From Below by Darcy Coates

 

Thank you #PoisonedPenPress and #NetGalley for giving me From Below by #DarcyCoates to read and review.

Overall, this story is fantastic. There is a lot of world building and character development all throughout the story. It is also eerie and dark. I imagine it would be hard to describe desolate scenes, but Coates manages to do that with ease. You can definitely tell that Coates did her research for this book.

There are so many memorable moments, times when I felt I was there with the team exploring the sunken Arcadia. I felt the tension, fears, and amazement. 

You know the old school game Myst? In the beginning you find two books, a red one and a blue one. In each, the brother is cutting in and out, there is static and they are trying to tell you something. You get just bits and pieces of what they need. 

There is a scene in From Below, about five percent in, Arcadia is sending out a “pan-pan”. Pan-pan is like an SOS but without the severity of imminent threat to life. I get the same emotional reaction from the pan-pan scene as I did from Myst. You need to hear more of what is happening. 

The mood of the book stays eerie and dark up to about seventy percent in. Then things start to go horribly wrong. There is something in the sunken ship with them. They are about to find out what it is.

The ending was a clean finish. I had hoped for more from the ending, but it definitely wrapped things up. It is almost as if Coates wanted the happy ending but not everyone is okay after the incidents exploring Arcadia. 

Definitely give this book a try. It is worth every minute of your time.