thepolybrary's review against another edition
4.0
~*Full review notes on The Bent Bookworm!*~
Feels:
Satisfaction. I adored the resolution of this book. It’s not a perfect happily-ever-after (HEA) and that makes ME so very, very happy. I’m a disgruntled, hard-hearted porcupine when it comes to love, and while I like endings with hope, only rarely do I completely get behind a tidy little HEA. FtDD has a very hopeful ending, but one that could go several different ways. I loved that.
Characters:
It took me awhile to warm up to Bridey, I’ll be honest. She is so defined by her fear of the sea that at first that is the only quality I saw in her. As the story goes on though, I came to genuinely like her. Lugh and Cat, her best friends, I wish we had seen a little more of. I felt sorry for them as she kind of abandoned them to go work with Morag and then in her absorption with Fynn.
Fynn is something of a mystery for most of the book. A lot of reviews I saw complained about the insta-love between him and Bridey, but to me it was believable BECAUSE from the very beginning, it’s obvious Fynn is not just a normal human boy. Because of that, I feel like the insta-love is understandable and realistic – even though I usually DESPISE it.
Morag was my favorite character. An odd choice, I guess – but I loved her. I love that she was old and crotchety and hurt – both physically and emotionally, yet she was such a wise woman and genuinely cared about people. She was like a gingerbread cookie…crunchy on the outside but soft and delicious on the inside (that IS how you make your gingerbread cookies, right?).
Plot:
FtDD starts off kind of slow, not going to lie. It’s beautiful and haunting, but slow. The pace picks up about a third of the way through, and I was completely drawn into the Isle of Man world Sarah Marsh has created. I already wanted to visit but now I want to go even more!
At first I thought I had misjudged the cover blurb and this was a historical fiction YA with some mythology thrown in…but no. It soon becomes apparent that all is not as it seems on the idyllic Isle, regardless of what the villagers want to believe. And of course no one wants to listen to the tales of old women or the vision of the young. No one wants to believe that maybe the faery stories are more than stories.
Worldbuilding/Description:
Beautiful. Idyllic. Almost mystical and definitely slightly creepy. I loved it. It felt so real…next time I’m at the ocean I’m going to be on the lookout for creepy ghosts playing violins. I still want to visit the Isle of Man though.
Rating:
4/5 stars. There were some things I felt were too easily explained away, like some things about Fynn. Some things I felt happened too easily…like once Bridey got over her fear, suddenly she was a grand rescuer…but they were small things, and adrenaline and love do give people almost superhuman strength sometimes.
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“Nothing from the ocean is meant to survive on land forever.”
Feels:
Satisfaction. I adored the resolution of this book. It’s not a perfect happily-ever-after (HEA) and that makes ME so very, very happy. I’m a disgruntled, hard-hearted porcupine when it comes to love, and while I like endings with hope, only rarely do I completely get behind a tidy little HEA. FtDD has a very hopeful ending, but one that could go several different ways. I loved that.
Characters:
It took me awhile to warm up to Bridey, I’ll be honest. She is so defined by her fear of the sea that at first that is the only quality I saw in her. As the story goes on though, I came to genuinely like her. Lugh and Cat, her best friends, I wish we had seen a little more of. I felt sorry for them as she kind of abandoned them to go work with Morag and then in her absorption with Fynn.
Fynn is something of a mystery for most of the book. A lot of reviews I saw complained about the insta-love between him and Bridey, but to me it was believable BECAUSE from the very beginning, it’s obvious Fynn is not just a normal human boy. Because of that, I feel like the insta-love is understandable and realistic – even though I usually DESPISE it.
Morag was my favorite character. An odd choice, I guess – but I loved her. I love that she was old and crotchety and hurt – both physically and emotionally, yet she was such a wise woman and genuinely cared about people. She was like a gingerbread cookie…crunchy on the outside but soft and delicious on the inside (that IS how you make your gingerbread cookies, right?).
Plot:
FtDD starts off kind of slow, not going to lie. It’s beautiful and haunting, but slow. The pace picks up about a third of the way through, and I was completely drawn into the Isle of Man world Sarah Marsh has created. I already wanted to visit but now I want to go even more!
At first I thought I had misjudged the cover blurb and this was a historical fiction YA with some mythology thrown in…but no. It soon becomes apparent that all is not as it seems on the idyllic Isle, regardless of what the villagers want to believe. And of course no one wants to listen to the tales of old women or the vision of the young. No one wants to believe that maybe the faery stories are more than stories.
Worldbuilding/Description:
Beautiful. Idyllic. Almost mystical and definitely slightly creepy. I loved it. It felt so real…next time I’m at the ocean I’m going to be on the lookout for creepy ghosts playing violins. I still want to visit the Isle of Man though.
Rating:
4/5 stars. There were some things I felt were too easily explained away, like some things about Fynn. Some things I felt happened too easily…like once Bridey got over her fear, suddenly she was a grand rescuer…but they were small things, and adrenaline and love do give people almost superhuman strength sometimes.
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skywalkersyd's review against another edition
All the stars in the universe were aligned for me to LOVE this book and yet here we are, at a DNF.
The beginning of this book was captivating and the setting held a tremendously dark atmosphere. It made me excited for everything to come. But this book failed to deliver on any levels.
Let's just build a check box shall we:
Insta-love ✔️
Dragging plot ✔️
Zero character development ✔️
AND most of all let me just say it because it's the reason I finally threw in the towel with this thing.
The total lack of mermaids!!!!!
Which tbh was the main reason I had such mad hype for this book!!!!
I so wanted to read a story set in the early 20th century that was dark and mysterious with a male mermaid like yes sounds good give me that. I just want answers towards why making the male protagonist half horse half fish sounded like a good idea to anyone?
I feel like I've never written such a harsh review before but I'm just so very disappointed in what this book could of been, especially because the cover is absolutely stunning and the overall mystery was so intriguing considering I usually hate mystery books.
I'm so salty. And I definitely do fear the drowning deep, but mainly cause it sucks.
The beginning of this book was captivating and the setting held a tremendously dark atmosphere. It made me excited for everything to come. But this book failed to deliver on any levels.
Let's just build a check box shall we:
Insta-love ✔️
Dragging plot ✔️
Zero character development ✔️
AND most of all let me just say it because it's the reason I finally threw in the towel with this thing.
Spoiler
The total lack of mermaids!!!!!
Which tbh was the main reason I had such mad hype for this book!!!!
I so wanted to read a story set in the early 20th century that was dark and mysterious with a male mermaid like yes sounds good give me that. I just want answers towards why making the male protagonist half horse half fish sounded like a good idea to anyone?
I feel like I've never written such a harsh review before but I'm just so very disappointed in what this book could of been, especially because the cover is absolutely stunning and the overall mystery was so intriguing considering I usually hate mystery books.
I'm so salty. And I definitely do fear the drowning deep, but mainly cause it sucks.
li_chiii's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
melinda_sue124's review
4.0
This book was AMAZING. I cannot stress it enough. The writing was really good and the story was even better! It's set in 1913 and it is literally so perfect! The shock of what was actually going on was amazing too. I loved the whole thing from start to finish. Although I was so fricking sad with the Fynn update but the hope at the end too. It left it so open for a second book, which I just found out there is a second one when amazon kindle told me to finish the series lmfao. I loved the inner turmoil of the characters as they learned that things weren't what they seemed and that although the main characters were sort of ostracized because of what they were trying to preach to the townspeople, for being "crazy," they still did their best to help save them. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.
kcstewart90's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
queensflame's review against another edition
4.0
Special thanks to Nori @ Read Write Love, who is the creator of the “Sunday Street Team” and how I was able to acquire this eARC. I am part of the Sunday Street Team blog tour for this novel & my task is to give you my review
lulustjames's review against another edition
4.0
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With such an interesting cover and synopsis, I was super intrigued about Fear the Drowning Deep by Sarah Glenn Marsh, and decided to give it a try. I’m happy I did. It was a strong YA fantasy book that had good, strong characters, and interesting lore behind it.
Bridey and her family were really fantastic and reminded me a bit of the girls from Little Women, allowed to be strong and free willed in a time where perhaps they were expected to be a bit more demure. Bridey herself was a lovely character that was strong in both her fears and then overcoming them. What Sarah Glenn Marsh really did well, for me at least, was in keeping Bridey’s reaction to finding out the truth about Fynn realistic. There are so many other YA books that would have romanticized that revelation, but Marsh kept it true to life and I absolutely love her for doing that. It would have been completely out of character for Bridey to simply accept Fynn instantly.
Marsh also perfectly encapsulates what small town life is like where everyone is involved in everyone else’s business. Everyone knows about Fynn being taken in by Bridey’s family and word is just continually spread about every time piece of gossip that can be found, included that of the “old witch” Morag, who is such a sympathetic character towards the end (though I really like her from the start).
The mythology and fantasy of Fear the Drowning Deep by Sarah Glenn Marsh is incredibly solid. The pacing is fantastic, never do you feel it go too fast or move too slowly. Build-up to relationships is good and so is the climax and ending (which had me sad, happy, and hopeful at the same time). If you’re a fan of historical YA with a bit of romance and mythology/supernatural, this is definitely a winner for you!
// I received this title for free in exchange for an honest review //
terrimpin's review against another edition
2.0
This was a confusing book, in the sense that I couldn't figure out what it was trying to be. I sped-read through it only to reach the ending with little satisfaction.