Book Review: Beyond the Ocean Blue

Title: Beyond the Ocean Blue

Author: A.G. Smith

Genre: Fiction

Reviewer: Aly

Book Blurb: 

An archaeologist has found a book which tells of a fallen civilization called America, so he sets out to discover its remnants, though fears he may only find the air of myth.He reaches a foggy shore patrolled by ghost crabs. It feels like a dead continent….

Review:

Okay, I’m going to dive right in and mention that the writing was excellent. Word choice and whatnot really keeps the reader’s attention and it was an easy read for the most part. In connection with this, I actually felt an emotional attachment to a house that I’d never seen just from the way the house was described through a character’s view. It was amazing, I really appreciated the ability of the author to create that feeling.

I was unfamiliar with some of the terms and I had to go look them up, which was good because it expanded my vocabulary but it was also annoying having to stop reading to go find a word, and figure out what it meant. Although sometimes the meaning could be understood from the context there were a few that had me stumped and I was frustrated to have to put the book down in order to find out what was meant.

There were lots of adventures as well. It kept things interesting and certainly held my attention. I spent lots of time trying to figure out what was going on and trying to imagine what was going to happen. It kept me reading, mostly because I wanted to prove myself right...or wrong, I guess, but let’s not go there.

I was lost time wise. I wasn’t quite certain where he had traveled to and why it was different from his world. I didn’t realize what was going on until I was mostly through the book. It inhibited my ability to enjoy the book fully as I was struggling to understand what time period this was taking place in and where exactly it was taking place in, although I did know it America somewhere.

Beyond the Ocean Blue gave me feelings of revolution, the desire for change and the pride in attempting to make things change. But it also brought up the danger of revolutions and being a revolutionary. It certainly made me think twice as hard about revolutions I’ve studied beforehand and feel as if I could understand a bit more on an emotional level what people were feeling.

There were also several different types of narration. For example, there was a newscaster that spoke at one point. It was easy to imagine the tone of voice and pose that the newscaster took, mostly from my experience in real life and the author’s description. They changed things up, and made sure that the reader was still paying attention.

It also shows how one man can change the world, maybe not necessarily for the best. And perhaps even unintentionally. It really brings into play how one small decision can really change a nation for the worse. It was difficult to witness but definitely eye-opening.

Beyond the Ocean Blue was a good book. It had its moments and while I did enjoy reading it, it also caused me some frustration as well.

Rating: