TL;DR Percy Jackson without the Greek gods, almost
TBR #396, added May 1, 2013
library ebook hold placed 8/23/16; #1
finished 9/8/16
I never really expected I'd get my hands on The Vicious Deep since it didn't seem like the kind of book my library would carry. (I was partially wrong; we do have an ebook of it.)
I don't know that I really looked at the blurb again before I got my hands on the book and dove in (lol I'm funny). I'm not sure what I was expecting, but TVD didn't go in whatever direction that was. Definitely made for a wild ride.
Tristan definitely had some of the same charm as Percy. He was pretty endearing, and I'll definitely give him bonus points as a main character for taking the whole merman thing in stride. (Well, the first couple chapters where he didn't were good, too. But I'm glad he didn't go all broody about it.) He came off as a pretty realistic teenage boy, and I feel like we don't get enough guy main characters in supernatural / urban fantasy YA books. Extra bonus points there.
The premise of the story was good: simple, but interesting. There weren't a whole bunch of plotlines mixed in and I found myself enjoying what was going on despite how many questions I had about the overall world and history of the events that lead up to the story.
So, that said, the worldbuilding was interesting but not necessarily the best put-together. I liked the direction it took but there were still a lot of things that were included without ever getting much of an explanation. (But also, thank you for making the magical world bigger than the scope of the story! I hope we get to see more aspects in the future. And some more explanations.)
The general cast of characters didn't feel particularly deep but I still liked them. They at least all had their unique qualities, and hopefully they get some good character growth as the series goes on. And hopefully we get to see more of Layla and Tristan's family. I want to see so much more of powerful friendships and family in YA books.
The biggest drawback for me is that the plot didn't feel like it had a solid direction. I was all excited for the quest that was set up, and then they just ... went back to school? Like they didn't have a deadline?? I mean, I guess they did have appearances to uphold, but it felt like the entire second half of the book was stalling. Things were happening, but they weren't really advancing the plot.
I get the sense that this quest might be spread out over the whole series (which I'm hoping isn't actually the case), but like I hinted above, I'm still interested in continuing the story if I get the chance. I don't know if I'll ever get the chance based on my library, so I haven't added the next book to my TBR (or even looked at it tbh), but I won't turn down an opportunity to get my hands on it.
TL;DR it was a nice read and I'm pretty optimistic for the series as a whole, but not really of my chances of getting to continue reading it anytime soon. I think this is definitely something I'd recommend to someone looking for something a little less "girly" than YA tends to be.
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