PotsandPlots

Ian Green is a new author to me, though on completing The Deep and the Drowned, I discovered that he has a previous series, the Rotstorm trilogy. On the strength of what I’ve read so far, I’ll be looking to pick that up soon, though my TBR pile already teeters dangerously.

The Deep and the Drowned is the first book in Green’s new “Cutlass and Crow” series. It ends with a big cliffhanger, so no closure found in this first volume!

Growing Information:

Plant With: Fantasy, Pirates, Immersive worldbuilding.

Grows Into: A multifaceted seafaring fantasy in a deeply imagined world.

Rating: Vibrant Annual 🌻🌻(Check here for rating information.)

Available now in hardback (affiliate link). Many thanks to publisher Head of Zeus for sending me a copy of the book to review.

The Review:

I came into the novel with few expectations, knowing very little about Green or the novel’s premise beyond it being a seafaring story. It took me a couple of reading sessions to find my way into the book. After that, I was swept away in the ebb and flow of its absorbing plot and artful worldbuilding.

Green introduces a host of characters, each with rich backstories and some with hidden pasts. The novel is set within a large archipelago, offering many locations that each bring different factions, races and deities, complete with history and rivalries. It’s a heady mix, and in the opening 100 pages or so I found it difficult to grab hold of a thread to tether myself to.

As I progressed, however, Green and his main character, Killian Heroneye, worked their charms on me. I was struck by just how rich his worldbuilding was. I cast my mind back to the fantasy novels of my youth, and find they are but a house of cards compared with the rich world Green has built here.

I reviewed Of Blood and Fire earlier this year and talked about its old-school vibe. The Deep and the Drowned reminds us that we now live in more interesting times.

During The Deep and The Drowned, we travel to many different locations as Killian tries to extricate himself from one predicament before crashing into another. He often finds himself at the mercy of forces over which he has no control, some external, others internal. Killian is an orphan who directly blames himself for the death of his mother and his inability to protect his sister. These two shards of darkness exert an inexorable force upon his actions.

As the novel builds to a climax, Killian must sail into the hardest-to-navigate waters of the whole archipelago. The people he is surrounded by all have their own agendas. Many of them wish Killian ill, while also needing him alive for their plans to succeed. Some wear their hostility in plain sight, while others keep it hidden. Betrayal seems inevitable, but from what quarter will it come?

The best thing about The Deep and the Drowned is how Ian Green uses his artfully constructed world to inform the motivations and loyalties of his characters. It makes for a deeply absorbing final third, as we read on, waiting to see how the waves will break after the action rises to its crescendo.

The end does not disappoint. There are several twists along the way and the novel’s denouement is in keeping with what comes before it. With many interesting characters left in play, and motivations and plans still unfulfilled, The Deep and the Drowned sets the series up for an enthralling second volume.