A review by anastasiaf
The Maw by Taylor Zajonc

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

3.55 but round up to 3.75

I didn’t really like it. It didn’t fulfill my caving itch, my survival itch, wasn’t scary or super thought provoking. It just kind of was. 

SPOILERS BELOW

The cave itself felt very confusing and more commercial big cave than actual caving. 

Maybe I didn’t really like the audiobook narrator, but god was it boring yet complicated at many points.

Pretty silly not to give our main character some caving training. I know it’s because he’s the audience surrogate, but still.

I haven’t read Journey to the Centre of the Earth so maybe this hits more of that sort of pacing and story which was different from what I was expecting/wanting. 

In the psychedelic trance, I didn’t get how they came to certain conclusions about history - like I get their thought process but it doesn’t mean that they were right about the woman having her brain transformed while there. That was all “deduced” from a single phrase from someone else. No other evidence and seems like a huge leap (though an interesting premise). I wish there had been more to support it. 

Love the idea of exploration and following explorers but this one felt really colonial and yucky.  

I really like the cover art (red with black squiggles) 

Would not really recommend to anyone, unless you’re looking for an exercise in editing or something (aka edit this book and make re-writes to make it better) 

—— reading reviews ——

Agreed (and to my point that doesn’t feel like a cave novel) it never really feels claustrophobic. 

Yeah I didn’t get how they fell through the floor and then managed their way back. I’d love to read this again with a cave map.

Yes, more adventure than horror. Yes sci-fi 

Yeah weird that the book just glosses over the fact that MC had a relationship with a student. Yes at university but still! 

Lol one reviewer said “the main plot sounds like a drug trip about connectedness the author had one time and wanted to base everything on” and I totally agree.

Actually yes, the survival aspect did feel very dire at points, so maybe some horror there.

Agreed there was a little too much happening. You can’t really remove the virus as that is part of the tension when they see the dead elephants and them being locked in, plus how we illustrate MC’s love interest’s new medical powers. Maybe we get rid of the psychedelic cave or at least make it a little less? Maybe we remove the collapse and/or consolidate a little bit from when they’re stuck to finding the Delor cave.

I actually totally bought this millionaire having brought the YouTube guy and allowing the stunt. 

Agreed that the epilogue was a let down, but honestly I wasn’t as mad as some others because I think they did discuss this point, about sharing knowledge rather than burdening others with this power. Didn’t they? During the dream sequence talking about shamans? 

Agreed, it took a long time to actually get to the cave. Not sure we needed such in-depth story on the prep at the base camp.

I think someone mentioned the characters felt like “types” in movies and on reflection I agree. They felt very one dimensional, one purpose, etc. No real character growth from anyone really (even the YouTuber, he had a brief moment of humanity but ultimately lost that depth in the epilogue) 

Apparently the guy is a real life explorer. I wish he was better at writing.

Interesting. One of the Amazon reviews (mostly very positive, unlike GoodReads and StoryGraph, but one of the 1 star ones) said “it must be a young adult book” and honestly, I think it might have been better if written that way.

To be fair, the description says it is for fans of Clive Cussler and Michael Crichton, both of which I haven’t really read.