Tome Thursday: Song of the Abyss

 

Hello everyone!

 

Welcome back to the land of the mermaids.

 

Yep, I said what I said.

 

When you accidentally run into one of the best books you've read this calendar year, you don't just drop it like a hot potato and never look at it again.

 

You probably read it again, and again, and again, which is exactly what I've done with tonight's choice for blog post, honestly.

 

I think I've read this thing about five times since first getting my hands on an e-book copy, and I've since bought it in physical form so that I can skip around pages more easily (yes, you can do it on an e-reader too but, I still find it easier in an actual book, sue me).

 

Since then I've also been reading some other works by Emma Hamm and, let's just put it this way, you'll be seeing them on this blog with the passage of time.

 

But first, let's really return to the deep. Let's check on the guy who was an absolute ass in the first book, but is really just a wounded soldier, and we learn all about that - and more - in Song of the Abyss.

Link to previous related posts can be found at the bottom of the page, as per usual!

Song of the Abyss follows right after the events in Whispers of the Deep, in which, if you remember, pod leader Arges abducts a human woman, Mira, to learn all the secrets he can about taking down the human city of Beta that has been polluting and ruining the ocean ever since its inception.

They fall in love in the process, and readers and Arges both learn that the undines (this world's version of mermaids) can actually adapt to having human mates, breathing for them underwater.

At the tail end of Whispers, Daios, Arges' combative (and wounded) brother is told that, for any chance of success, they have to kidnap the General's daughter, the General being the leader of all the underwater cities residing in Alpha.

So Daios goes to do just that, sneaking into the "golden" city through their pipe system and finding Anya through the pools they have set up, as Alpha is a luxury city where people don't really work, but supposedly have everything they could ever ask for.

Anya, however, is unhappy - she's hard of hearing after an accident when she was left alone in a room full of things she shouldn't touch, but her inquisitiveness had her pressing the wrong button, so she's constantly a disappointment to her father. She and her droid, Bitsy, who helps her understand what others are saying, aren't frightened of Daios at all when he pops up, and even though they can't really communicate (Anya will never be able to implant the translation chip, for example, because of her condition) she manages to convey that she'll HAPPILY go with him when he takes her away.

So that's what she does, launching herself into the pipe system after some crabs with the symbol of the ocean waves on their shells, though Daios hadn't been planning on finding the woman in the water by the time he was ready to go.

In any event, they escape, and he takes her to an abandoned facility where she can breathe air and have some semblance of an existence, and where she explains to him that, honestly? Her dad doesn't care all that much.

When they do actually talk about the situation, that is.

See, for the most part, this time together is spent with Daios slowly completing the mating rituals Anya knows nothing about, but from the first moment he sees the golden-haired young woman he's lost, and he's hoping beyond hope that she might feel the same. See, he considers himself as un-mateable, because he's too big and too dangerous, and oh also he only has one arm, since he lost his other during an ill-fated attack on Beta in the first book.

Anya, however, is as entranced with the big undine as one can be, definitely not afraid of him, and definitely doesn't think less of him for having only the one arm. 

Their building connection and deepening emotions are *sigh* so beautiful to watch, and just *chef's kiss*, hats off for Emma Hamm because, honestly? Monster romance shouldn't sound appealing whatsoever but she MAKES it work and in the best way possible.

Of course then the structure that Anya's in kind of collapses, so Daios' only choice is to finally take her to Arges and Mira, and while he's kind of moping because he feels he doesn't know how to talk to her, he gets dragged into the very depths of the ocean to the depthstriders, who are ... undines, but actually not undines, they're sort of a sub-species who're a little funkier and who are often clairvoyant (possibly from breathing in all those fumes from the bottom, but don't quote me on that one).

In any event, they show Daios that the people in Alpha are experimenting on undines, not just killing them, so by the time he returns to his family pod he's got a story to tell.

But not before he spends a little quiet - and quality - time with Anya just to get back to his normal self again, as she's the only one who's his safe haven (and he hers).

Afterwards, however, he finally explains the what's what to everyone, and Anya pulls the trigger on the decision: they can't just threaten the General, they have to destroy Alpha, because no one deserves to be treated the way the undines have been treated.

And she's the only one who can do it.

Ugh, parting is such sweet sorrow, was written way back when, and it's especially true when Daios returns Anya to Alpha, because both of them know, even though they hope differently, that it might be the end. Daios is a little more head-in-the-sand about it, as evidenced when things DO go to shit and she has to blow up the place early, but equally we stan a partner who doesn't stop their woman from doing what they need to do just to prove something, instead supporting them all the way.

Anya, being the boss lady that she is, not only blows everything up, but she rescued the depthstrider and undine that were captive, too, though unfortunately Bitsy gets kind of destroyed in the blast, but Daios finds them both, kills the General - nothing is as satisfying as reading THAT, and anyone can think of me what they will - and takes them out of there.

He also finds another, similar droid for her so that Bitsy's main core can be moved there and she can be revived (with time), then takes Anya to warmer waters so they can just ... exist, for a while.

It's beautiful.

Then comes the shocker of the book when Anya's contact from Gamma - the prison city - who's been helping her and the undines through the book says that the Gamma leaders want to meet (probably because seeing Alpha and Beta fall, they're rethinking their life choices) and Maketes, the smallest undine and brother, volunteers to go.

Since HIS book is the next one, well, can I just say I can't wait? Because I. CAN'T. WAIT.

In the meantime, we leave Daios and Anya to their happily ever after bubble that they've crafted for themselves in the currents of the ocean, both wounded in some ways but stronger because of that in others, and together making the perfect couple.

Arges and Mira had my heart - then Daios and Anya showed up and just 😭😭😭

I want to hug them both. And I love that this one wasn't such a slow burn, but rather, two souls finding each other after so long in the dark for both of them.

I love this series so much! I'm so thankful I found it.

I love Daios' progress from cold-blooded killer to the man that was always hidden beneath. Anya brings it out of him. They're just beautiful together, complementing each other and holding one another up when one of them falters. I find it beautiful that he learned sign language for her so they can communicate better, too.

... also my Spidey senses are tingling and I say Fortis or his kid will find a mate at Tau, that STILL hasn't been brought up again. I'm hoping that this will be rectified in Maketes' book, because otherwise that's a big editing error way back in Whispers of the Deep, though with how tight and concise Emma Hamm's writing is? 

Yeah, I'm not convinced. Tau's popping up again at some point.

And I can't wait.

xx

*image not mine

Whispers of the Deep