loved the friendships in this book. That stood out more than anything. These kids love each other and have such an incredible bond. I also loved the creepy vibes and all the weird creatures that kept appearing. The cave, tunnel, and "treasures" they found were so interesting, too.

I read this with my middle grade daughter (and even my high school daughter) and we had such a fun time! This is definitely a great read for a younger audience looking for a good creepy time but not old enough for the hard stuff yet. I'm definitely going to buy a hard copy for my bookshelf! Thanks for the opportunity to share this experience with my kids.

Darkdeep is a great book for kids who like adventure with a bit of creepiness. Hand to middle grade students who enjoyed books such as Beneath by Smith and Scar Island by Gemeinhart.

First ... very reminiscent of Stranger Things. Very.
Then ... I mean, I was really into the story the first third to a half or so (the end of the school year just got me and I had to wait for my turn at the library again) and then it started to drag a bit.

But the ending? Because it is a #1, after all. It does leave some room to fix some of the problems. I usually hate cliffhangers but this one was pretty good.

I can't decide if this is middle grade or YA. It's sort of in between. Longer than most of my students will finish without help.

This is an exciting, fast paced story that made me stay past my bedtime to finish. The authors develop the characters and story well. Will recommend to my students.

3.5 Creepy and spine-chilling in the best of ways! My only complaint was that I could tell this was a set-up for a series because the characters and plot didn't feel quite fleshed out, but that just left me wanting more. I did appreciate how the authors drew in an unlikeable character to be part of the "crew" and had him participate in the mayhem. Very creative.

Loved reading this! I wasn't sure what to expect, but this book is so much more than I first thought! So good!

The Darkdeep is a thrilling love letter to the horror genre. It combines tropes from '80s horror flicks and Atomic Age creature features with an intriguing Lovecraftian mythology, and the kids at the center of the story with an "us against the world" mission bring to mind the works of Stephen King. Authors Ally Condie and Brendan Reichs even slip in a sly nod to Twin Peaks. (Even if they didn't intend it that way, I still choose to interpret it as a hidden message that the owls are not what they seem.) This is no pastiche, though. The book pays affectionate tribute to its influences, but it remains original and creative to the end. The Darkdeep is an imaginative, moving, and wildly fun book that kids will love.

Our intrepid heroes are Nico, Tyler, Emma, and Opal. I, of course, have a soft spot for Emma, the horror fanatic who obsesses over special effects and memorizes so-bad-they're-good cult classics. All of the characters are fully realized enough, though, that kids will identify with each of them and feel like they've known them their whole lives. The camaraderie among this group of friends is palpable. Their parents are often absent and neglectful, so it’s a pleasure to see how much the kids can depend on each other for love and support. I can only imagine how much that will mean to young readers who may be dealing with the same problems with their own families.

The story is exciting from start to finish. The kids discover a houseboat filled with bizarre treasures and then stumble upon an even more bizarre secret hiding below this museum of the macabre. What they do when they discover the secret is hilarious, horrifying, and utterly human. Through the kids’ reactions to “the Darkdeep,” the authors explore how ruthlessly fear can control our lives, but they keep the plot and tone at the perfect level for a middle grade audience.

Forgive me if I’ve made it sound too intense, because I can’t overstate how fun this book is. It’s divided into four parts, with each one ending in a perfect cliffhanger. The best one of all comes at the end of the book, which made my eyes go as wide as saucers and sent me rushing to the Goodreads app to see when the second book in the series comes out (October 1st, just in time for a spooky Halloween read-along!).

This is the kind of book that you devour in one sitting, ideally while staying up past your bedtime and reading with a flashlight under the sheets. Kids will want to be friends with these characters. They will laugh and get creeped out right along with them, and they will want to know what happens after they’ve finished the last page. The Darkdeep is excellent middle grade horror: it celebrates how fun scary stories can be and reminds kids that they are stronger than their fears.

This was like Goonies meets Goosebumps. Adults will be slightly annoyed by the derivative story, but kids will be delighted. Scary but not traumatizing.

The Darkdeep feeds off fear. ​Fear. Inside us.
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If I had a dollar for every time a student asked for a scary book, I could own a pair of Jimmy Choos. Let's face it: kids love creepy, spine tingling stories. Over time, this genre has consistently retained its appeal. R.L. Stein never goes out of style. Gaiman's Coraline, Black's Doll Bones, Baptist's The Jumbies, and Oppel's The Nest deliver contemporary horror to legions of young audiences.
Now, a dynamic writing duo has tapped into middle grade fascination with horror. Ally Condie and Brendan Reichs invite kids to explore The Darkdeep.
What if your worst nightmare came to life? What if the object of your childhood fears attacked you? What if a group of friends discovered that the terrifying figments of their collective imaginations took form?
Twelve -year-old explorers Nico, Taylor, Emma, and Opal discover a mysterious island hidden beneath massive cliffs. A strange-looking houseboat is moored on the island’s pond. Filled with a collection of the bizarre, this floating oddity feels like a “psychopath’s attic.” But even more intriguing is a swirling pool of black liquid at the bottom of the houseboat.
When Emma gets too close to the whirlpool, the opaque waters drag her into its chilly blackness. She senses a mysterious power which can “spy inside my head.” Soon each member of the group discovers that plunging into the deepness causes personal imaginary creatures to materialize. Everything from unicorns to dinosaurs begins to take shape and briefly inhabit the island. ​Gradually the embodiment of their imaginings become more sinister and more permanent. These monsters become horrific, bent on attacking and killing. The kids’ worst nightmares have become their community’s worst nightmare.
Tension is counterbalanced with the most ridiculous community festival yet to appear in kid lit. A radish festival. I kid you not. There are to be radish costumes, a parade and a pageant with the winner declared Citizen Radish. Note: I would like to have been a fly on the wall when the authors came up with this story element.
The narrative comes to a satisfying conclusion but Condie and Reichs drop tantalizing hints suggesting that the horror isn’t over. There is something else on that houseboat. As it did with the young protagonists in the story, The Darkdeep will entice readers with more mysterious secrets. They will breathlessly await the continuation of the story. Let’s hope they don’t have too long to wait.

The Darkdeep is well-written mystery/fantasy/adventure that moves so smoothly you’d never guess there were two authors involved. The story is told from alternating points of view that add dimension to the overall story. The book is fast-paced and definitely worth your time.

When bully Logan flies Nico's drone into the mist over Still Cove, Nico is determined to go after it, even if the cove is forbidden. He goes out on a ledge and ends up falling off a cliff into the icy water of the cove. His friends, Tyler, Emma, and Opal, go after him and when they get to the bottom of the cliff, they discover a mysterious island and an abandoned houseboat, full of odd treasures. As they begin to explore the houseboat, they find something strange in the hold of the boat, a swirling black pool that seems to read their minds. At first they believe the pool harmless, but soon they awaken a mysterious evil being that threatens the entire town.

The Dark Deep by Ally Condie and Brendan Reichs tells a chilling tale in which Nico and his friends' deepest fears come to life. It is only through their friendship and believing in each other that they can finally put evil to rest, at least for now.

So much fun! This was a wild adventure, the action didn't let up and the characters were so likable, Would 100% recommend for middle grade readers. Will be giving a copy of this as a gift to my little sister. This was just the craziest, most creative adventure. Loved it, honestly.

Reasons I Enjoyed this Book:
1.) The scary factor- Middle grade has seen some fantastic horror additions to the catalog recently from Tracey Baptiste's The Jumbies to Katherine Arden's Small Spaces. The Darkdeep adds to this growing list of fun-but-frightening novels. The premise of a mysterious cove and entity was a perfect amount of thrilling without being "keep the light on" horrifying. Young readers will likely enjoy the idea of figments in the story much like one of the central characters, Emma, does, and soon become skeptical of them as they grow more realistic.

2.) The character growth- At the heart of this series opener is friendship: what brings and holds friends together, how to be friends when your families aren't, and if moving beyond past conflicts is possible. Nico and Opal guide the story, but the friendships between them, Emma, Tyler, and, at some points, Logan, are the story's heart. While it would have been easy to assign 'good' and 'bad' labels to each character, Condie and Reichs craft their characters to be fully dimensional, at times making thoughtful, positive choices, and being more rash and selfish at others. Readers will find themselves quickly growing fond of Emma's love for film, Tyler's steadfast loyalty to his found family, Nico's vulnerability about his family, and Opal's desire to stand up for herself.

What Left Me Wanting More:
1.) The writing- I personally enjoy first person point of view, especially when the chapters alternate perspective, like this one does. Third person for Nico and Opal kept them a little distant, and their differing chapters often blurred together.

2.) The climax- The build up of tension in The Darkdeep was fantastic, but unfortunatley made the climax pale a bit in comparison. While this is the beginning of a series, readers may nonetheless come away disappointed with receiving significantly more questions than answers. Hopefully, later series entries will give the big showdown between the characters and the Darkdeep that is lacking in book one.

Overall, The Darkdeep is a solid choice for young readers looking for spine-tingling read with complex layers of friendship.

I'm sorry, I just don't think that this read was for me. I really appreciate what the authors and their story, but I just never really enjoyed this one. Maybe it was the middle grade aspect? Maybe it just reminded me a little too much of Stranger Things? I'm not sure, but I wish I could have fallen in love with it. Thank you so much for allowing me to read the eARC, I am very appreciative.

Great start to their new middle grade novels. I have to agree with the reviews that it is a mix between The Goonies and Stranger Things. Excited to read book two and see where the story goes.

This seems to have gotten good reviews, so take my review with a grain of salt, but I didn’t love this: It’s supposed to be a spooky, atmospheric cautionary tale about secrets and desire set on a mysterious houseboat in a mysterious cove. People are comparing it to Stranger Things, but other than the fact that it’s a horror story about a group of kids, I don’t see the connection. It definitely checked the boxes for middle grades scary, but there were long stretches where it was scary without being exciting, which — for me — equalled boring. I think this might be a hit with some middle grades readers who like thrills and chills, but it doesn’t feel like a book that will end up with a permanent spot on library shelves, if that makes sense. Or I could be crazy and totally missing the (creepy haunted) boat. I don’t know — I’m reading through other people’s reviews, and I feel like I just didn't get it.

This book is a creeptastic, hard to put down, kind of read! I'm thrilled that Condie and Reichs finally wrote a book together. Their joint middle grade debut did not disappoint either. It is the right amount of creep, mixed with a little dark, but not in the terrifying Stephen King kind of way, and given a good dose of hard to put down, and wondering what was going to happen next.

Sure it may give you some goose bumps, and make you jumpy, but this book is also about friendship, self confidence, over coming fear, bullying, and empathy. The friendship in this book was an element I really enjoyed. I loved seeing how each of the characters grew individually, and collectively. For once, I don't have a favorite character, as each of them brought something unique to the story. I liked getting to know each of them.

The Darkdeep on the other hand.....well that's just say I have a feeling there's a lot more to this than we've learned about in this book. The history to this place was equally creepy and intriguing. I'm definitely intrigued and want to know more. Just look at the cover and tell me that doesn't make you want to learn more.... haha On serious note, I do love that cover. It illustrates the Darkdeep perfectly.

What a fun, fast paced, action packed read. It's the perfect blend of thrilling, and mystery. This is the kind of books that gives you just enough answers that you're hooked, but you want to know more. I can hardly wait to pick up the second book in this series.

Nico Holland did not voluntarily go over the edge of the cliff and into Still Cove, but his friends did. They wanted to rescue Nico after a bullying incident gone badly. What they don’t expect to find is a hidden island covered in mist. The island seems to be vacant even though the kids are getting strange feelings. They find a long unused houseboat and decide to explore. What they find piques their curiosity even more and they unwittingly go deeper into the unknown. Now, an ancient force is awake and it knows the darkest secrets of these children. What will they need to face in order to overcome the Darkdeep?

The Darkdeep is the first book in a new series with the same name. Condie and Reichs pair up to give readers a new adventure in a fantasy setting. Although it is not quite urban fantasy (since it takes place in a small town), it does take place in the modern era and is hard to name a specific genre. The protagonists are middle schoolers, yet I believe young adults and adult readers will still enjoy exploring the pages. It is a short read and will be quickly devoured by those who pick it up. The Darkdeep is a good read that should be considered for most fantasy reader’s TBR list.

One of the most annoying and difficult things I've had to deal with as a book blogger is inaccurate summaries. I don't know why people do this, or what they get out of it, but every once and a while I'll start reading a book based off of an amazing summary, only to find out that the book is only barely reminiscent of the provided summary. The Darkdeep is one of those books, and not only is it as frustrating as I remember it to be, but this one probably ruined the book for me.

At first, I wasn't thinking that The Darkdeep was a bad book. Really, I didn't. But as the story continued, and what I was led to believe in the summary proved to be not true, I progressively grew more and more frustrated. The way the summary came off to me was that the four kids--Nico, Emma, Tyler, and Opal--made their way into Still Cove, landed on this island, and for the entire book they were running from unknown monsters and trying to get off the island. That sounds like an AMAZING story. But what really happened is that they found the island, got off of it nearly immediately, and then proceeded to go back to the island many times, and screwed with things that weren't theirs. They screwed a few things up, and that's what caused the monsters to appear. They created the problems, they got themselves into trouble. And why would I root for these kids that got themselves into the problem to begin with?

But what was more frustrating was the characters. Nico and Opal, the two POV characters, were terribly underdeveloped and boring. All we really knew about Nico was that he was bullied because of something his father did with owls. All we knew about Opal was that she and Nico used to be friends, but weren't anymore because Opal was 'popular' and hung out with the bullies. And don't even get me started on Tyler and Emma--they were just there, not even doing anything besides being there for comedic relief or to get the group into more trouble. Even worse is that the authors tried to force romance into this book. Romance. In a middle grade horror book. It was hinted at between Opal and Nico, as well as between Emma and Tyler. Why? Good question.

Another piece on the characters were that some parts just didn't make any sense. Opal was complaining about this festival for the whole book, but near the end her motivation to help was because the festival was being ruined? And then there were constant fights between the group members, specifically about Opal. Nico didn't trust her, and so every chance he got, he blamed something on her. But the very, very, VERY worst part? The 50-page redemption arc for the bully after he bullied Nico and his friends relentlessly for who-knows-how-long. Nico and his friends basically forgot about this torment when they realized the bully would help them.

Not everything about this book annoyed me, either. I really enjoyed the parts with the island, and all of the lore created behind it. I wish we knew more about it, because it was barely brushed on in the book itself. We only learned a few key components about the island and the Darkdeep, because the book itself seemed to want to focus on the bland characters and the bickering that more often than not went on between them.

Final Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Overall?
This book could have been a new favorite, but instead I was just constantly annoyed with parts of this book. The bickering between Opal and Nico, the blandness of the characters, the inconsistencies of the plot, as well as the misleading summary, all lead me to nearly hating this book. But as I mentioned above, I didn't hate everything. There were parts I liked. They just weren't that common.

Would I Recommend?
Only if you know what you're going into. I feel like the fact that I thought the summary was going another direction was what really threw me off. I also wasn't all that impressed with the writing--it was just as bland and forgetful as the characters.