Trigger warnings: Teenager death, drowning
Synopsis: Welcome to the cursed town of Sparrow…
Where, two centuries ago, three sisters were sentenced to death for witchery. Stones were tied to their ankles and they were drowned in the deep waters surrounding the town.
Now, for a brief time each summer, the sisters return, stealing the bodies of three weak-hearted girls so that they may seek their revenge, luring boys into the harbor and pulling them under.
Like many locals, seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot has accepted the fate of the town. But this year, on the eve of the sisters’ return, a boy named Bo Carter arrives; unaware of the danger he has just stumbled into.
Mistrust and lies spread quickly through the salty, rain-soaked streets. The townspeople turn against one another. Penny and Bo suspect each other of hiding secrets. And death comes swiftly to those who cannot resist the call of the sisters.
But only Penny sees what others cannot. And she will be forced to choose: save Bo, or save herself.
Review: The Wicked Deep is very atmospheric and I can see why people love it. Penny is our main character, and she lives on an island near a town called Sparrow. This down is plagued year after year by the return of 3 sisters, the Swan sisters, who were killed for witchcraft. Penny is an interesting character because she believes so deeply that the sisters exist while some other locals don’t. For the most part I enjoyed her character, but there were elements near the end that I wasn’t terribly fond of. This next chunk is going to be a spoiler, so read on if you want.
SPOILER: I feel like the synopsis gives this away, but I’m marking it as a spoiler anyway. Penny gets possessed by one of the Swan sisters. This is predictable but, overall, it’s okay. My gripe is that there’s a line saying the Swan sisters possess girls who are the same age they were when they died. I don’t remember the exact ages of the Swan sisters, but if one of them was 16, then they would possess a 16 year old when they come back. But Penny has, apparently, been able to see the Swan sisters when they possess someone for as long as she can remember. This happens every summer, and Penny has grown up on the island, so has she been possessed when she was little? The answer is no. So, Penny being able to see the Swan sisters doesn’t make that much sense. END OF SPOILER
The last big part of the story is the romance. I knew it was there, because it’s in most YA books, and it was still bad. I didn’t care that the romance was there, but Bo seemed concerned at first that this town has come to terms with murders that happen every summer. Then he’s kind of okay with it, because he loves Penny? It mostly felt misplaced in a book like this.
I enjoyed the overall tone of The Wicked Deep, but the romance and Penny’s ability not being very well thought out took a lot of the enjoyment away.
3 howls
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