Book Review: The Wicked Deep

The Wicked Deep By Shea Ernshaw

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal
Pages: 308 pages
Publication Date: March 6th 2018
Publisher: Simon Pulse
My Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Plot: 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.

My Thoughts: So this is a book I have been seeing a lot of people talk about. It has been popping up on people’s blogs. So I saw that the library closest to me had it available so I decided to pick it up. Right away I was really drawn in by the cover. I think it’s so pretty. Then I heard about the summary and I was really interested. I don’t read a lot of paranormal books but I am interested in witches. So I was all for this book.

Plot:

So this story is about the town Sparrow. Years ago these 3 sisters were killed because they were believed to be witches. Each year on June 1st (I just realized I will be posting this review on June 1st.) these three sisters come back and take over the bodies of three girls. They get their revenge by luring boys into the water and killing them. The story is told from the point of view of Penny who is a girl that lives in the town of Sparrow. She ends up encountering a stranger named Bo who isn’t familiar with what happens in Sparrow every year. She takes a liking to him and decides to do whatever she can to save him.

Now don’t get me wrong I really enjoyed the plot of this book. I really enjoyed learning about the sisters and there past. I really enjoyed that the author broke it up into parts. You would get a couple of chapters of Penny and then a chapter about the history of the sisters and other events and people from the past. I honestly feel like I could have done without Penny’s character. I felt she was kinda there just for the author to create a conflict in the story. I did not see that part of the story coming but I really hated how it was dealt with in the end. I can’t say much because it will spoil the story for you. I just really could have had this book be all about the sisters and them going on their revenge killings. Instead the author had to include this romance that fell really flat for me. I feel like there wasn’t much leading up to it. Sure the characters interacted with each other but I never felt a connection between them. Plus the way things ended was just so frustrating. I really felt like Bo should have had a totally different reaction to what happened. I know if I was him and I found out what I knew, I’d be pissed. However there can be no wrong and everything is just all well and forgotten.

Characters:

As I said before I kinda felt like most of the characters were more there to help the story move along. I really would have liked to seen things through the sisters eyes. I think it could have been fun to get different point of views from each sister. I would have like to been inside their head to see what they were thinking. Yes there were a couple of chapters and their backstories but I really wanted more. They are what made the story for me. I also can’t say too much of what I want to because of spoilers.

Writing:

I overall enjoyed the writing. I loved the chapters when the author would give us glimpses into the past. It was so very detailed. I could picture the scenes happening in my head. I also loved how creepy the atmosphere was. It really had such a great setting. I just wish the plot was different. I would have had a better experience with it if that were the case.

Overall I thought this was a decent read. I really loved the concept of it. I like how the story started and I got really into it. I just really disliked the ending. I feel it really ruined the story for me. It made me wish a lot of things in this story went differently. I feel you guys should check it out if it sounds interesting to you. Maybe you will end up liking the ending more than me.

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Have you guys read this book? If so did you end up enjoying it? If not do you think you’ll end up picking it up in the future? I would love to hear about it in the comments below.

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