Daughter of the Deep

First off: I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS BOOK FOR FOREVER!!!!!!!!!Phew okay, I'm done yelling.

Daughter of the Deep takes Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues under the Sea and throws it into the modern world.

Sort of.

If you haven't guessed by now, I am a huge fan of Rick Riordan. Percy Jackson & The Olympians literally formed my entire personality and I have been following his releases ever since (I almost own all the Riordanverse books lol. So close!)

This is literally why I was super-duper excited about this book. While I have only read Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea was always a story I loved hearing about. I did start it but never finished it and will probably end up reading it in the original language: French (yes, this is 100% a flex, I spent 8+ years learning the language, lemme show off).

Here is a brief synopsis of the newest (not Percy Jackson related) Rick Riordan book:

Ana Dakkar is a freshman at Harding-Pencroft Academy, a five-year high school that graduates the best marine scientists, naval warriors, navigators, and underwater explorers in the world. Ana's parents died while on a scientific expedition two years ago, and the only family's she's got left is her older brother, Dev, also a student at HP. Ana's freshman year culminates with the class's weekend trial at sea, the details of which have been kept secret. She only hopes she has what it'll take to succeed. All her worries are blown out of the water when, on the bus ride to the ship, Ana and her schoolmates witness a terrible tragedy that will change the trajectory of their lives.But wait, there's more. The professor accompanying them informs Ana that their rival school, Land Institute, and Harding-Pencroft have been fighting a cold war for a hundred and fifty years. Now that cold war has been turned up to a full broil, and the freshman are in danger of becoming fish food. In a race against deadly enemies, Ana will make amazing friends and astounding discoveries about her heritage as she puts her leadership skills to the test for the first time.

First off: Ana. She's Bundeli-Indian American!!!! Because Nemo a.k.a Prince Dakkar was also Indian!!! Thank you for that rep! There is other rep but I honestly don't remember all of it right now. I do know that one of Ana's best friends has autism and the friendship between them is incredibly sweet. I love the growing relationship Ana and Gemini have, being enemies at the beginning (well not full on but there is a mutual dislike that they put aside for the sake of the situation) and then a friendship that starts to grow.

The setup of the academy is incredibly interesting. The school is called HP for short (readers were told off about the Harry Potter jokes in the first few chapters lol) and it has four houses, each one pertaining to an important job that the students are trained in. Ana, for example, is a Dolphin (one of my favourite animals!) and her House (she's a Prefect) specializes in communications and stuff like code-breaking. They chose Irish as the main communication language between themselves (should they need privacy amongst other people) and that was super cool. There are also a few instances where Ana and her classmates use sign language such as with Socrates the Dolphin and another creature which I will not spoil lol but I think it comes in just in time, especially with the growing attention the new Marvel movie The Eternals has received for having a deaf character and incorporating sign language into the movie. I just thought it was super cool.

Being someone who wanted to be a marine biologist growing up (but then discovering I needed science and math which were...not my strongest points), I was definitely geeking out about all the descriptions. I have a soft spot for dolphins and Socrates the Dolphin definitely stole my heart in the first few pages. After the big twist at the beginning, I really admired ana for her intuitiveness and her willingness to lead her classmates despite the situation that literally no freshman (14-15 year old?) should be in (despite the fact that they were going to their trials that every freshman has to go through, things do not go exactly the way they were supposed to for the freshman class that Ana Dakkar is part of. )

I really loved how Riordan managed to weave the story of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea and Nemo's inventions into the modern world. While there was no from-scratch world-building, there is still a build-up for every chapter and Riordan delivers.

Given the fact that I read this book in 2 days, you can tell that I really liked it. Like a lot.

I highly recommend it for those who want to go into Rick Riordan's writing but do not want to commit to his series' (which he has 5 of all based on different mythologies) because, as far as we know, Daughter of the Deep is a stand-alone.

I loved this book!

★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
—
WHAT'S DAUGHTER OF THE DEEP ABOUT?
So here's the thing—the events and characters of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island are based on actual events and people—but Verne was given a few skewed details. One hundred-fifty years later, descendants of these people are running rival schools their ancestors founded, the Land Institute and the Harding-Pencroft Academy.

Students at HP are only told about their origins at a certain point, and their mission is to graduate future leaders in a variety of disciplines to guard the science that Nemo developed and slowly, carefully introduce it to the world.

Land Institute students are told their origins earlier and their mission is to rush that science out into the world—even if by doing so, it'll unleash societal upheaval, economic trouble, and will upend established science for years.

The two schools are in sort of a cold war until the Land Institute launches an attack on HP, and the freshman class has to head to sea to try to survive. While on the run, the class is told about HP's origins and our central character, Ana Dakkar, learns about her family history, forcing her to take a leadership position and more.

Can Ana and the rest of the freshman survive the Land Institute*? Can they utilize Nemo's technology in ways no one else has? Who will control Nemo's heritage?

* It is unfortunate that the ocean-going HP Academy is rivaled by the “Land Institute.” It feels a little too-on-the-nose, even though it's named for Ned Land.

PLAUSIBILITY
Because this is aimed at the MG crowd, I can buy the whole “a bunch of preteens/teens outsmart and outperform dangerous and super-smart older teens” nature of the plot—it's pretty much a given in the genre.

Also, the whole Land Institute teachers/administrators allowing students to start killing people is a pretty hard pill to swallow. For some reason, I had an easier time buying competing mythological figures setting teens against teens.

But hey...if it's in a universe where everything in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is based on reality, and that Nemo's tech worked (and still does!)? Well, hey, I can buy a little less-than-plausible High School actions.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT DAUGHTER OF THE DEEP?
I had a lot of fun with this. A goofy premise, but well-executed. I dug the characters, the action was solid and the pacing was good—enough to keep the reader engaged and entertained, while giving enough breathing room for a little character development.

And there's a giant cephalopod—every undersea adventure needs one of them.

If this is the beginning of a series (and it feels like it), there's a good chance I'll come back for more. But honestly? I think it'd be better as a stand-alone.

Either way, this is a fun ride—and one that'll hopefully spur the target audience into giving Jules Verne himself a try.