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okay let me just be clear on this one. I am rating this 5 stars because I absolutely LOVED this and had the best time reading it, but take that with a grain of salt. I'm not saying that this was a modern day Dune, or East of Eden, or whatever other book I've rated 5 stars, because I am very stingy with my 5 star ratings and bestow them only upon the best of the best, but I had to give this 5 stars. I freaking loved it!

Ok, so there's a prequel. It's definitely not necessary, and Into the Drowning Deep can work as a standalone, but reading the prequel, Rolling in the Deep, definitely sets the scene. Also, what happens in the prequel is referred to repeatedly, and is basically the reasoning for all of Into the Drowning Deep, so considering it's a novella and not much of a time investment, there's no reason why everyone shouldn't read this before ITDD.

SO. Basically what happens is that Imagine, a sorta sci-fi channel equivalent, has garnered a bit of a cult following with it's typical low budget cheesy sci fi movies . After a few ventures into other sub genres, they have even gained a tad bit of credibility in the scientific world. Their next project is a documentary/mockumentary about mermaids in the Mariana Trench. So Imagine gathers a group of specialists in that particular field, people who actually believe mermaids exist and who have spent their life researching and trying to prove this, along with an assortment of other scientists in the marine world, the vast majority of them of course do not believe that they will find anything to do with mermaids, but are going along on the trip as sort of a free shot to do some research and science in the Mariana Trench which remains mostly unexplored. The Atargatis sets sail, and surprise surprise, they come across some 'mermaids,' only they aren't the lovely ladies of the sea that they have been depicted as all throughout history and legend. The Atargatis is found adrift several weeks later, not a single soul left on board alive, with only bits and pieces of film left to explain what happened, and despite being 100% authentic is dismissed as a hoax when the films are released to the public. Now it's several years later and Imagine, having barely recovered from being on the brink of collapse, is set to sail again only this time much better prepared and endowed with the necessary equipment & people to deal with these 'mermaids.' Several of the people aboard the Melusine have a bit of unfinished business, and are participating in hopes of attaining answers, and possibly even avenging their lost love ones that were aboard the Atargatis. Off they go, back to the scene of the crime, and only a select few aboard are really prepared for what they are about to face.

I don't really need to go into detail about the rest, I think everyone can pretty much guess at the way things go, but despite being pretty standard for a monster book,I happened to love this particular brand of monster. This is actually the only book/story that I have ever read about mermaids and I have to say that it was about as good as it possibly could have been. I'm a sucker for a really good monster/villain, and where normally the thriller/page turner is not my favorite genre, I had such a good time reading this and thought it was very near perfect, for what it was. Mira Grant's descriptions of the mermaids were ON POINT. I could literally see them in my head, I've actually been sitting around doodling little pictures of how I imagine them.

There wasn't much for character development, but this just wasn't that type of book. Every author/writer has his or her own set of strengths, and where some may be exceptional at creating honest and realistic character studies, Into the Drowning Deep was NOT that. The characters were just good enough to keep the reader invested in their little side stories, but I think I can speak for most when I say the main attraction was THE MERMAIDS!

Soooooo much fun! Highly recommended, and a great way to start off my 2018!