Book: The Vanishing Deep by Astrid Scholte

Published March 2020 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books For Young Readers|432 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the e-book from the library

Series: None

Genre: YA Sci-Fi

Seventeen-year-old Tempe was born into a world of water. When the Great Waves destroyed her planet, its people had to learn to survive living on the water, but the ruins of the cities below still called. Tempe dives daily, scavenging the ruins of a bygone era, searching for anything of value to trade for Notes. It isn’t food or clothing that she wants to buy, but her dead sister’s life. For a price, the research facility on the island of Palindromena will revive the dearly departed for twenty-four hours before returning them to death. It isn’t a heartfelt reunion that Tempe is after; she wants answers. Elysea died keeping a terrible secret, one that has ignited an unquenchable fury in Tempe: Her beloved sister was responsible for the death of their parents. Tempe wants to know why.

But once revived, Elysea has other plans. She doesn’t want to spend her last day in a cold room accounting for a crime she insists she didn’t commit. Elysea wants her freedom and one final glimpse at the life that was stolen from her. She persuades Tempe to break her out of the facility, and they embark on a dangerous journey to discover the truth about their parents’ death and mend their broken bond. But they’re pursued every step of the way by two Palindromena employees desperate to find them before Elysea’s time is up–and before the secret behind the revival process and the true cost of restored life is revealed.

I liked this one!  After reading Four Dead Queens last year, and really liking it, I knew I had to read this one.

Even though I didn’t like The Vanishing Deep as much as Four Dead Queens, it was still an enjoyable read.  This book was told over a very short period of time, so if you’re not a fan of books told in the span of one day, this might not be the book for you.  I liked seeing Tempe race against time, trying to figure everything out.

I completely get why she’d want to revive her sister.  After they lost their parents, I get why she would want answers.  I think I would want answers too.  Tempe gets answers, but I don’t think they were the ones she was looking for.  Looking back, it wasn’t that surprising, but when I was reading the book, I just wanted to know more.  I liked seeing how things unraveled.

Not surprisingly, things aren’t what they seem, and Tempe and Elysea learn what happened to their parents, and the truth behind the revival process.  I don’t want to give it away, but it was interesting and horrifying at the same time.

The underwater ruins seemed really cool, and I wanted to know more about how things got to the point where the Great Waves destroyed everything.  I’m curious about how they survived on the water for…however long it’s been like that.  I feel like it wasn’t mentioned but maybe I just don’t remember it, if it was mentioned.  When the book takes place over the span of one day, you’re not going to get a lot of details.  And it’s also a stand-alone, so when the book ends, that’s it.

While I’m curious to know more, and I wonder what things are like for the characters after the book ends, I’m also glad there aren’t more.  It is perfectly contained in one book, and like her previous book, there are plenty of stories you could write in this world.  It’s another book I’d love to see as a movie- with 24 hours to get things taken care of, it would make for a fast-paced, action-packed movie.

3 stars.  I liked The Vanishing Deep.  While I wanted to know more about Tempe’s world, I also thought what we learned was horrifying and interesting.