By Celeste Eback, Opinion Editor

Have you ever felt that you were sinking into a bottomless ocean with no way to escape? Did you ever feel like you were a part of a world that wasn’t your own? Well, this book is about to take you by storm. From the author of the “Arc of a Scythe” series comes “Challenger Deep” by Neal Shusterman, where the struggle for air is just as real as standing on the ocean floor.

This story follows a teenager by the name of Caden Bosch. He’s both a high school student that performs well in his classes, while also being a crew mate on a pirate ship, whose destination is Challenger Deep—the lowest part of the Marianas Trench. All of the people that Caden holds close to him notice that he’s been distant from everything and slowly losing it. After being evacuated to the “White Plastic Kitchen,” it becomes very apparent that his issues run deeper than expected. Will Caden find his way back to reality or will he drown in the bottomless sea?

When I say I could not put this book down, I could NOT put it down. This book had me in its claws just about any time I picked it up to read. The way it portrays mental health is unlike any I’ve seen. It humanizes the agony and troubles of being an everyday high school student, while also feeling so detached from the world you live in. At first, some of the plot didn’t make sense, admittedly. However, once you really get into the book and start seeing the connections between the two worlds, it just takes the story to a whole new level.

This book is not for the faint of heart. It talks about serious subjects such as self-harm, suicide, death, mental illnesses, and gruesome descriptions that may be disturbing to some readers. If you are going to read this, please make sure you’re in the right headspace to be reading a book like this.