Thank you, Netgalley, for an eARC of The Darkdeep. I am a totally scaredy-cat, the epitome of an un-fan of creepy books. But I couldn’t put The Darkdeep down. A combination of middle school humor and out of this world plot twists, this one will be a definite for my students who are braver readers than me!!

Fun and exciting book for juvenile patrons looking for an adventurous read! Children often come into the library looking for more and more adventure content. This book definitely fills that need with great storytelling.

When bully Logan and his cronies send Nico's expensive, handmade drone into the bottomless waters of Still Cove, Nico tries to retrieve it despite the warnings of his friends Emma and Tyler. Of course, the rescue doesn't go well, but the three discover a weird houseboat and island in the middle of the cove (which sounds sort of like a flooded quarry to me). This, of course, has to be investigated, and along with Opal (Logan's girlfriend, who thinks he is overly mean to Nico) they spend some time cataloging the creepy items and checking out the pond in the middle of the island that is especially alarming. When Emma dips her toes into the "Darkdeep", it sucks her under the waters. Luckily, she emerges, but so does the embodiment of her worst fears. As the group continues to return, more and more creatures are brought to life. Logan's father's logging business has been negatively impacted by Nico's father's work protecting an endangered owl in the area, and since jobs have been lost, the townspeople aren't overly keen on Nico. Logan's father works behind the scenes to get Nico's father transferred, which is certainly upsetting. At the same time, the town is preparing for the Radish Festival, and the children get drawn into this as well. They are getting closer to figuring out some of the mysteries of the Darkdeep, but will the monsters break away from Still Cove?

Strengths: Nicely creepy, with fairly scary monsters and the overwhelming feeling that at some point, someone will get sucked into the Darkdeep and not come out. Condie's Matched is very popular in my library, so her fans will check it out, and readers who enjoyed Neal Shusterman's dark tales or McHale's Morpheus Road Trilogy will enjoy it as well.

Weaknesses: Paranormal forces preying on people's worst fears has been done a few times, most notably Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) and Shusterman's Full Tilt (2003). Of course, the target demographic has probably not read those.

What I really think: Will definitely purchase, although for some reason, this didn't seem at all scary to me. On the bright side, I usually can't stand books where there is an overwhelming feeling of damp and decay, and I was able to get through this!

I ended up DNFing this one around the 45% mark. I couldn't keep the characters straight because none of them had defined personalities and the story was just dragging. I read a lot of middle grade with my godkids, and I wish authors would understand that kids don't act or behave the way they think they do. The whole book felt stilted and the dialogue was straight out of a 90s afterschool special.

I must start with the disclaimer that I do not like horror at all, but. I selected it to review because I recognized Ally Condie as the author of the popular Matched YA dystopian series, and I was curious to see how she would write for middle-grade, and I try to read all genres for reader's advisory purposes. Even though horror is not *my* thing, I found it to be an age-appropriate level of "horror"; it is creepy, scary, and suspenseful with assorted monsters, but no one is seriously hurt, no graphic violence or blood and guts (other than a couple of mentions of blood from scrapes and cuts resulting from falling). And while I don't necessarily care for creepy, scary stories with unexplained sinister forces, I did like how the situation forced the kids to work together and learn to trust each other.

It reminded me very much of the Goosebumps series, but is a step or two above in terms of length and reading level. I would definitely recommend it to those who have read and enjoyed the Goosebumps books, or Louis Sachar's Fuzzy Mud, but are ready to move up in length and reading level.. It appears that there will be at least one sequel to this book, as well.

4.5

My initial interest in this novel is that Ally Condie is one of the writers, and I have had a pretty good experience with her Matched trilogy and Atlantia. When This came up on NetGalley, I was so excited and hoping to be a reviewer for this book. And I was chosen! A big thank you to NetGalley. Bloomsbury, Ally Condie, and Brendan Reichs for the amazing opportunity of reading this book in exchange for an honest review.

Many people are saying this has a very Stranger Things vibe to it. I won't deny that, but I feel like it definitely has a feel of its own as well. I also noticed that some people found this book to be a bit scary for the target age group, but I don't think so at all. Having experience teaching 7th and 8th grade, a huge percentage of those students are into Stranger Things and similar types of media, so this would fit right in. If there were more blood/gore versus finding a human skeleton, I might say it's a bit creepy in a negative way, but it doesn't have that kind of element to it.

Basically, three friends are playing on a cliff over a creepy, fog-covered cove, when a bully comes and loses a boy's drone in the cove on purpose. After Nico falls over the cliff, his friends Tyler and Emma rush to find him, only for the three of them to discover an island with a lake in the middle, a boathouse full of creepy things in the middle of that. Opal, a girl who was with the bully, follows them, and it takes a while for her to be accepted as part of the group. In the bottom center of the boathouse, there is a pool of swirling water that the children end up naming the Darkdeep. When they go through,  it spits them out, along with pulling something imaginary from their minds in the process, such as an animal or character from a movie. These figments seem fun at first, because that's all they are: figments that can't touch anything and disappear after awhile. Until they become more and more real and the children have to stop the horrors from destroying the town.

I honestly thought this was an absolutely amazing book for Middle Grade and that some high school students would enjoy as well. Even as a teacher, I found myself slamming through this book. The only thing I didn't really like about the book was Emma. She felt like some of her actions were a bit unrealistic and forced for what a girl of that age might do in the given situation. Other than that, The Darkdeep is well-written and fast paced, and the adventures of the children as they learn about the Darkdeep and how it works, as well as leaving just enough mystery for the reader, is perfect. The cover is inviting and the color scheme is gorgeous. A highly recommended read for Middle Grade and higher!


Review to be posted on Goodreads and personal Website (https://teresacrider.wordpress.com and will add published link here as well) on September 10th, 2018, and on Amazon+Barnes and Noble on October 2, 2018

this seems possibly too terrifying for this age group? but it is a thrill ride of fun and super cthulu lurking around every corner.

seriously when the lovecraft mystery rears its head and their joint consensus is, "we need to research and read!", I laughed pretty hard. RPG Call of Cthulu has library use as one of the primary skill areas so this is very appropriate.

basically, a story of a bunch of 12 year olds in a tiny town in Washington state finding a mysterious island with a bizarre, paranormal event horizon and then hypothesizing, testing, and researching. great main characters, gripping action (like you are honestly concerned most of the book that someone is about to die), and nice lessons on friendship. could use some more backstory on their families and the town and what exactly is going on, but that might come in the next book.

I would hesitantly suggest this for 10 year olds, seems more like a 12-14 crowd-pleaser. (it really is kind of scary!)