Review: Daughter of the Deep

Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rick Riordan may have taken a bit of a break from the world of Camp Half-Blood (though he'll be back with Mark Oshiro on the long awaited Nico di Angelo and Will Solace spinoff, of course), but now it looks like he's gone off and started a whole new series that works pretty well in the style to which his fans have grown accustomed. This time, it's also got its roots in the old "fantasy/fairytale retelling" trend that was so big about 5-10 years ago, but with a very unique twist - a modern-day continuation of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, with our protagonist Ana being a distant descendant of Prince Dakkar, aka Captain Nemo. So in this universe, while Verne's book (and its sequel, The Mysterious Island) were published for real, they were based on much more real events than the world knew. And now, in the present day, there are still those who want to steal Captain Nemo's legacy for themselves - namely, the Land Institute, named of course for Ned Land, and their own deadly attack sub, the Arronax. Though a little too herky-jerky in its pacing and occasionally predictable in its plotting (the big twist is nothing new to longtime Riordan fans, let's be real), this book is also pretty timely with its social commentary (particularly re: colonialism, and you can thank Roshani Chokshi for that) and stays Riordan-style without relying too heavily on some of his usual (pop-culturally) humorous touches, indicating a certain evolution in his style. While there's been no sequel announced yet that I know of, I'd be willing to guarantee one will happen...and is it too much to hope that in the next one, Riordan includes some lines in the Maltese language after he referenced it in this book? This Maltese boy hopes not.

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