Deeper: A Novel

Let me put this in the simplest terms a film/pop culture geek can understand.
The Descent= Highlander
Deeper= Highlander 2

Don't do it...just let it go and stop with The Descent. It's one of those rare cases where the sequel goes in a different direction and actually manages to damage the original.

Long's first in the series, the Descent, was quite a read if not a great novel. It grossed me out, it disturbed me, it entertained me, and it left me wanting more. It did not make me think a great deal, but it served its purpose. I purchased Deeper as soon as I heard it was out, and began reading quickly. The author made every loose end tedious, and spoiled the fun from the first one. I still remember the Descent in great detail, and if Deeper had not spoiled the fun, I would probably re-read Descent again some day. Tellingly, I can't remember much about any part of Deeper.

A disappointing sequel to a phenomenal book. The ending wasn’t really an ending and I got so mad I screamed into my pillow for a few minutes.

Reading the Descent when it first came out made me feel like I could quite possibly enjoy the horror-fiction genre. With the authenticity of world events, religious and literary history, this was a book that had you from the first chapter, in substance but also in the writing quality. It was a necessary thing to page turn, but it was good enough to read again in a few months just for the prose, even when you knew what would happen. It is a terrible pity that it hasn't been made into a movie, and every time a movie with a similar title or concept comes out, I am sure devoted fans just sigh and cringe simultaneously when we realize it is not based upon Long's book.

All this being said as a necessary premise... if you were a fan of the first book, you have a right to be disappointed, but you also must read this book. You will be happy to be back underground. The bottom line is, it still is dense, page turning fun. You will enjoy it. Its got satan and hadals. Whats not to like?

Lastly, here's a bad analogy. It may not be the empire strikes back, but it certainly isn't die harder.

I love Jeff Long books. The Decent (first in the series) is one of my favorite books of all time. I've read it so many times the spine is a mess and the pages are falling out. This is the sequel, and although it isn't as good as the first it is a great continuation of the story. I would recommend to anyone who like sci-fi/horror genre.

This was a ride to say the least. Intense, vivid tale of ultra subterranean exploration and survival. Outstanding book. I highly recommend.

Deeper is the direct continuation to Long's earlier work, The Descent, and he manages to avoid the one common mistake that crops up all too often in sequels - repetition. Some readers were left with a sense of wanting at the end of the first book, and Long shows us here that a sequel was not only on the horizon, but in the works all along. Several of the main characters from book one take center stage once again, but they are vastly different people now, forever altered by their experiences and losses. Where The Descent proposed the idea that a believable hell could exist beneath the earth for eons, Deeper takes us there faster and farther than before, showing us entire cities and structures once populated by a seperate race. It is a smartly written and researched novel, told in an exciting and thoughtful style. One of Long's strongest, and perhaps wisest, choices is to tell the bulk of the novel through the eyes of a woman losing her faith in the existence of God while proving the existence of the devil. Long makes her character and her plight so real, it could easily be one of us. If his ability to create fully realized characters were his only strength, this would still be a remarkable tale. As it is, Long is a gifted storyteller, and there is more than meets the eye in this story so far. I anxiously await book three.

P.D. Hogan
Author of
[[ASIN:B004TSM2EG Believe (The Weeping Tree Chronicles)]]

Having read the Descent a few years back, when I saw the sequel at at the library I was excited. It started out a bit slow and confusing much like the Descent but it never really got better. The Descent was more about the story, science, and a new world to explore. Deeper, was just weird and the story was not good. I found myself skimming pages and not really interested in it. By the time I finished I was disappointed and would not recommend it. Sorry.

I loved the Descent, I've recommended it to tons of people who've also enjoyed it. It was a true roller coaster of a read and I attribute it to kick starting my little brother's love of reading.

It took such a long time for this version to come out that, once I started Deeper, I decided to put it down and reread the Descent again. So I ended up reading them back to back, a great read from start to finish. I look forward to picking them up again in a few years...

If you enjoyed these, I highly recommend House of Leaves. Although HoL isn't about deamons, so to speak, it's about a similar type of never ending descent into a bottomless abyss.

Simply because you need more of "it". No, it's not as good, but it does the trick. I guess some reviewers have a hard time understanding a lot of the Devil/Angel dialogue, but it's hardly religious or biblical, rahter it's just an attempt to apply historical labeling in an unconventional manner.