So, in a radical departure, I read this baby exclusively on my phone. The author has been considerate enough to put the entire trilogy online for free and my phone has a thingy that lets me download books and the book was there so I said, that's me, all cutting edge and cyberpunky and whatnot.

Peter Watts. Not the most cheerful writer. Not your cuddly romantic heroic hard-edge but soft-hearted type of author, and this is not the most cheerful of books, and the whole trilogy's been a downer so far, but what a ride! The whole thing fizzes and pops with ideas and action and great writing, one can almost forget that the whole thing is about the world dying horribly, except Watts NEVER LETS YOU FORGET.

In Starfish, Leni Clarke is a Rifter, working at a new power generating station on top of a geothermal vent at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. She has been physically altered to survive underwater at insanely high pressures, but it soon becomes apparent that the physical adaptations were easy. psychological adaptation, on the other hand, is a whole different kettle of fish. Rifters come pre-adapted to high-stress environments. They're the survivors of abuse or trauma. They're also the people who commit abuse and inflict trauma, all mixed together at the bottom of the ocean. It's a volatile mix.

What nobody expects is that the Rifters start to like it down there. The Rifters don't want to leave.

Damaged personalities who may not be human anymore in a high-pressure setting. The most hostile place on Earth, spitting lava and boiling water, teeming with hungry monsters with huge teeth. This is insanely atmospheric, claustrophobic, and scary as heck. I was utterly riveted the whole way through, and I don't actually LIKE reading on my flipping phone. I just had to keep going.