Book: The Darkdeep
Author: Ally Condie
Published: October 2, 2018
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children’s books
Genre: Middle Grade Horror
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About The Dark Deep
Still Cove is the place that no one goes to. When Nico falls over the edge after a bullying incident, his friends Tyler, Ella, and Opal rush to his rescue. They discover an island hidden and uninhabited. They get even more of a weird feeling when they stumble upon a houseboat. After looking around, something ancient and dark awakens. Do they have what it takes to fight off the shadowy thing?
What I thought
As of right now, I’m giving The Darkdeep a three-star out of five. I had high hopes for The Dark Deep, and I figured it would be creepy. I feel like the story was lacking something in the storyline. Maybe it’s just because I’m not the target audience for it. There have been tons of middle-grade books that I have liked and truly came off as creepy. I didn’t get that feeling from this one.
I know most horror films and books have no realism to them, but I do like it when they are a bit realistic. With The Dark Deep, there’s a bit of fantasy intertwined with it. At least, that’s how I see it.
I usually like my stories to be somewhat realistic and something that I can imagine happening if monsters and creatures were real. I guess it’s just hard for me to imagine the kids finding an island. Finding it in an abandoned house would have been more plausible.
Also, it felt like certain aspects of the story were rushed, and the time frame was a little wonky to me. I think that lost all of the creepiness to it for me. The idea of the story is a cool concept, and I love the idea of it. Something like this would be cool, but also a bit scary. I may or may not try reading the rest of the books in the series.
If you like this post, then you may also like my post on Middle Grade Horror Books.