To conquer new depths – review of the book “Daughter of the Deep”

The Book Gallery continues to publish the works of Rick Riordan in Poland. The latest book by a writer known, among others with the creation of the series about the son of Poseidon, this time does not take us to the world of gods and heroes. Oxygen cylinders for the back, and good body foam – let’s go underwater!

Ana Dakkar and her brother attends the elite Harding and Pencroft Academy and plans (like most students of that school) to somehow tie her future with the ocean. Her parents were also graduates of this institution, but unfortunately a mysterious accident happened two years ago, in which they died orphaned their children. The lack of another immediate family meant that Ana began to perceive school as her home, and the people around her as relatives. We get to know the main character when she is facing important and mysterious exams at the end of the first grade. Ana and the rest of the first class she attends, instead of going to sea to pass the tests, unexpectedly witnesses a tremendous tragedy, and the events that follow bring back everything she has believed in.

A return to the past with a touch of classics

I have never read 20,000 miles of undersea navigation or the Mystery Island, however, the character of Captain Nemo, a mysterious genius who once makes life difficult and on another occasion supports, I associate thanks to film productions from the 90s. interesting also today. Riordan said he would try to describe what, in our time, could trouble the descendants of the famous Captain Nemo, and what would happen if his revolutionary technological ideas suddenly had a chance to come to light. The writer implemented the idea incredibly well. For his part, he showed again that he can build interesting characters and an interesting storyline. In addition, he wove into the content many scientific issues and references that he previously consulted, among others with a lecturer in oceanography.

The dolphin will tell you the truth

Reading Daughters of the depthsit is very even from the beginning to the end. I would even try to say that there are not many events here, but everything is very detailed. Imagining the places, the behavior of the heroes or, finally, the fancy devices created by Nemo comes to us with real ease. The only thing that did not suit me in all this is that the heroes were about 15 years old (and Ana at the beginning even 14), and they behaved and used vocabulary and made decisions like people with many years of experience in navigating on and under water. I understand that you can be mature for your age, but still, I missed the element of teenage chaos. Likewise, I didn’t quite understand why the author emphasized at one point that Ana had gotten her period. This event added nothing to the plot, and additional descriptions of activities related to it sounded as if they were pressed forcibly. Despite this, I believe that the writer had good intentions and he was simply interested in normalizing the phenomenon, since he was writing about a teenager.

If only I could dive

It is worth getting caught up in this adventure, because it not only touches on interesting topics, but also takes you to unknown water regions. A lot of ocean curiosities, various characters’ creations and an interesting idea driving a well-built plot are the most important features of the Daughter of the Deep . It is not a perfect novel, but it is definitely a very good title.