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maddypat's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The Descent was a very interesting read. A solid mix of sci-fi and fantasy, with lots of adventure thrown in. I honestly feel like the beginning of the book kind of dragged a but, but once I was about halfway through and pieces started to come together I got a lot more interested. The final few chapters flew by as things began to be revealed. Long does a phenomenal job of laying all the clues for something but still keeping things a surprise. There were more than a few times in the last quarter or so of the book where I would read a sentence and then need a moment to gather my thoughts because of how caught off guard I was.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Violence
Moderate: Slavery and Torture
Minor: Rape, Cannibalism, and War
arkham's review
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Torture, and Murder
Minor: Pedophilia and Pregnancy
coffinfinite's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
The Descent wasn’t what I expected. I hunted down a second hand copy online after discovering it was out of print, my interest initially coming from my love of the film of the same name, and the book appearing on multiple “must read” horror lists online. I suggest that this book also be added to the list of must read science fiction novels, because at its core that is what The Descent is - a science fiction adventure, that knowing references Jules Verne, with elements of profound horror (usually body horror and gore). The scope of the story is huge, spanning worldwide events while also zooming in to examine individual encounters with the newly discovered Hell and its many denizens. I was enraptured, I was disgusted, I was captivated and unnerved. Now the book is over I feel that sense of loss one does after a particularly good read; at five hundred and seventy two pages, this is a meaty text to spend several days with. It loses a single star to the fact that the author’s personal biases about developing nations hampers some of the text, which rankles with white-savourism and colonialism. Other than that, I commend this book entirely.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, and Cannibalism
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