Hello everyone!
We finally made it to the end of the journey - or is it? You'll see what I mean at the finish line of my review - with this series, and I couldn't be happier.
Not because it IS the end, I could read a thousand more books set in this universe if Emma Hamm were the one writing them, but because the conclusion is so incredibly satisfying, AND we FINALLY get to see the big boy himself in action!
Listen.
When you have more than 19 feet of undine (aka merman aka siren), then you just KNOW it's going to be something good once he gets going, okay?
That's exactly what happens in this book.
So buckle up, buttercups, because we're diving down deep, deep into the series of Deep Waters, with its concluding novel, Call of the Fathoms!
I'm only missing the prequel novella in my collection so I'll be adding that sometime in the near future, but to very briefly recap: humans moved under the sea when the surface world proved to be too dangerous for them to inhabit, and they've been waging war against the undines ever since. Their cities have since fallen to the natives one by one, except for the mastermind - which is Tau.
This is where our story begins.
Fortis has been trying to figure out how to get INSIDE Tau for weeks now, and he eventually realizes that if he lets himself get caught, well, then it's easier than breathing. Because he's also so big and he's ingested so much sulfur over his life, the ordinary drug amounts don't work on him, so he can pretend he's asleep and actually pay attention to everything around him.
So he wakes up, grabs one of the clones the humans were preparing right next to him, and yeets back into the ocean with her.
About the clones: Tau is home to the Originals, aka the 25 people who spearheaded the project of moving under the sea, and they've made themselves basically immortal with genetic engineering that allows them to grow clones and harvest what they need from them, depending on illness or injury (or just plain vanity) and thus continue to live on forever.
Alexia, our female protagonist, is the bodyguard of one Original, and coincidentally also the one launching herself after Fortis because the clone? Well, it's her Original's.
She actually succeeds in her mission but, she wants Fortis now, so she equips herself a ship and heads on after him, and Fortis lets her, leading her on a merry chase until she's got almost no power left and has to perch in the middle of nowhere completely at his mercy.
And this, as Anakin Skywalker would say, is where the fun begins.
Fortis realizes that she takes medication every day, so to get the information from her that he needs - she can expel him from her mind, something that no one else has been able to do before when he's reading either their past or their future - and to get her to trust him, he gets rid of the meds, first.
The meds actually numb all her emotions and make her mostly into a robot, so once the emotions start coming back to the surface? It's game on, because she begins to question everything and anything, and starts trusting Fortis more.
He takes her out of the ship, and their little song and dance begins because the both of them are so attracted to one another it's kind of funny since they're also both denying it to the max.
It all comes to a head when he guides her through pleasuring herself, then has to cool off, she takes it as rejection, and angrily swims back to her ship ... getting attacked by a shoal of Humboldt squid in the process.
Thankfully, Fortis is there to yank her out before she actually dies, and he races her to Mira and the others so that she can recover. Because she was genetically altered and isn't actually fully human herself based on what they find out, she heals well enough, and then it's time for D-Day as she gives the group pretty much everything they need to get into Tau.
This will only work, however, if she returns with Fortis as her prisoner (supposedly) and because Fortis knows that his death comes at her hands, in Tau, it adds a layer of heartbreak that neither one of them can fully escape no matter how hard they try.
See, Fortis is a big believer in fate, and his late wife foresaw how he was going to die, so he's made his peace with it, while others - his son Aulax included - haven't entirely. However, Alexia goes along with the plan and they infiltrate Tau, wherein a bloodbath ensues.
First, she does away with the clone of her that was going to replace her, then surgically starts going through the security layers so that she can drop the shield surrounding the city and let the undines in.
And just when you think it's all over, Fortis wakes up from his supposed death. SAY WHAT.
Actually, the doctor who's right there explains, Alexia tricked him, making him SEEM dead, and thus freeing him from his fate.
Fortis launches himself into the aftermath of battle to find her, and the poor woman's been to hell and back yet again, bleeding out, but as they're in the facility which made her, putting her back together is easier than breathing, after which Fortis whisks her off into the sea for a little bit. They've won, after all - especially since Alexia floods the room with the remaining Originals so no one has to deal with them anymore.
See, these idiots? Fortis shows Alexia a metal, man-made island they left behind as a sort of museum-slash-trophy.
Turns out, the weather that drove humans under the sea? The Originals were responsible for it, building weather machines as weapons of war, and then having the experiment run fast and loose as they lost control of it, meaning they basically destroyed the world, then were planning on destroying the ocean as well in their own hubris. It's much better if they're dead, honestly.
Now, the only thing left is to figure out what to do with the clones and guard children that are left behind in stasis, and it's down to Alexia, with Mira's help, who eventually decides who they can unfortunately leave behind and who they can try to integrate into the other cities, now firmly under their control with Tau's downfall.
During the process of move, however, one of the pods drops from the ship, and while Alexia wants to go get it, Fortis stops her.
See, during the course of this book, we encounter a tomb, deep, deep beneath the waves, on the ocean floor. Inside, the ... thing, speaking to Fortis, says it belongs both to the sea and to the land above, and we learn that humans were the ones to imprison it, a very long time ago, and it's angry. Very, very angry, and finally free of the tomb. It now wants retribution - while it guides the People of the Water and humans into their new, joint future - and it chooses the woman in the loose pod as that retribution.
So basically, it gets itself a slave, but we don't get to see what happens with all that, not just yet at least.
Fortis and Alexia have their happily ever after, however, and so do the rest of our crew, which is all that really matters!
Be still, my heart.
This was a joyfully wonderful series from start to finish, and while I would have really loved seeing Fortis throw his weight around a little more a la Echoes of the Tide, the fact he gets his HEA and with Alexia who is just precious is amazing.
Emma Hamm wove a brilliant post-disaster world in this series and I've enjoyed the wild ride it's been.
But is is truly the end?
Or will we see a new sea god rising at some point in the future? 👀 Fingers crossed we find out, and can check in with these undines and their human mates!
100/10 recommend.
This was a joyfully wonderful series from start to finish, and while I would have really loved seeing Fortis throw his weight around a little more a la Echoes of the Tide, the fact he gets his HEA and with Alexia who is just precious is amazing.
Emma Hamm wove a brilliant post-disaster world in this series and I've enjoyed the wild ride it's been.
But is is truly the end?
Or will we see a new sea god rising at some point in the future? 👀 Fingers crossed we find out, and can check in with these undines and their human mates!
100/10 recommend.
xx
*image not mine
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