Book Review: Deep Roots by Vanessa Roades

‘Deep Roots’ was Vanessa Roades’ third book, and was released in June 2023. I’ve been eagerly looking forward to this book since the cover reveal appeared on my TikTok a few months before the release.

This book follows multiple characters, including an inventor, Roheme, her friend Eirjatal, and half-human-half-elf Irving, in the fallout of a cataclysmic injury that leaves Roheme comatose and her friends desperate to help her.

In a bid to help Roheme out of her coma, Eirjatal makes a series of decisions, some based on necessity and others on convenience. He feels responsible for Roheme’s condition and is desperate to bring her back from the brink of death, even if it means dabbling in otherworldly magic, and interferring in a much deeper game between the gods of this world.

This book is filled with rich, interesting characters and a vast world I would love to explore in more detail than we get to in this book. I could spend hours submerging myself in what is clearly an immense, colourful world. The stakes in this book are life-or-death and due to Roheme’s rare talents, and the dedication of her friends, it is clear that the focus needs to be the characters and politics. I hope, if the ending is to be read as an indicator that there will be a sequel, that this book goes deeper into the world, and we get to see it vividly, even in glimpses, because the stakes, are very clearly going to be high.

I liked that due to the split narration, you get to see many of the characters through a variety of lenses. Once you’re willing to trust the story to take it where it needs to, and grow more familiar with the names and places, you can truly embrace how one person may seem vulnerable and fragile to a lover, and fearsome and intimidating through the eyes of a stranger. These polarising observations offer more context and humanity to the characters readers only read about in passing at the beginning. Though, I will say that due to how in your face the worldbuilding is, and the fact that it isn’t written in a way where a supposed outsider interacts with a strange new world, and instead just tosses you headfirst into the fray, the information sheet at the front of the novel is truly a blessing.

I really liked how the events in the book seem to be reactionary every single time, every event is in response to the last, and the split narration, and surprise that often meets Eirjatal or Irving in their chapters because of what the other has done makes both of them incredibly compelling. You understand why it would be far easier for Eirjatal to just shake Irving by the shoulders and tell them everything, but why should he, when Irving only became involved in this mess because he was caught stealing.

I liked this book. I am intrigued to see what happens next, if a sequel is on the cards, and how the dramatic conclusions of ‘Deep Roots’ would impact the characters. What are the consequences of a group of incredibly powerful people going out of their way to ensure the safety of one of their own? Will what happened leave their relationships in tatters?