Seth Wearing drowns in the cold ocean coast off of the state of Washington, alone. Suddenly, he’s awake, desperately thirsty, but alive. But why? What is the place he has woken up in? As he struggles to figure out where he is, if it’s real, hope starts to snake its way in. Hope that Seth hasn’t felt in a long time.
All I can say about this book is wow. It’s hard to provide a summary for it because doing so would give a lot of the plot away, but it’s way more than you expect it to be. Like most Patrick Ness novels, this one transforms as you read it, pulling you into the story and not letting go until the very end. And then you don’t even want it to end. Patrick Ness has quickly become one of my favorite YA authors because he has yet to disappoint.
The first thing that blew me away about this novel was Ness’s description of Seth’s drowning in the beginning. It feels so realistic, the small details all coming together to fully encompass the reader in Seth’s death. And what a way to begin the novel. Man. The emotions started there and they never stopped coming. It’s a commentary on perception and reality and makes you think and it’s everything that I love in a novel.
All in all, this book was an intense emotional journey filled by a cast of vivid characters in an absolutely desolate setting that makes you question the difference between reality and perception. Ness delivers an absolutely strange story that despite its desolate setting presents an ultimate message of hope. Definitely a must-read.
5/5 stars