Into the Drowning Deep (Rolling in the Deep #1) & Rolling in the Deep (Rolling in the Deep, #0.5)[October 1, 2023]

[Yanique, Thread Master]

This is a Buddy Read of Into the Drowning Deep and Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant starting on October 1, 2023.


Happy Reading

[Nirkatze]

Thank you!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Time for some scary ass mermaids/mermen...

[Yanique, Thread Master]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Time for some scary ass mermaids/mermen..."

Love this one.

[Tonari no Emily]

Might have to reread these! I never knew I needed scary merpeople in my life :D

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Started/Starting the short story now... this is my 2nd or 3rd readthrough... not sure... I tried the ebook (don't think I finished)... later got the audiobook on sale and read through that a year or 2 ago... now, here we are...

This is one of the few novellas/short stories, that I think is the perfect length for the story it was telling... like a documentary in book form... documentary about the failed documentary within the story...

And the narrator really nails that almost condescending voiceover documentary voice some documentaries and news exposes have...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

40ish%: (view spoiler)[Mermaids are real, and nobody but the readers knows... classic horror fodder (hide spoiler)]

50%: (view spoiler)[every ship needs an asshole, I guess... (hide spoiler)]

66-75%: (view spoiler)[things get interesting fast... and quickly hit the fan... (hide spoiler)]

90%: (view spoiler)[and nobody thinks to warn the fake mermaids... from bad to worse we go... (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

I think I asked somewhere else, but I can't find where and can't find a response...

Would you recommend starting with the book #1 or the prequel novella for a first-time reader?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "I think I asked somewhere else, but I can't find where and can't find a response...

Would you recommend starting with the book #1 or the prequel novella for a first-time reader?"

You asked in Spooktober and I said the prequel, if possible... this was originally just a one-off novella story with the prequel, then she wrote a sequel novel and it became a "series"... scroll up a bit in the spooktober thread, I can't remember what else I said, but I think that was the gist...

The MC of the novel is the sister of one of the characters lost in the novella...

[Nirkatze]

Ah, thank you, I'll look for that in Spooktober!

[Tonari no Emily]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Started/Starting the short story now... this is my 2nd or 3rd readthrough... not sure... I tried the ebook (don't think I finished)... later got the audiobook on sale and read through that a year o..."

Oh yeah the narrator was a very good choice for these. Got all the "news" voices, and that "documentary" voice..

I loved the mix of the story telling too.. I would really like to see this made into a movie it probably would lend itself well to a tv script

[Nirkatze]

Listening to Rolling right now! Really enjoying it so far! I'm almost halfway through. Dittoing everyone on the narrator--great news vibes! Also making me think a bit of War of the Worlds...

@Iain--found the comment in Spooktober! Thank you! Really interesting how the novella was written first, and then spawned a full novel about a related character. I wonder why GR doesn't have the novella as #1 instead of #0?

A question of clarification--(view spoiler)[are some of the roller-derby mermaids actually in wheel chairs, or was that only for transport with fins on? Also find it amusing that this is the second Seanan McGuire series to feature a mermaid in a wheelchair.

Definitely getting spooky feels. No one seems to think about the fact that mermaids are NOT a tame part of folk history... they were famous for DROWNING people, y'all.... then again, for sure no one in the original documentary would have expected to ACTUALLY find them, and the Disneyfluence is real. Like Iain said, classic horror fodder...

I like the attitude of the characters, from the captain to the "merfolk" and even the arguing scientist couple. Fun crew. (hide spoiler)]

Also really excited--I signed up for New Orleans Library's Out-Of-State membership--and now have access to almost all of the Spooktober reads through the library! Yay! My local library didn't have Into the Drowning Deep, only the novella.

[Nirkatze]

Almost to the end--2:30 mins in--(view spoiler)[I find it rather gratifying that the MCs are now saying what I said two hours ago... "pretty women in the sea" is NOT the original story...

Also totally hit the part Iain was mentioning at 90%. Seriously... how did no one think to put a moratorium on getting in the water?? (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Finished. Damn... (view spoiler)[I mean, I knew from the beginning that no one survived. And Spooktober means spooky horror stories. But I still wasn't expecting that much gore and death at the end. I was still hoping that maybe one person would survive. Like David. I'd've liked David to survive... and that one glimpse into the merfolk's minds--"why did this one want to be eaten?" "never mind, they are delicious." *shudder* (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Went ahead and started Into the Drowning Deep for my next spooky read because why not?

Through Chapter 5 and really enjoying it. Seems like 7 years have passed? The note at the very beginning about ASL is giving me totally false hope (view spoiler)[that David might have survived somehow... despite being pretty definitively dead in the novella. A part of me is saying "but that was the documentary's belief! If they didn't find a body, it could have been wrong!! He wasn't eaten on camera, he was tossed overboard and 'drowned before being eaten'"

More likely though, it's just going to be the main means of communication with the merfolk, once they make contact... or something.

I like the representation so far--lots of differently abled and differently oriented people. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

A little over halfway and still really enjoying the book Into the Drowning Deep. Up to Chapter 23, 64%. (view spoiler)[I thought the sign-language sisters were really interesting, though I feel a little bad for the elder sister, who was sort of cast into the role of translator and protector... but I guess her role was no more made for her than any other sibling's... I just imagine it is hard to be on the outside of twins, while her life and path is also so connected to them. After one of the twins dies, and the other shuts her out, it is even more apparent...

I use Japanese sign language in my classroom--just for vocabulary teaching, so I don't have to use English for practicing--but I think it'd be cool to actually learn the syntax beyond just the vocabulary. I don't know enough to have a conversation, but I can pick up words. It's really interesting what gestures are similar and different to ASL.

I also find all of the marine information--about how smart animals are, and how horrible captivity--good to have but a bit preaching to the choir-y. Would a marine tour actually fire someone for mentioning Orcas in captivity? And I'd like the book to mention the good sides of Zoos & Sea Life Centers--how they save orphaned animals and use the research to help creatures in the wild and promote understanding... the bit with the dolphins still seemed very cynical, and then what happened to them was horrifying...

The book is doing a very good job of making me very very scared of mermaids... (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Finished Into the Drowning Deep. Really enjoyed it! I was a little surprised by how quickly the ending came on, but I guess that's how horror stories go... (view spoiler)[Big climax, people survive or don't, and not much of a denouement... just bam, ending. I'm not even sure I was able to keep track of who lived or died... (hide spoiler)]

[Tonari no Emily]

It was a little hard to keep track of.. I did have a harder time keeping track of who was who in this one vs the novella.. Makes sense with more characters though. From what I remember (view spoiler)[ Tori and Olivia (Ann's sister and the Imagine reporter) live and have a bit of happy epilogue (but with lots of residual trauma)... Tori gets saved by Hallie and the Dolphin scientist guy, and Olivia make it out with Gregory and Darrel?Darren? something like that on the bridge. The twin and her non-twin sister live too, even though there was an excerpt by Holly that makes it sound like Hallie (non-twin) didn't live which is kind of confusing.

Blackwell and Toth make it out with Luis and Holly...

Besides that I think that's about it for POV characters! (hide spoiler)]

[Tonari no Emily]

I really want a sequel for these... ALSO if yall haven't already, you need to watch Underwater (2020 film). It's quite good :D

[Nirkatze]

Thank you for that breakdown, Emily--I totally thought half of those people bought it.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Finally starting... last Spooktober I scheduled before the month started... still 1-2 left I tacked on later...

I read 10-15% so far, and it's been interesting/surprising, so far... lots of setup, and some more deathy POVs I wasn't quite expecting... but good setup for where this is headed...

For a second, I thought this was some dystopian future without sausage... but that was just a random detail for the local pizzeria (too expensive an ingredient)...

[Nirkatze]

Is your first time reading this, Iain? I had thought it was a reread for you...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I only read the novella in the past... I thought I mentioned that...

[Nirkatze]

LOL Probably you did, and I just forgot. I remember having a similar disorientation at the beginning--it took a little bit to figure out where everything fell in the timeline...

[Johanna]

I finished Rolling in the Deep
(view spoiler)[Short entertaining read, but didn't feel super special to me. I liked how different medias/formats were used (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Do you read a lot of horror, Johanna? I also liked the different media, but this also totally creeped me out, lol.

[Johanna]

Nirkatze wrote: "Do you read a lot of horror, Johanna? I also liked the different media, but this also totally creeped me out, lol."

I don't read it a lot but it still is my favorite genre. I love to be afraid when reading.

[Nirkatze]

LOL I imagine your tolerance is a lot higher than mine then!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'm not loving Drowning in the Deep... kinda just feels like more of the same, from Rolling in the Deep... I'm nearly halfway, first death happened pretty quick, once the boat reached Trench... been too easy to pause and watch youtube vids...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Johanna wrote: "Nirkatze wrote: "Do you read a lot of horror, Johanna? I also liked the different media, but this also totally creeped me out, lol."

I don't read it a lot but it still is my favorite genre. I love..."

Most people around here are horror-lite fans... don't really want to be scared... just maybe chilled a little, or seeing halloween themes in fun/funny situations...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Actual 50% now: OK... this is officially what I like about fiction (specific thing, not the whole story itself): (view spoiler)[when fiction gives an explanation to a normal thing, or an existing unexplained mystery...

In this case, missing ships, ghost ships, the Bermuda Triangle... ocean mysteries in general... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

55%: OH... THAT'S what the shutter thing was about... (view spoiler)[the boat has shutters to protect from attack... but they've been failing their tests from the minute the boat launched?...

I'm sure this is going to end well...

Just like capturing a mermaid and hanging around to be attacked/rescued is going to end well for the crew... (hide spoiler)]

[Johanna]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Johanna wrote: "Nirkatze wrote: "Do you read a lot of horror, Johanna? I also liked the different media, but this also totally creeped me out, lol."

I don't read it a lot but it still is my favori..."

That would explain. I wouldn't say that I disliked the novella BUT it was just somehow way too fast to make me feel much

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I liked the novelty of the first book... and the documentary/commentary structuring...

The novel, seems to be half skeptics asking to get killed again out of naivety, and half pessimists/nihilists willing to go out in a blaze of glory, I guess...

I'm at 95%, and it's had it's moments, and I see the potential for a 3rd book where we either declare War on The Sea, or actually accomplish some crazy communication/truce or something... but there's also tons of unanswered questions like (view spoiler)[who they're bringing food back to... is there an actual Mermaid/Merqueen out there?

I had some real laugh out loud moments, like when we learned these mermen evolved to look like mermaids from a distance to attract sailors... (hide spoiler)]

Jason: this is the rich cryptid scientist, right?... that was working with the whale boat guide MC that's sister to the MC from the first book?... (view spoiler)[I thought this character was Jason... until Jason became a real asshole, right before dying to the anticoagulant toxin?... then I was like, am I mixing up characters?... seemed like a real tonal shift, suddenly getting in his head as a POV, maybe even just to soften up his looming death?... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yea... that ending is calling for another book... (view spoiler)[I imagine the Merqueen as a Megalodon scaled Ursula from Little Mermaid... but uglier :D (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

re: Jason--No, that's the ex-boyfriend (view spoiler)[that the whale boat guide broke up with because he was too pushy and thought she wasn't ambitious enough. The rich scientist is her best friend... I don't remember his name though. Can't actually remember if he was even on the boat or not with them... probably. Can't actually remember if the rich scientist studied cryptids or also something with sounds... (hide spoiler)]

re: Merqueen--I like your imaginings! (view spoiler)[I'm also imagining something like a sea version of a final fantasy malboro... a big tentacled anemone... (hide spoiler)]

A third book would be interesting. But I don't think a war with the sea would fit the feeling of these books... unless we lost and the whole world is now post-apocalyptic.

@Johanna--I'm curious what your impression of the book would be, if the primary dissatisfaction with the novella was with its speed and length...

re: Horror-lite... I'm usually too squeamish even for that... yet I strangely find myself enjoying these spooktober reads more than I thought I would... probably still won't go out of my way to find anything more like these though, until next year! Really enjoying this thematic month thing. It was a great idea, Iain!

[Johanna]

@Nirkatze For me it was missing some deepness in characters. That's important to me if I am reading horror, well it's always important but I find it super important if reading horror. If I can't relate to characters I don't care that much if they die or not

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Speaking of the ending of the 2nd book (responding to myself)...

What the hell was with that last page... I was a bit confused, honestly... (view spoiler)[the 2 women floating far away?... it vaguely sounded like the ending of Titanic, almost... but didn't make much sense to me, in the frame of the story... (hide spoiler)]

Nirkatze?

[Nirkatze]

@Johanna--really good point about character depth. I think the lack almost helped me--I was able to be more clinical in the story, and the horror didn't affect me as much, so I could stomach it...

@Iain--didn't remember the specifics so I consulted an eye-copy--(view spoiler)[Here's the quote:

Two hundred miles offshore, in a small cabin surrounded by damaged steel and the survivors of a voyage that had been damned from the beginning, two women lay tangled in one another's arms, adrift in a sea of tangled sheets.

Pretty sure this is just metaphor for Olivia & Tory having survivor sex as the wreckage of the Melusine gets tugged toward harbor. They're not actually adrift, or floating. (hide spoiler)]

[Alexis]

I’m not sure this one is for me. Tory annoyed me pretty much from the first page. I’m only about 10% in and I’m rooting for the mermaids at this point.

[Nirkatze]

Well, considering how the first one went... can't really say you're rooting for the losing side...