What is the main conflict in The Descent: A Novel by Jeff Long?

The Descent is a novel by former journalist Jeff Long. In this novel, Long tells the story of a newly discovered race of people, the hadals, who live in the depths of the earth. Humans discover these people in a series of unrelated events and find themselves making forages into the earth to rid the world of these savages and claim a new, expansive land for themselves. The Descent is a novel of mystery and intrigue, but also a novel that explores some of the darker aspects of history and human nature in a refreshing take on an old story.