Rating: ★★★.75 / 5
Plot:
For centuries the gods of the Undersea ruled the islands of the Myriad through awe and terror: they were very real, and very dangerous. Sacrifices were hurled into the waters to appease them, and every boat was painted with pleading eyes to entreat their mercy. They were served, feared and adored. Then, thirty years ago, the gods rose up in madness and tore each other apart.
For centuries the gods of the Undersea ruled the islands of the Myriad through awe and terror: they were very real, and very dangerous. Sacrifices were hurled into the waters to appease them, and every boat was painted with pleading eyes to entreat their mercy. They were served, feared and adored. Then, thirty years ago, the gods rose up in madness and tore each other apart.
Now, none remain. The islands have recovered and the people have patched their battered ships and moved on.
On one of these islands live Hark and his best friend Jelt. To them, the gods are nothing but a collection of valuable scraps to be scavenged from the ocean and sold.
But now something is pulsing beneath the waves, calling to someone brave enough to retrieve it.
Review:
The more I think about this book, the more in awe I am even though it's been a while since I've finished it. I had heard people singing Hardinge's praise for ages and I became quickly intrigued by this particular story after hearing her speak at a conference earlier this year. That being said, I still wasn't quite sure what to expect from this book -neither before picking it up nor while actually reading it- so it was meant to blow my mind in one way or another.
Hardinge weaves a complex tapestry and strives for a lot. The story acts on multiple level: you have this palpable presence of sea gods that still existed in living memory, their traces left for the world to dig up; you also, however, have this young boy trying to grow up in the best way the world will allow him to. The personal and the fantastical interweave in organic, yet unexpected ways and nobody is what you'd first expect them to be.
The most powerful thing about this book remains the worldbuilding and base concept as far as I am concerned. Hardinge's worldbuilding is hard to rival, she is a minutious storyteller meticulously crafting an intricate universe of gods and islands and far away continents. This may just be one of the first instances where I see disfigurement and disability introduced into the building of a world, especially in such a positive light (specifically hearing impairment). Well done Frances & more of this please!!
While I didn't particularly click with her characters, I quickly became engaged and invested in their individual stories anyway. It's strange to see a story of gods and monsters be given just as much (if not less) importance as a story about growing up and facing the fact that the world may not be as you'd once thought it. Hark mixes a childlike ingenuity with a rough exterior, hardened by a life on the streets. He comes to terms with the fact that there may be a better life waiting for him than the future he'd once envisioned, that the person closest to him had all the chances to be the one holding him back. This is one of the best, most complex representations of a toxic friendship that I've seen in ages, it is gritty and raw and, like the rest of the elements of this story, complex. There is still love and loyalty, but there is also resentment from both parts, a magnetic push and pull whose final outcome it's hard to predict.
I also love stories about stories, so that's a plus for this. DEEPLIGHT is very much a story about folklore, collective consciousness and memory, legend, storytelling and storykeeping.
Cannot recommend this enough!
Hardinge weaves a complex tapestry and strives for a lot. The story acts on multiple level: you have this palpable presence of sea gods that still existed in living memory, their traces left for the world to dig up; you also, however, have this young boy trying to grow up in the best way the world will allow him to. The personal and the fantastical interweave in organic, yet unexpected ways and nobody is what you'd first expect them to be.
The most powerful thing about this book remains the worldbuilding and base concept as far as I am concerned. Hardinge's worldbuilding is hard to rival, she is a minutious storyteller meticulously crafting an intricate universe of gods and islands and far away continents. This may just be one of the first instances where I see disfigurement and disability introduced into the building of a world, especially in such a positive light (specifically hearing impairment). Well done Frances & more of this please!!
While I didn't particularly click with her characters, I quickly became engaged and invested in their individual stories anyway. It's strange to see a story of gods and monsters be given just as much (if not less) importance as a story about growing up and facing the fact that the world may not be as you'd once thought it. Hark mixes a childlike ingenuity with a rough exterior, hardened by a life on the streets. He comes to terms with the fact that there may be a better life waiting for him than the future he'd once envisioned, that the person closest to him had all the chances to be the one holding him back. This is one of the best, most complex representations of a toxic friendship that I've seen in ages, it is gritty and raw and, like the rest of the elements of this story, complex. There is still love and loyalty, but there is also resentment from both parts, a magnetic push and pull whose final outcome it's hard to predict.
I also love stories about stories, so that's a plus for this. DEEPLIGHT is very much a story about folklore, collective consciousness and memory, legend, storytelling and storykeeping.
Cannot recommend this enough!
You can also see me initially losing my mind over it here:
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