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Out of the Drowning Deep
In a future where mortals mingle with the gods in deep space, an out-of-date automaton, a recovering addict, and an angel try to solve the pope's murder. Dreamy, beautifully written science-fantasy with a devastating queer love-story at its heart, for fans of Becky Chambers, Gideon the Ninth, and This is How You Lose the Time War.
Scribe IV is an obsolete automaton, peacefully whiling away his years on the Bastion, a secluded monastery in an abandoned corner of the galaxy. But when the visiting Pope is found murdered, Scribe IV knows he has very little time before the terrifying Sisters of the Drowned Deep rise up to punish the Bastion's residents for their crime.
Quin, a recovering drug addict turned private investigator, picks up a scrambled signal from the Bastion and agrees to take the case. Traumatized by a bizarre experience in his childhood, Quin repeatedly feeds his memories to his lover, the angel Murmuration. But fragmented glimpses of an otherworldly horror he calls the crawling dark continue to haunt his dreams.
Meanwhile in Heaven, an angel named Angel hears Scribe IV's prayer. Intrigued by the idea of solving a crime with mortals, xe descends to offer xer divine assistance (whether those mortals want it or not). With the Drowned Sisters closing in around the Bastion, Scribe IV, Quin, and Angel race to find out who really murdered the Pope, and why. Quin's missing memories may hold the key to the case—but is remembering worth the price?
Scribe IV is an obsolete automaton, peacefully whiling away his years on the Bastion, a secluded monastery in an abandoned corner of the galaxy. But when the visiting Pope is found murdered, Scribe IV knows he has very little time before the terrifying Sisters of the Drowned Deep rise up to punish the Bastion's residents for their crime.
Quin, a recovering drug addict turned private investigator, picks up a scrambled signal from the Bastion and agrees to take the case. Traumatized by a bizarre experience in his childhood, Quin repeatedly feeds his memories to his lover, the angel Murmuration. But fragmented glimpses of an otherworldly horror he calls the crawling dark continue to haunt his dreams.
Meanwhile in Heaven, an angel named Angel hears Scribe IV's prayer. Intrigued by the idea of solving a crime with mortals, xe descends to offer xer divine assistance (whether those mortals want it or not). With the Drowned Sisters closing in around the Bastion, Scribe IV, Quin, and Angel race to find out who really murdered the Pope, and why. Quin's missing memories may hold the key to the case—but is remembering worth the price?
175 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 3, 2024
19 people are currently reading
1233 people want to read
About the author
A.C. Wise
161 books407 followersA.C. Wise's fiction has appeared in publications such as Uncanny, Shimmer, and Tor.com, among other places. She had two collections published with Lethe Press, and a novella published by Broken Eye Books. Her debut novel, Wendy, Darling, is out from Titan Books n June 2021, and a new collection, The Ghost Sequences, is forthcoming from Undertow Books in October 2021. Her work has won the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, as well as being a two-time Nebula finalist, a two-time Sunburst finalist, an Aurora finalist, and a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. In addition to her fiction, she contributes review columns to the Book Smugglers and Apex Magazine, and has been a finalist for the Ignyte Award in the Critics category.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 116 reviews
August 4, 2024
This is crammed with intricate, detailed and intriguing world building, which I absolutely loved. It is set in a universe where gods are revealed, angels are manifest, and prayers are a genuine and means of communication and compulsion. Meanwhile, Scribe IV, an ancient steam-punk automaton, has developed a depth of feeling and emotion beyond his original design intent. He is custodian of the Bastion, a once important but now crumbling relic, where there has now been a murder. Scribe IV calls for the help of Quin, an investigator who has troubles of his own, and a chequered and traumatic past with gods and angels.
The murder mystery is the thread that binds the plot together and gives it momentum, but isn’t really the core of the story (if you’re looking for a meaty murder mystery in a sci-fi setting, then this isn’t that book). Rather, the murder itself is just a vehicle to tell a much wider, much more interesting story. And there is so much more story to tell: Quin and his sister Lena have a dark memory from their childhood; the fearsome and powerful Sisters of the Drowning Deep have their own agenda relating to the Bastion and their sleeping god; Quin has a troubled and dysfunctional relationship with an angel, and is struggling with addiction; Scribe IV is struggling with identity and regret; and Angel is grappling with duty, honour and friendship.
The depth and complexity of the universe that the author has created is astonishing, and incredibly satisfying. My main complaint is that I wish it had been a full novel. There is so much crammed into this novella that there are too many things that I would loved to have seen given a more detailed treatment. But “I wish there was more of this!” is more of a frustration than a criticism.
Thank you #NetGalley and Titan Books for the free review copy of #OutoftheDrowningDeep in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The murder mystery is the thread that binds the plot together and gives it momentum, but isn’t really the core of the story (if you’re looking for a meaty murder mystery in a sci-fi setting, then this isn’t that book). Rather, the murder itself is just a vehicle to tell a much wider, much more interesting story. And there is so much more story to tell: Quin and his sister Lena have a dark memory from their childhood; the fearsome and powerful Sisters of the Drowning Deep have their own agenda relating to the Bastion and their sleeping god; Quin has a troubled and dysfunctional relationship with an angel, and is struggling with addiction; Scribe IV is struggling with identity and regret; and Angel is grappling with duty, honour and friendship.
The depth and complexity of the universe that the author has created is astonishing, and incredibly satisfying. My main complaint is that I wish it had been a full novel. There is so much crammed into this novella that there are too many things that I would loved to have seen given a more detailed treatment. But “I wish there was more of this!” is more of a frustration than a criticism.
Thank you #NetGalley and Titan Books for the free review copy of #OutoftheDrowningDeep in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
July 26, 2024
3⭐️ || TikTok
I am beginning to think I might be rather picky with Sci-fi, so perhaps take my opinion with a grain of salt…
This sounded absolutely weird and crazy and that was exactly what I wanted at the time. unfortunately I couldn’t get into this the way I hoped I would. There was a LOT going on for a novella. Multiple POVs, side plots, and a ton of trauma to unpack - plus a murder mystery. I found this hard to get into because it was doing so much at once.
The prose was good, the pacing was fine (if a bit scattered) and it was less than 200 pages, so if you’re really into sci-fi and you find the religious situation appealing you may like this one. It just wasn’t my favorite.
Thank you NetGalley and Titan Books for sending this book (eARC) for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
I am beginning to think I might be rather picky with Sci-fi, so perhaps take my opinion with a grain of salt…
This sounded absolutely weird and crazy and that was exactly what I wanted at the time. unfortunately I couldn’t get into this the way I hoped I would. There was a LOT going on for a novella. Multiple POVs, side plots, and a ton of trauma to unpack - plus a murder mystery. I found this hard to get into because it was doing so much at once.
The prose was good, the pacing was fine (if a bit scattered) and it was less than 200 pages, so if you’re really into sci-fi and you find the religious situation appealing you may like this one. It just wasn’t my favorite.
Thank you NetGalley and Titan Books for sending this book (eARC) for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
December 10, 2024
This is due back at the library, so I thought I'd write a longer review, but I honestly haven't thought about it much since I first read it. On one hand, the worldbuilding is great; this universe is bursting with nuanced people, strange religions, and all sorts of tensions roiling under the surface. If it's the introduction to the setting for a new series, I might be interested to try it. On the other hand, the narrative is so cluttered with stray details, backstory, and POV characters that it was hard to get invested: it feels like a 400-age book awkwardly truncated into this format.
If you're interested in unusual futuristic settings and characters struggling with what lives they want to live, this might be your cup of tea; I just wanted a sharper focus on a smaller number of the characters. The automaton Scribe IV, who has spent many years in the remote religious outpost of the Bastion, is compelling; so is Quin, a human investigator with a mysterious past. If the story had focused on one or both of them, I think I really could have gotten my teeth into it. Scribe IV leads the Bastion and protects the people in it, but he's also resented and feels alienated from the humans under its care, and I would have loved to see that dynamic extend through more of the investigation than turned out to be the case.
Unfortunately, the story also contains the angel called Angel, about whom the author has this to say in an interview:
Unfortunately for my enjoyment of the story, this kind of character is sort of a deterrent for me-- when the story is pushing one character's supposed loveability too hard, I find myself disliking them. Beyond that, though, Angel is a disruption to the part of the story that most intrigued me at the start. The novella is built around a murder mystery, and "who killed "? is the kind of amazing plot hook that had me requesting that my library system buy this before I knew much beyond the blurb, and then blazing through the first few chapters.
Then it looks like the story is a locked-room deal, my favorite... but Angel can teleport in and out and carry people along, so the menace of the Sisters of the Drowned Deep who are coming to conduct a brutal investigation and kill wrongdoers is muted, because people can leave at any time. And with teleportation on the table, some other unknown force could have zapped in and out. The story just expands to an awkward scope that undercuts the mystery and tries to produce major character moments for three POV characters in addition to the angel Murmuration, Quin's companion of sorts back on a distant space station. That whole backstory element of (spoiler: ) could have been its own fantastic trauma narrative, but it just doesn't have room to breathe. I think all the pieces are interesting, but they just didn't fit together very well for me.
In the end, I enjoyed some pieces but wanted this to either drop a POV character and a subplot or two or be 300 pages longer to fully explore the most interesting corners of the story. If you like your stories weird and full of heart, with plenty of details left unexplained, give this one a try; I think it's probably the perfect read for another audience, just not my taste.
//
First impressions: I'm not sure what to make of this one. The narrative is bursting with great ideas and vivid setting details, but to me, it seems like the story is trying to do too much. It starts out with a murder-mystery frame and a race against the clock to find those answers before deadly investigators do, which is exactly to my taste-- but then the story spends a lot of time sidetracked into backstory on a space station, or wrapped around the plot-device angel tagging along. Losing one of the three major characters or giving this a few hundred pages to breathe might have worked better. RTC.
If you're interested in unusual futuristic settings and characters struggling with what lives they want to live, this might be your cup of tea; I just wanted a sharper focus on a smaller number of the characters. The automaton Scribe IV, who has spent many years in the remote religious outpost of the Bastion, is compelling; so is Quin, a human investigator with a mysterious past. If the story had focused on one or both of them, I think I really could have gotten my teeth into it. Scribe IV leads the Bastion and protects the people in it, but he's also resented and feels alienated from the humans under its care, and I would have loved to see that dynamic extend through more of the investigation than turned out to be the case.
Unfortunately, the story also contains the angel called Angel, about whom the author has this to say in an interview:
Angel, in particular, is just kind of a charming character (in my biased opinion). It’s hard not to like xem. Xe is an incredibly powerful being, but also kind of small and precious in a way and I just want to make sure xe has a warm sweater and is okay.
Unfortunately for my enjoyment of the story, this kind of character is sort of a deterrent for me-- when the story is pushing one character's supposed loveability too hard, I find myself disliking them. Beyond that, though, Angel is a disruption to the part of the story that most intrigued me at the start. The novella is built around a murder mystery, and "who killed "? is the kind of amazing plot hook that had me requesting that my library system buy this before I knew much beyond the blurb, and then blazing through the first few chapters.
Then it looks like the story is a locked-room deal, my favorite... but Angel can teleport in and out and carry people along, so the menace of the Sisters of the Drowned Deep who are coming to conduct a brutal investigation and kill wrongdoers is muted, because people can leave at any time. And with teleportation on the table, some other unknown force could have zapped in and out. The story just expands to an awkward scope that undercuts the mystery and tries to produce major character moments for three POV characters in addition to the angel Murmuration, Quin's companion of sorts back on a distant space station. That whole backstory element of (spoiler: ) could have been its own fantastic trauma narrative, but it just doesn't have room to breathe. I think all the pieces are interesting, but they just didn't fit together very well for me.
In the end, I enjoyed some pieces but wanted this to either drop a POV character and a subplot or two or be 300 pages longer to fully explore the most interesting corners of the story. If you like your stories weird and full of heart, with plenty of details left unexplained, give this one a try; I think it's probably the perfect read for another audience, just not my taste.
//
First impressions: I'm not sure what to make of this one. The narrative is bursting with great ideas and vivid setting details, but to me, it seems like the story is trying to do too much. It starts out with a murder-mystery frame and a race against the clock to find those answers before deadly investigators do, which is exactly to my taste-- but then the story spends a lot of time sidetracked into backstory on a space station, or wrapped around the plot-device angel tagging along. Losing one of the three major characters or giving this a few hundred pages to breathe might have worked better. RTC.
August 26, 2024
A murder mystery, in a remote setting called the Bastion and in what's presumably a distant future -- oh, and the victim is a pope. Said pope has called a conclave at which he means to propose that all established religions be abolished, "put[ting] religion directly back in the hands of the people," whatever that means considering that "people" have form for creating organized religions so I'd expect them to get right back to it. Anyway, this pontiff is not only surprisingly naive about human history but also dead and it's not clear who, among the inhabitants and visitors to the Bastion, holds the trifecta of motive, means, and opportunity.
Our investigators are Scribe IV, an automaton who's in charge of the Bastion; Quin, an "unaffiliated investigator" (unexplained, but something like a private eye?), and Angel, an angel -- of the wheel-of-fire, thousand-eyes variety, but fortunately xe can shapeshift so appears to Scribe IV and Quin as human-ish most of the time. Angel's participation is especially helpful because angels somehow outrank the Drowned Sisterhood, an order of maybe-nuns who resemble anglerfish both physically and in their emergence from the deep sea, and whom you really, really don't want taking charge of any situation involving crime and punishment what with their fondness for subjecting the guilty (or "guilty") to Drowning. Drowning seems to be what it sounds like, only continuing in perpetuity.
Helpful supporting roles are played by Quin's younger sister, Lena, and Quin's sort-of ex, sort-of lover the angel Starling, aka Murmuration. (That's what I call inspired naming.)
Yes, okay, this is all wackadoodle. No, the worldbuilding isn't sufficiently developed. No, I could not stop reading, and no, I was not at any point bored. It would be sort of great if this turned out to be the prequel of a proper novel in which we find out what happens after Drowning Deep's open ending, but whatever this is I'll take it. Also, the means by which the murder is committed gets full marks for ingenuity.
Thanks to Titan Books and NetGalley; this is my baffled but honest review.
Our investigators are Scribe IV, an automaton who's in charge of the Bastion; Quin, an "unaffiliated investigator" (unexplained, but something like a private eye?), and Angel, an angel -- of the wheel-of-fire, thousand-eyes variety, but fortunately xe can shapeshift so appears to Scribe IV and Quin as human-ish most of the time. Angel's participation is especially helpful because angels somehow outrank the Drowned Sisterhood, an order of maybe-nuns who resemble anglerfish both physically and in their emergence from the deep sea, and whom you really, really don't want taking charge of any situation involving crime and punishment what with their fondness for subjecting the guilty (or "guilty") to Drowning. Drowning seems to be what it sounds like, only continuing in perpetuity.
Helpful supporting roles are played by Quin's younger sister, Lena, and Quin's sort-of ex, sort-of lover the angel Starling, aka Murmuration. (That's what I call inspired naming.)
Yes, okay, this is all wackadoodle. No, the worldbuilding isn't sufficiently developed. No, I could not stop reading, and no, I was not at any point bored. It would be sort of great if this turned out to be the prequel of a proper novel in which we find out what happens after Drowning Deep's open ending, but whatever this is I'll take it. Also, the means by which the murder is committed gets full marks for ingenuity.
Thanks to Titan Books and NetGalley; this is my baffled but honest review.
June 4, 2024
It's really difficult to pin down exactly what Out of the Drowning Deep is. Is it a murder mystery set in a strange and distant future? Is it a character study of its main cast of characters and their conflict? Is it a treatise on the nature of religion and the deification of things divine and mundane? Or is it something entirely different, greater than the sum of its many parts?
I don't really have an answer for what the book is, except to say that it's really good. Wise's prose takes on the daunting task of trying to explain something beyond mortal comprehension, and it mostly succeeds. In the most complimentary way I can manage, I think the book felt like a throwback to an earlier era of science fiction, like a book that would fit in right next to Brian Aldiss's body of work. It's all about the interchange between the human and the divine, about the limitations of deity, and also about the scarring effect an exchange between the mortal and the otherworldly can be.
What I liked the most about the book is that it respects its characters and it doesn't exposit endlessly over its unique world-building. Out of the Drowning Deep is a demanding sci-fi read as a result, but not in a bad way. I think readers who have read a lot of science fiction through its New Wave in the '60s will find a lot this book shares with that movement, but it also feels much more comfortable in the culture and politics of 2024. It's a great book perhaps occasionally held back by its limited scope, but one that opens up a fascinating new setting for story.
Weird and wonderful, the book explores awe in a way I crave. If I ever were to pray for anything, it would be more of this fascinating setting.
Disclosure Statement: I received a complimentary copy of the novella from the book's author and publisher. My review is entirely my own and has not been influenced in any way by either the author or the publisher.
I don't really have an answer for what the book is, except to say that it's really good. Wise's prose takes on the daunting task of trying to explain something beyond mortal comprehension, and it mostly succeeds. In the most complimentary way I can manage, I think the book felt like a throwback to an earlier era of science fiction, like a book that would fit in right next to Brian Aldiss's body of work. It's all about the interchange between the human and the divine, about the limitations of deity, and also about the scarring effect an exchange between the mortal and the otherworldly can be.
What I liked the most about the book is that it respects its characters and it doesn't exposit endlessly over its unique world-building. Out of the Drowning Deep is a demanding sci-fi read as a result, but not in a bad way. I think readers who have read a lot of science fiction through its New Wave in the '60s will find a lot this book shares with that movement, but it also feels much more comfortable in the culture and politics of 2024. It's a great book perhaps occasionally held back by its limited scope, but one that opens up a fascinating new setting for story.
Weird and wonderful, the book explores awe in a way I crave. If I ever were to pray for anything, it would be more of this fascinating setting.
Disclosure Statement: I received a complimentary copy of the novella from the book's author and publisher. My review is entirely my own and has not been influenced in any way by either the author or the publisher.
September 16, 2024
I received a gifted copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via the publishers.
Out of the Drowning Deep is a futuristic sci-fi murder mystery with a host of diverse and unique characters who are all emotionally scarred yet bound together in some intricate ways. I enjoyed the different perspective of angels, and their description was both terrifying yet intriguing. The book left me pondering the story and what it mainly told as it is a mix of sci-fi, horror, mystery, religion and politics all woven together to almost make a genre of its own. The word building is fantastic and draws you in from the start. I think I will read this book again in the near future as I think it's one of those books that you take something new away from each time you read it.
Out of the Drowning Deep is a futuristic sci-fi murder mystery with a host of diverse and unique characters who are all emotionally scarred yet bound together in some intricate ways. I enjoyed the different perspective of angels, and their description was both terrifying yet intriguing. The book left me pondering the story and what it mainly told as it is a mix of sci-fi, horror, mystery, religion and politics all woven together to almost make a genre of its own. The word building is fantastic and draws you in from the start. I think I will read this book again in the near future as I think it's one of those books that you take something new away from each time you read it.
October 21, 2024
This could’ve been a five-star read for me if it’d been a full-length novel rather than a novella, because while there are so many good things in here, well—there are so many good things in here. Too many for Out of the Drowning Deep’s 176 pages.
Religion in particular is woefully unexplored considering how integral it is to every aspect of Out of the Drowning Deep—the characters, the settings, the plot, the plot “twists,” etc. This isn’t to say that religion isn’t explored—many aspects of the way religion functions in this universe, where gods can be made and angels haunt space stations and automaton scribes are responsible for recording prayers, are established—but none of these aspects are explored deeply enough within the scope of this novella to truly do any of these aspects justice. Even with one of the main characters being an angel, the angels’ limitations and relationship with their gods is never established; similarly, even with one of the main characters being a scribe, I could tell you very little about what a scribe actually does. The tangibility of heavenly beings like gods and angels in Out of the Drowning Deep is one of the things that drew me towards it—I love that type of shit—and I do love what’s there, there just isn’t nearly enough of it.
This same critique applies to the characters. Out of the Drowning Deep has what I would consider to be three protagonists, all of whom get their own third-person POVs, and all of whom I think are valuable protagonists of the story A.C. Wise is telling—but the length of this novella means that none of them get a proper character arc. Of the three, Quin develops the most, but even his arc reads rushed and incomplete, and the impact of his development on an audience suffers for it. The mystery surrounding his backstory and missing memories doesn’t succeed in creating tension; it’s all but resolved within fifty pages. The same goes for the aforementioned angel and scribe characters.
Wise does a fantastic job within Out of the Drowning Deep’s page count—it’s this page count that I have a problem with. If Wise ever publishes anything else in this universe, I will happily read it, and I did enjoy Out of the Drowning Deep as it is! It just could’ve been so much more with another hundred pages to work with.
Religion in particular is woefully unexplored considering how integral it is to every aspect of Out of the Drowning Deep—the characters, the settings, the plot, the plot “twists,” etc. This isn’t to say that religion isn’t explored—many aspects of the way religion functions in this universe, where gods can be made and angels haunt space stations and automaton scribes are responsible for recording prayers, are established—but none of these aspects are explored deeply enough within the scope of this novella to truly do any of these aspects justice. Even with one of the main characters being an angel, the angels’ limitations and relationship with their gods is never established; similarly, even with one of the main characters being a scribe, I could tell you very little about what a scribe actually does. The tangibility of heavenly beings like gods and angels in Out of the Drowning Deep is one of the things that drew me towards it—I love that type of shit—and I do love what’s there, there just isn’t nearly enough of it.
This same critique applies to the characters. Out of the Drowning Deep has what I would consider to be three protagonists, all of whom get their own third-person POVs, and all of whom I think are valuable protagonists of the story A.C. Wise is telling—but the length of this novella means that none of them get a proper character arc. Of the three, Quin develops the most, but even his arc reads rushed and incomplete, and the impact of his development on an audience suffers for it. The mystery surrounding his backstory and missing memories doesn’t succeed in creating tension; it’s all but resolved within fifty pages. The same goes for the aforementioned angel and scribe characters.
Wise does a fantastic job within Out of the Drowning Deep’s page count—it’s this page count that I have a problem with. If Wise ever publishes anything else in this universe, I will happily read it, and I did enjoy Out of the Drowning Deep as it is! It just could’ve been so much more with another hundred pages to work with.
December 22, 2024
This had... concepts of a great plot. I loved the characters and the idea of an automaton, a recovering addict and an angel racing to solve the murder of an Angel sounded like a lot of fun. But somewhere along the way the author seemed to get distracted with Quin, the recovering addict's, relationship with the Angel Murmuration, and it got a bit muddled from there.
The relationships between the different characters were so complex, and I loved that. I was particularly attached to Angel, and I wished we could have had more chapters to get to know Xyr character better. I think this could work expanded as a series, but as a standalone I was left wanting.
The relationships between the different characters were so complex, and I loved that. I was particularly attached to Angel, and I wished we could have had more chapters to get to know Xyr character better. I think this could work expanded as a series, but as a standalone I was left wanting.
September 22, 2024
Phew. What a brilliant, mean, perfectly made for me book.
September 23, 2024
There's some books where you can say "all style, no substance." Unfortunately, this one didn't have any style, either, so I'm at a loss.
June 23, 2025
A forgotten holy place suddenly draws attention of the most unsavory type, thanks to a very-very high-profile murder therein.
The supposed investigators have a terrible agenda of their own.
An obsolete but remorseful automaton, guarding over sorrow, pain, and prayers, desperately seekes help. A traumatised Detective tries to help, but faces a barrier. His prayers bring a curious Angel into the investigation.
A labyrinthine investigation ensues. Truths emerge. So do memories— full of pain and regret.
This novella was less a murder mystery. It was more, much more of an exploration into memory, faith, desire, fear, regret, and how they define our existence.
It was a slow but satisfactory read, with great world-building and characterisations.
Perhaps the author would take us back to this world once again. I would be praying for that journey (pun intended).
Recommended.
The supposed investigators have a terrible agenda of their own.
An obsolete but remorseful automaton, guarding over sorrow, pain, and prayers, desperately seekes help. A traumatised Detective tries to help, but faces a barrier. His prayers bring a curious Angel into the investigation.
A labyrinthine investigation ensues. Truths emerge. So do memories— full of pain and regret.
This novella was less a murder mystery. It was more, much more of an exploration into memory, faith, desire, fear, regret, and how they define our existence.
It was a slow but satisfactory read, with great world-building and characterisations.
Perhaps the author would take us back to this world once again. I would be praying for that journey (pun intended).
Recommended.
November 21, 2024
I mean, I didn't dislike it, ultimately. The beginning was a little annoying, with inconsistent details (Angel shows up in a leather jacket, leggings, and thick-soled boots that "belonged in an Ancient Earth...museum" (p. 36) while Quin is wearing boxer shorts and a t shirt that are apparently perfectly in keeping with his time period) and space wasted on repetition. (Pages 57-64 are a particularly egregious example of this, where we are both told and shown multiple times that Rowan is such a saint, Quin is so not, that they've seen each other at their lowest, and that they met when Quin burst into Rowan's dressing room looking for the bathroom. I'm not kidding. All of those things are explained at least twice, sometimes more.)
But once things really got going I once again found myself wishing that it was a full novel, not a novella, because can you imagine something like this with actual space to develop? To weave in subplots and answer or broaden/deepen the answers to questions like I would eat that shit up.
But once things really got going I once again found myself wishing that it was a full novel, not a novella, because can you imagine something like this with actual space to develop? To weave in subplots and answer or broaden/deepen the answers to questions like I would eat that shit up.
October 29, 2024
In a far future, gods, angels and demons live among humans, and in a little travelled part of the galaxy an automaton, Scribe IV, and his staff gets the Bastion ready for a convocation of religious leaders from many faiths. The Pope is already present, and when a servant boy takes the man some refreshments, he finds the man dead.
Scribe IV knows this is not only a tragedy, but disastrous for the Bastion and everyone in it, as the Sisters of the Drowning Deep have long intimated they want control of the facility. In a bid to expeditiously deal with the situation, Scribe IV sends up a prayer, which is heard by recovering addict Quin and a young angel, who calls itself Angel, in a far off station. They arrive in Bastion, review what evidence there is, then Quin realizes he needs help from an ancient angel he has a long, complicated relationship with, and he returns home to request help from Murmuration.
Quin’s addiction stems from deep trauma from a terrible incident in his and his younger sister Lena’s life, and Murmuration has been carefully taking this memory from Quin away so Quin can make it through each day.
Meanwhile, the Sisters arrive, claiming Bastion and staff are to answer to them, leading Scribe IV and Angel to begin poking around together. They piece together what they’ve learned with Quin, when he returns, to solve the mystery, which leaves much pain and sadness in its wake.
This was terrific, with a fantastically weird universe populated by terrifying beings, a lonely automaton who has outlived its purpose, a competent investigator who needs drugs and the aid of an angel to function, a deeply suspect religious order with Lovecraftian overtones, and people reacting with violence to childhood trauma.
A.C. Wise also has her characters grapple with personal issues or nightmares as they investigate: Scribe IV is dealing with regret while trying to figure out who they are, and Angel wants to care for others but is also nervous about who they could be. Childhood trauma is a big part of this story, and is handled differently by the siblings, in that Quin is barely managing, while Lena is hyper competent. These behaviours are a factor in how Scribe IV, Angel and Quin approach the investigation, and how they react to the outcome.
There is tragedy, loss, anger laced throughout the novella, though the quiet end leaves possibilities open for all the characters, which is satisfying.
There was a lot packed into this story, and its darkness is well balanced by its intriguing universe, beautiful prose, and melancholy atmosphere.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Titan Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.
Scribe IV knows this is not only a tragedy, but disastrous for the Bastion and everyone in it, as the Sisters of the Drowning Deep have long intimated they want control of the facility. In a bid to expeditiously deal with the situation, Scribe IV sends up a prayer, which is heard by recovering addict Quin and a young angel, who calls itself Angel, in a far off station. They arrive in Bastion, review what evidence there is, then Quin realizes he needs help from an ancient angel he has a long, complicated relationship with, and he returns home to request help from Murmuration.
Quin’s addiction stems from deep trauma from a terrible incident in his and his younger sister Lena’s life, and Murmuration has been carefully taking this memory from Quin away so Quin can make it through each day.
Meanwhile, the Sisters arrive, claiming Bastion and staff are to answer to them, leading Scribe IV and Angel to begin poking around together. They piece together what they’ve learned with Quin, when he returns, to solve the mystery, which leaves much pain and sadness in its wake.
This was terrific, with a fantastically weird universe populated by terrifying beings, a lonely automaton who has outlived its purpose, a competent investigator who needs drugs and the aid of an angel to function, a deeply suspect religious order with Lovecraftian overtones, and people reacting with violence to childhood trauma.
A.C. Wise also has her characters grapple with personal issues or nightmares as they investigate: Scribe IV is dealing with regret while trying to figure out who they are, and Angel wants to care for others but is also nervous about who they could be. Childhood trauma is a big part of this story, and is handled differently by the siblings, in that Quin is barely managing, while Lena is hyper competent. These behaviours are a factor in how Scribe IV, Angel and Quin approach the investigation, and how they react to the outcome.
There is tragedy, loss, anger laced throughout the novella, though the quiet end leaves possibilities open for all the characters, which is satisfying.
There was a lot packed into this story, and its darkness is well balanced by its intriguing universe, beautiful prose, and melancholy atmosphere.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Titan Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.
May 15, 2025
This is my flavour of weird
November 12, 2024
I really wanted to like Out of the Drowning Deep, as it has a lot of elements that I tend to like – an automaton as one of the POVs, a mix of human and non-human characters, and an interesting setting in the Bastion – but it ultimately fell flat.
I think some of the issue here is that there are too many themes for a novella this short. It’s like the author decided to write a book that tackles religion, memory, trauma, and addiction while also being a murder mystery and the result is that none of it really worked. The mystery’s resolution feels almost like an afterthought and it’s hard to really care about when none of the characters directly involved in the murder are developed enough to feel any investment in. It was almost a locked room mystery, but some characters being able to teleport in and out took away the element of pressure that a locked room provides. Some of the relationships are described in intense terms – Angel’s feelings about Scribe IV in particular – that make zero sense given the brief duration of the characters’ knowing each other, and the characters all seem to have a single trait – Angel looks scared all the time, Quin is traumatized, the Sisters have strayed from their god – that is repeated over and over, resulting in one-dimensional characters. Of all the characters, Scribe IV the outdated automaton is absolutely the most interesting; I think that if Scribe IV had been the sole POV and the murder had been the focus (rather than so much of Quin’s backstory) this novella would’ve definitely worked much better.
I will say, some of my disappointment is probably tied to the marketing. I definitely don’t think this novella is remotely comparable to any of the authors (Chambers, Wells, el-Mohtar and Gladstone) that the blurb compares it to, and the description emphasizes a “race to find out who really murdered the Pope” while way too much of the plot is quite disconnected from this aim.
What I did like about this was the world-building. The Bastion is a really cool setting, and the backdrop of the Pope’s conclave is interesting context. Unfortunately, the plot and characters are a lot less interesting.
Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for providing an ARC.
Content warnings: religious trauma, addiction, suicide, death, death of a parent, grief
I think some of the issue here is that there are too many themes for a novella this short. It’s like the author decided to write a book that tackles religion, memory, trauma, and addiction while also being a murder mystery and the result is that none of it really worked. The mystery’s resolution feels almost like an afterthought and it’s hard to really care about when none of the characters directly involved in the murder are developed enough to feel any investment in. It was almost a locked room mystery, but some characters being able to teleport in and out took away the element of pressure that a locked room provides. Some of the relationships are described in intense terms – Angel’s feelings about Scribe IV in particular – that make zero sense given the brief duration of the characters’ knowing each other, and the characters all seem to have a single trait – Angel looks scared all the time, Quin is traumatized, the Sisters have strayed from their god – that is repeated over and over, resulting in one-dimensional characters. Of all the characters, Scribe IV the outdated automaton is absolutely the most interesting; I think that if Scribe IV had been the sole POV and the murder had been the focus (rather than so much of Quin’s backstory) this novella would’ve definitely worked much better.
I will say, some of my disappointment is probably tied to the marketing. I definitely don’t think this novella is remotely comparable to any of the authors (Chambers, Wells, el-Mohtar and Gladstone) that the blurb compares it to, and the description emphasizes a “race to find out who really murdered the Pope” while way too much of the plot is quite disconnected from this aim.
What I did like about this was the world-building. The Bastion is a really cool setting, and the backdrop of the Pope’s conclave is interesting context. Unfortunately, the plot and characters are a lot less interesting.
Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for providing an ARC.
Content warnings: religious trauma, addiction, suicide, death, death of a parent, grief
September 17, 2024
Who knew the cover pretty well describes the book.
Here's a joke: an automaton, an angel, and a PI walk into a monastery. The automaton says, "can a robot become religious?". The PI says back, "no, but fucking an angel is a religious experience." And the angel says, "well, I don't believe in either. I believe in MURDER. And FRIENDS." THE END
Also, the whole plot focused on gods, angels, and religious experiences of the entirety of ALL RELIGIONS, but the pope dies because of family revenge? Astounding.
Here's a joke: an automaton, an angel, and a PI walk into a monastery. The automaton says, "can a robot become religious?". The PI says back, "no, but fucking an angel is a religious experience." And the angel says, "well, I don't believe in either. I believe in MURDER. And FRIENDS." THE END
Also, the whole plot focused on gods, angels, and religious experiences of the entirety of ALL RELIGIONS, but the pope dies because of family revenge? Astounding.
July 18, 2024
Coming in at 176 pages, I read this book over the course of a day and a half. Out Of The Drowning Deep grabs you from the very beginning and doesn’t let go. I always appreciate when I’m thrust into a fantasy world as a reader, and just fully immersed from the very beginning. The first few pages are always a little confusing, but it’s that much more satisfying when everything comes together.
The story follows several characters as they investigate the murder of The Pope. These characters range from human, to automaton, to angel, to a collective of something wayyy more sinister. I was really impressed with the character development and how well fleshed out everything was in such a short time. I also enjoyed the investigation elements of this story!
This book introduced me to Xe/Xem pronouns as the angels are gender neutral. Not having read anything with these pronouns before it took me a second to catch up but it was seamless after that. Funny enough, the very next book I picked up (Key Lime Sky by Al Hess) also used these pronouns. Approaching them for the second time I didn’t even bat an eye, and I’m glad I was introduced to them.
I would recommend this book for fans of scifi, fantasy, detective stories, and weird horror!
**Thank you to Titan Books for the beautiful ARC of this title!!**
The story follows several characters as they investigate the murder of The Pope. These characters range from human, to automaton, to angel, to a collective of something wayyy more sinister. I was really impressed with the character development and how well fleshed out everything was in such a short time. I also enjoyed the investigation elements of this story!
This book introduced me to Xe/Xem pronouns as the angels are gender neutral. Not having read anything with these pronouns before it took me a second to catch up but it was seamless after that. Funny enough, the very next book I picked up (Key Lime Sky by Al Hess) also used these pronouns. Approaching them for the second time I didn’t even bat an eye, and I’m glad I was introduced to them.
I would recommend this book for fans of scifi, fantasy, detective stories, and weird horror!
**Thank you to Titan Books for the beautiful ARC of this title!!**
October 7, 2024
I'm going to be thinking about this one for a while.
October 31, 2024
This was a lot. I felt fear and I cried and I was gripped and I felt love and I was amazed and it's just 167 pages.
Please read this book.
Please read this book.
May 31, 2025
like 2.5 but i’m rounding up to 3 because Murmuration is a sick ass name for an angel
September 12, 2024
What a novella! intrigued to see what else Wise writes in the future
July 13, 2025
This is an ambitious novella that didn't totally work for me. There's a ton going on here, and Wise is trying to cram a bunch of worldbuilding and character development and plot into a book that's not nearly long enough for it. Reading it felt like when you accidentally pick up the second book in the series and make it a chapter in before realizing you have no clue at all what's going on. The first half was a slog to get through and it wasn't until the second half that I had enough of a grasp on the whole thing to enjoy myself.
The worldbuilding is pretty cool, although there's a lot going on. Angels and sleeping gods and cults and also automatons? It's definitely a story that's refusing to pick a lane between scifi and fantasy, which makes for interesting setup but also feels cluttered and confusing. I spent the whole thing not really sure what was possible in this world.
There are also probably too many characters, or at least too many that we spend a lot of time on. This is both Scribe IV's story and Quin's, so we have to try to balance getting character development for both of them, plus the two angels and Lena and trying to set up all the background characters who work at this monastery. The most unfortunate aspect of this is that .
And of all this, the plot suffers the most because there's just not enough pagetime for it. The mystery gets established, the characters think about it for the middle chunk of the book, and then they come up with the solution and the book ends. There's not really any investigation, no false leads, no slow unfolding or reveal or sense of suspense.
The world is cool and there are some genuinely creepy scenes and compelling character beats, but on the whole it's just way too much for a novella and Wise doesn't manage to pull it off. I'd be interested if there was more written in this world but it needs either more judicious editing, or to be a full-length novel.
The worldbuilding is pretty cool, although there's a lot going on. Angels and sleeping gods and cults and also automatons? It's definitely a story that's refusing to pick a lane between scifi and fantasy, which makes for interesting setup but also feels cluttered and confusing. I spent the whole thing not really sure what was possible in this world.
There are also probably too many characters, or at least too many that we spend a lot of time on. This is both Scribe IV's story and Quin's, so we have to try to balance getting character development for both of them, plus the two angels and Lena and trying to set up all the background characters who work at this monastery. The most unfortunate aspect of this is that .
And of all this, the plot suffers the most because there's just not enough pagetime for it. The mystery gets established, the characters think about it for the middle chunk of the book, and then they come up with the solution and the book ends. There's not really any investigation, no false leads, no slow unfolding or reveal or sense of suspense.
The world is cool and there are some genuinely creepy scenes and compelling character beats, but on the whole it's just way too much for a novella and Wise doesn't manage to pull it off. I'd be interested if there was more written in this world but it needs either more judicious editing, or to be a full-length novel.
November 10, 2025
⭐️ 2.5
I have mixed feelings on Out of the Drowning Deep. There's a lot going on in this sci-fi novella, set in a world where gods and angels walk (and party) alongside mortals. We are first introduced to Scribe IV, an automaton charged with overseeing an ancient and crumbling monastery tucked away in a corner of the galaxy. When the Pope chooses to visit the monastery, it turns into a bustling hub of activity — until the Pope is found dead. Scribe IV teams up with an angel, named Angel, and a private investigator struggling with PTSD and addiction, named Quin, in a race to uncover who killed the Pope before a scheming cult, the Sisters of the Drowned Deep, can use the death for their own nefarious purposes. And there's spaceships!
Like I said, it's a lot. I loved the concept of this, and the vibes, but there is so so much crammed into this 176-page novella, and none of it is given the time or space to unfurl into a full story. I felt like I was reading two narratives at once — the story of Quin, his traumatic childhood with his sister, his toxic relationship with the memory-eating angel Murmuration, and his battles with drug addiction, ran parallel to the murder mystery and didn't intersect with it in meaningful ways. Despite Quin ostensibly being the main investigator of the murder, he visits the monastery for all of 10 minutes and then doesn't return until literally 70% of the way through.
Both narratives would have been better-served by either being split into two novellas, or this being a full-length novel. Without that, the (very cool) ideas presented in Out of the Drowning Deep felt fractured, messy, and unfocused.
I have mixed feelings on Out of the Drowning Deep. There's a lot going on in this sci-fi novella, set in a world where gods and angels walk (and party) alongside mortals. We are first introduced to Scribe IV, an automaton charged with overseeing an ancient and crumbling monastery tucked away in a corner of the galaxy. When the Pope chooses to visit the monastery, it turns into a bustling hub of activity — until the Pope is found dead. Scribe IV teams up with an angel, named Angel, and a private investigator struggling with PTSD and addiction, named Quin, in a race to uncover who killed the Pope before a scheming cult, the Sisters of the Drowned Deep, can use the death for their own nefarious purposes. And there's spaceships!
Like I said, it's a lot. I loved the concept of this, and the vibes, but there is so so much crammed into this 176-page novella, and none of it is given the time or space to unfurl into a full story. I felt like I was reading two narratives at once — the story of Quin, his traumatic childhood with his sister, his toxic relationship with the memory-eating angel Murmuration, and his battles with drug addiction, ran parallel to the murder mystery and didn't intersect with it in meaningful ways. Despite Quin ostensibly being the main investigator of the murder, he visits the monastery for all of 10 minutes and then doesn't return until literally 70% of the way through.
Both narratives would have been better-served by either being split into two novellas, or this being a full-length novel. Without that, the (very cool) ideas presented in Out of the Drowning Deep felt fractured, messy, and unfocused.
August 19, 2024
3 stars
Thank you to Titan and NetGalley for my digital review copy.
This novella was very intricate. We have at least 3 protagonists that we follow (Quinn, Scribe IV, Angel), each one of them is flawed with many layers.
There's a plot of religion and gods and angels, but also a murder mystery aspect, all wrapped up in a very thorough scifi world.
I felt like I couldn't appreciate the complexities and intricacies of the worldbuilding in all its glory because I was confused as to what the plot was. It was a mix of a character-relationship based plot, but also an action plot, but ultimately did confuse me and especially with this being a novella, there isn't such a long time to develop characters.
I would love to have spent more time in this world as what little time I did spend, I found slightly confused by the vastness of it all. The worldbuilding in this little novella is so much greater than in Wise's other works and I am excited to see where she goes next.
Thank you to Titan and NetGalley for my digital review copy.
This novella was very intricate. We have at least 3 protagonists that we follow (Quinn, Scribe IV, Angel), each one of them is flawed with many layers.
There's a plot of religion and gods and angels, but also a murder mystery aspect, all wrapped up in a very thorough scifi world.
I felt like I couldn't appreciate the complexities and intricacies of the worldbuilding in all its glory because I was confused as to what the plot was. It was a mix of a character-relationship based plot, but also an action plot, but ultimately did confuse me and especially with this being a novella, there isn't such a long time to develop characters.
I would love to have spent more time in this world as what little time I did spend, I found slightly confused by the vastness of it all. The worldbuilding in this little novella is so much greater than in Wise's other works and I am excited to see where she goes next.
February 2, 2025
Machines didn't feel fear. They didn't feel sympathy for murderers. They didn't put aside memories they found inconvenient. He might not be a blasphemy, but he had grown beyond the original intent of his programming. He had lived too long and had become, in his own way, a sinner.
★★★
Not A.C. Wise's best work. It did feel at times like too much was being stuffed into too few pages and that certain parts of the story were rushed as a result BUT Wise's imagination is just so wild that I did end up having a good time. Plays a lot with the idea of prayers, angels, and gods that I didn't quite grasp even at the end but was really just along for the vibes anyway. Read this in an evening and although the actual murder mystery aspect was a bit lacking, the imagery and atmosphere were excellent. I will be signing the adoption paperwork for Scribe IV as well.
— ♩♫♩ ~ Goetia
February 5, 2025
The world is wild, the high concept of the space between deities and humans disappearing in a sci-fi environment really worked. We follow two main characters, one an automaton keeper of prayers overseeing a crumbling holy temple by the sea, and the second a detective called in to investigate the murder of the space pope.
It starts unseated and cosmic. We get biblically accurate angels come to life on the page, deep sea acolytes of a dead god rise, plus space raves! But, then the book turns into a small parlor murder mystery, and worse digresses into a story about a recovering junkie scarred by his abusive dad’s religious obsession and his own toxic relationship with an angel.
For me, it went small when it should have gone bigger. Not bad though. Fun ideas and an amazing sense of place. It worked as a story, but the promise from the first act left me wanting more.
It starts unseated and cosmic. We get biblically accurate angels come to life on the page, deep sea acolytes of a dead god rise, plus space raves! But, then the book turns into a small parlor murder mystery, and worse digresses into a story about a recovering junkie scarred by his abusive dad’s religious obsession and his own toxic relationship with an angel.
For me, it went small when it should have gone bigger. Not bad though. Fun ideas and an amazing sense of place. It worked as a story, but the promise from the first act left me wanting more.
October 7, 2025
3.75⭐️
That was a lot packed in such a small book.
I have been dabbling in sci-fi a bit more lately. Seen this at B&N when they were doing their 50% off hardbacks and decided why not.
This was an interesting story. I feel like the world building was phenomenal and intense. It also left me wanting more out of this world.
For me I went in thinking this was going to be murder mystery, but that is not the main plot of the story. It felt like we were building up to some big reveal, then it just kind of fell flat.
That was a lot packed in such a small book.
I have been dabbling in sci-fi a bit more lately. Seen this at B&N when they were doing their 50% off hardbacks and decided why not.
This was an interesting story. I feel like the world building was phenomenal and intense. It also left me wanting more out of this world.
For me I went in thinking this was going to be murder mystery, but that is not the main plot of the story. It felt like we were building up to some big reveal, then it just kind of fell flat.
September 2, 2024
This book was absolutely beautiful. A mixture of sci-fi and fantasy, two genres I’m not normally a fan of but these characters were so easy to fall in love with! This is the story of an automaton called Scribe IV who I just adored. So human and caring, he’s tasked with finding the murderer of the pope and Quinn, a private investigator heeds the call. Rounding out the main characters is an angel named Angel who descends from Heaven to help in the search. These characters have to contend with the frightening Sisters of the Drowned Deep ascending from the ocean. This was a fascinating who dunnit in a fantastical land with humans, robots and angels and gorgeous prose pulling us deeper into this story.
October 17, 2025
I really enjoyed the world but it felt like it could have used another 100 pages of detail, everything just felt like it was lightly touched on, and that is generally fine in novellas but this one had lots of POVs and characters in general as well as some very interesting religious world building that I would have liked to dive into more. It felt like it could have very easily been fleshed out and not suffered for it.
October 7, 2024
Rather amazing, pushes all the genres at once and delivers a unique trip of a tale - highly recommended if you enjoy a trip to the weirder side of genre
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
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