do first.

Trish wrote: "Susan A wrote: "This book has a prequel -- Rolling in the Deep (audible plus). I listened to it November 2023.

I'm about halfway through Into the Drowning Deep and ..."


I don't think the prequel is a spoiler Maybe it is. I think you do learn some specific info about mermaid behavior. if you are concerned about it, read Into the Drowning Deep first as it does not require the prequel.


I read the prequel first, and it made me interested in this story. I think if I had read book #1 first, and then the prequel, I would think it was ... I guess like a bonus read for fans.

Trish wrote: "Susan A wrote: "This book has a prequel -- Rolling in the Deep (audible plus). I listened to it November 2023.

I'm about halfway through Into the Drowning Deep and ..."

I just looked this question up online because sometimes there is a recommended reading order, and I found someone wrote this in their review (from the website Mangoes and Mayhem):

"I recommend reading both (each delivers something different). But� If you’re only going to read one, read Into the Drowning Deep. It’s a full-length novel, so there’s more complexity, more build-up, and more time spent getting to know each of the characters. If you’re going to read both, read Into the Drowning Deep first. That’s what I did and I’m glad about it. There are events towards the end of Rolling in the Deep which may spoil the ending of Into the Drowning Deep."

Having already finished Into the Drowning Deep, I can see why that would be the case because there is a little bit of a drawn parallel between the endings of both books suggested. Happy reading!

Cheers.

The prequel could fit the 15.1 task for book less than 200pgs

I read the prequel last year or the year before on audio and it was creepy creepy. I honestly didn't even know that this was a separate book at first and just thought I'd re-read what I thought was the same book I previously read. And then I questioned why it was a lot longer than the other one I read.
Anyway, y'all didn't need to know all of that.

I loved this book, I loved it a lot. It was creepy and I couldn't stop reading it.
Five stars for me.

I listened to both books on audio and enjoyed them both because of the unusual take on the mermaids. I read the prequel first and I'm glad I did, but I agree with others that you wouldn't have to. I think I liked knowing the story of the prequel so I could silently scream, "no, don't take the risk!". I did have a little of the feeling Ash mentioned that I was reading the same book again with some of the same major plot points, but I still enjoyed the listen!

I really like Seanan McGuire, but when she writes as Mira Grant, I don't care for the stories or the characters. I've read Feed, Parasite and Into the Drowning Deep and gave all of them 3 stars (and I think I was being generous).

The beginning of ITDP read like a non-fiction book being way too technical causing the story to drag until the last few chapters. Things were unnecessarily repeated which made the book longer than it needed to be. And I felt that the ending was rushed and therefore too easy, almost a copout. I felt there were too many inconsistencies. The scientist characters simply didn't act like scientists at all which was disconcerting.

I think I'll stick to reading Seanan McGuire and skip her Mira Grant alter ego.

This isn't really my sort of book, but I enjoyed it enough. I like more creepy Gothic horror and the science and exploration aspects of the mermaids. I'm less interested in monsters, screaming, shooting, and running, and that took up the majority of these 500 odd pages.
I gave it 3 stars.
I read Rolling in the Deep last year. I don't think it matters which order you read them in - they both have sort of minor spoilers for each other.
Every Heart a Doorway, by the same author (different pen name) is one of my favourite books of all time and it has a very different vibe to this one.

This one isn't my usual cup of tea and it was a struggle to start with. I can appreciate the themes around environment and just how big and unknowable nature is but I don't seem to have patience with the chasing after doomed ventures. There was a whole shipload of people who died and now, let's send another shipload of people without ready defence in place. Could you spell disaster?

While most characters were okay, I didn't find any particularly standing out except for the 2 unlikeable killers. They stood out a mile; probably because I was kind of bored with the story but they bring life to the whole thing. And what was that thing at the end?! A little too anticlimactic after all the build-up. Overall, the read was okay but seriously too big at close to 500p.

Amy FL

I listened to the prequel before also listening to Into the Drowning Deep. I liked the prequel enough that I was looking forward to the full-length book. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations.

I felt that there were too many characters to the point that I was getting confused about who everyone was. Nobody stood out nor was anyone likable so that when the creatures arrived, I didn't care who survived or was killed. Disappointing read that was a generous three stars for me.

I absolutely loved this one! This was my bathtub book, so I read it over a long period of many, many baths (I'm a slow reader) and it never failed to grab me each time I went back to it. I thought the science was just in-depth enough to feel real without getting too technical, and the scientists acted just like the scientists I know would have acted in a similar situation - geniuses in their field and morons outside it -- kidding (not really) 😂

The only unbelievable characters to me were Jacques and Michi, who came off as a little cartoonish, but were still fun/interesting characters. The book wasn't as "scary" as I would have liked, but remained intriguing throughout. 5 stars!

Susan A wrote: "I found this entertaining in the same way Relic, Jurassic Park, and Extinction are..."

You had me at the comparison to Relic. Relic is one of my favourite "readable twaddle" books, where it's completely ridiculous but a whole lot of fun.

I considered reading A Tale of Two Cities for this season instead, but between the above comment and the fact that ITDD dovetails neatly with something I'm working on for a Call of Cthulhu game, I switched tracks.

I'm currently about a quarter of the way through and so far I'm enjoying it, although not without some degree of criticism - mainly on the grounds that the eco messaging is about as subtle as a brick. Unless readers have been living under a rock, I think everyone's aware that the oceans and marine wildlife are in need of protection and not exploitation, we really don't need to be walloped over the head with it every few pages. It just ends up coming across preachy and a bit patronising.

On a similar note, I was initially somewhat frustrated about the caricature-ish nature of the obvious baddies (seriously, they might as well have neon signs over their heads sayings "we're evil"), but as my partner pointed out, that all makes a lot more sense if you view things through the lens of a slasher film, which I can only assume is the vibe Grant's going for. You know who's got the death flags waving, you're just waiting to watch the spectacle when all hell breaks loose. With that in mind, I think I'm going to enjoy it more going forward after mentally reframing it all.

This was my default read. I had already read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and nothing else appealed to me, so it was pretty much a roll of the dice.

It was engaging and entertaining, and I definitely wouldn't have read it otherwise, but I wasn't taken with any of the characters enough to care too deeply about them, or be concerned if they lived or died.

My one issue was, they determine the creatures are Sirens and not Mermaids, but I really don't think they showed why, or explained the difference. I mean, I know what a Siren is, but what made them determine, and this came out during the biological exam, not from the discussion of language, and I really didn't understand what made that distinction come about.

Apple wrote: "My one issue was, they determine the creatures are Sirens and not Mermaids, but I really don't think they showed why, or explained the difference. I mean, I know what a Siren is, but what made them determine, and this came out during the biological exam, not from the discussion of language, and I really didn't understand what made that distinction come about."

I got the sense that the renaming was more to eradicate the issue of incorrect gendering - hardly appropriate to call them mermaids when they were male! That said though, 'siren' as an alternative doesn't really work either - if my memory of Greek mythology is correct, sirens were winged and birdlike.

I just finished the book today, and despite what felt like an abrupt ending, I did enjoy it. I might well consider going and checking out the prequel novella, especially if there's a suggestion of more in a series coming up.

Having just read Jurassic Park as well, I do see the comparisons. Just because we can go and use science for entertainment, doesn't mean we necessarily should. The whole thing about the ship being sent out while not in full working order felt eerily reminiscent of the OceanGate tragedy too, despite the Titan incident happening five years after the book was published.

I put this off until the very last task of this season's challenge, and I'm not really sure why. I love the Wayward Children series that is written under the name Seanan McGuire, so I had no reason to suspect I wouldn't like this one. I think it had more to do with the fact that I was forced into it because I had already read the other choices?

Overall, I did enjoy it, as much as I ever enjoy this type of book (World War Z, Jurassic Park, Devolution, etc.). They are entertaining but they don't really stick with me in any way, and sometimes that's exactly what the brain needs!

I agree with the assessment of other posters that the characters were a bit caricature-ish and obvious, but that jives with other books of this type that I have read so it didn't bother me as much as it might have otherwise. It did make it easier to cheer for the mermaids...sirens...whatever, in some cases lol. I was also a little disappointed in the ending!!

I don't read a lot of monster books, so this was a rare sensation for me. One thing I like about doing this reading challenge, I can force myself to read stuff other than my usuals, and this time I'm glad for my choice.

I enjoyed the snippets and the documentary feel of it. Oceans are scary and awesome at the same time, science is cool, these things I believe and the book portrayed them well. Would love to see this adapted to a movie (give us the gay Underwater we deserve! lol)