eeves's reviews
284 reviews

Great art although the action scenes can feel a little messy. Don’t have much of an opinion so far, but I’m willing to see where it goes. Plus my fiancé has the whole box set so why not? A fun quick read for inbetween other books.

Tanabe’s art is beautiful and eerie, he really captures creeping tension and even manages to make the Deep Ones appear to writhe across the page. I initially thought the details were indistinct and some scenes a little too dark, it makes sense for Lovecraft’s work: suggestions of unfathomable horror and dread. 

Lovely stuff. Definitely gonna check out Tanabe’s other works and I guess his next adaptation is Call of Cthulhu so looking forward to that. 

I was (more so) a fan of A Natural History of Dragons so I mostly enjoyed this, though it’s not worth the hype it’s getting. Love the whimsical, eerie nature of the faeries, Emily’s occasionally a vibe and Bambley made me picture a friendlier Astarion. 

It does have its issues though. The “slow burn” rivals to lovers romance is basically nonexistent so when the declaration of love happens it feels really jarring. 

I’m conflicted with people claiming Emily is autistic-coded. As an ND person myself, I can def see that the author chose ND-ish traits and how people can relate to her… but I don’t love the perpetuation that ND people are very unsympathetic to the plight of those around them. Tbh I read that more as a flaw in Emily’s character because let’s be real this book (and I assume the rest of the series) is light on the plot so they needed to give her SOMETHING of an arc. 

What little action there is is summarized in a perfunctory way, draining any tension from the scenes. 

The climax felt very, well anticlimactic unfortunately. 

A fine read if you’re looking for something simple and chill. You definitely have to be in the mood for it though, otherwise it’ll feel slow and dry. 

I can see how some readers would find this book boring: it’s a pretty fast read, but it’s very quiet and moody. Reid’s books typically deal with abuse, trauma and violence against women and it shows in Effy’s nature and her view of the world. It’s a little lighter here (maybe because it’s YA?), but it’s done compassionately and is no less relatable. I find it weird that some people didn’t seem to understand why she’d start off as a timid and paranoid character, but okay. I’m not sure how I feel about a couple choices: like the overall mystery is kind of predictable and the romance while genuinely sweet sometimes, lacks chemistry. It’s beautifully written though and the atmosphere is thick. Reid really captures the murky relentlessness of the ocean and water in general.