In this flipped version of 1851's Herman Melville's Moby Dick, "And the Ocean was Our Sky" revolves around the doubtful, questioning Third Apprentice of a pod of whale named Bathsheba, whose ship captain Alexandra is determined to defeat and kill the whale-killer legend, Toby Wick.

Never thought I would enjoy reading about a pod of whales on a mission so much (truly, I pity the readers who find this book boring). The concept or worlds being upside-down is interesting, and the sketchy, wispy illustrations provided by Rovina Cai is breathing some kind of ethereal life into this story. The book leans more into a somewhat anti-war tale, and I love it. It almost feels like a bedtime story if only the heaviness of its general theme could be explored a bit more lightly.

....yes, there are those who romance the hunt the way they romance war; in their safety, they imagine heroism, they imagine a place in history, an invisible pride that won’t feed their children but will raise them above their neighbors; they never imagine the despair; they never imagine the blood and suffering; they never imagine how your heart dies and dies again.

Damn, Patrick Ness.
You're good.