Book Review
Title: The Vanishing Deep
Author: Astrid Scholte
Genre: YA/Fantasy/Thriller
Rating: *****
Review: I didn’t know anything about The Vanishing Deep before picking it up, but the synopsis sounded very interesting and I couldn’t wait to get into it. I was aware from the synopsis that most of this novel takes place over a single day so I can’t wait to see how that works out and it also features people returning from the dead as well as a mystery. I haven’t read Four Dead Queens yet, but I heard nothing but good things about it. We are introduced to Tempe, whose full name is Tempest working to fund the resurrection of her sister Elysea, not because she loves her but because she has information that Tempe needs to know. Tempe works by diving in the wrecks of the cities under the water finding things that are valuable and trading them for notes.
She is running out of options with her current site and on her last dive she manages to find a plant which have become rare in the wake of the Great Wave. When she has enough notes she is heading to the island of Palindromena to revive her sister and get the answers she needs. We are also introduced to Lor who works in the basement of the Palindromena revival facility known as the aquarium where the bodies of the dead are housed. He has been hiding away there for six months after a decision he made rock climbing killed his friend. A colleague he works with Ray asks Lor to cover his revival the following day so he can see a doctor about healing a diving injury and Ray agrees and we know that this client is Tempe. On the day of her sister’s revival we get a countdown with each chapter and there are two hours until the revival. The opening chapters of The Vanishing Deep were interesting, and I can’t wait to see where it goes.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Tempe is nervous about reviving her sister, but she needs to know the truth, however, she has conflicting feelings on the matter as she has genuinely missed her sister despite the fact she may be the reason for the death of their parents. We don’t get to see much of the facility itself, but we do learn that the Director of the facility knew Tempe’s parents and therefore knows her. Meanwhile Lor is getting more and more anxious about acting as a Warden for the day as it has been over two years since he has willing interacted with another living human except Ray. Despite everything Elysea’s revival doesn’t go to plan, the second Tempe starts asking about their parent’s deaths Elysea knows that she is dead and wants Tempe to confirm it but she refuses and flees the room. We get a nice bonding scene between Lor and Tempe as he tells her not to waste this chance to say goodbye properly the same way he did with his friend. He also tells her to tell Elysea the truth despite knowing that he should call the scientists to sedate Elysea and I have a feeling he is going to get dragged along with the girls whether he likes it or not. I can smell a romance brewing between Lor and Tempe and surprisingly I don’t mind. I also like the fact this novel is really fast paced as it only takes place over one day for the majority which means the pages just fly by.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Tempe gets some answers from her sister but not the ones she was expecting. It turns out that Elysea was out diving for a gift for Tempe’s birthday the night their parents died, they ended up finding her and told her they were going to leave and that it was a matter of life and death. Elysea being a stubborn child went back to get Tempe and decided to let her sister sleep and meet her parents the following morning, but the storm destroyed their boat and both sisters believed them to be dead. However, Elysea soon began finding very personal items belonging to their parents at their dive site hundreds of miles away and there was no way for those items to end up there unless they were put there by someone. Elysea believes that their parents are still alive and was trying to find them before she drowned, and she never mentioned it to Tempe because she didn’t want to get her hopes up without proof. Due to the revelations Tempe decides to help her sister escape from the facility and hope they can track down their parents before her final day is up. Tempe manages to trick Lor who immediately pulls the fire alarm, sending a message to Ray to get back to the facility while he leaves to find the girls who have managed to get past the security checks and leave. When Ray returns Lor tells him what happened, and the pair immediately set out after the two girls knowing the first place they are going to head is home. Lor also tells Ray that he is the Director’s son but they don’t see eye to eye as he believes that the dead should be left in peace while she wants to stop death entirely despite the fact that the population would only grow and use up resources their watery world just doesn’t have the means to support.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Elysea and Tempe return home to retrieve the map Elysea hid as it detailed the location of where her parents were going but the treasure chest Elysea hid it in, Tempe sold and as they try and track it down they are found by Ray and Lor. The sister know either have to find a way to outrun the boys which is going to be difficult as Elysea can be tracked through the echolink as long as her heart is beating, so I believe they won’t have a choice but to get the boys to help them which given what is at stake for them isn’t going to be easy. It turns out the boys are planning to get them back to the facility no matter what as Lor won’t endanger another friend, however the girls are far more cunning than either of them thought. By the time they finally track down the chest and learn the location of where their parents could be, they realise the island is a few days away and Elysea won’t make it unless they cross the Untied Sea where most don’t survive but it reduces the journey to only six hours meaning both of them will have time with their parents before Elysea dies again, so they are going to take it even if it means the pair of them dying in the process.
As we cross the halfway mark in the novel, Lor manages to catch with the girls but they take the upper hand when they knock him out and smash the tablet that was his only way of contacting Ray. With a hostage now in tow they make their way to the Untied Sea and everything that lies beyond it vowing to stay together until the very end and even Lor sympathises with them as they only want to be a family again before Elysea’s second death. The trio has some trouble crossing the Untied Sea but Lor gets them through it but when they leave and head for island something happens that caused Elysea’s heart to stop briefly. When she wakes Lor explains they are tethered together, she is shared his life for 24 hours, that her heartbeat is synced to his which is why he passed out as well, but he doesn’t know what caused it. Upon learning this Elysea wants to return to the facility immediately as she is putting Lor’s life in danger, however, he suggests they go to island, find their parents and then return to the facility. They will be cutting it fine on time, but it is doable and with only 11 hours until Elysea’s time is up, they don’t have a moment to spare.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, their parents explain the truth behind the reason they had to leave and the real reason Elysea died. It turns out that Lor’s mother was experimenting with the living as well as the dead, intentionally killing them. When Tempe’s father found out he wanted her to stop but he swore an oath to protect Palindromena at all costs even above his own family. Rather than allow the experiments to continue he took his wife and fled, Nessandra tried to stop them but they manage to buy passage to this island. After that they waited for their daughters, but they never turned up, so they tried several times to return and collect them but Nessandra intercepted them every time, so they left behind clues for them. The night Elysea died they returned again but once again Nessandra got to them before they could reach their daughters, but she was fed up of them returning and rammed her boat into Sunrise causing Elysea to fall in, they tried to save her but when Nessandra threatened Tempe so they had no choice but to flee and leaves Elysea behind thinking she would survive but she didn’t. Upon learning this Tempe is even more distraught than when Elysea first woke up and needs some time alone. With less than 6 hours left until Elysea dies again, Lor comes up with an idea to save her but it means getting into Palindromena again and doing the impossible but Lor is willing to do it for this family that his mother destroyed.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, the trio head back to carry out Lor’s plan but it turns out Lor is keeping a bigger secret than anyone thought. When they return to the facility they only have just over an hour in order to save Elysea, but nothing goes to plan as both Lor and Elysea seem to be dying. Rylan tries to tether Elysea to someone else, but it doesn’t work so Tempe goes to find Nessandra. Nessandra tells her that Lor has been dead for over two years and she performs the same time to keep Lor alive after he fell off the cliff not Calen. The ending of The Vanishing Deep was one of the most heartbreaking I have read for a while. Overall, it was a tale of loss and how we deal with it as humans, it also looks at what it means to be alive and what life means. It has many burning questions lingering throughout although I did end up a little dissatisfied at the ending because it wasn’t what I wanted for the characters, but I understand why Scholte went in that direction.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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