And the Ocean Was Our Sky

by Patrick Ness

Rovina Cai (Illustrator)

From the multi-award-winning author of A Monster Calls comes a haunting tale of power and obsession that turns the story of Moby Dick upside down.

"Call me Bathsheba." The whales of Bathsheba's pod live for the hunt. Led by the formidable Captain Alexandra, they fight a never-ending war against men. Then the whales attack a man ship, and instead of easy prey they find the trail of a myth, a monster, perhaps the devil himself... With their relentless Captain leading the chase, they embark on the final hunt, one that will forever change the worlds of whales and men.

• ISBN10: 1406383562
• ISBN13: 9781406383560
• Publish Date: 6 September 2018 (first published 4 September 2018)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 11 November 2024
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Walker Books Ltd
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 160
• Language: English

Reviews

[leahrosereads]

The message of this story was absolutely so very important, and I loved the POV being a whale. This story showed the horrors our oceans and the animals that make it their home face due to humans. I've never read anything like this before, but it's such an important topic. We need to treat all world better. End of story. It's imperative that humans do better.

Words are kinda failing me at how much I loved this.

[Joséphine]

Initial thoughts: I debated for weeks and for months about whether or not I would read And the Ocean Was Our Sky because I had seen so many mixed reviews and was afraid I wouldn’t much like Patrick Ness’ newest book either. I’m glad that for me, those worries were unfounded. No doubt, whales as main characters are unusual but in Ness’ sure way of telling fantastical stories, I came to care for their story.

Again, this one’s (understandably) a little weird for some readers, but I found the amount of weirdness and eccentricity just right. The idea of removing humans from the centre of a tale, to (literally) flip the world upside down, and to make me grapple with morality? I loved it precisely for these factors, and for the amazing illustrations from Rovina Cai.

Ness’ latest release embodies what I’ve come to adore about his writing — that he’s true to himself and that I can always rely on him to weave postmodern threads into his works.

[Kelly]

I tried, oh how I tried. Patrick Ness is an author who fluctuates between extraordinary and utter frustration, sadly this is the latter. DNF.

I kept thinking about Dory speaking whale.

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

4.5*

I'm not going to lie to you and say that it isn't a little strange reading from a whale's perspective. It is. But, in a way that only Patrick Ness could, it's turned into a tale that not only made me care about some whales, but provides a pretty honest and raw commentary on humanity. Via whales, and yes, I fully understand and appreciate the irony.

It's a short book, so I am not going to get into it too much, for fear of ruining things. But you can expect the following:

• •Gorgeously lyrical writing as you generally find with Patrick Ness is just as plentiful here as ever. Plus, it works fabulously with the nature of the story. (Nature, ha, pun not even intended!)



• •Pictures! I am clearly eight years old and much prefer when my books come with pretty drawings. Here for Rovina's. Cannot wait to see the finished copy, which I will obviously need to own.



• •It's very thought provoking. Because again, point of view of a whale being hunted by asshole humans. (And we really kind of are sometimes, aren't we?)



• •Feels. You will care a lot about a whale, for real. It was interesting too, because I read this right around the time that the mother whale carried around her dead calf, it was on the news every day, and all my whale feels were amplified.

Bottom Line: I stan one (1) whale.