An Ocean Apart / Jill Tew / Book Review
AN OCEAN APART
Eden Lowell's barely getting by. In the flooded remains of Miami, now called the Marshes, each day is a struggle to survive. Resources are scarce: food, water, shelter. Any bad luck can mean the end.
Unless you're a Cruiser, of course. The rich who left land before their luck ran out. The corporate lackeys who still have good jobs and luxury accommodation on ships sailing the world's too-salty seas. They might not live on land anymore, but they still take what they need. Which means even less for those still onshore, like Eden.
When Eden learns that a local Cruiser bigwig is hosting a dating competition for her son and heir, she sees her chance to do something about this injustice. There's a sizable prize... and a lot of room to embarrass the corporate elite on their own livestream. But to infiltrate a competition like this, she'll need help. And a local political agitator known as the Ringmaster might be a good place to start.
Unless you're a Cruiser, of course. The rich who left land before their luck ran out. The corporate lackeys who still have good jobs and luxury accommodation on ships sailing the world's too-salty seas. They might not live on land anymore, but they still take what they need. Which means even less for those still onshore, like Eden.
When Eden learns that a local Cruiser bigwig is hosting a dating competition for her son and heir, she sees her chance to do something about this injustice. There's a sizable prize... and a lot of room to embarrass the corporate elite on their own livestream. But to infiltrate a competition like this, she'll need help. And a local political agitator known as the Ringmaster might be a good place to start.
THOUGHTS
If The Dividing Sky was everything right about classic YA dystopia, this book was... everything wrong about throwback YA sci-fi. I wanted to love this book. TDS had such a nostalgia factor for me. But while this book provides some fun ideas, it absolutely fails to follow through on character or plot. And that's tragic.
If The Dividing Sky was everything right about classic YA dystopia, this book was... everything wrong about throwback YA sci-fi. I wanted to love this book. TDS had such a nostalgia factor for me. But while this book provides some fun ideas, it absolutely fails to follow through on character or plot. And that's tragic.
PROS
| Glitz & Glamour | At the very least the glitz and glamour of life aboard these elite cruise ships was fun. If water is a luxury, the fountains burble with it. If fashion is for the rich, these pages glimmer with haute couture. And who doesn't love a touch of escapism? |
| Watery Depths | I really loved the central juxtaposition of this waterlogged world also being water starved. It's a world that feels soggy. It's damp. It's mildewy. And it's sloshy with water that people just can't use, brackish and unclean (unless you pay your premium). It manages to do this juxtaposition really well. I really appreciate that: an untouchable abundance. |
| Dystopia Darling | YA and dystopia will always have a special relationship, and we've had such a dearth of new dystopian books in the market. Even if this one didn't live up to what I wanted to be, it's nice to find something new in that niche. |
CONS
| Some of the "twists" in this book were off-the-walls crazy in a way that just didn't work for me. These twists didn't add to the story. They didn't add to the social commentary or the character development. They added to the drama, and that was it. The drama ended up overshadowing any sort of social commentary this book had going for it, and that's a big problem in dystopia. Dystopia is all about social commentary, and without it, well, we've really lost the point. | Wacky Twists |
| It's been a really long time since I've read a review that calls a main character a Mary Sue. I don't know that I've ever personally written one in that vein, either. But for such a throwback concept, it only feels right to use that term because Eden is one of the blandest characters I've read. She's a blank slate, and she's not even especially talented or useful in any of the situations thrown at her. She's giving nothing, and that's just how it is. | Mary Sue |
| I'm not usually one to advocate for making a book longer, but I do think this one could have benefited. None of the character development or worldbuilding that this book needed to be successful had enough room to breathe. I had too many questions about how we got here, as a culture and as a planet. I didn't have enough invested in the characters to root for anyone. And the resolution of the book was really quick, too neat and clean to be satisfactory. And that's a shame. There was so much potential here for a jarring bit of social criticism, and nothing that made it to the page ultimately provided that. There was no indictment of the kind of capitalism that will let huge swaths of people thirst to death, and that's the whole crux upon which this book it built. And shying away from that kind of critique is, well, cowardly. Do what you set out to do. Critique what you set out to critique. Or don't set your hand to it at all. | Undeveloped |
Rating
⭐⭐
2/10
Fans of Fable for the End of the World by Ava Reid will like this new soggy dystopian realm. Those who adored Kiera Cass's The Selection will love this new Bachelor-style dystopian romance.
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Details
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Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own. |
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