Book Review: The Threat Below by J. S. Latshaw
*Disclaimer: I was kindly provided with an electronic copy of this book by the author. As always my opinions are 100% mine and honest*
When they discover that their water supply is being poisoned Down Below, an expedition, including seventeen year-old girl Icelyn Brathius, must descend and face the monsters, the Threat Below, that wiped out civilization centuries ago.
Icelyn quickly learns that all is not what it seems as she uncovers secrets hundreds of years old and struggles to stay alive in a world where no human is fit to survive. (from Goodreads)
"The Threat Below" is part one in the Brathius History Series by J.S. Latshaw. I would say it's a YA fantasy/dystopian fiction novel with a few adventure and romance elements. There are several P.O.V.s, but only one main character, Icelyn, who is the heir to her father who "runs" the little mountain society that we encounter at the beginning. The general consensus is that all of humanity is extinct and only these mountain people survived and now live in a two class society.
The first and most impressive thing about this book that I have to mention is that the world building is so impressive and well done. I'm someone who needs a world to be well described or at least familiar to me so that I can enjoy a book. This post-apocalyptic world is a little different to the ones that I've seen before, it's not full of technology or a nation of warriors, but a society that went back to its roots. The societal system that J.S. Latshaw created is also very intriguing (even if it made me feel sick at some points with it's clear separation of people, one group being worth so much more than the other and its "mating rules"). I quite enjoyed the style of writing, it was fast paced, easy to follow the story and the world building. It intrigued me a lot, trying to figured out what was going on and where the story would take us.
The characters were all weird in a different way but none were interesting or good to read about. We have parents who are just strange in every way, the father (the leader of this entire society) is so weak and lacking a backbone, that his wife, his daughter and his advisor manage to work over his head and I honestly can't understand how anyone would tolerate him as a leader (he even says that about himself, so yay self awareness I guess). The two male love interests (yes, two because apparently every book needs a love triangle) are both so annoying that my advice to Icelyn would be to stay single as long as possible, and they're very cookie cutter like. Ad is your reckless, "dumb", best friend character who who is promised to someone else but keeps leading our main character on (which is actually illegal and can get you into serious trouble). Torrain is a selfish, whiny, arrogant idiot who is so entitled that I had to roll my eyes at everything he did. Like legit every time he appeared I hoped he'd leave asap. Maybe I have to give the author credit here, he really managed to write such an unlikable character.
And Icelyn, dear, dear Icelyn. I really loved her as a main character in the beginning. She was strong headed, did her thing and didn't let anyone tell her no. She wasn't reckless, because there was a lot of thought and sense of responsibility for her actions as well as compassion for the people around her.
But about 2/3 into the book she suddenly develops the biggest of God-complexes, loses touch with reality out of nowhere and plunges an entire people into despair (because there are other creatures living outside the mountain village that apparently want to eat humans). I'm not saying a character isn't allowed to go mad at some point in a book, but I really struggled to understand why or how this happened.
I really liked the multiple story lines, the adventure of our young heroine and her friends to fight the Threat Below opposite the political issues that were happening in the village, it added depth and importance to a good outcome of the adventure. I do have to say though that there were quite a few discrepancies/plot holes/issues that weren't addressed and left me confused. There was telepathy at some point and new species and suddenly Icelyn is no longer a human? (You see, I still don't really know)
I wasn't a fan of the love triangle, at the beginning the tension was interesting and sweet, but then it got messy in the weirdest way and I couldn't explain it to you if I had to. I was completely lost at the end of the book and I'm sorry to say that I'm not interested to read the next parts of the series. Maybe it's my fault that I didn't get it, but where it was interesting and fast paced in the beginning it was a chaotic, confusing end.
Overall I give this a 2.5/5 rating because I liked the style of writing and world building until about half way through the book and then it sadly went downhill (or I guess Down Below) from there on. I always feel bad when a book takes such a turn, because I was happy at the beginning and would've recommended this to fans of Dystopian YA who enjoy great world building.
If you're interested in reading it yourself and form your own opinion (which I always recommend, don't just take my word) you can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/-/de/dp/0692463593/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&dchild=1&keywords=the+threat+below&qid=1620905264&sr=8-1
Thank you again to J.S. Latshaw for providing me a copy.
As always, take care, stay healthy and read on.
Lena
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