Just Finished Reading…Daughter Of The Deep by Rick Riordan. Penguin Random House Children’s. 2021

 I discovered this novel on social media by accident. I’d only read Percy Jackson, Magnus Chase and the first volume of Heroes of Olympus. Unlike his other works, Daughter Of The Deep is a standalone, although the ending does give the option of more volumes if he chooses to do that, after scratching this itch. 

The author writes an introduction saying that basically, this is something he had always wanted to write, since his childhood passion for Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. 

So, what if that novel was based on fact? Captain Nemo, that brilliant scientist, has descendants, Dev and Ana, whose parents died while looking for the submarine Nautilus. There are two boarding schools, the Harding-Pencroft Academy and the Land Institute, founded by people in 20,000 Leagues and The Mysterious Island. Apparently, Jules Verne had based his novels on interviews with them. The two schools have been bitter enemies for 150 years. 

When the senior students of the Land Institute attack and destroy the Harding-Pencroft Academy, the freshman students(Year 9 in Australia or the U.K)are about to head off on the school’s ship Varuna for a weekend’s tests to see which of them will be allowed to continue and which will go home. The school has a record of producing the world’s finest scientists and naval officers, so these are not just any fourteen and fifteen year olds. 

Ana’s older brother has apparently been killed with the rest of the students, making Ana the last descendant of Captain Nemo. She finds herself leader of a small crew of very bright teenagers. Can they find their way to the secret base? And what about the sentient submarine Nautilus? Will it accept Ana? 

It’s certainly clear that the author loves his subject. The characters are likable and include a cheeky dolphin, an orangutan chef who is a mad fan of TV baker Mary Berry and constantly playing The Great British Bake Off and a lovesick giant octopus. The Nautilus is a character in her own right and you had better be polite! 

Despite the serious background issues, such as losing family, there is also a lot of Rick Riordan’s quirky humour.

If you haven’t read Rick Riordan’s other books, it doesn’t matter as there is no reference to any of the teenage demigods in those, but this one might interest you in checking out some of those. Rick Riordan’s work has certainly got children interested in mythology and perhaps this will get some interest in classic science fiction. It is also different in that it has a female protagonist, something the author wanted to do. He has created some very good female characters in the past, but they aren’t usually the viewpoint characters.

Highly recommended, whether you have read his other work or not.