Wow! This is my favorite in the series so far—and definitely the most unsettling. Because forget about twisted resurrected corpses, eldritch aliens, and gods from the deep. Forced institutionalization in a 19th century asylum is objectively much worse. I wish I had read the trigger warnings before pressing play on this one, tbh, because certain parts did make me feel scared (and also upset and angry and altogether murderous).

Speaking of gods from the deep, though—R'lyeh and the Deep Ones and the whole nautical eldritch horror theme have always been my favorite parts of the mythos, and I absolutely loved how this theme was handled in this book. All the nightmares Whyborne has, the vision slipping into the real world and crowding it out, the magic, the special mix of clarity and confusion—I’m just absolutely digging everything about this. And the deep sea god was so alien and so oddly relatable—can’t decide if I want to get possessed by him or be him (just kidding… probably).

The plot is a braid of many threads, and it’s a joy to see how they all twist and turn and come together. there are Whyborne’s dreams. There’s the central mystery that catches the characters unawares in the very first chapter and leads them to the Stormhaven asylum. There are Griffin’s visiting parents and cousin. There are smaller subplots, like Whyborne’s continued study of the Arcanorum and his own family. And as the book progresses, all of this really comes together in a super satisfying way. The final act in particular is such a wild stretch, I was on the edge of my sit throughout. Things just keep escalating while also coming together tighter and tighter. I also really liked how the narrative threads from previous books, especially the first one, were incorporated in just the right times and, in a couple of instances, how just enough new information was injected to make me look back at the earlier events and recontextualize them slightly.

If I had to search for flaws, I’d say the very beginning is a bit shaky: it’s too slow for in media res and too quickly moving for a gradual lead into the inciting incident, so it hovers in an awkward spot that only really works because this is a series installment and the reader is expected to already be invested. Also, the actual investigation part, before the horror action starts kicking in, is once again slightly meandering—the author continues to be much better at those action parts, although I think the other supernatural mystery aspects are improving, too, compared to the previous books. There are also definite improvements in the intimacy scenes (I mean both the smut and the moments when the leads get vulnerable with each other), though at a certain key point the dialogue did kind of go overboard with the dramatic cheesiness, I fear.

Speaking of the leads! Am I finally convinced that Whyborne and Griffin are actually good for each other and shipping-worthy? Yes and no. For a big part of the story I was really frustrated by their mutual mistrust. Whyborne keeps being jealous and insecure about the relationship, Griffin keeps explicitly not trusting him about the magic, and both of them have a point in some way, as in, I totally see where they’re coming from in the context of their own pain points and trauma. But it’s so frustrating and makes me so worried for them in the long run and makes me feel there’s more codependence here than love. Especially on Whyborne’s part, because he’s constantly proclaiming his deepest devotion to Griffin in his narration, “I would do anything for him,” and then practically in the same breath convinces himself that Griffin is going to ditch him any moment now, interprets everything Griffin says in the most “nope, yeah, he’s *definitely* gonna leave me” way possible, and self-flagellates about how boring and plain he is and how Griffin must suffer in this relationship… And damn, it reminds me of the unhealthiest relationship I’ve ever been in. Yes, definitely, it’s not so much Griffin who’s making Whyborne feel this way as it’s Whyborne’s previous baggage, and Griffin has plenty of his own baggage that he’s dealing with in the best ways he knows how, and the two of them are clearly trying so hard to help each other. But I just keep feeling that they’re moving through their respective healing processes in such different ways, at such different paces, that sometimes they hinder each other more than they help. The writing does make me feel, by this point, that they *could* be good for each other at some indeterminable point in the future when they’re better, so there’s that. And at least they have Christine to provide assessments, insights, and dry humorous commentary while they fumble their ways toward that possible future.

Speaking of Christine, she continues to be my absolute favorite, the one character who consistently made me laugh even when I was busy having assorted negative feelings, and such a badass still. I’m glad she got moments to shine and to be crucial to the plot, but I’m also glad she got to say no to participating in something she didn’t agree with and went off to live her own life for a bit at one point. I’m also so angry about her having to constantly run into men who dismiss and belittle her—like good grief, how was this ever seen as a normal way to treat women, why did humanity at one point decided to treat half of it self as lesser and how have we still not shaken it off??? People are the real eldritch horrors sometimes. Anyway, yeah, Christine is awesome and needs to get even more opportunities to be awesome down the line. And I loved that we got to meet ore great female characters in this installment. I actually really hope to see Ruth again at some point—hopefully she does figure out a way out of the cage of her family’s expectations.

By the way, to round this off: utterly loved how the themes of family were handled here, even if it was genuinely painful at times. Griffin’s situation is so relatable, it absolutely broke my heart. And I had to bitterly chuckle at that one moment Whyborne’s father acknowledges his bravery and Whyborne immediately decides it’s some vile manipulation, because yeahhhh, when you spend ages destroying your kid’s self-esteem, they *will* take everything you say as a trap or a wapon against them, that’s just how the bad cookie crumbles.