The End of The Ocean, while deeply moving in its discussion surrounding climate change, was a little underwhelming. It could have been the mass amounts of hype surrounding this novel or maybe I just was not in the right headspace.

It is told over the two time periods 2017 with SIgne an angry old woman who will never stop fighting for the environment and 2041 where David and his child Lou are trying to find refuge.

Everything changes when David adn Lou find SIgne's boat and begin to delve into the past. All the events however are drawn together with an underlying theme of climate change and the lack of clean, drinkable water.

Having loved Lunde's first novel, I headed into this one hoping to be blown away once again. Instead it all felt a little off and while I have loved post apocalyptic narratives before, this just didnt hit the heart strings as much as it could have. The writing also felt a little clunky but this could have been due to the translation.

Although it wasn't my favourite novel of the year, I would definitely recommend it for those who are lovers of the post apocalyptic genre and also those who love a novel that will hit them in the feels.

A story for today’s times - one that tackles climate change and the effects and toll this is taking on the planet. This narrative focuses on a 70 year old lady whom returns to her hometown in Norway with her sailboat blue to avenge the glacier, the waterfall and the fjord where she grew up. Thanks so much to the publisher and netgalley for the arc.

I was intrigued to read this book as the underlying message is just so relevant and important in today’s world. I was hoping that it would force me and other readers to spend serious thought on the ramifications of our present actions for the future of the planet. Water - something we take for granted, yet still from where I sit in Australia, droughts are all to frequent, in fact, neverending in some parts of the country. What does the future hold?

‘My whole world was water. The ground, the mountains, the pastures were just teeny tiny islands in that which actually was the world and I called my world Earth, but thought that is should actually be named Water.’

So whilst there is a good premise to base a story around, I sadly found the plot was not as strong as the theme. The link between the two timelines is fragile and only loosely drawn towards the end of the book - stronger threads were needed. Likewise actions of the characters from both timelines were questionable and at times, frustrating.

‘They don’t want to hear, don’t want to see, they are like him, all of them, his entire generation, my generation, they just want better wines, larger vacation cottages, faster Internet connections.’

This book held a great deal of potential but sadly fell a little flat for me. More needed to be made of this strong and important topic - the future of the planet. I wanted to learn more about the fires and displacement camps, for example. Similarly, no ultimate solution is offered and the reader is left wondering if indeed there is anything we can do to prevent the seemingly inevitable. Still, a worthwhile read if only to draw attention to our current global situation and the collective movement concerning climate change.

‘I have been fighting for my entire life, but I have been mostly alone; there are so few of us, it was futile, everything we talked about, everything we said would happen has happened, the heat has already arrived, nobody listened.’






This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.