Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan

 

What worked:

The story develops drama and tension right away when Harding-Pencroft Academy is destroyed by Land Institute’s torpedoes. Ana Dakkar fears her brother is killed in the attack, and she later discovers she’s become the most important person in the world. The surviving freshman students escape aboard the school’s ship Varuna, but Ana is soon forced to become the captain. LI has developed a powerful, combat submarine, the Aronnax, and the Varuna won’t stand a chance if the enemy ship ever catches up to them. The author plants the seed that there may be a spy aboard the Varuna relaying intel to LI.

Most of the main characters are female and offer unique personalities. Students of HP are divided into houses depending on their areas of expertise, and Ana is prefect for the Dolphins, specializing in communication and strategizing. Her best friends and roommates are Nelinha, House Cephalopod and expert in anything mechanical, and Ester, House Orca and expert in medicine and communal memory. Ester has autistic tendencies and is accompanied by a service dog named Top, and she offers knowledge in addition to sensing the feelings of any living thing.

This book differs from Riordan’s usual mythological fantasy series that readers might expect. It’s based on science fiction and Jules Verne’s novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. This classic novel is supposedly based on true events, and Daughter of the Deep explores how the world might change based on Captain Nemo’s discoveries and inventions. HP wants to keep them secret until the world is ready, while LI wants to exploit the innovations and breakthroughs for power and money. This war between values has been going on for 150 years, but the attack on HP is a tremendous escalation of the conflict. The resolution of the book seems like there will be a sequel, but the indications right now are that it will be a stand-alone novel.

What didn’t work as well:

The plot introduces the submarine that destroyed the school as a threat to the surviving students on the Varuna, but it’s not actually present during the middle part of the book. The plot doesn’t maintain a high level of suspense as the characters travel across the ocean and learn the truth behind HP. Other revelations and problems pop up to sustain some drama, and readers know it’s only a matter of time until the Aronnax returns to rain devastation onto the Varuna.

The Final Verdict:

Is the world ready for it? The book was selected to be a 2021 Goodreads Book of the Year. Riordan doesn’t include his normal elements of humor, but he masterfully meshes science, ocean life, and imagination to create an immensely entertaining science-fiction adventure. I highly recommend you make it one of your must-reads.