User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Okay, this is so strange. Four Dead Queens was everywhere months before the book was published. There was so much hype!
And this just somehow sneaked into bookshops without anyone (or was it just me?) noticing.
Rating: really liked it
What a unique and interesting world! I loved the whole world drowned by water concept! It had a tinge of Waterworld but a hundred times better!
These characters! I especially loved Lor. He had so much guilt going on and he just needed some love! Elysea was seriously a wonderful side character! She was sweet, genuine, and unselfish! Tempe, you couldn’t help but feel for her, especially after being alone for the past two years and struggling to survive!
I swear, Scholte has the coolest worlds, best twists, and excellent writing! I can’t wait to see what she has up her sleeve next!
Rating: really liked it
Update 24th of March:
Thank you for all your support during these trying times. If you're looking for a signed copy of The Vanishing Deep, please try:
- Barnes and Noble Union Square, 5th Avenue and Fullerton.
- Mysterious Galaxy
- Books of Wonder
- Half Price Books
- The Tattered Cover
I hope the book helps take you on a thrilling journey!
Stay safe!
Update 8th of February:
Penguin Teen's preorder campaign is up! If you preorder before the 3/3/20, you can enter your receipt and recieve an exclusive waterproof phone pouch! (US only)
Check out the details here.
Update 15th of December:
Pre-order campaign with Good Choice Reading is live! You can order a signed US hardcover and receive four character cards painted by me! More info here.
The first spark of inspiration for The Vanishing Deep was back in 2015, before I wrote Four Dead Queens, when I was watching an episode of the Real Housewives of NYC and one of the housewives said she wished she could have just one more day with her late husband. The idea stuck in my mind. What if it
was possible to have one more day with a deceased loved one?
Fast forward to early 2017, when I sold my debut Four Dead Queens to Penguin Random House (USA) and my editor asked if I had any other book ideas. I suggested three and the one my editor picked became The Vanishing Deep!
The main character, Tempest Alerin, is a tough, unapologetic girl who would never smile if you asked her to or sensor her thoughts. She's been scavenging the sunken ruins of the Old World for the past two years to fund the revival of her sister, Elysea. But Tempest doesn't want some kind of meaningful final goodbye with her sister, she wants the truth to their parents' deaths and the secret Elysea took to her grave about that fateful night.
The Vanishing Deep is a story of sisterhood, love and loss, and the lengths we will go to for the people we care about. It's also a fantasy/sci fi thriller which takes place in a world that's 99% water where the ocean is as deadly as it is beautiful.
I hope you enjoy the journey!
Rating: really liked it
Hooboy *takes deep breath* This is not going to be pretty. Honestly, I should have just DNFed this book. The only reason I didn't is because the world was intriguing and in the beginning I was really interested. But sadly, the farther I read, the worse it got.
I'll start with the positive: The concept was FANTASTIC. In the beginning, I was so onboard! It felt so much like Waterworld, which I love. The idea of a post-apocalyptic world of water is amazing! However, that was where the enjoyment ends.
The world building was shoddy. There's no nice way to put it. I still don't even know if this was supposed to be a high fantasy or a sci-fi dystopia. It seemed like a futuristic, post-apocalyptic world - basically, the government used technology to melt the ice caps that were encasing a large portion of land because overpopulation was an issue and they needed more space. But they screwed up and melted too much, raising the sea level too high and burying all the land under water. Okay...far-fetched, but okay. I can roll with that. But it's never mentioned if it's actually Earth or not, even though everything seems to go by Earth's rules and there's nothing other-worldly about it to make it a High Fantasy world.
Then we have Palindromena, a high-tech island facility that brings loved ones back for 24 hours for an exorbitant price. Also a cool concept, but I don't think the post-apocalyptic water world and the high tech facility really fit together. If they have access to that kind of technology, why is the rest of the world living in the dark ages? It seemed far-fetched to me (I know I keep using that word but it describes the whole book, sorry). Anyway, let's suspend belief that this facility would exist in a world without land that otherwise lacks any technology. The way the tethering process works is also a reach. (view spoiler)
[There's a bracelet, called an echolink, that connects a Warden (someone in charge of the revival process) to the dead patient that's being revived via their heartbeat. So the revived patient shares a heartbeat with the Warden for 24 hours, but they can't survive sharing for a second longer than that, so one of them has to be terminated. Okaaaayy. (hide spoiler)] I mean, the concept was cool. If you could have closure - the chance to say goodbye and see your loved ones one last time - would you? Interesting.
In addition to the terrible world building,
this book also lacked any logic whatsoever. There were SO many things that were completely nonsensical, and the more I read the more they bugged the shit out of me.
First - There was a disease called Crystal Lung, which was a byproduct of living on the salt water. Salt coated everything (this part did make sense and was brilliantly done - people had to flip their cups upside down to avoid them getting coated in a layer of salt, which does happen when you live close/on the ocean), and people would literally get a disease from breathing in the salt water so much that it formed crystals in your lungs. Um, what?? People who live on the ocean in real life never have that problem. If this book had been about a different species, it would have been fine. But the subjects are
human. According to The Lung Institute, breathing in ocean air actually
improves lung function and reduces coughing.
Second - It was repeated multiple times that the
Sunrise, the vessel the girls owned, only held 3 people. Any more, and it would sink. When I say repeated, it was beaten into your head and used as an excuse any time it would have made more sense for an extra person to join the group. This is not how boats work. A boat would have to be incredibly tiny to sink if a 4th person boarded. According to the Coast Guard, the general formula for maximum occupancy is L x W of the boat divided by 15. Now, for only 3 people, L x W would have to be 45. Assuming the boat is about 5 feet across, that makes it only 9 feet long. However, the way the boat is described makes it sound much larger than that. It even has a cabin below deck. This lack of logic bugged the ever loving shit out of me!! (view spoiler)
[The parents had to leave the girls behind because the boat couldn't fit four people. Then, when the girls found their parents alive, they couldn't all leave together - again, because the boat was too small. (hide spoiler)]It was more like an excuse and a plot device than actual logic. Just because you have a pseudo-fantasy world (that feels more like futuristic Earth than any made up planet) doesn't mean you get to break the laws of physics.
The whole plot was frankly frustrating. There was a countdown to create tension, but no real action or conflict. Or any kind of real stakes or danger.
(view spoiler)
[The whole reunion with the girls' parents, along with their parents' explanation as to why they left without the girls and let them think they were dead had me rolling my eyes. Why would they leave the girls behind, knowing the corporation wanted to kill them and that the girls would possibly be in danger as well? Nothing about any of it made any sense whatsoever.
I also predicted that Lor would give his life for Elysea as soon as it was revealed that the echolink was actually a tether between them, and only one of them (not necessarily the revived) had to die for the other to survive. SUPER predictable. However, I will say that I did not predict that Lor was actually revived himself, and that he'd actually taken his best friend's place. But I was too frustrated by that point to appreciate the brilliance of the twist.
It also really pissed me off that they were going to revive Lor - again - after he took Elysea's place. I'm glad it didn't happen, because it would have cheapened Lor's sacrifice, but the fact that it was even possible was rage inducing. It's stated multiple times that someone CAN'T be revived twice and that it's just not possible. (Something about their heart not being able to take it, blah blah blah.) Yet when Lor dies suddenly we get some bullshit reason that it actually WOULD be possible, if he had a stronger heart. (hide spoiler)] No, no, NO. There's nothing that pisses me off more than when a book breaks its own rules. Don't make the rules in the first place if you're going to change them later on down the road when it's convenient.
There was talk throughout the beginning of how dangerous the Untied Sea was to sail through, because the Remoran (aka pirates) dwelled there. When they said they were sailing into the Untied Sea, I got excited - pirates! Swashbuckling! Danger!! However, I was seriously disappointed. There was only one tiny blip and wham bam done they were out of the Untied Sea and I was left thinking,
That's it?? (view spoiler)
[The Remoran found them, and here's the vicious captain of a group of (rumored) cannibalistic pirates - who has awesome blue hair and teeth literally filed to points - and all they did was talk about stealing their boat's power and leaving them to float stranded out on the ocean. Until Lor conveniently escapes his bonds, hops over to the other ship, and sends it off without a wheel. And it was over. LAME. The Remoran do appear again at the very end, but it was also a brief interaction. (hide spoiler)]In addition the all of that frustration, I also didn't like any of the characters and couldn't connect to them at all, so I felt absolutely nothing while reading. They didn't have any real depth to them, and despite the two main girls' motivation being love, I couldn't find anything worth rooting for in them. In fact, I outright hated Tempest. Literally her only personality trait was being angry and standoffish and overall a horrible person to anyone except her sister (who she was also horrible to sometime). At one point Lor even said "she was angry - but then again, Tempest's default setting was angry." Yeah, because that's her
entire personality, bro. Even when her sister was revived she was still angry and horrible.
The farther I went and the more I thought about it, the more frustrated this story made me. I seriously should have just DNFed this when I realized I was no longer enjoying it. But because of the strong start, I held out hope that it would get better. Spoiler alert: It didn't.
This review was originally posted on Novel Heartbeat. To see a breakdown of my assessment, please visit the full review here.
Rating: really liked it
The Vanishing Deep is a truly awesome book with great characters, and an incredibly action-packed plot with numerous twists and turns that constantly left me feeling genuinely surprised when it came to trying to predict what was going to happen! I definitely recommend reading this book! :)
My rating/score: 5 out of 5 Stars on the Goodreads rating system, and 10 out of 10 on my own personal scoring system.
Rating: really liked it
"A TALE OF TWO SISTERS IN A WATER-WORLD DYSTOPIAN SET FUTURE"
"The Vanishing Deep" is a fast paced action packed YA dystopian sci-fi thriller. Even though I enjoyed more Scholte's debut novel "Four Dead Queens" which I gave 5 stars, I really enjoyed this one too and would read future books from this author. The difference in rating may be just of personal taste. I felt "The Vanishing Deep" main plot execution was not as intriguing as in "Four Dead Queens" and it had some more common tropes found in YA literature that at least for me, did not totally won me over. I'm giving this one 4 stars because I really enjoyed the reading experience but I find myself feeling now that I wouldn't re-read this one BUT I would re-read "For Dead Queens" in the future. These are my feelings at this moment, things change...
In a world widely submerged underwater after a natural disaster called The Great Waves occurred long time ago, 17-year old Tempe spends her days diving, searching for items she could sell in order to gather enough money to pay for the services provided by company located on the island of Palindromena. On that island, there's a private security facility that provides a peculiar service to its clients: resurrect their loved ones for a day (23 hours to be exact), so they have a chance to say their proper goodbyes to their dearly departed and move on with their lives with their minds at ease.
Tempe's sister Elysea drowned tragically two years before and her body has been in a tank in this facility waiting for her next of kin to come pay the price and resurrect her for one day only. Tempe gathers the money she needs and goes to the island. She has questions for her sister, questions about why their parents supposedly fake their deaths and Elysea was keeping that secret from her when she died. In a way, Tempe blames her sister for keeping information that would send her on the path to find their parents. But once Elysea is revived, she quickly realizes she's dead and in Palindromena, has her own agenda for the day that includes finding a map that would lead them to their parents whereabouts but she refuses to pass the information to Tempe. Elysea wants to live her last day on this planet away from Palindromena. The two sisters break out from the facility and embark on their adventure. Not alone though, they are being followed by Lor, the 19-year old warden who was supposed to monitor all day the revival process and the sisters interactions.
The chapters headings show a clock with a countdown since the time of Elysea's revival. They only have less than a day to discover what happened to their parents, try to reunite with them so Elysea can see her parents one last time and then go back to the facility. In theory of course, twists take place and secrets surface in this running out of time story.
The ending dragged a bit long. The love sub-plot (always present in YA literature) was secondary since this book is more about family issues and the consequences of making certain decisions.
I really liked it and would recommend Astrid Scholte as a YA promising new author.
Rating: really liked it
The worldbuilding concept behind this book surely grabs attention: it's not often I see a book based in a sci-fi/futuristic fantasy watery world where sea levels have risen (it doesn't seem far-fetched to say it has real-world parallels) and the heroine is a diver.
I wanted a quick, easily-read standalone and THE VANISHING DEEP delivered. It definitely reads and feels like a YA novel (obviously because it
is a YA novel), with tight pacing that keeps the narrative flowing. It's not as developed as it could be (centrally in worldbuilding and characterisation), but it works well enough. I liked the cast of characters, and surprisingly I liked the ending, which I thought was rather unconventional - especially for a YA novel where a "happy ending" means
romance. The ending was also rather open-ended and future events were open to interpretation.
Thinking on it more, although THE VANISHING DEEP is
good, I definitely think it had the potential to be
excellent if more time was given to building characters and character relationships (Lor and Nessandra, for one), and if it leaned more heavily in the ethics of reviving people. It could probably go pretty deep, if it wanted to. You could also shove some nifty parables about global warming in there . . . but perhaps I'm getting away from myself here.
Also kudos for the absolutely unexpected a-spec rep in Elysea; although specific terms are not used, I think the words "she didn't feel that way about him [...] and wouldn't feel that way about anyone" plus context is enough to confirm it.
TL;DR: An easy-read YA novel that's sure to capture interest due to its unique watery setting whilst providing a fun few hours of reading.I was provided with a copy by the publishers in exchange for an honest review
Rating: really liked it
⭐⭐.5
SummaryTempe has spent the last 2 years diving and saving money to resurrect her sister, Elysea. After her sister's death, Tempe learned that her sister withheld secrets about her role in their parents death. So Tempe is determine to spend their last 24 hours together learning the truth. But when Elysea tells Tempe what she knows, they must escape the facility and start down a dangerous journey to learn the truth and possible save their family.
Overview➸ POV: 1st Person from Tempe's & Lor's POVs
➸ Tempest (Tempe): 19, Angry, Younger sister, Attempting to resurrect her sister
➸ Elysea: Older sister, Died/Drowned at 19, Resurrected
➸ Lor: 19, Lost his best friend while rock climbing, Works/lives in the basement of Palindromena
➸ Content Warnings: Death, Grief, Drowning, Climate Change
My ThoughtsOhhh where to start... I had so many problems with this book. But lets start with the good -
This premise was so unique and intriguing! I absolutely loved the idea of a post-apocalyptic, water covered world. This was one of my most anticipated reads of the first half of the year because this concept was so compelling.
However that's about where my enjoyment ended.... Because overall this book felt completely aimless and underdeveloped.
Where was the world building?? At one point I actually paused the audiobook to check the genre on Goodreads because I could never tell if this was intended to be a post-apocalyptic Earth or some sort of fantasy world. Everyone appeared to be human, but the world didn't follow any sort of Earthly logic. Like boats having a limit of 3 people (how?), Crystal lung because of over-exposure to sea salt (there are millions of people who live on or around the Dead Sea - the most salt heavy sea in the world and this problem doesn't exist...), there is extremely advanced technology to preserve and resurrect bodies, but the other islands live like they're in 1800s....
Everything just felt so inconsistent. How has this world cured death but not disease? If there is this much technology, why isn't it being used for other things like depleting resources? How/who created this technology? But worse than any of that, there were times this story didn't follow it's own rules - (view spoiler)
[It's harped on over and over that someone can't be resurrected twice but Lor's mother comes up with a way to do it about 4 seconds after his death... (hide spoiler)]It felt like this book was unsure of what it wanted it's plot to be. Was it a pirate story? A journey? A familial mystery? Hard-hitting? Post-apocalyptic? And instead it attempted and fell short on all of these. The pirates, despite being the main "villains" were wholly undeveloped or explained, the journey was somehow both extremely drawn out yet uneventful, the family mystery was so illogical and unbelievable, and the characters were too underdeveloped for the ever qualify as hard-hitting.
A plotless story can still work for me as long as the characters and their arcs are strong. But these characters were so flat that I never cared about a single one of them. Tempest is angry - that is her entire personality. Elysea is a dancer. And Lor is self-punishing. That's it. There was no depth to anyone. No one really grew as a person. And the "romance" was atrocious and felt like it was just thrown in because "YA fantasy has romance".
Honestly, by the end I was ready to throw the book against the wall if I had to hear about how Elysea was an amazing dancer or more damn time.
And that final showdown... gah! It managed to both predictable and wholly frustrating. I won't lie, as I'm writing this review I'm realizing that 2.5 stars is probably a generous rating considering my level of annoyance with this book.
Overall this book was a massive let down. I was expecting a really fun, unique YA fantasy. But instead I got an underdeveloped and aimless story. While this book has a fascinating premise, it never seemed to settle on what exactly it wanted to be and ended up failing all around in my opinion.
Rating: really liked it
Okay, so Goodreads just freaked out, crashed, and deleted half of my review. So here is my review from January:
“Twenty-four hours with your loved one didn’t make it any easier to say goodbye, no mater what Palindromena promised. There was no closure. There never would be.”The Vanishing Deep has to be one of the most unique worlds I have ever read. Scholte really knows how to have spectacular world building and such an amazing plot. The book takes place literally on the ocean, the “Old World” which is our world today sank underwater. The entire world went underwater and so now these people survive on reefs and metal buildings that they have built by diving under and collecting the Old-World wreckage. I really love how in depth the descriptions got, I think it made it much more realistic, and I could picture this world and it was really astounding to even think about.
We follow two characters, Tempe and Lor. Tempe lives day by day just trying to get by because her whole family is dead. Her goal is to get enough Notes to have her sister come back to life for 24 hours so she can ask her about what happened the night she died. Palindromena is an island where they have figured out how to raise people from the dead for 24 hours, but it is costly. Lor our other main character lives on this island, but he doesn’t work there. He is struggling with some grief of his own and hides in the basement away from everyone. When Tempe finally gets enough Notes to have her sister come back, she makes her way to Palindromena and that’s when Lor and Tempe’s lives intertwine.
I really love how fast paced this was and how it takes place within 24 hours, not to mention it’s a countdown. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time wondering what was going to happen next. While I completely loved everything about this book, I really didn’t like the ending. A part of the ending was incredible, but I just felt let down. I was blown away with the plot twists that happened at the end, but I finished going, “Wait WHAT that’s it???”. I really did enjoy this book and now I’m really looking forward to reading Four Dead Queens.
Rating: really liked it
Originally published on The Nerd Daily | Review by Ellie King
“Twenty-four hours with your loved one didn’t make it any easier to say goodbye, no matter what Palindromena promised. There was no closure. There never would be.”
What would you do if you could spend 24 hours with a lost loved one? The Vanishing Deep by bestselling author, Astrid Scholte, asks that question and then takes the reader on a whirlwind adventure as we explore the possibilities. A standalone novel, it is the story of Tempest Alerin. Tempest, or Tempe, is a seventeen-year-old girl living alone on a reef known as the Equinox. She spends her days diving the ocean dwelling wrecks of the old world looking for items to sell in an attempt to save enough money to allow her one last chance to speak to her sister Elysea who tragically died two years ago. On the island of Palindromena, there is a research facility that, for a hefty price, will grant you the chance to revive your loved one for 24 hours to allow you to say your final goodbyes. Tempe, however, has something else in mind. She isn’t looking for a family reunion, she wants answers that only Elysea can give her.
The Vanishing Deep is set in a scarily prophetic world where society as we know it has been destroyed and consumed by the Great Waves. This has created a dystopian water world where the remaining population lives on islands or strongly regulated reefs. The population on the reefs are monitored closely as life is now a temperamental balancing act. They have to deal with weight limits, overpopulation, and the related health issues of living with so much salt in the air. Tempe and her sister Elysea grew up on Equinox reef with their parents until their tragic death in a boating accident. With no adult care, the girls were forced to dive the sunken wrecks of the old world in an attempt to find a source of income. After her sister’s death, Tempe is left alone to dive the seas in an attempt to survive, but also to search for the answers she desperately needs as Tempe’s sister died with a terrible secret and she needs to know the answer.
The old world wrecks are the remnants of our current world as we know it and while Scholte doesn’t explain exactly how the Great Waves came to be, there is an overwhelming hint throughout the plot about the importance of sustainability and the need to care for our environment. The worldbuilding in this story is deep and effortless and the detailed description of the ocean, the wrecks and general life transports the reader into this water world. This is an ocean book like none other before it.
After Tempe finds a lucrative treasure, she finally has enough notes to buy her sisters temporary revival. The research facility on the nearby island of Palindromena is one of marvel and mystery. This is a facility with the technology to revive your loved one for 24 hours for a high cost, three thousand notes to be exact. The Vanishing Deep is told from dual point of views, which follows Tempe but are also introduced to Lor, a hermitted “employee” of Palindromena. Lor is an unlikely main character and is drawn into the action somewhat by accident. Lor doesn’t believe in the value of the revival process the facility provides and he knows this because he has experienced it first hand. Filled with grief for the death of his friend and his memory of the revival process, Lor knows how devastating the experience can be. When Tempe arrives on Palindromena ready to interrogate her sister, their paths cross and the adventure begins.
The two main characters are wonderfully crafted and compliment each other. Tempe is confident, fierce, and stubborn. She shares her feelings freely and is passionate about her beliefs. Lor on the other hand is the complete opposite. Shy, quiet, and hiding many secrets, Lor is the yin to Tempe’s yang. The addition of the secondary characters Elysea, Tempe’s sister, and Raylan, Lor’s only friend is used to balance the extreme personality traits of the main characters.
This adventure takes the characters on a fast-paced chase running against the clock. The 24 hour countdown is a thrilling plot point that keeps the story moving and the characters on their toes. Through this race against the clock, we learn some very important things about the characters: their passions, loves, compassion, and moral compass. Each chapter begins with a countdown clock and this makes the book a race for the reader as well. This book is a total page turner. In true Astrid Scholte fashion, this book is also filled with perfectly timed, multi-layered plot twists that are as gut wrenching as they are clever. The only downside of having a countdown clock built into a story’s plot is that there is the pressure that events must end. The Vanishing Deep races to its conclusion and then ends somewhat abruptly and unexpectedly with a moderately happy ending.
The Vanishing Deep is an emotional rollercoaster dealing with death, sacrifice, and love. The theme of love is multifaceted and explored in so many different ways. Scholte’s writing style is beautiful and the story flows easily, taking the reader along for the ride rather than being simply an observer. The environmental theme resonates subtly throughout and the entire premise has left me wondering if I had the opportunity to speak to a lost loved one, would I take it?
Rating: really liked it
I enjoyed this book but did i love it? NO i struggled to build a strong enough connection with the characters. I love books that play with my emotions and this book just didnt do it for me.
Rating: really liked it
I received an ARC of this title from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 3.5/5 starsRTC closer to publication (March 2019)
I liked Four Dead Queens, so I'm pretty excited for this one!
Rating: really liked it
I.... am genuinely at a loss to come up with a constructive review. I would ordinarily couch my criticisms in between some compliments but I can’t do that here, mainly because I just don’t have much to say that is positive.
The concept has potential. The world in which “The Vanishing Deep” takes place is some kind of dystopia created when a giant continent of ice melted and caused the oceans to rise and cover the land. The people now live on loosely joined man-made floating “cities” that are located near whatever land still exists. In this world there are few ways to make money, and on the island of Palindromena scientists have discovered a way to bring the dead back to life, but only for 24 hours. It costs an outrageous amount of money, and Tempest spends the two years following her sister’s death saving every note she can just to bring her sister, Elysea, back in the hopes she will learn what happened to their parents years before.
And that’s it. That’s the premise. That’s where my (admittedly very weak) compliments end. Because the characters, aside from Tempest, were one-dimensional and had no real motivations. The book relies on the countdown clock to create tension, but it’s hard to stay engaged in a story with no real antagonist or motivation beyond a simple 24 hour timer. There’s a villain, but they’re not introduced until more than halfway through the 420 page book, and even then they don’t stand up to scrutiny. There’s one moment of “danger” and it passes almost instantly. The book relies on the end to satisfy the reader, but there’s no real conflict. I kept reading because I was hoping there would be a twist, even if it was predictable, and when it finally came, I was bored out of my mind.
I feel terrible writing this review. I want so badly to have something positive to say. I also seem to be the only person who feels this way, so it’s entirely possible I am an outlier and most other people will find this book exciting, or at the very least, entertaining.
Rating: really liked it
[Why have all that detail about trying to save Lor if
Rating: really liked it
Prepare to be swept away by this thrilling new story from Astrid! This book has it all: a countdown, adventure on the sea, cool creatures, and one of my favorite sister relationships I've ever read. I LOVED it!
