 Hello. Before we get started on this, I should clarify. I am talking about the novel The Descent by Jeff Long. This has nothing to do with the movie The Descent. Literally nothing. They have some similarities between them, but they are not at all related. This is the introduction song. It's not very good, but it's not too long. So I can't speak for anybody else, but I really, really love books whose genre is kind of hard to define. You know, it's rare for that to happen because usually you can clearly say, yeah, this is science fiction or yeah, this is a thriller or yeah, this is fantasy. And sometimes they'll combine genres, sure, but it's very rare for something to combine genres in such a way where it's kind of hard to say exactly what it is. Now The Descent is largely horror. I would say it's horror above all else, but at the same time, it's a thriller. You know, there's a plotline here about like, essentially a terrorist with some sort of weapon that's going to set it off and kill a bunch of people. But it's also a 19th century Lost World adventure novel. And by that, I mean, you know, books that came out in the 1800s where characters just went to this strange, wondrous place and explored around a bit, like Journey to the Center of the Earth or King Solomon's Mines. And depending on the book, it was also, there was undertones of, hey, white Europeans are going to come here and civilize everybody because again, it was the fucking, it was the 19th century. But anyways, The Descent has elements of that, but it also has elements of being a postmodern deconstruction of that exact type of story. Like there's so many different genres being represented here, and they blend together pretty well in such a way where I just, I don't know exactly what I would call The Descent. Overall, I would have to say it's probably, it's horror, yeah, but that, it doesn't give the whole picture. So in very basic terms, the story of The Descent is about, it takes place in the 90s, and it's about the discovery of what they call the sub-planet. And basically, it is just a massive, massive underground world underneath our feet. It's kind of like the Underdark from Dungeons and Dragons, if you're at all familiar with that, where it's basically just tunnels and caverns that go on for literally millions of miles and are miles and miles deep below us. But there are entrances up on the surface. And there's also a subspecies of humans that was undiscovered that lives down there called hadals. And the beginning of the book is basically just about the discovery of the sub-planet, and it does take some suspension of disbelief to think that this sort of thing wouldn't be uncovered until very recently, but whatever, it's, again, it's a book, Suspension of Disbelief, that's a thing. And then some scientists to go on an expedition into part of the sub-planet, specifically a part underneath the Pacific Ocean, because, again, these go very deep, so you can go down to the bottom of the ocean, and then the tunnels will go down a couple miles deeper. Like these things are absolutely huge. And honestly, I would just say that the opening chapter of this book is amazing. It is one of the best I have ever read, like, bar none. I'm not exaggerating in any way. It's about some hikers and the Himalayas who find a dead body in a cave, and they're also, like, snowed in because there's a snowstorm out there, so they can't leave. And then they start exploring deeper into the cave, and they realize just how deep this thing goes, and they also see, like, signs of life there, and I don't want to give too much away. But honestly, it works pretty well as, like, a standalone horror short story, if I'm being honest. And I would just say, read the first chapter of this book, and if you're not intrigued, you're not interested by the end of that, then you're probably not going to like this book. But it is genuinely amazing. It's, like, horrifying and scary, but also, like, there's mystery, you're wondering what's going on here exactly. It's genuinely one of the best openings to anything I've ever read. And then the next chunk of the book covers the discovery of the sub-planet and the hadals, as well as the colonization efforts. Because the first chapter is a great opener, and then it cuts to other characters around the world that are seeing other weird stuff, and that's when they realize, oh, hey, the hadals exist. They're, like, a sub-species of humans, and they occasionally come up to the surface to raid, and sometimes they steal stuff, but they also, like, take humans as slaves and drag them down to the underworld. But they're not just beasts. They are, like, again, they're humans. They're technologically less advanced than us, and most likely they are where the stories of, like, hell and demons came from, because they have a really pale appearance, where they have big eyes, that they have good night vision, and they also, like, have their skulls have little horns on them. And humans also grow horns when they're in the underworld for too long, which doesn't actually make sense, but I'll get a little bit more into that later. And then, after all of this has been established, then the expedition starts, which is where the bulk of the story takes place. And I really liked just the exploration of it. Now, obviously, there's other stuff going on, like, again, the whole thriller terrorism plotline is kind of fun. There is, it's not focused on much, but there's a little bit of political maneuvering in the background, like, that's all great. But I was also just really into the exploration of it, because the sub-planet is a fascinating place. It's a whole new ecology, which has very little to do with anything on the surface, and just seeing all these neat plants and animals and stuff is really cool. But at the same time, there is a, the ruins of some ancient civilization down there. I mean, ancient, like, the hadals old civilization goes back farther than human civilization seems to. And we don't know exactly how they degenerated into their current state, because that we see they built, like, fortresses and cities, and they had trade networks and written language and everything, and now they're basically just nomadic hunters who can pretty much only make spears. There's also a power-hungry villain who is, you know, manipulating events behind the scenes throughout this. And one of the characters, a woman named Ali, is sent down there to search for Satan. And, again, people realize that the hadals are probably the source of old myths about demons and hell and stuff. And so, some people theorize that, okay, they must have some sort of leader, or a group of leaders, like council of some sort, and that's probably, like, where Satan, the myth of Satan came from. So they just send somebody down there to, like, hey, try and look and see if you can find their leader. And then maybe we can, like, talk and negotiate with them. Overall, I would just say the story here is great. Like, there's a few spots where the pacing gets kind of weird. Like, for example, when people first discover the sub-planet, there is, like, one chapter going over the initial conflict with the hadals. And then it just cuts forward a couple years and colonization is already in full swing. Like, the stuff like that. The pacing is a little weird now and again. But overall, it's very intriguing. Like, I always wanted to know what happened next. There are a lot of mysteries about not only the hadals, but, like, their civilization and what happened to it. There's constant tension because, again, you're down in the tunnels and those things are terrifying. There's also cutaways to characters who are dealing with the hadals. And these are basically, again, standalone horror short stories. And it's just like, okay, what is life like for regular people in this world? And two that stand out are one with a guy who is searching for butterflies and gets trapped down in the sub-planet. That is unpleasant. And then there is also one where hadals come to the surface and they kidnap a young boy who's around 11 or 12 and they do things to him that I will not repeat on YouTube. But that's really what horror should do. It should disturb you after the fact. Because if you're just scared in the moment, then that's really more terror, whereas horror is, like, the fear and revulsion you feel looking back on it. There is a fairly large cast in this book, but there are two main characters. I don't know if I would call either of them the protagonist per se, but there's two really main characters that we follow throughout pretty much the whole book. The first one is named Ike, and then the second one is a woman named Ali. Now Ali is actually kind of a bright spot in this story because one thing I've noticed about a lot of books that are aimed at adult men, whether they be like thrillers or science fiction or whatever else, is that all the characters are just kind of assholes to each other all the time. And this book is no exception. And Ali is kind of a bright spot. You know, she's nice. She's actually a nun, although she's not a very good one, as we see throughout the story. But she's just a kind person. She's helpful. And again, in a cast of assholes, that's just really nice to see. She's smart, but she's also kind of naive, and that gets her into trouble a few times. But it just, it worked. You know, I liked Ali. Then there's Ike, who I won't talk about too much for fear of spoilers, but he has been through countless awful experiences. And in spite of that, he's still there. Like he's a survivor. He refuses to give up, and he does still have something of a heart. You know, he's not as nice as Ali, but he is still an okay guy at the end of it. And he's also just very good at what he does, which is, you know, tracking hunting and fighting down in the sub-planet. Like he's, he's very good at that. And it's just nice to watch people be competent at things. Now, the villains are a little weak. A lot of them just kind of do bad things for no reason, even when it makes no sense. Like in the last little chunk of the book, like at the climax, there's like two big villains there, and they're both fine. But all of the smaller ones we see up before that point, just do, like they just do nasty stuff for the sake of doing nasty stuff. And minor spoilers, there's a part early in the expedition where all the scientists and soldiers who are escorting them reach pretty far in and they have a bunch of porters who are with them who are carrying all their stuff. And they reach the point where they're going to separate and the porters are going to go home. But the soldiers just leave the porters behind with no food or anything. And it's made pretty clear that they're going to starve to death because they're weeks away from reaching civilization. And there was really no reason for them to do that. They just, they just kill the porters there. Why was that done? To make the soldiers look like dicks, basically. And then there's another point, like very early on, right at the beginning of the expedition, the leader of the soldiers lists up to all the scientists, he says, hey, for each one of you that makes it to the other side alive, I get paid a bonus. So you know you can trust me. Like I'm acting my own self-interest by protecting you. But then there's other parts where in spite of that he just, again, abandons them or otherwise harms them for no real reason. Like it just, it just doesn't make sense. And so because of that, the villains here are kind of weak. There's a few minor plot holes too, like how, by the time the main story really gets going, it's a couple years after colonization. And some people think that the hadals are completely extinct by that point, because they never ever see them. But then later, we see other characters mentioning how on the surface there's a hadal sighting at least once a week, or in the United States, I mean, at least once a week. And like people are seeing them all over the place, like they interact with them, they fight them, like they're all over. So that's that's a weird thing to say. And the story plays really fast and loose with science. Like there's some parts where it seems there's something supernatural almost about the sub-planet and about the hadals, because there's parts where we see characters who like completely lose their minds right away, as if they've been hypnotized or mesmerized or something by some sort of force. And we don't really get an explanation as to that. And again, humans go down into the sub-planet and they start having physical changes, which make them a bit more like hadals. But no one really treats that as if it's the huge deal that it is. People just kind of go, oh, it's a little strange and then move on. But like, again, people are growing fucking horns and getting better night vision and stuff. It's strange, you know? And if the book had acknowledged that like, yeah, this is just some weird supernatural thing that scientists have no explanation for, then I'd be fine with that. But it doesn't do that. There's like one or two parts where it kind of half asses a scientific explanation. But even then no one really treats it as the wondrous and crazy thing that it is. But as much as I like other stuff in this book, the real star here is just the fear and the tension. Because I have not read a book where the setting felt like it was alive and hostile to human life like this since I read Metro 2033, which if you're looking for that type of thing, that that book is really good. Like the darkness in the descent just, it has a presence. You know? Like even when the characters have like flashlights and stuff, the darkness has a presence. Like it's alive and like it's wanting to swallow you whole. And at the same time, the underworld, the sub-planet, it's claustrophobic. Like, you know, it'll trap you. It'll close in on you if you turn your back on it. But it's also never ending and it's very easy to find yourself getting lost in it. Because it's just so freaking huge. Like there's multiple points where characters just get hopelessly lost. And then you know the hadals are out there the whole time too. And they are bestial and savage yet at the same time they are completely human. Like they are smart. Like their technology is behind ours. They pretty much only have spears and slings occasionally to fight with. But they are perfectly capable of ambushing humans and stealing their weapons and then they can use guns and stuff. So they're very, very, very dangerous. And just no matter what's going on, whenever characters are in the sub-planet, there is always a threat. There's always something around every corner and there's something lurking in the dark. Things that are so horrible you can barely even make out their outlines. And it just hits something primal in you, you know? It's just it's one of the best pieces of horror media I've ever come across. It's genuinely a fantastic book. So I would just say check it out. You know, pretty much everyone should check it out. Like I said, just read the first chapter. And if that doesn't intrigue you or if it's not your thing, then you're probably not going to like this book. But if you're into it, then just keep going. And even though, again, there are a few points where it dips a little bit, just power through those because it is great. And there is a sequel as well. I haven't read that yet. I probably will at some point, but this book works reasonably well as a standalone. And before I go, I do just want to mention that one of the major villains, I guess you call them of this book is a guy named Cece Cooper. And he is without giving too much away. He is like funding the expedition because he actually just wants to start a new country underneath the Pacific Ocean in that part of the sub planet. And he's actually, he's an American businessman who ran for presidents and lost. And then he blamed fraud and tried to sue to get votes thrown out and took it all the way to the Supreme Court who threw it out. And he has spent years whining about it. What year did this book come out? 1999. Okay, that probably that probably sounded more ludicrous back then. All right. Well, whatever, just check out the descent. It's an amazing book. I'll see you later. Goodbye. So, if you want your name on here and you also want like early access to videos, consider going over there donating. If you don't feel like doing that, you can also become a YouTube channel member and you'll also get early access to videos. Doesn't that sound cool? Doesn't that sound awesome? Aren't you? You're all cool. Goodbye.