Chapter by Chapter

I loved Carrie Ryan’s The Forest of Hands and Teeth and its sequels and couldn’t wait to get reading Daughter of Deep Silence. While I knew it wasn’t going to be a dystopian read with cute boys and zombies straight out of a nightmare crossed with an episode of the Walking Dead, I was still excited to find out what Daughter of Deep Silence was all about. It definitely didn’t disappoint and left me constantly wondering what would become of our protagonist next. Daughter of Deep Silence is unlike anything that I have ever read before and was a total treat to read.

               After an attack is made on the yacht Persephone, Frances Mace is left out at sea in a lifeboat alongside her best friend where surely they will meet their demise. It’s a miracle that they are found after drifting out at sea. With her best friend Libby dead, Frances and the Senator and his son are the sole survivors of the attack. But when the Senator claims that the attack on Persephone never even occurred, Frances is forced to take on her best friend Libby’s identity in order to one day get revenge. As the years pass, she prepares herself for the eventful day where she might finally face the Senator and his son and get her retribution.

When Frances—now Libby—finally begins to put her plan into action, she finds herself facing pieces of both hers and Libby’s past. Suddenly she isn’t too sure what’s moral and immoral and there are matters of the heart that are afflicting her. They have her questioning her intentions and everything she knows. Is this what her parents who were killed on Persephone would want? Is the person who she has become the kind of person she truly wants to be? Frances doesn’t know the answer.

What I loved most about Daughter of Deep Silence was what had me falling in love with The Forest of Hands and Teeth: Carrie Ryan’s writing. It is absolutely breathtaking. There isn’t a moment while reading where your attention could ever get lost. Every sentence drags you deeper into the story and there are so many instances while reading where you can feel a connection to what Ryan has been trying to say. Daughter of Deep Silence is a beautifully written read that keeps you hooked from start to finish.

Daughter of Deep Silence did give off a total Revenge feel (and Revenge like the show, not the totally obvious emotion). A beautiful, badass female character who is deceiving everyone around her so that she can ruin the lives of her targets and expose them—basically the premise for both the show and this novel. If you’re a fan of that show, you’ll become a huge fan of Frances and cheer her on consistently throughout the plot.

There are romance elements woven into Daughter of Deep Silence and I felt that they weren’t misplaced or distracting from the main storyline. They helped give a deeper understanding of Frances’s character. It helped me as a reader, come to empathize with Frances and feel sorry for her considering some of the merciless things she’s done in order to try and achieve her vengeance.Daughter of Deep Silence is the kind of story that forces you into the shoes of the main character and leaves you questioning your own morals and values.

I would recommend Daughter of Deep Silence to readers who are looking for a thriller that is well-paced and unique in its story. Readers who are looking for a novel that has bits of romance, action, and mystery will also love this read. And anyone who has read Ryan’s works in the past and is eager to see more from her should also definitely give Daughter of Deep Silence a shot.