I'll be honest, this was interesting but not what I expected. At all. I expected this to be more like a children's non-fiction would be, learning about the eco systems, the different breeds etc instead of the (what felt at times) repetitive information that Sharks are amazing and need t o be protected. I believe that, but also this wasn't as informative as I thought it would be? I did skim read some pages... but I know that some people would adore this style of non-fiction... it just wasn't for me although it was a nice change from the heavy fantasy books I have been reading.

An excellent book that shows sharks' nature, beauty, and grandeur. They're unstoppable killing machines, yes, but they're much more than that. McKeever focuses on four shark species: the mako, tiger, hammerhead and great white, “the ocean’s most mysterious and most misunderstood inhabitant”. He discovers and describes many surprising facts.

An excellent effort.

Thanks to NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review. This was a nice break from fiction for me! I love sea life and sharks in particular so I found this a really interesting read as well as incredibly informative toward the cultural and ecological impact the species holds in the chain. I do think McKeever went for a far more biased approach than I’m used to in non-fiction and while I wholeheartedly agree with the points he makes I tend to prefer documented articles to be a little less opinion-based. Emperors of the Deep does tend to go on some tangents about commercial fishing for longer than needed and ends up chasing its own tail a bit but for what it was worth I loved learning about sharks’ behavioural patterns, the danger they are vulnerable to, and even some potential solutions to these hard to tackle (no pun intended) problems.

A fascinating look at a much-maligned animal. McKeever urges the reader to get past the Jaws legacy of maneaters and see sharks as stars of evolution.

I love sharks (and dinosaurs - like any normal 30-year-old female) and i loved this book, so much so that I preordered a hardback copy!!

Focusing on 4 different species and their habitats and history this was a brilliant read, and I just wish there were more around like it.

GIVE ME MORE SHARK BOOKS FOR ADULTS!!

I enjoyed this so much. It was very readable, with a wealth of information contained within the pages.

When I was younger, I wanted to be a world renowned shark expert. I was going to do this by memorising the entirety of a book I'd borrowed from the library. I was six. Unsurprisingly, I am not a world renowned shark expert, but I still have a fascination with sharks (as do so many of us), and it was devastating to learn just how badly we treat these magnificent creatures, not to mention the proliferation of modern slavery in the fishing industry.

This is more than a shark book. It's also a call to arms to protect our oceans, one we should all heed.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC without obligation.

I loved this book, and have to say a special thank you to the author for writing it (I am a fellow shark lover) and the publisher and Net Galley for sharing it with me. I especially love the descriptions of the shares that are tagged and been followed - Luci had my kids pondering all sorts of questions about 'the deep' (cue ominous music!)

Sharks are a crucial part of life on earth and yet are so persecuted by humans. It is shameful to see what people do to them, and the shadowy horrors that lurk deep in the sub-conscious of our minds are largely due to ignorance and sometimes plain brute cruelty. William McKeever tells us about his love for the ocean, time spent with his father getting to know the sea, and her wonders. He is saddened and shocked to see what goes on with these incredible, magnificent, and highly evolved creatures. "Little did I know at the time that sharks had more to fear than humans. And unlike our fear of them, their fear of us is justified."

And that is the crux of it. While there will always be cruelty and greed, and many species are in trouble, people, in general, don't understand or know sharks, and with many of them the premise is what you don't know or understand, you don't care about. This book brings them that bit closer. He speaks of Makos, the F-45's of the sea, the mysterious Hammerhead, the sex lives of sharks (very little is known about the private lives of these creatures), and their very serious plight. The bottom line is that sharks have been on earth for 450 million years, give or take, they have survived 5 extinction levels, but is now staring down its greatest threat. It appears that it is now, it is us - our race - that will finally bring them to their knees. And apart from being a crying shame, it is a grave mistake. We need them, not only do they contribute greatly to life as we know it, but they have just as much right to be here as we do.

Books like this bring home to us how complex and advanced sharks as a species is, and how they should be treated with respect. 10 - 15 people die from shark attacks a year, we slaughter around 12000 per hour. Read that again, per HOUR. That is almost unbelievable in its horror.

Give this a read, it will open your mind to infinite wonders, reinforce the greatness of one of the oldest creatures on earth, or perhaps make you stop and think that it is time we take a look at the world around us.

Many thanks to William McKeever, 4th Estate and William Collins, and Net Galley for my ARC.

BOOK REVIEW: Emperors of the Deep by William McKeever

2.5 stars

I was looking forward to reading this book as I am a huge lover of wildlife and so I read a lot of wildlife and nature books. I have a huge respect and interest in sharks and this seemed to be a new and exciting book to read to gain more knowledge about different species. Sadly, this book didn't have the readability that other wildlife books have had.
The content of the book looks into a few species of sharks including great white, mako and tiger sharks. It started off well but I quickly began to notice that it was like the book hadn't been edited. The author went off on random tangents that didn't link to the content of the chapter. It would have been a better book if it was reduced in length and therefore cutting out loads of the repetition that is in each chapter.
The writing wasn't engaging and often made me feel rather sleepy. There are a few chunks that were highly interesting but it wasn't enough to save this book for me.
The actual information about sharks is rather limited. There is more about #sharkfishing and hunting than the biology of the #sharks. Although I agree these books need a conservation message and to explain how vulnerable these creatures are, it was overdone and very repetitive. Also the writer seemed to introduce each scientist he spoke to and give us a detailed description of their background which was completely unnecessary.

Overall, I am highly disappointed as this was not the shark book I was hoping for. The author wants to make people excited about sharks. If I came in with no love of sharks then I don't think I would leave feeling excited...!

Please note that I was #gifted this book in exchange for an honest review.

QOTD: Do you have a favourite shark or sea creature?
I love whale sharks and have been lucky enough to swim with them in Mexico. I also adore pufferfish, stingrays, mantarays and crabs!

#williammckeever #emperorsofthedeep #shark #sharkbook #sharkconservation #sharklove #sharksofinstagram #wildlife #wildlifebooks #marineconservation #wildlifelovers #marinebiology #marinebiology #booksandflowers #williamcollinsbooks @wmcollinsbooks

This was a really good insight into the world of sharks, and the unique aspects of different sharks and how it makes them such an apex predator. I really enjoyed it as sharks are my favourite animal species, however sometimes it was just a lot to read about in relation to the overfishing and the gruesome accounts of sharks being left for dead. I appreciate that that is reality but it wasn't what I was expecting and was hard to read at times. That being said I really enjoyed the research into each aspect mentioned in the book.

This book wasn't quite what I expected or quite what I wanted. I was disapppointed that there was less about sharks themselves than I expected and far more about fishing ecologies and economies and different human characters involved with sharks from hunters to conservators. McKeevor is a passionate advocate but often his arguments boiled down to a fairly basic repetition that sharks are important and should be respected. An important message but lacking the information I was hoping for.

trigger warning
<spoiler> animal cruelty, human trafficking, slavery, forced drug abuse, mutilation, rape, trauma </spoiler>

The premise of this book is simple: Sharks have an awful image because of media, so let's gather all the coolest facts about sharks in one place to change people's minds!
This means that this book is highly accessible and aimed towards people without or with low knowledge about the topic.
Be warned that this book deals with - for me - unexpectedly dark topics.

This book starts off with the elephant in the room: Jaws.
Though initially being published as a book, most people know this title by the Stephen Spielberg adaptation which I can't really sum up because I never saw it. I just never saw the appeal in a movie that tells you how evil animals are, when I always felt that the evil beings are humans. And it's not like there is nothing to chose from if you happen to want to watch a Spielberg movie, right?
Anyway, Jaws is deeply ingrained in popculture, and has inspired follow-ups like The Meg and Sharknado. Which, again, I haven't watched.
But apparently everybody else did, and formed their opinion on a species by horror movies. Smart move.

In the US, there are shark fishing tournaments in which sharks get caught and afterwards thrown away because the laws forbid the trade of shark meat. You have to consume it yourself, but few of the participants actually want that, so after weighing and fotographing, the carcasses get thrown in the bin, albeit a big one.

Every time a human is bit by a shark at a surfing tournament, the media call out for sharks to get culled in the vicinity of said event, without bothering to ask specialists what makes you likely to get bit by shark.

Good news for people with periods: A few small drops of blood are not enough to make a shark aware of you. For that, the ocean is too big. Another important factor that draw sharks are electrical impulses they can register, and the sounds you make. If you thrash around like an animal in distress, you're much more likely to draw these predators.
If you meet a shark, simply do nothing and most likely it won't bother you. If you should happen to get attacked, hit the snout.

50% of all shark attacks happen in the US, and 50% of that happen because someone annoyed a shark and had to bear the consequences - and another interesting fact: 5% of all shark "attacks" are lethal. 5. What people call attacks get registered as a bite, and it might be that it's as bad for you as a dog bite. Not to underestimate, but nothing to swear revenge for.
Most likely you surprised your animal or it wanted to explore what you are, which it does with it's mouth. And if you have teeth like a shark, blood is drawn quickly.

Cool shark facts: Cat sharks glow in the dark! Bull sharks thrive in both sweet and salt water! Big whites probably eat giant squid! Nobody has seen this, but sharks have been recorded to dive deeper and 3,700 feet, what else would they do down there?

After being told how awesome sharks are by themselves, we get to know about the role they play in the ecosystem. How important it is that somebody removes trash and feeds on ill animals so the illnesses won't spread. Did you know that a shark in the area increases the diversity of gathered species instead of decreasing it?
Through various networking points, sharks protect seagrass. The biggest feeders on seagrass are seacows and turtles who have few animals to fear due to size. Studies suggest that without sharks, those animals would eat all the seagrass, and the seagrass in turn is responsible for a lot of fresh air due to photsynthesis, and it filters the water and sand it grows upon.

Another important topic, and this time one I didn't see coming, is human trafficking and the correlation between sharks, shark fin soup, thuna, and slavery. Thuna is cheap. Why? Because the workers get exploited beyond any reason. Won't go into detail, but the mentioned trigger warnings might give you some ideas in which direction it goes.

All the while we're told all these things, the author travels around the world to go diving and meet people who do research or are activists. If all these facts didn't bother you, we're told about the economical value of sharks, which is threatened because some few people and nations don't want to play by some simple rules.

To conclude this book, the author gives a list of things that need to change in order to save sharks. Since quite a few are based in what you've read, I won't give them here because I am not sure how comprehensible I can do it.
But: Apparently, the whales were worse off as whale-hunting was banned than sharks are today and managed to recover. So, if measures are taken now, we still can prevent the worst from happening.

My opinion on this book? Five stars. I learned things while being entertained - at least in parts. Some parts were heavy to digest.
Sharks still are not my favourite animal in the ocean, but then they have to compete with octopi, which is not easy. But I feel informed, delighted and angry, all at the same time.
Despite having some fear for the deep seas because I can't do anything if I should happen to be there except die, I wished for being able to go there to see what lives there.
I want to join Greenpeace, and I am really glad I have been a vegetarian for so long. At least they won't get my money to continue the horrors.

Go and read this.

I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

"Emperors of the Deep" is a great introduction to sharks, their ways of life, and the damage we do to them - directly or indirectly. I enjoyed William McKeever's writing, but I did find some of his statements seemingly contradictory to other statements made during the course of the book, and I would have liked more clarity on those rather than having to read and reread to understand what he meant. This book is disturbing in parts, and the photos intensify that uneasy feeling. Yes, sharks scare me... but people scare me more.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. This review is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

I consider myself to be knowledgeable in layman's terms when it comes to marine life and environmental destruction, but I learned plenty more from this book.

On the whole, it's brilliant - covering the life science of sharks, their ecosystem impacts, how people relate to them, and the modern-age wave of human rapacity threatening to exterminate a lineage 450 million years in the making. McKeever first takes a closer look at four different shark species: the great white, the mako, the hammerhead, and the tiger. Reproduction, habitat, behaviour, hunting, sociability. As the book goes on, its conservation tones grow stronger. I've seen a number of reviews criticising the book for this, but I think that's pretty ridiculous - if you have an iota of compassion or respect for sharks, you can't not be terrified by what people are doing to the oceans. You can't not want to shout and scream about it. McKeever's digust, which the reader can only share in, is especially palpable when he recounts a mako tournament he witnessed - sharks in the prime of their reproductive lives being hacked apart for trophies, their headless bodies dumped in the garbage. McKeever also does a great job of explaining where the humans suffer in all this, most of all the men who are forced into slavery aboard fishing vessels and subjected to profound cruelty, even death. Not only does the author tell us about these things - he emphasises that we as consumers have the power to shape the seafood industry for the better. If only we take care when we're buying seafood.

The book is not perfect - as other reviewers have mentioned, sometimes the science needs to be more fine-tuned ("apex predator" is a term that shows up on most pages, not always correctly); there's also a weird bit where the author asks a shark educator if little girls get scared around the sharks - I think the book would be benefit from having that line cut. A final page providing links/details of sustainable seafood rating and labelling programs would also help readers, I think.

Apart from the above, though, I found this book to be a wonderful read - almost a love letter to sharks. A call to arms to save them. And, perhaps, an epitaph.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ebook, in exchange for an honest review)

I have a lot of interest in underwater and these amazing animals, so I picked up this book. It was really ell written, entertaining to read and I learned a lot, while having a good time.

If you're interested in teh subject matter, it's a great pick.

Thanks a lot NG nad the publisher for this copy.