11 exciting new SFF releases that will blow you away in March
By Lacy Baugher
The Vanishing Deep – Astrid Scholte
A new standalone novel from the author of Four Dead Queens, Astrid Scholte’s The Vanishing Deep is set in a post-apocalyptic world in which the dead can be revived – for a price. And only for a (very) limited time.
The Vanishing Deep is set on a long-destroyed planet, whose citizens have learned to live on the water, floating above the ruins of the cities that were once their world. Seventeen-year-old Tempe has lost both her parents and her sister Elysea to the waves over a four year period, and is still searching for answers. She believes Elysea knew what really happened to her parents and may have even been responsible for their deaths.
And thanks to the high-tech island Palindromena’s resurrection technology, she might finally be able to find out. This (quite frankly, very creepy tech) can return the dead to life – for just 24 hours. But after saving and scrounging for the opportunity to ask her sister what really happened, Tempe learns that there’s more to the story than she ever considered.
Bonus: This novel is a standalone – a rarity in today’s YA fantasy world, so we’ll get all our answers by the end of the novel. (There really is something to be said occasionally digging in to a book that’s a complete story, and won’t leave you on a gut wrenching cliffhanger. Scholte is one of the best writers these days who still seems dedicated to crafting detailed, fast-paced individual novels, and that’s something worth supporting, IMO.
The official synopsis describes the story as follows.
"Seventeen-year-old Tempe was born into a world of water. When the Great Waves destroyed her planet, its people had to learn to survive living on the water, but the ruins of the cities below still called. Tempe dives daily, scavenging the ruins of a bygone era, searching for anything of value to trade for Notes. It isn’t food or clothing that she wants to buy, but her dead sister’s life. For a price, the research facility on the island of Palindromena will revive the dearly departed for twenty-four hours before returning them to death. It isn’t a heartfelt reunion that Tempe is after; she wants answers. Elysea died keeping a terrible secret, one that has ignited an unquenchable fury in Tempe: Her beloved sister was responsible for the death of their parents. Tempe wants to know why. But once revived, Elysea has other plans. She doesn’t want to spend her last day in a cold room accounting for a crime she insists she didn’t commit. Elysea wants her freedom and one final glimpse at the life that was stolen from her. She persuades Tempe to break her out of the facility, and they embark on a dangerous journey to discover the truth about their parents’ death and mend their broken bond. But they’re pursued every step of the way by two Palindromena employees desperate to find them before Elysea’s time is up–and before the secret behind the revival process and the true cost of restored life is revealed."
The Vanishing Deep is available on March 3.