I think what really scuppers this tale for me is that the whales do not read like whales. They create atmosphere and drama and awe where, if I'm honest, the text fails to. Rovina Cai's illustrations are wonderful throughout the book, and they make a huge contribution. The writing is good, but the premise is very weird. Yet she becomes a hunter because of her grandmother's prophetic declaration that she would, and she joins fierce Captain Alexandra and her crew in order to hunt man.ĭespite being more or less a fan of Patrick Ness, this book baffled me greatly.
One of the key themes of the story is destiny: the whales have a belief system that centres on 'prophecy', so they see prophecy wherever they look. The whale ships, especially, took me quite a while to get used to. Gravity points towards the surface of the sea, up and down are reversed underwater, and these whales travel with ships (which they build from wreckage), build cities, perform surgeries, and war with humans. Before long, however, that suspicion is shattered: the world of the story is fantastical. As a story about a group of whales who hunt humans, led by a captain whose head still bears the harpoon that has been launched into it, you would be forgiven to think that these whales live in our world, that their ultimate quarry will be Captain Ahab. Unfortunately, it did not live up to its promise, for me. And the Ocean Was Our Sky is a beautiful looking book, by a wonderfully talented author, written as a fantastical counterpoint to Moby Dick.
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