And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness

The next part of my Book Junkie Trials journey was to read a book that takes place on the ocean. I decided to go with And the Ocean Was Our Sky for this one when I saw another reader had picked it. This book has been sitting on my shelf for years and I basically forgot I owned it. I didn't know much about the story, aside from the fact that it is full of beautiful illustrations and that it is a take on Moby Dick (and honestly, that was more than enough to get me to pick it up). Patrick Ness' A Monster Calls is one of my all-time favorite novels, so I was excited to read another one of his works and see if it would find another favorite.

The plot is essentially a retelling of Moby Dick, but from the opposite perspective of the story. It follows a whale named Bathsheba. She is the third apprentice in a pod of whales that hunt humans. She, much like the Ishmael character she mimics, becomes deeply entangled in her captain's mission of revenge against a larger-than-life enemy, the fearsome sailor Toby Wick. Captain Alexandra was wounded by him in a confrontation many years ago, and still swims around with the harpoon he threw at her sticking out of her head. She is obsessed with finding and killing Wick, in order to make the world safer for all whales (or so she tells herself). She believes it is her destiny to do so, and when the pod stumbles onto a string of clues leading them into a final battle with him, she enthusiastically follows the trail.

Bathesheba isn't so sure about this, however. She has never been as spiritual about the ideas of fate and prophecy as the rest of her group, and she doesn't believe that all the rumors about Toby Wick can be true. While she has no great love for humans, she begins to wonder if the behavior of all the hunting pods in the ocean aren't needlessly prolonging the conflicts between whales and humans in the first place. When Captain Alexandra orders her to take a human man captive and question him about Wick, her misgivings become even stronger. She starts to seriously doubt the wisdom of continuing on with their mission, but her captain is too far gone with ideas of revenge to pull back now and the strict rules governing authority within a whale pod prevent her from breaking rank to speak to Alexandra about it. When that last confrontation finally does arrive, Bathsheba will learn difficult lessons about the power of gossip, rumors, and hatred, and how we often let our fears create our own worst enemies.

I really enjoyed And the Ocean Was Our Sky. Physically, the book is beautiful. It's a short novel, with stunning illustrations by Rovina Cai sprinkled liberally throughout the text. For being only 160 pages long, the book is surprisingly weighty, due to the thick, glossy paper it's printed on. This is is one of those novels that feels good to hold, flip through, and even to smell. It looks pretty without its jacket too, which is always a fun surprise to uncover. I highly recommend reading the physical version over the ebook or audio version, if possible. The experience is better with the real book in your hands.

The plot and writing in the story is similarly well done. Patrick Ness was very clever in his execution here, paying homage to the original Moby Dick story while putting his own ideas into place. I loved the flipped perspective and the rich, imaginative world of the whales. He did a wonderful job making the setting interesting and detailed, while staying within the confines of a shorter text. Similar to A Monster Calls, there is also a nice thread of magical realism running throughout, which gives the story a sense of absurdity and wonder that is highly engaging. As a reader who has read and likes Moby Dick, I was very engaged in this novel and thought it was a worthy retelling.

The book's overall message is one about self-fulfilling prophecies; about how people have the tendency to create their own monsters. This is an important and interesting theme to discuss. If I had one criticism of the novel though, it would be how this theme is ultimately conveyed. I found the final events of the book, while epic, to feel a little incomplete and confusing. I would have preferred there to be more detail or explanation throughout the last parts of the story. I am still a big fan of this work though, and I would like to reread it one day. I think I might find the ending more satisfying the second time around, since I will know what to expect.

Ultimately, I really liked And the Ocean Was Our Sky. It was a creative, interesting take on a treasured classic. Combined with the beautiful illustrations, this novel was an extremely unique reading experience, and one that I would highly recommend to anyone who likes Moby Dick and magical realism. When it comes to Patrick Ness, I think that A Monster Calls is still my favorite, but this book is wonderful as well.


Challenge Tally
Book Junkie Trials (Ol' Pirate Cove - Read a book that takes place on the ocean) 11/17
Finally in 2019: 31/6 Books Read - Complete!

Total Books Read in 2019: 49