anastasiaf's Reviews (257)

Interesting enough - I like the idea of a weird world.

I like that we get pay off for some mysteries relatively quickly - ex. whatever is following Koli about midway through the book

Really visceral reaction to the underground people and just wanted the story to stop being there (I could also smell the stink and feel the gross of being there)

I love the diversity of characters 

I think I had a better time than some others as I listened to the audiobook which helped with the language. 

Free on audible so gave it a go. 

Same narrator as the Bob books, which might be why I enjoyed it. 

It was a generally good story, kind of basic but nice.

Interesting, very sad, liked the form (ie staggering of the perspectives so end loops with the beginning).

This being the first book after reading “Into the Drowning Deep”, I felt primed for the transformation and wanting it to be more sinister, but I’m glad it didn’t do that. 

I have questions but I’m okay I don’t have an answer.

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Fun, interesting, and a nice departure from the slow pace of the previous books I read. Has flaws but ultimately fine. 3.8 rounded up to 4 stars.

Some writing was pretty basic (x said… b said…. X said) but can be ignored. Some weird choices by the characters, like going out alone after one of their team dies.  Never saw the movie so can’t comment. 

Oh I forgot about the crazy start! I don’t think I’ve read any Michael Crichton books so was not ready for it. Good pace. 

Lol the technical stuff was so out of date, but it was fine.

Since I listened to it as an audiobook, the pauses for science talk (like re hippos) didn’t bother me like it did some other reviewers.

Bored… nothing really happened. More accurate, things happened TO the characters, which is not interesting, and there is no growth or purpose (other than to teach readers science, which nowadays is out of date so felt myself skipping over).

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Simon Prebble and he did an excellent job. 

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Reading other reviews, it seems that audiobook was definitely the way to go (helped with scientific words)

I wonder if the science would have hit harder if it wasn’t almost 200 years old.

True!! Why didn’t our main characters question why Saknussem kept his voyage so secret as to have a cipher? Actually I think it was because he was accused for being a witch or something and was going to be killed, so maybe never mind. Yeah persecuted for heresy. 

Just because it was important, doesn’t mean it’s still good. 

3.55 but round up to 3.75

I didn’t really like it. It didn’t fulfill my caving itch, my survival itch, wasn’t scary or super thought provoking. It just kind of was. 

SPOILERS BELOW

Maybe I didn’t really like the audiobook narrator, but god was it boring yet complicated at many points.

Pretty silly not to give our main character some caving training. I know it’s because he’s the audience surrogate, but still.

I haven’t read Journey to the Centre of the Earth so maybe this hits more of that sort of pacing and story which was different from what I was expecting/wanting. 

In the psychedelic trance, I didn’t get how they came to certain conclusions about history - like I get their thought process but it doesn’t mean that they were right about the woman having her brain transformed while there. That was all “deduced” from a single phrase from someone else. No other evidence and seems like a huge leap (though an interesting premise). I wish there had been more to support it. 

Love the idea of exploration and following explorers but this one felt really colonial and yucky.  

I really like the cover art (red with black squiggles) 

Would not really recommend to anyone, unless you’re looking for an exercise in editing or something (aka edit this book and make re-writes to make it better) 

—— reading reviews ——

Agreed (and to my point that doesn’t feel like a cave novel) it never really feels claustrophobic. 

Yeah I didn’t get how they fell through the floor and then managed their way back. I’d love to read this again with a cave map.

Yes, more adventure than horror. Yes sci-fi 

Yeah weird that the book just glosses over the fact that MC had a relationship with a student. Yes at university but still! 

Lol one reviewer said “the main plot sounds like a drug trip about connectedness the author had one time and wanted to base everything on” and I totally agree.

Actually yes, the survival aspect did feel very dire at points, so maybe some horror there.

Agreed there was a little too much happening. You can’t really remove the virus as that is part of the tension when they see the dead elephants and them being locked in, plus how we illustrate MC’s love interest’s new medical powers. Maybe we get rid of the psychedelic cave or at least make it a little less? Maybe we remove the collapse and/or consolidate a little bit from when they’re stuck to finding the Delor cave.

I actually totally bought this millionaire having brought the YouTube guy and allowing the stunt. 

Agreed that the epilogue was a let down, but honestly I wasn’t as mad as some others because I think they did discuss this point, about sharing knowledge rather than burdening others with this power. Didn’t they? During the dream sequence talking about shamans? 

Agreed, it took a long time to actually get to the cave. Not sure we needed such in-depth story on the prep at the base camp.

I think someone mentioned the characters felt like “types” in movies and on reflection I agree. They felt very one dimensional, one purpose, etc. No real character growth from anyone really (even the YouTuber, he had a brief moment of humanity but ultimately lost that depth in the epilogue) 

Apparently the guy is a real life explorer. I wish he was better at writing.

Interesting. One of the Amazon reviews (mostly very positive, unlike GoodReads and StoryGraph, but one of the 1 star ones) said “it must be a young adult book” and honestly, I think it might have been better if written that way.

To be fair, the description says it is for fans of Clive Cussler and Michael Crichton, both of which I haven’t really read.

SPOILERS

Interesting story - I like caves and so this right up my alley. Confused about the background world (though I get the gist). I don’t understand what these tunnellers are. Like the mystery with the box being gone, and starting to warm up to Em. Audiobook narrator sometimes makes acting choices that are different from the writing so that’s confusing (sounding upset and angry when it’s supposed to be a quiet murmur).

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Feels like it’s going a little long. Like not sure where we’re going exactly. Nice gay surprise. Still going on too long. It felt like real stakes when the battery was running out (even though there is like 1/3 of the book left to go, like maybe we flip to Em’s perspective and she has some how gotten into the cave. Or whoever stole the box saved her and we get their perspective.) 

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It felt very long but also like I don’t know what I would have cut out. Last 3 hours were so tense and really good. Happy we finally get to learn about the Tunneler but also wondering if maybe that should have come up a little sooner, but actually maybe not. It was just a little too long in the period she was lost (but also necessary for the desperation at the end).

I don’t know how good the story would have been if I listened to it slowly like normal. I think binging it probably made it more enjoyable actually, and make it easier for me to follow where she was in the cave. 

It was fine.

I don’t generally love stories that revise WW2 history but I think this was interesting enough. Note that I don’t know that the mechanics of the travel were fully thought through but it’s fine.

I was bored most of the time, though interested enough in the underlying ideas to want to continue. Nice tie-ins between storylines (eventually)

The story uses so many words without actually getting into the philosophical ideas it mentions and relies on and also fails to have any further depth. 

I would not recommend this to anyone honestly.