A review by ravensandlace
Under the Surface by Diana Urban

4.5

Title: Under the Surface
Author: Diana Urban
Genre: YA Horror
Format: eARC
Series: NA
Star Rating: 4.5 stars

tw: theft, parental death, blood, injury, night terrors, death, near drowning, bugs, assault, murder

A special thank you goes to Netgalley and Penguin Group for providing me with a copy of this book. Please know that this does not influence my rating or thoughts on the book itself.

One of my favorite horror movies is As Above So Below, which is about a group of young adults who go into the Paris catacombs and bad things start to happen. When I discovered that there was a YA book about a group of teens going into the catacombs, I knew I had to get my hands on this book by any means necessary. Luckily, NetGalley approved my request so I didn’t have to do anything too crazy. But just so you know, Diana, I would have done a lot of things to get my hands on the book. A lot. 

One of the best things about this book was how the teenagers behaved like teenagers. Ruby, the main character, had a huge fight with one of her friends. The reason why was so silly to me and I was starting to get annoyed about it. But one of my friends, who I buddy read this with, reminded me that they are teens. Of course, what we (as adults) think is silly is a big deal to teens. That put things in perspective for me and I enjoyed the book a lot more. 

The setting is so well done. The Paris catacombs are so creepy and I can tell that Diana Urban did her research about this place. There is so much history about the catacombs and I learned quite a bit about how vast the catacombs are. It made me really to visit the catacombs and also never want to visit them ever. 

I think I will end the review here. This is one of those books where you need to experience it with as little information as possible. Just know you will experience a lot of dread. It pervades the entire book and it will never leave you, even at the very end. I highly recommend this book! Especially if you enjoyed the movie, As Above So Below.