Into the Drowning Deep (Rolling in the Deep #1) by Mira Grant

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Seven years ago, the Atargatis set off on a voyage to the Mariana Trench to film a “mockumentary” bringing to life ancient sea creatures of legend. It was lost at sea with all hands. Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a maritime tragedy.

Now, a new crew has been assembled. But this time they’re not out to entertain. Some seek to validate their life’s work. Some seek the greatest hunt of all. Some seek the truth. But for the ambitious young scientist Victoria Stewart this is a voyage to uncover the fate of the sister she lost.

Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the waves. But the secrets of the deep come with a price.

I thought that the synopsis of Into the Drowning Deep made it sound like something that I have been waiting for forever. I have had yet to find a great mermaid/siren book that had the murder and mayhem that the species are known for....until this book. The author gave me what I have been craving and more. 
I could tell that this book was well thought although the pacing could have been better. That is where the book lost a star in my opinion. I felt like I had to push through the first half. It wasn't that the first half of the book was bad but it was much more scientific in nature rather than moving the plot along. The science was interesting but I wanted a bit more to be happening. 
That being said, the second half of this book was amazing! It was terrifying and thrilling at the same time! I feel like I was just as terrified as the characters in the book. I had no idea what was going to happen or if my favorite characters were going to live. It was fact paced just the right amount of blood and guts. I will say that anyone who is squeamish or has a weak stomach than this book is probably not a good idea. 
I think that some readers will have issues with how the book ended but I loved it. I thought that the ending was appropriate and almost exactly what I was looking for. 

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty

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A space adventure set on a lone ship where the clones of a murdered crew must find their murderer -- before they kill again.

It was not common to awaken in a cloning vat streaked with drying blood.

At least, Maria Arena had never experienced it. She had no memory of how she died. That was also new; before, when she had awakened as a new clone, her first memory was of how she died.

Maria's vat was in the front of six vats, each one holding the clone of a crew member of the starship Dormire, each clone waiting for its previous incarnation to die so it could awaken. And Maria wasn't the only one to die recently...

I was hesitant to read Six Wakes after hearing such mixed reviews on it including readers not understanding how it was a finalist for the Hugo Award. I tend to like books that have won that award since I began paying more attention to the finalists and winners of it. I kept coming back to the book because I enjoy sci-fi and thrillers and the plot sounded intriguing. 

I decided to finally take the plunge and read it to discover my own opinion on the book. Six Wakes begins right in the midst of murder and mayhem. The entire crew has been murdered and all of them wake up in their new clone bodies to discover the gory scene. None of them know how or why they were murdered or who the culprit is. I normally have a lot of trouble with thrillers because I find that authors make it entirely too simple to discover who the murderer is or their motivations for murder are not interesting enough. 

Mur Lafferty does a brilliant job of putting so many twists and turns into his book that it is hard to pinpoint exactly who committed the murders. It was thrilling to read and discover more and more clues to the mystery! 

I loved getting to have all of the different points of view and flashbacks for each character. The author does an excellent job of building the world through each of the characters and I loved every minute of it. Everything feels so realistic which makes the book even creepier. Many of the things that happen in this book could potentially happen with the advances in science and medicine that we have uncovered today. 

I was afraid that the reveal at the end would be disappointing but it was exactly what I would have wanted. Although, I would have liked more ending or at least a sequel. I'm not sure that a sequel would have the same effect or tone that Six Wakes had but I guess I just want more time in the world. 

Sleeping Giants (Themis Files #1) by Sylvain Neuvel

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A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square-shaped hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.

Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved - the object's origins, architects, and purpose unknown.

But some can never stop searching for answers.

Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top-secret team to crack the hand's code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the relic they seek. What's clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unravelling history's most perplexing discovery-and finally figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?

I heard about sleeping giants from recommendations and reviews from people whose book taste I tend to agree with. I haven't read a lot of adult scifi so I wasn't sure exactly what to expect going into this book. I tried to go into the book fairly blind but I knew it had something to do with a girl falling into a hole and having to be rescued by the fire department. She later finds out she had fallen into what appears to be a giant robotic hand and the book continues from that point.
The book is written in a mixed media format much like Sadie, Illuminae, and Daisy Jones and the Six. I'm sure that it would lend itself well to audio book like those but is still a great ebook read. I would say that the story is more character driven due to it being told through interviews, electronic journal entries, and experimental logs. I have found that I really enjoy this type of format because it is easy to read and makes the story more real somehow. I really enjoyed the characters especially Rose and "you know who"(we never get his name). I related most to Rose and found myself intrigued by "you know who". He appears like a shadow with the information he knows about everyone without actually being in the room and at times I felt he may have been a sociopath. I thought all of the characters were complex and drove the story very well. There were twists and turns which were sometimes due to the characters motivations whether well intention or not that had disastrous consequences. I think that if you liked a book like Illuminae or if you were wanting something more from Illuminae then you should read this book. It's a great intro to adult scifi. It's easy to read and not get lost in the science as well as thought provoking.