littletiramisu's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Animal cruelty, War, Death, and Gore
librarymouse's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
And the Ocean Was Our Sky is a really interesting twist on Moby Dick.
I didn't love this book in the way I normally do to give a five star rating, but it was beautifully and lovingly crafted and the questions it poses are going to stick with me for quite a while.
Spoiler
The idea that there is a single source of evil that gathers more power the more harm, anguish, and death it creates is something that's explored in a lot of fantasy settings from Lord of the Rings to table top role play games, but I've never seen it done this way. Bathsheba's insistence on being the dissenter against the common beliefs of her community is an interesting inversion of YA tropes where the dissenter is proven right in the end. Demetrius and Bathsheba's interactions caused a fundamental fissure in her core beliefs about the natures of men and whales. It pushes her to questions whether fighting for the sake of tradition is fighting the monsters or turning themselves into monsters. I think the way this book deals with questioning sense of self and the idea of loyalty to tradition and rank will make it a modern classic.I didn't love this book in the way I normally do to give a five star rating, but it was beautifully and lovingly crafted and the questions it poses are going to stick with me for quite a while.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gore, and Grief
jeminnycricket's review
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
It was a challenging book to wrap my head around, because the entire book is told from a perspective wildly different, and i spent every other sentence trying to realign my view of the world to match the characters. It was a brilliant book in the way that it asked me to do this very seamlessly and it was very thought provoking for this perspective shift. Loved the book overall and had a very interesting message at the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Death of parent
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