Review: Songs from the Deep by Kelly Powell

A girl searches for a killer on an island where deadly sirens lurk just beneath the waves in this gripping, atmospheric debut novel.

SONGS FROM THE DEEP by KELLY POWELL
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication date: November 5, 2019

Genre: historical, mystery, fantasy, YA

 

SYNOPSIS

The sea holds many secrets.

Moira Alexander has always been fascinated by the deadly sirens who lurk along the shores of her island town. Even though their haunting songs can lure anyone to a swift and watery grave, she gets as close to them as she can, playing her violin on the edge of the enchanted sea. When a young boy is found dead on the beach, the islanders assume that he's one of the sirens’ victims. Moira isn’t so sure.

Certain that someone has framed the boy’s death as a siren attack, Moira convinces her childhood friend, the lighthouse keeper Jude Osric, to help her find the real killer, rekindling their friendship in the process. With townspeople itching to hunt the sirens down, and their own secrets threatening to unravel their fragile new alliance, Moira and Jude must race against time to stop the killer before it’s too late—for humans and sirens alike.

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Praise for Song of the Deep:

"An intoxicating blend of mystery and enchantment."
– Kirkus Reviews

* "Featuring solid worldbuilding, unforgettable characters, and well-paced plot that fantasy and mystery fans alike will enjoy, this twisty, atmospheric story grips readers like a siren song while examining questions about what really distinguishes humans and monsters."
– Publishers Weekly, starred review

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kelly Powell writes fantasy for young adults and currently lives in Ontario, Canada. She has a bachelor's degree in history and book & media studies from the University of Toronto.

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REVIEW

Songs from the Deep by Kelly Powell
My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I tried extremely hard to get into this book thinking it was possibly my mood influencing my inability to enjoy the story, but after finishing I know that wasn't the case. The pace was so excruciatingly slow and I kept having to put the book down and pick it up multiple times over the course of a week. I felt like if I got far enough into the mystery that it would finally hook me and things would kick into motion. For me it was consistently stagnant through the end.

One major contributor is the lack of character development. This is told in first person POV from Moira's perspective and yet even with the ability to really get inside her head and know her from the inside out, she didn't make sense to me. Her motivations, actions, personality, were so two-dimensional and often I was left scratching my head trying to understand her as a whole. I needed a lot more in order to care for her, to empathize, to feel a variety of emotions. There was a noticeable lack of internal dialogue involving self-reflection to help flesh her out as a believable person. We're told that she's a gifted violinist, she's fiercely protective of the sirens on the island, and she has two secrets. One of them which caused her to push her best friend Jude away, supposedly for his own good. The second secret caused her to stop performing at the town dance hall where she found such joy and seemed to stem from something serious with one of the other performers.

"Now is the time to step back, to keep myself from Jude Osric as I’ve kept myself from the dance hall—lest I bring about more damage, lest guilt shred me to pieces. I’ve already withheld plenty from him.

I spent the entire book thinking there was going to be some type of revelation as to why Moira was so obsessed with protecting the killer sirens that live around Twillengyle. These sirens that felt more like a prop for the overall murder mystery of the story rather than anything substantial. I mean, good grief, we weren't told anything about these creatures at except how ethereal and vicious they are, and at the same time innocent of killing the people found on the beach. There was no backstory to speak of except a small paragraph at 87% in the book explaining the myth of how they came to be.

These creatures are predators that lurk all around them, lure innocent people to their death, or outright attack them. Her best friend's entire family was wiped out, her grandfather, and countless others in town. And she held no ill-will or blame whatsoever towards them, instead revering them simply because they are a link to her father and her childhood. At one point she even admits to herself that this is a childish way of thinking, yet her loyalty remains unwavering through the whole book. She also brings up the fact that they are perfectly safe as long as you take the necessary precautions and carry an iron charm around with you. The problem is, all of their victims inexplicably didn't use one knowing the dangers, including Jude's family.

Jude was a sweet guy, however I couldn't grasp what he saw in Moira to be honest. I felt as if his kindness and constant innocent blushes for her weren't reciprocated back to him so his feelings were a bit odd. She generally gave off a cold and detached feeling towards him, only wanting to be around him to help her investigation of the island murders. She lectured him like a nagging wife when he went to the bar for a few drinks which was so weird. What was that about? As far as I can tell he's a grown man who's within his rights to do that. It's not as if he was a raging alcoholic, and yet she berated him over it.

When it comes down to it, the mystery was extremely predictable and simple, the romance fell flat, and the plot did not have a strong fantasy element as I was hoping for. All of these things added up along with my disconnect with the characters and unfortunately that made for a disappointing story. The author has a distinct writing style with the type of prose I usually go for, so it's possible a future book by her may be a winner. However, Songs from the Deep is not one I would recommend unless you're looking for a plot driven historical mystery novel to pass a few hours with.

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