I read Frances Hardinge's The Lie Tree a few years ago and I absolutely loved it, so I was really excited to read Deeplight. Also, can we just take a moment to admire its GORGEOUS cover?

Deeplight is an extremely original book, and the author's world-building is top notch. The islands' history and lore are explained in detail, and the people's complex relationship with their now-extinct gods is explored without it ever feeling like a (fictional) history lesson. It does, however, really take its time with this and I ended up finding the slow pace of the first half rather challenging. I struggled a bit to push through it, and the second half more than compensated for it, but it could easily put some people off.

I really enjoyed seeing the characters evolve throughout the book, although I was more than a little frustrated with them most of the time. Hark was definitely one of the most infuriating characters I've seen in a long time, as he keeps making the same mistakes over and over again. He is completely beholden to his best friend Jelt, who supposedly looks after Hark but is rather obviously manipulating and coercing him the entire time. This extremely toxic friendship is the focus of most of the book and, while it does make sense that Hark would be the last one to realise what is glaringly obvious to literally everyone else in the book and out, I was quickly bored by this dynamic.

After pushing through a slow start and an annoying main character, we are rewarded with a wonderful second half and some brilliant supporting characters, all of which more than made up for this book's flaws. I would have liked to see some more of the gods, but what we did get was enough to keep me reading.

Overall, this was a very original and unique fantasy. It's a slow burn with a very slow start and depicts a toxic relationship which could be triggering to some, but once the pace picked up it was definitely worth the initial struggle.

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way. ( )

3.5 Stars
Lovers of fantasy will revel in the richly described, dark and magical world that is the setting for this beautifully written novel. The monstrous Gods have long been dead and the scavenging and selling of the items they left behind drives the economy. There are pirates, smugglers and mad scientists a-plenty in this crazy adventure story. Hark is our likeable MC. He has a really unhealthy relationship with his best friend Jelt who is a toxic bully. After Jelt is injured on a poorly planned dive expedition Hark saves him with an item of ‘godware’ that will change the very fibre of Jelt’s being. To begin with, Hark is fighting to save his best friend before coming to the realisation that there is a lot more at stake than the life of his manipulative friend. I loved the total inclusion of deaf culture in this story and I thought Selphin was wonderful, willful and brave. A really immersive and intricately detailed hero's journey. ( )

I am a huge fan of everything I have read by Frances so far and this was no exception. I loved the characters and the conflicts between them, and the eerie and dangerous world beneath the sea. I also loved that I found myself using the paper tentacle from a model octopus as my bookmark - it was wonderfully appropriate and made me smile repeatedly. ( )

Not sure how a Hardinge came out that I missed (because 2020, I guess), but I was so excited to read it! It took longer than usual for me to get into the world, but once the twists started coming I loved it. It's about recognizing how a person you love can ultimately be damaging to you, and how to let them go. It was also partly inspired by a Deaf reader's request to see herself in a book. Both ideas were explored in an creative, clever way that's fully integrated into the world-building.

This feels like a Knife of Never Letting Go read-alike. I find that book is too "confusing" for most of my students, but those for whom it works might also find Hardinge works for them. I am not a Lovecraft fan, but obviously this is gesturing in that direction and could work for students looking for that sort of slow, creeping, undersea horror. ( )

First of all, THAT COVER! I mean, if you can look at THAT and not seriously wonder what's in store for the reader that cracks the spine...you've got more willpower than I.

Story wise, it really draws you in like the last breath of air to a drowning man...though in the undersea, you don't technically drown from breathing air, but that's a tale for another time. Everything has its own history, from the way the world is now to the gods, both past and present. You are enveloped in the friendship turned something much more caustic between Jelt and Hark...and let me just stop right here and say that try as I might, I could not like that boy. I get the deeper things going on and how circumstances, choices (forced and made), and options can change a person, but there were other ways, and he was never truly alone. But I digress...the bond between these two is what carries most of the tale, from the shores of Lady's Crave to the Sanctuary to somewhere altogether darker and more mysterious than you could possibly guess. The people they meet along the way, for better or worse, are swept up in the tidal wave of all that is and all the terror to come. It becomes a new living nightmare on the precipice of turning the human race inwards once more to the fears that burdened it in generations past, and fed the evil barely kept at arm's (or tentacle's) length. It all comes down to breaking the cycle of what's been for a future that could be, even if the cost is high to those involved.

All in all, a stunning display of friendship when driven by a purer heart. Even when the cards are down, the difficulty Hark had in facing what could become inevitable was honorable...even though Selphin would probably think it more misguided.


**copy received for review; opinions are my own ( )