Review of And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness

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Synopsis: "With harpoons strapped to their backs, the proud whales of Bathsheba's pod live for the hunt, fighting in the ongoing war against the world of men. When they attack a ship bobbing on the surface of the Abyss, they expect to find easy prey. Instead, they find the trail of a myth, a monster, perhaps the devil himself...

As their relentless Captain leads the chase, they embark on a final, vengeful hunt, one that will forever change the worlds of both whales and men."

My Review: This book kept catching my eye, so I broke down and picked it up. It is an absolutely beautiful book aesthetically, stunning naked cover and beautiful illustrations throughout the book. I also like the concept, a retelling of Moby Dick from a whale's perspective. Unfortunately, for me it was just a little too obscure. It is one thing to have a twist in a retelling with a change in perspective, but it was taken to a whole other level with the whales swimming upside down and pulling their own underwater ships and their own harpoons. Maybe if this had been explained more, with some more world building, I would have enjoyed it more. There were also some odd details, like boiling bones on deck but then also saying fire doesn't work under water, so how are you boiling something? and why would the whales be doing that? There is also a lot of symbolism and metaphors in the book, but I just have no desire to puzzle through them plus the upside down world and the whale's perspective. There just seems to be too much going on for my liking, at least at this time. I did really enjoy the back and forth between the whale and the human, the revelations on both sides is what the story centers around.

My Rating: Now I haven't read any other of Patrick Ness' books, but from my understanding they are often obscure and contain a lot of symbolism and metaphors, but this one just took things a little too far. I could have gone along with the whales hunting the whalers, them pulling their own ships, and even using harpoons and taking human prisoners, but why do they need to swim upside down. Also the contradiction with in pages about fire under water. As beautiful as the book was, it just did not work for me. I give it a rating of One Paw and a Stump Wag.