dreamboatannie's review
1.0
The concept of this book wasn't terrible: a warm, underground sea filled with amazing and terrifying creatures. Unfortunately, that part of the book is over in the first half. After that, it's less Creature Feature and more Making Bad Choices On the Open Sea.
The romantic subplot was odd and forced (who doesn't want to make out with their ex in a pitch dark cave, in front of a third party, while being hunted by a giant shark?). The characters would have been perfectly safe had they stuck to water that was only as deep as their personalities. They also are nearly impervious to death -- how else would they show up to deliver their quippy and idiotic one liners?
I also found the author's inability to keep their politics out of it distracting. A marine biology expert who pointedly doesn't believe in global warming was odd, as was the grating antagonist/nuisance who emerged in the final quarter of the book: an "Earthpeace" warrior who was described for absolutely no reason as "saggy." The character was absolutely unreal in both his idiocy and verbosity. He and his crew scream about our protagonist being an "earth rapist" for merely *being* in a whaling boat, right after they were pulled from the jaws of a prehistoric shark onto that whaling boat. The shark's inevitable death takes up half a single page, but I had to read multiple chapters about stupid liberals wanting to stupid save the planet to get to it.
The author ultimately had an idea he couldn't execute. Even the descriptions get repetitive. For example, warm, tropical, ocean water was referred to as oily/oil dark/oil slick so many times in one chapter that it was irritating.
The romantic subplot was odd and forced (who doesn't want to make out with their ex in a pitch dark cave, in front of a third party, while being hunted by a giant shark?). The characters would have been perfectly safe had they stuck to water that was only as deep as their personalities. They also are nearly impervious to death -- how else would they show up to deliver their quippy and idiotic one liners?
I also found the author's inability to keep their politics out of it distracting. A marine biology expert who pointedly doesn't believe in global warming was odd, as was the grating antagonist/nuisance who emerged in the final quarter of the book: an "Earthpeace" warrior who was described for absolutely no reason as "saggy." The character was absolutely unreal in both his idiocy and verbosity. He and his crew scream about our protagonist being an "earth rapist" for merely *being* in a whaling boat, right after they were pulled from the jaws of a prehistoric shark onto that whaling boat. The shark's inevitable death takes up half a single page, but I had to read multiple chapters about stupid liberals wanting to stupid save the planet to get to it.
The author ultimately had an idea he couldn't execute. Even the descriptions get repetitive. For example, warm, tropical, ocean water was referred to as oily/oil dark/oil slick so many times in one chapter that it was irritating.
Spoiler
And of course, the shark was pregnant. I already read Meg, thanks.balthazarlawson's review against another edition
2.0
This could be subtitled "Huge Old Fish In A Huge Underground Ocean"
That is until about 60% of the way in when it takes a left turn when it called be subtitled "Jaws - Again".
This kind of sums things up. Cate Granger is a biologist obsessed with the disappearance of her grandfather 60 years ago. When she investigates her latest leads she discovers a huge underground ocean and mounts an expedition. What could go wrong? Everything of course and it does until they end up in the water looking at death in the face.
This is only an semi interesting read. It didn't really grab me as it was like so many monster movies, where one by one, the expedition party, who of course has lots of secrets, are slowly killed as the lead character, who got everyone into the mess in the first place, is finally saved. But in this book, they get to do it all again.
Could have been better and was a bit disjointed.
That is until about 60% of the way in when it takes a left turn when it called be subtitled "Jaws - Again".
This kind of sums things up. Cate Granger is a biologist obsessed with the disappearance of her grandfather 60 years ago. When she investigates her latest leads she discovers a huge underground ocean and mounts an expedition. What could go wrong? Everything of course and it does until they end up in the water looking at death in the face.
This is only an semi interesting read. It didn't really grab me as it was like so many monster movies, where one by one, the expedition party, who of course has lots of secrets, are slowly killed as the lead character, who got everyone into the mess in the first place, is finally saved. But in this book, they get to do it all again.
Could have been better and was a bit disjointed.
minorsend's review
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
pjonsson's review against another edition
4.0
This is a quite okay thriller/fantasy book from Greig Beck. It is a wee bit like Jaws on steroids. Big chark…check. Stuck on boat…check. Shark jumps onto boat…check. Shark wrecks boat…check. Shark…oh no, that would be a spoiler. Anyway, I quite liked it.
Greig Beck must have some kind of love for dark and musty places deep under ground and preferably with some underground lake in them. At least it is a recurring theme in his books. Although the shark plays the center role in the book there is a lot more to the book than the shark. The author throws in a little bit of Journey to the Center of the Earth as well. As there often is in Greig Beck’s book there is a bit of scientific explanation as well to make the incredible somewhat less incredible.
I quite liked the characters, especially the Russian billionaire and his female assistant and protector, not to mention the Russian harpooner. Most of the other characters were quite good as well.
There is a nice mix between suspension, mystery research and action as well as a twist or two. I really felt like I wanted to read the next page to see what came next most of the time.
There were a few things that I did not like that much. Mild spoiler ahead. The first one was the use of thermonuclear devices for the dual purpose of sabotage and prevention of future access. Can you say overkill? That was just over the top. No one noticed that someone threw nuclear weapons around, seriously, even in Alaska that is just a joke. Governments all over the world would be up in arms about a nuclear device going off above ground.
The other thing I did not like was the green fanatics showing up sabotaging everything. Apart from the fact that I do not like fanatics very much these ones where possibly even dumber than they usually are. Especially their dumb ass leader annoyed the bloody hell out of me. These green assholes kind of sabotaged not only our heroes’ plans but a lot of the last part of the book for me as well.
Otherwise, as I wrote above I quite liked the book. The ending? Well it was a bit unimaginative. That has to be said. Standard horror movie type ending straight out of the box.
Greig Beck must have some kind of love for dark and musty places deep under ground and preferably with some underground lake in them. At least it is a recurring theme in his books. Although the shark plays the center role in the book there is a lot more to the book than the shark. The author throws in a little bit of Journey to the Center of the Earth as well. As there often is in Greig Beck’s book there is a bit of scientific explanation as well to make the incredible somewhat less incredible.
I quite liked the characters, especially the Russian billionaire and his female assistant and protector, not to mention the Russian harpooner. Most of the other characters were quite good as well.
There is a nice mix between suspension, mystery research and action as well as a twist or two. I really felt like I wanted to read the next page to see what came next most of the time.
There were a few things that I did not like that much. Mild spoiler ahead. The first one was the use of thermonuclear devices for the dual purpose of sabotage and prevention of future access. Can you say overkill? That was just over the top. No one noticed that someone threw nuclear weapons around, seriously, even in Alaska that is just a joke. Governments all over the world would be up in arms about a nuclear device going off above ground.
The other thing I did not like was the green fanatics showing up sabotaging everything. Apart from the fact that I do not like fanatics very much these ones where possibly even dumber than they usually are. Especially their dumb ass leader annoyed the bloody hell out of me. These green assholes kind of sabotaged not only our heroes’ plans but a lot of the last part of the book for me as well.
Otherwise, as I wrote above I quite liked the book. The ending? Well it was a bit unimaginative. That has to be said. Standard horror movie type ending straight out of the box.
wiippola's review
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
thatoneguyjm's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Blood, Violence, Death, and Gore
pages_and_cacti's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Fathomless by Greig Beck 🦈🦈🦈🦈
I’m 1952, Jim Granger is looking “Bad Water”, a place where native Alaskans say there are dangerous creatures that roam. Years later his granddaughter, Cate, is determined to find answers. But in the process, she allows the creature to escape into the ocean.
Now one of my all time favorites! If you enjoy stories about the deep ocean and the creatures that live there, this is the first of three books in this series that will keep you, and Jaws, out of the water! A bigger boat just won’t do!
I’m 1952, Jim Granger is looking “Bad Water”, a place where native Alaskans say there are dangerous creatures that roam. Years later his granddaughter, Cate, is determined to find answers. But in the process, she allows the creature to escape into the ocean.
Now one of my all time favorites! If you enjoy stories about the deep ocean and the creatures that live there, this is the first of three books in this series that will keep you, and Jaws, out of the water! A bigger boat just won’t do!
wynter's review against another edition
1.0
In honour of Shark Week, I picked up Fathomless - a new deep sea thriller featuring no other but C. megalodon. I was so excited! To be honest, I did not expect literary genius here, but rather an action-packed adventure with lots of bigass sharks chomping on unsuspecting humans. While I did get kind of what I was looking for plot-wise, I really REALLY hated the characters.
Unfortunately a lot of the action was narrated through the dialogue, which was not one of the book's strongest points. To be honest, I couldn't stand interactions between any of characters. They felt stiff and pointless, and rambling... At no point in the story could I find myself really gripped by terror, mostly because I did not care whether these people survived or not. After a while they all blended in and sounded the same. The so-called experts were also not very convincing. The scientists were reckless and willing to mislead their colleagues in the name of research, disregarding any ethical, moral, or safety concerns. To think of it, the only people who emerged unscathed from this were people of questionable moral compass.
The romance between two main characters was also so laughable and overdone. When are we going to drop this whole "I'll pretend to hate you, but I secretly still have hots for you" routine? The scenes between them could be written by a juvenile, but at least a juvenile has an excuse of inexperience in real-life relationships to write anything convincing. Some of the writing made me cringe so bad: "She knew she needed him. Probably always had, but now more than ever." Seriously? Gag.
Other examples of odd choice of words: "Jack said, his brows snapping together." "Cate licked lips that had suddenly gone dry." Whaaaat?
Now let me address the Russian-ness of this book. Why?!! Why did the author go down that 90's action movie road, where all Russian characters are just cartoony stereotypes guzzling vodka and being awkwardly aloof? In this day and age it should be considered offensive. If you want to include foreign characters into your book, at least have the decency to research the culture and language properly. I lost track how many really bad, easily-avoidable mistakes the author made. Every time I read misspellings like "Prusalka", or a misused random words, or an obviously made up name, I wanted to burn the book in a raging ball of fire. Maybe if the shark also wore a shapka and danced a trepak across the seven seas I'd be more entertained by the comedic self-awareness. Or maybe if there was a scene like this:
A book of great ideas that was spoiled by the idiotic characters. Also once the megalodon surfaces, there are a ton of plot elements being borrowed from the fellow giant shark thriller [b:Meg|105744|Meg (MEG, #1)|Steve Alten|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1407870638s/105744.jpg|411660]. I thought this would be a new guilty pleasure of mine, but it turned out to be a bummer. The editor should have been harder on Mr. Beck.
Unfortunately a lot of the action was narrated through the dialogue, which was not one of the book's strongest points. To be honest, I couldn't stand interactions between any of characters. They felt stiff and pointless, and rambling... At no point in the story could I find myself really gripped by terror, mostly because I did not care whether these people survived or not. After a while they all blended in and sounded the same. The so-called experts were also not very convincing. The scientists were reckless and willing to mislead their colleagues in the name of research, disregarding any ethical, moral, or safety concerns. To think of it, the only people who emerged unscathed from this were people of questionable moral compass.
The romance between two main characters was also so laughable and overdone. When are we going to drop this whole "I'll pretend to hate you, but I secretly still have hots for you" routine? The scenes between them could be written by a juvenile, but at least a juvenile has an excuse of inexperience in real-life relationships to write anything convincing. Some of the writing made me cringe so bad: "She knew she needed him. Probably always had, but now more than ever." Seriously? Gag.
Other examples of odd choice of words: "Jack said, his brows snapping together." "Cate licked lips that had suddenly gone dry." Whaaaat?
Now let me address the Russian-ness of this book. Why?!! Why did the author go down that 90's action movie road, where all Russian characters are just cartoony stereotypes guzzling vodka and being awkwardly aloof? In this day and age it should be considered offensive. If you want to include foreign characters into your book, at least have the decency to research the culture and language properly. I lost track how many really bad, easily-avoidable mistakes the author made. Every time I read misspellings like "Prusalka", or a misused random words, or an obviously made up name, I wanted to burn the book in a raging ball of fire. Maybe if the shark also wore a shapka and danced a trepak across the seven seas I'd be more entertained by the comedic self-awareness. Or maybe if there was a scene like this:
A book of great ideas that was spoiled by the idiotic characters. Also once the megalodon surfaces, there are a ton of plot elements being borrowed from the fellow giant shark thriller [b:Meg|105744|Meg (MEG, #1)|Steve Alten|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1407870638s/105744.jpg|411660]. I thought this would be a new guilty pleasure of mine, but it turned out to be a bummer. The editor should have been harder on Mr. Beck.
greyhart's review
2.0
Starts off interesting but fizzles out. Characters are flat and science is... Um. But you know what you are getting when you go for creature feature involving ~prehistoric apex predator~.