A review by nightshade_novels
And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness
4.0
This story was completely not what I expected, but then I did go into it blind knowing nothing but that it was by Patrick Ness and had a great cover.
I've previously really enjoyed books by Ness so was excited to try another of his work. It didn't disappoint, it had exactly the style of writing I'm coming to expect from him, serious but somehow also whimsical.
This story flips the tale of Moby Dick on it's head, literally. It's told from a whale's point of view and to them the sky is down and the ocean floor is up. It was so hard to keep this straight in my head that even towards the end of the book I was still forgetting that when they said they were diving down that meant they were surfacing.
The story was so crazy, but in a good way. The whales have weapons and have built ships of their own. They are hunting a legendary human. Things are progressing as usual until they take a human captive and through questioning their prisoner they end up questioning their own beliefs.
The ending completely threw me, it was not at all what I was expecting from the story leading up to it and I'm not sure if I enjoyed it or not.
Rovina Cai has done a wonderful job illustrating this story. The pictures are brilliant and the sole reason that I gave this book an extra star. They are beautiful and brutal and perfectly match the writing style.
I've previously really enjoyed books by Ness so was excited to try another of his work. It didn't disappoint, it had exactly the style of writing I'm coming to expect from him, serious but somehow also whimsical.
This story flips the tale of Moby Dick on it's head, literally. It's told from a whale's point of view and to them the sky is down and the ocean floor is up. It was so hard to keep this straight in my head that even towards the end of the book I was still forgetting that when they said they were diving down that meant they were surfacing.
The story was so crazy, but in a good way. The whales have weapons and have built ships of their own. They are hunting a legendary human. Things are progressing as usual until they take a human captive and through questioning their prisoner they end up questioning their own beliefs.
The ending completely threw me, it was not at all what I was expecting from the story leading up to it and I'm not sure if I enjoyed it or not.
Rovina Cai has done a wonderful job illustrating this story. The pictures are brilliant and the sole reason that I gave this book an extra star. They are beautiful and brutal and perfectly match the writing style.