Review: A Boy Called Ocean

Title: A Boy Called Ocean

Author: Chris Higgins

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books

Date Published: 14 June 2018

Goodreads Description: One boy stranded at sea. One girl back on land. One ocean between them. The only thing willing him to survive is the thought of her. 

Sometimes you have to lose yourself, to find each other.

Kai has always been best friends with Jen; ever since he and his mum moved to Cornwall when he was small. But now his feelings are deepening. It’s ridiculous to imagine Jen would feel the same, especially since she has been hanging out with surf-pro Macca, the guy everyone fancies.

Frustrated by his feelings, Kai makes a snap decision that will put his life in great danger. Stranded at sea, time is running out. With only his thoughts to occupy him, he must face some buried truths about his past. And confront his future with the girl back on shore, if he can reach it … if the ocean doesn’t take him first.

I was given a free copy by PanMacmillan SA in exchange for an honest review. 

Spoiler Free

A boy lost at sea with only his thoughts to accompany him. I loved the premise of this book, but the characters annoyed me to no end. It took me a while to get into this book, and I almost put it down thanks to every single character’s inability to communicate properly, and the drama ensuing from said miscommunication. Miscommunication between characters to create drama is one of my biggest pet hates. Normal people actually talk to each to each other.

I pushed on though because I really wanted to read Kai’s journey. The book follows multiple POV’s and changes from the third person to first person narrative within the first 50 pages. This also annoyed me, considering we got character POV’s that were completely unnecessary and we should have just gotten Kai and Jen’s POV’s from the start.

All in all this book was very well written, and Kai’s chapters where he’s lost at sea are really beautiful, but the rest of the characters just don’t do it for me.

Characters

Kai is my favourite character, even though all of the characters are pretty cookie-cutter. He’s a typical, misunderstood outcast with a shady past. He learns something about himself as he’s lost at sea (I don’t want to give too much away) and I hope his character continues to grow and be better.

Jen was my least favourite. She’s a typical Mary Sue, the beautiful popular girl with all the friends and perfect grades. There wasn’t really much depth to her and I wish she had some character development of her own.

The rest of them were pretty one-note as well. Macca has one (very unnecessary) chapter in the beginning, but other than that he didn’t play a big part in the story. Jay’s POV was fun to read and gives us a better understanding of how Kai was found, so it is definitely necessary, but Ellie’s POV could have been cut as well.

Spoilers

Obviously, Kai is saved at the end and he recovers completely. Other than that I’m not going to give any other spoilers away, as I want you to go along with Kai’s journey as well.

Let’s Chat

Have you read A Boy Called Ocean yet? What did you think?

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