scurvycur's review against another edition
3.0
Okay, so.
This book started out so grand, then fell apart the last 20 pages and I was racing through it to finish it (because of that reason; I had been taking my time with this book).
This book is a retelling of Moby Dick (which I have not read). I thought "Hey, I'll give this a try and see how it goes". Well, it went. And at the end it went very poorly.
I wasn't pleased with this book totally because where was the terrafin? We had a couple good chapters about chasing down the dreaded terrafin and capturing it, which is the point of Moby Dick, right? But there was so much other stuff going on that I feel that, again, this should not have been based off of the book. There were all of the things I mentioned up there ^, a lot of capturing and rescuing. But there wasn't a lot of terrafin. The fight at the end was just kind of sad. Ishmael and his crewmates (and Tarnmoor, the old man who is blind but mysteriously disappears in the end? Where did he go) watch the horrors instead of being involved in them. Which I guess is good, because everyone dies.
The middle of the book has the crew off the ship and on an island (which is to teach us that people can be good and take care of the environment, good job) and there were a lot of pirates, bargaining, SECRETS, and escaping death. Nothing to do with the terrafin (although, the islanders are farming them and keeping them there as a secret, but that really has nothing to do with the purpose of this book - the BEAST of Cretacea).
I also felt like certain passages were set up only to be completely ignored for another hundred pages. We know there's something special about Ishmael, but we don't learn about it until 85% of the book is done. By this time, our brains have probably figured out what is going on (that he is of the Gilded like Pip). Also, what IS the Gilded? What is their PURPOSE? We didn't learn that until the very last two chapters of the book. By this time I was very irritated with it all.
I feel like our author only took the chance to retell Moby Dick so he could commandeer the old story and tell his own story about conservation. Why didn't he just write a book about conserving the environment? Why did he have to take this book and turn it into a lesson, which, by the way, I did NOT like having shoved in my face at the end? I'm a good person, and a lot of people are pretty good and not nefarious; so WHY prove to us that the Earth is dying and it's all because of humans? We get it.
That was a major pet peeve.
Also, TIME TRAVEL. Which in itself is very, very confusing to me at times. You'll find out when you read this book.
In all, this book was written quite well but some of the subjects within can leave a sour taste in your mouth if you aren't paying attention.
This book started out so grand, then fell apart the last 20 pages and I was racing through it to finish it (because of that reason; I had been taking my time with this book).
This book is a retelling of Moby Dick (which I have not read). I thought "Hey, I'll give this a try and see how it goes". Well, it went. And at the end it went very poorly.
Spoiler
Ishmael wakes up on the Pequod with a few other young people and has gone on this voyage to help his foster family out. You can make big bucks searching for and catching big water game. So, Ishmael, our protagonist and hero, goes out into this new world called Cretacea to try and catch fish and other sea life. His captain, Ahab, is searching for the biggest terrafin of them all and it's all about revenge for him. There are islanders, pirates, mean crewmen of the Pequod, and a very mean terrafin.I wasn't pleased with this book totally because where was the terrafin? We had a couple good chapters about chasing down the dreaded terrafin and capturing it, which is the point of Moby Dick, right? But there was so much other stuff going on that I feel that, again, this should not have been based off of the book. There were all of the things I mentioned up there ^, a lot of capturing and rescuing. But there wasn't a lot of terrafin. The fight at the end was just kind of sad. Ishmael and his crewmates (and Tarnmoor, the old man who is blind but mysteriously disappears in the end? Where did he go) watch the horrors instead of being involved in them. Which I guess is good, because everyone dies.
The middle of the book has the crew off the ship and on an island (which is to teach us that people can be good and take care of the environment, good job) and there were a lot of pirates, bargaining, SECRETS, and escaping death. Nothing to do with the terrafin (although, the islanders are farming them and keeping them there as a secret, but that really has nothing to do with the purpose of this book - the BEAST of Cretacea).
I also felt like certain passages were set up only to be completely ignored for another hundred pages. We know there's something special about Ishmael, but we don't learn about it until 85% of the book is done. By this time, our brains have probably figured out what is going on (that he is of the Gilded like Pip). Also, what IS the Gilded? What is their PURPOSE? We didn't learn that until the very last two chapters of the book. By this time I was very irritated with it all.
I feel like our author only took the chance to retell Moby Dick so he could commandeer the old story and tell his own story about conservation. Why didn't he just write a book about conserving the environment? Why did he have to take this book and turn it into a lesson, which, by the way, I did NOT like having shoved in my face at the end? I'm a good person, and a lot of people are pretty good and not nefarious; so WHY prove to us that the Earth is dying and it's all because of humans? We get it.
That was a major pet peeve.
Also, TIME TRAVEL. Which in itself is very, very confusing to me at times. You'll find out when you read this book.
In all, this book was written quite well but some of the subjects within can leave a sour taste in your mouth if you aren't paying attention.
catlinjo's review against another edition
1.0
I lied. I didn't finish it. Initially I liked the premise, but the author's agenda started to get in the way of the story.
reevereads's review against another edition
5.0
Ein packender Abenteuerroman, von der ersten bis zur letzten Seite.
Angelehnt an Moby Dick, bringt dieses Buch doch viele neue Aspekte ein und endet in einer wunderbaren moralischen Erkenntnis.
Definitiv eine Leseempfehlung, für Teenager aber auch für alle anderen. :D
Angelehnt an Moby Dick, bringt dieses Buch doch viele neue Aspekte ein und endet in einer wunderbaren moralischen Erkenntnis.
Definitiv eine Leseempfehlung, für Teenager aber auch für alle anderen. :D
truestorydesu's review against another edition
3.0
Wait, so I'm confused. This story is supposed to be similar to Moby Dick, in that all the names are the same and there's a great white beast. But other than that it is a completely different story.
...so why use the names from Moby Dick? Why not just make up a bunch of names and have allusions to Moby Dick throughout the story? This confused me so much I couldn't hardly focus on the story itself.
...so why use the names from Moby Dick? Why not just make up a bunch of names and have allusions to Moby Dick throughout the story? This confused me so much I couldn't hardly focus on the story itself.
mmathews's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars for getting super preachy at the end and for never-ending tension that felt a little too much at times. Other than that, a really fascinating and engaging book!
egf1702's review
adventurous
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
geosbooks's review against another edition
4.0
I thought this was a fairly interesting book but I wasn't absolutely glued to the page... And the characters were nice and all but I wouldn't be devastated if one of them died. I did however appreciate the lack of stereotyped characters. I wish a bit more time was spent developing the characters and their relationships, it just felt a little rushed to me. I found the end kinda confusing and VERY rushed and it was not exactly a satisfying ending... It was a good read and definitely worth reading for fun but it wouldn't be at the top of my recommended reads.
Explanation of diversity: I'll be giving diversity a mark out of three; if it has people of colour that's one point, queer people that's another and disabled is the third. If it has them in lower positions (unless that's a reflection of the world) it'll get a half point docked.
Diversity: 1.5/3 (poc and kinda disabled)
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 3.5/5
Shippability: 2/5
Page turniness: 3/5
Actual writing: 4/5
Impression: 3.5/5
Adds up to (drumroll please!)
3.5 out of 5! (Actually no but I'm feeling generous)
Sorry that was so long! But thanks for sticking around!
For more reviews check my ig @wistfullybooks
Explanation of diversity: I'll be giving diversity a mark out of three; if it has people of colour that's one point, queer people that's another and disabled is the third. If it has them in lower positions (unless that's a reflection of the world) it'll get a half point docked.
Diversity: 1.5/3 (poc and kinda disabled)
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 3.5/5
Shippability: 2/5
Page turniness: 3/5
Actual writing: 4/5
Impression: 3.5/5
Adds up to (drumroll please!)
3.5 out of 5! (Actually no but I'm feeling generous)
Sorry that was so long! But thanks for sticking around!
For more reviews check my ig @wistfullybooks
setgalvin22's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars. I think I really would have appreciate this book if I had read Moby Dick the only Melville character I knew was Bartleby. This wasn't my favorite sci-fi novel a lot of the confusing elements were explained too late and the plot twists weren't really twists because the things that were revealed weren't really essential to the progression of the story.