Content levels
Positive tags
Hero archetypes
Heroine archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Tropes
Themes
Synopsis
Sergeant Nix Marr is a damn good soldier. She’s also desperate to leave her haunted past deep in the bioluminescent ocean, buried alongside her best friend, Quian. So, when Subarch Kessandra, Valkesh’s favorite royal–and Nix’s loathed ex–requests Nix’s help investigating a massacre in the abyssal city of Fall, Nix refuses. Vehemently. She should have known Kessandra would fight back. Consigned as Kessandra’s bodyguard, Nix grudgingly boards the Luminosity, a luxurious submersible that offers the only transportation to Fall. But Kessandra wasn’t truthful–surprise, surprise–and her “investigation” isn’t about the massacre, but rather what caused it: an illness that incites its victims into a violent craze. When another royal is brutally murdered, Nix and Kess realize the disease has spread–and no one on the Luminosity is safe. If they’re going to survive until Fall, they’ll have to trust each other… but considering Kessandra is responsible for Quian’s death, that won’t be easy.
This Gilded Abyss: content & age rating
Intended for adult readers (18+).
This sapphic horror fantasy features a massacre investigation, a violent disease outbreak, graphic murders, and significant grief over past death. Characters are adult soldiers navigating trauma, betrayal, and a deadly mystery in an underwater setting.
What to know going in
This book has strong violence, mild sexual content, and moderate language. Content notes include murder, death of a loved one, and grief (see the full list above).
Who'll love this
Adult readers will be gripped by the tense underwater mystery, horror elements, and the fraught second-chance romance between two women with a painful history.