Dark Waters by Tracy Abrey |Much like the first, an enjoyable read but I’d have liked something more

When I received the first book in this series for review a while back, I was very kindly sent the second book along with it too. And for once, I figured I wouldn’t leave it months before continuing the series, like I usually do.

So for the first time in a very long time, here I am reviewing a 2nd book in a series, only a few weeks after the first.

Let’s talk about Dark Waters!

Title: Dark Waters

Author: Tracy Abrey

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Series Status: The 2nd book in Blue Sun series

Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy

Number of Pages:  247

(Found on Goodreads)

The Isle of Man now rests on the bottom of the Irish Sea, cut off from the surface world and surrounded by the dark waters of the unknown. While Mannix, their young savior, provides the inhabitants shelter and life through his unique blue energy, Imogen “Genny” Creer uses her unparalleled intelligence to guide the Keepers, the protectors of the island, and prevent their society from falling into disarray.

Despite being married to the man she loves, managing the Keepers’ science division, and being seven months pregnant, Genny is far from content. She is deeply disturbed by the secrets still kept from her by her fellow Keepers. A counter-group called Free Atlantis is gaining ground, and Genny finds that she agrees with their precepts. Surely man is not meant to live underwater. Motivated by a laser-focused quest for knowledge and a baby on the way, Genny is determined to find a way to restore Mannin to the surface, despite the Keepers fighting to keep Mannin underwater.

*I received this book in exchange for an honest review

My feelings towards this book are really similar to the first book.

This is a very lighthearted sort of fantasy story, one that I wouldn’t take too seriously and just went along with for the ride. It was very short, entertaining, and a quick read pacing-wise. These are all the things it has in common with the first.

And while I’m on the topic of similarities, I’ll just throw it out there that I’m still not really on board – or even bothered – about the main relationship in this book. It moved way too quickly for my liking, and while I know this is a different world than the one I live in, everything just seemed so brash and clumsy. I couldn’t really take it seriously, so for me it was just there.

Apart from that, the first and second book are completely different situations. I was looking forward to seeing the after effects of the previous book’s events, and was actually quite surprised it managed to be a shorter book.

And while I did enjoy this book, there was a clear divide for me between it being “OK” and “great”. I know why it dipped a bit for me.

I needed more detail. 

Now, this will be a bit hard to explain since I won’t be giving spoilers, but basically there’s a huge change in the situation of this town, and I imagine there’d have been so many after effects because of it. It IS briefly dipped into, with the mention of food having to be rationed, but even then I’d have liked to have known how the ration system worked, rather than just be given the fact that they have them. But I also found myself thinking a lot about the fact that there was no fresh air or natural daylight, or the pressure that was constantly surrounding them (again, not to give too much away), and wondered how that would effect the people living there. Surely it must have some sort of affect. And I feel like if a bit more research was thrown into little details like that, this book would have been so much more enjoyable for me. The world would have been so much richer, and my imagination would be bubbling over this place I could see.

And yet, if the book was any longer, I feel like there would have needed to be another “problem” to the story. Throughout this book, there’s one main issue that the main character focuses on, and by the end her thoughts and actions were starting to get a little repetitive. Not to mention frustrating, with the amount of unnecessary lies. I swear, every book would be so much shorter if the characters just didn’t lie and sorted things together. Though I guess you need something for the plot to thicken, after all. 

I still liked all the things I liked in the first, like I mentioned before. The setting itself was unique (hence why I wanted more from it), the fight between science and folklore pulled me in, and the easy style made it a fast read.

I feel like this has been quite a negative review, when I really didn’t mean it to be. I DID enjoy the book, it was entertaining, and it was nice to have a quick read. It’s just that for once, I’d have liked a little something more from the book, even if it slowed the plot down somewhat. Just a few more details thrown around every so often would have padded out the world in this story so much more.

And for that, I’ll be giving this book a half rating.

Rated 2.5/5 stars

Amazon

Share your thoughts!

Have you read this book? What did you think?

Maybe you’ve read the first book?

If you haven’t read it, do you plan to?

Let me know in the comments!

Until next time…

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