I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The writing was beautiful. The plot was amazing. I loved how the author transported you to Hawaii. The struggle the family went through was heartbreaking but also felt so real like you were experiencing those struggles with the Flores family. The struggle the siblings had to communicate when they’re at such different stages of life. I loved the Moms POV but there were times were I didn’t know who was talking during each chapter. It was just just such a joy to read and I look forward to more of Kawai Stromg Washburns work.

This was an incredible first novel. The writing was beautiful and showed Washburn revered the folklore of Hawaii. It is filled with magic and folklore and yet it is the story of a family we'd all recognize as having the same problems we do. When a first-time author pulls me into caring deeply about the characters, I know I will be looking for more.

I was unable to finish it. The story was interesting and showed the difference in lifestyles of a Hawaiian family as compared to those on the mainland. There is magical realism and a whole lot of favouritism causing friction in the family dynamics. But the imagery was too graphic for me. I pushed through to 30% then gave up because I was finding it hard to accept the imagery and move on. This is obviously a personal issue and since I did not finish it, I will not be putting up a review on social media.

This was such a great book. I love sharks which is why I originally picked this up, and what I found was a rich, beautiful story. This is not typically a book I would read but I am very glad I did.

"Why are you reading a book about sharks", asks a friend "You hate sharks."
"I don't hate sharks. I fear sharks." I fear them A LOT. "Besides, it isn't that kind of shark book."

Oh what a stupid misguided fool I was. This book is totally a sharky book.

"Of course it is sharky", I hear you say. "It's right there in the summary: Noa is gingerly delivered to his mother in the jaws of a shark, marking his story as the stuff of legends."

[Scoff] Those sharks are nothing. They are reef sharks. Nurse sharks. Hammerheads. Gummy sharks. The sharks you ooh and aaah over at a city aquarium. They might circle around you while you float atop the waves or paddle in the water. Curious. Investigating. Playful. But they are nothing but a diversion. The ocean is vast and larger predators lurk in it's depths.

Kawai Strong Washburn is a shark. He has razor sharp teeth and his bite packs a punch. He will strike you fast from beneath and drag you into his deep dark watery domain. You thrash and claw to free yourself from his vice-like grip: desperate to surface and gasp fresh air. Everything hurts. You're in pain. You're drowning. And then... he lets you go. You struggle to make your way back to land, to safety. You're not unscathed from the encounter, probably bleeding profusely and all brokeny inside, but you survived. And the shark, he moves on in search of a more delectable snack.

This is what it is like reading this book. The story is mesmerizing and Washburn's writing is exquisite. But this is not an island fantasy. Fractured families, sibling bonds and rivalry, parental expectations, poverty, daydreaming of a better life and island-life. Washburn really knows how to give voice to your inner demons. It is amazing. The best happy/sad book I've read this year.

Recommended for fans of Elif Shafak, Spoonbenders

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the ARC

I am torn between 4 and 5 stars, but would definitely recommend the magical Sharks in the Time of Saviors. Imbued with Hawaiian culture and mythology, this family saga is told through the viewpoints of three siblings, Dean, Kaui, and Noa, who are each fighting against their past and each other to figure out their place in the world. It was very sad at times, but the characters were great, and its theme of being inextricably tied to your family, your home, and all the things that make you was ultimately hopeful and beautiful.

DNF at 35%. The promised magical realism elements were not fully realized, but that should have been fine by me if the narrative still works. Most of my issues are the unlikeable characters and awkward scenes. It’s possible that the conflict is due to cultural differences, but I found a lot of things cringey, e.g. how the family members would joke around with each other about intimate body parts and sexual acts so casually; and another scene that I will be mentioning below.

***SPOILERS AHEAD—At the start of the book, we have the mom addressing her son in a monologue. I just find it weird how she had to describe her sexual relationship with her husband (the father) in too much detail to her son. There’s also a lot of focus on Nainoa’s siblings, mainly about how unhappy and jealous they are of all the attention Nainoa is getting. Still, I continued reading because I was honestly curious where the story is going. I gave up because of a scene where the main character’s sister Kaui is in a bathroom stall with her friend Van. Van ate a lot of cheese during a party, but it turns out she’s lactose intolerant. So Kaui ended up helping her remove her shorts so she can take a sh*t. After the deed, Kaui even described things as really stinky. But while they’re still inside the stall they ended up kissing and making out. I’m sure this situation could be somebody’s fetish, but it’s just a no for me. It made an already tedious reading experience simply unbearable. —END OF SPOILERS***

There’s just too much weird things going on and too little of what I was hoping for—which is to read about the life of a simple boy who can perform miracles. I am grateful to the publisher and to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this. I‘m sorry it didn’t work for me but I still encourage other people to read this unique book, you may enjoy it more than I did.

DNF 25%

The summary, title, and cover of Sharks in the Time of Saviors piqued my interest. Magical realism? A not so rosy take on the 'chosen one'? Yes, please.

Sadly, 1/4 in and I find the story to be far more focused on Nainoa's siblings who whine about how overshadowed they feel by him and how unfair it all is that their parents pay him more attention. And...while I was expecting the novel to touch upon sibling rivalry, I wasn't prepared for it to be the sole focus of the story.
Nainoa has very little room to actually speak about his own experiences and his story is recounted by his jealous older brother and younger sister. They are unsympathetic, self-involved, and blind to their brother's pain. Having read a few other reviews, I know that Nainoa's chapters will dwindle halfway through the novel.

Perhaps if the relationship between these three siblings was a bit more nuanced, I would be more interested in reading of their shifting dynamics. Their dislike for each other however is the only emotion that really transpires from these pages.
The magical realisms is very much out of the picture. The narrative is more concerned with appearing as conversational as possible (a character will overuse 'like' and 'what', creating the effect that they can't quite remember something).

The humour, exaggerated sex scenes, trying-hard-to-be-casual narratives were all not for me.
This may be one of those 'it's not the book, it's me'...so I wouldn't necessarily not recommend this book...just be aware that its story has little to do with 'the chosen one' or 'magical realism'.

We usually only see the Chosen One in science fiction or fantasy. In those genres, the Chosen One has certain powers or abilities that help them take up their predestined role in defeating some Big Bad. The road is difficult. Someone usually dies. Unfortunately for Nainoa Flores, the protagonist of Kawai Strong Washburn’s heart-wrenching novel, Sharks in the Time of Saviors, he has no idea what he’s supposed to do with his remarkable abilities to heal and to understand animals. His mother has some ideas, but Nainoa ties himself into psychological knots trying to figure out what his purpose is.

Malia, Nainoa’s mother, knew that her son was going to be special, right from his conception. On the night Nainoa was created, Malia and her husband see the Nightmarchers. Any doubt about Nainoa’s specialness evaporated when the boy accidentally falls into the ocean on a boat ride and is rescued by sharks. Then Nainoa heals a boy’s hand after a mishap with a firework. The boy clearly has powers that he’s supposed to use for something. But as Nainoa looks around at the world, he sees so much that needs fixing. There’s poverty. There’s environmental pollution and degradation. Also, he’s just a boy. What is he supposed to do in the face of human greed, apathy, and folly?

Nainoa’s parents have no guidance for him. He’s left to himself to work things out. The pressure of being a Chosen One weighs heavy on his shoulders. On top of this, Nainoa’s parents’ favoritism towards Nainoa means that his siblings grow up feeling resentful or ignored. Dean, the oldest, does his best to turn himself into a basketball phenom so that he has some fame of his own. Kaui, Nainoa’s sister, studies her way out of poor, rural Hawaii. All this uncertainty and emotional tension turns Sharks in the Time of Saviors into a tragedy. Nothing goes right in this book as the characters search for their purposes in life.

Sharks in the Time of Saviors is a strange book. If I had to say it was about any one thing, I would say that it’s about sibling rivalry. Sure, Nainoa has it in him to (maybe) change the world. But Nainoa doesn’t narrate this novel. His mother, brother, and sister do. Their perspective means that we get a close look at the jealousy, feelings of being unloved, and torment that Nainoa’s siblings feel and Malia’s bewildered love for her son. Readers who enjoy books about dysfunctional families will find plenty of material to explore. Readers who like stories of Chosen Ones that end with hope and triumph should give this one a miss.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. Well written with well developed characters and MANA! The story tells the true story of Hawaii. Loved it

A poem to Hawaii, a working-class saga, a tale of three siblings – their separate trajectories and combined strengths: Kawai Strong Washburn’s debut is all these things. A difficult-to-categorize fusion of myth and grit, it contrasts the earth deities of the 50th state with the daily grind of poverty and survival there, and comes up with a moving, original fusion of realism and the spiritual.

At the heart of its story stand the Flores parents, Augie and Malia, living hardscrabble lives of manual labor and overstretched budgets while tending to their three bright children. Against the wild, abundant background of jungle, surf, volcano and beach, Dean, Kaui and Nainoa grow up in a milieu of love and expectation. Each child is talented – Dean on the basketball court, Kaui in the classroom. But its Nainoa who seems to shine the brightest. The spirit of the islands lives in him, in his special attunement to place and ancestry. When, as a child, he falls overboard during a pleasure trip in shark-infested waters, he is saved and returned to the craft by the sharks themselves.

Washburn presents Nainoa’s magical dimension not only with restraint but with credibility and a sense of darkness. Gifts of healing and sensitivity might be a burden as much as a blessing, and Nainoa’s promising future becomes overloaded by doubt, pain and isolation, pushing him to the brink.

This darkness extends to all the characters, as Washburn includes multiple larger issues – race, complicated sexuality, the difficulty of living up to parental pressures, environmental despoliation. The plot is a roller coaster of effort, disappointment and resurgence that touches on both Flores generations, and the islands themselves which are the larger character in the story. Ravaged by agribusiness and tourism, Hawaii may have been exploited and blocked from its essence, but may yet rediscover its force, rhythm, culture and ancestry.

There are obvious risks in attempting such a sweeping, big-picture narrative, yet Washburn’s commitment and steady voice lend depth and conviction. This is an immersive, unpredictable, lyrical tale, strong on immediacy and the overwhelming beauty and power of its geography. Linking the modern and the timeless, Washburn’s writing is fresh, forceful and to be relished.

This was a great book. It sucked me in and captivated me from the beginning. The fantasy and magical realism aspect intrigued me. The writing style was beautiful. The story was beautifully engrossing. It was filled with such prose that made you not want to leave the story. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy!!

Sharks In The Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn is very different from most of the thrillers, historical romance and young adult books that I read. That being noted, this book is written with such love and respect for the Hawaiian people and their history that you can't help be swept away into its magical folklore.

At first it seems the story is about a young boy with a mystical connection to nature; to the earth. When he falls overboard on a ship and sharks are circling him everyone is shocked when a shark gently puts his small body in his mouth and safely delivers him to his mother who has jumped into the water to save him.

However, despite this miraculous event, this book is really about family and faith. Nainoa and his two siblings grow up in a changing Hawaii where the sugar cane industry is no longer a guaranteed paycheck for his family. Eventually he and his family separate to the mainland where each sibling finds work and a life in different states. The gods of their heritage though have other plans to see them back together on the land of their ancestors remembering no matter where your physical body is your heart will always find your home.

I was surprised that this was the author's first novel. It is written with such reverence for the beauty of the Hawaiian landscape and its people. The mystical elements and folklore while entertaining is more of a gateway into the lives of this family with very real issues that we all face from paying the rent to avoiding illness. The writer made me care about this family and I am already missing them.

I received a free copy of this book for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

We lean in to each other more and more heavily. Tears run down me. She whispers something. Says that the future is never decided the way we think it is. That if I can see world where the parts of me that are broken mend themselves into something stronger, that I can grow that world from this one. If I see it. If I keep it in front of me."

I stayed up way past my bedtime last night finishing up Sharks in the Time of Saviors and all I can say right now is WOW. A family's youngest son is rescued by sharks after falling off a boat and none of their lives are ever the same after that moment. This is a powerful look at family and parenthood and how the dreams and ambitions we hold for our children can sometimes prevent us from seeing the reality of things happening within their lives.

I loved learning about the legends of Hawaii and I went down the rabbit hole reading about the Night Watchers once I turned the last page of this story. The writing is incredibly vivid and there were several times that it felt like I could almost smell the flowers, hear the beat of the drums, and feel the waves crash against my feet. If family sagas infused with local folklore are in your wheelhouse, then you need to have this book on your radar. Many thanks to @mcdbooks for sending an advanced copy - my heart is still breaking for Noa, Kaui, Dean and Malia this morning.

"But ships from far ports carried a new god in their bellies, a god who blew a breath of weeping blisters and fevers that torched whole generations, a god whose fingers were shaped like rifles and voice sounded like treaties waiting to be broken. And money was the name of that god, and it was the sort of god that preyed on you, made demands and laid its hands on you with such force as to make the Old Testament piss its pants.

We were made, eventually, to pray to it, whether we wanted to or not."

One day in 1995 a young boy falls off a boat into shark infested waters off the coast of Hawai'i. Instead of meeting a quick and terrible end, this boy is delivered back to the arms of his waiting family in the jaws of a shark. Sharks in the Time of Saviors follows this one Hawai'ian family as they struggle with implications of this event, among other things.

One word to describe this book: brutal. It cuts right to the bone both in tone and content. The former is most obvious in the author's use of visceral and unnerving description that always gave me the gut-churning feeling of not being able to look away from something terrible. The latter being the horrible reality that is the classism and poverty experienced by many Hawai'ian families. The author's masterful use of prose as a vehicle for themes is consistent throughout the story.

Hawai'ian mythology remains at the forefront of the book. After being saved by the sharks it becomes increasingly apparent that Nainoa was gifted with special abilities seemingly by the gods of Hawai'i. With this comes mounting pressure and a (kind of) self-imposed savior-complex that Nainoa will be the salvation of Hawai'i and its people. As Nainoa finds himself more and more isolated, his siblings feel more and more forgotten by their family and their community. The story is split perspective between every member of the Flores family. The family as a unit feels like our main character with their relationships with each other being the main focus. I thought this was a beautiful and unique way of writing a family saga.

Despite its melancholy (over)tones there is still just a shimmer of hope and magic, cursed or otherwise, that kept me reading even in its darkest moments. Truly a strong and brilliant debut from an author I will definitely continue to follow.

"Sharks in the Time of Saviors" is a story of magical realism woven into the legends of Hawaii. Beyond that, it's also a story of love, family, and grief.

This story was a surprisingly well done and entertaining story. I'm not usually one for magical realism, but this author, Kawai Strong Washburn, managed to make it very interesting. It pulled me and I found myself getting through it in just a few hours. I'm definitely going to recommend it to everyone I know. I'm also certainly going to read more of Kawai Strong Washburn's work in the future.

Sharks in the Time of Saviours is the first novel by Hawaiian-born author, Kawai Strong Washburn. Conceived on a night when the gods roam the Big Island, Nainao Flores is different from the start, and it eventually becomes more apparent how special he is. Gifted (or plagued) with premonitory visions, saved by sharks, able to heal, a boy so singular is bound to be treated differently. So young, yet believing himself charged with the salvation of the islands.

But this (perhaps) messiah is not an only child. Nor do his parents know quite how to nurture the gift. From them comes favour and protection and support; from his siblings, in addition to the usual love and rivalry, there’s also jealousy and resentment. And from the island dwellers, the entreaties (or sometimes, demands) to heal. And none of it alters the fact that there’s no living to be made in the islands.

Dean heads to Spokane on a basketball scholarship to make it big; Nainoa finds himself a paramedic in Portland, using his gift to save the dying, while Kaui determines to quash her invisibility by becoming an engineer. But away from home, nothing goes completely right for any of them…

What a powerful, moving tale Washburn gives the reader! His characters are complex and believable, with flaws and redeeming qualities both. Washburn has a talent for conveying feelings and emotions, of which his characters exhibit anxiety, grief, love, wonder, envy, heartbreak and much more besides.

Sometimes they are deeply spiritual, at other times, forced to be practical, but ultimately the connection to the land and to all life forms, to the past and the present overrides all. There are touches of the paranormal, of magical realism in this outstanding debut novel. Washburn is an author to watch
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Farrar Straus Giroux

A distinctly lyrical work. Perfect for lovers of magical realism and intimate family pieces. Whether or not you enjoy this book will come down to whether you like the style of writing or not.

What does it mean to be the favoured son in a family? That’s kind of the question that Kawai Strong Washburn poses in his startling new debut novel, Sharks in the Times of Saviors. It’s a novel about the expectations that can be placed on a child, and how those expectations may push that child to the brink. It’s also a novel about gods and heritage — apropos for a novel set in Hawai’i — and there are elements of magic realism in the work, though it is not a book that forgets that it is, first and foremost, literary fiction. This is a strong book, one about the bonds of family and the threads that threaten to become unglued when tragedy strikes. It’s a touching book, a funny book, a sad book — all in one. While I profess that I didn’t always understand it — the author digs deep into Hawai’ian culture — it is a mesmerizing read that is hard to put down.

The story, at least in the early going, is centred on a young boy named Nainoa Flores. When he is thrown overboard on a cruise ship in the Pacific Ocean, he is rescued by a shark who carries him in his mouth without cutting or harming him. From then on, Nainoa is seen as something of a faith healer in his home state of Hawai’i, and people come from miles around to be cured by him. However, he struggles with this “gift” and often falters. As he grows up, he is able to use his talents in curing people in his new home of Portland, Oregon, but when he fails to revive a mother and her unborn child from a car accident, he returns home only to have further tragedy strike.

However, this is also a book about Nainoa’s two siblings, Dean and Kaui. Dean is an aspiring basketball star at the collegiate level in Spokane, but has trouble staying consistent in his game. Kaui is studying to be an engineer in San Diego, but happens upon troubles of her own when she falls in love with another woman who has trouble reciprocating her love. It’s also a story about Nainoa’s parents, who struggle with their finances and what they do make goes towards nudging their children to have better lives on the mainland of the U.S.A. Thus, a lot is going on in this novel and the stories all intertwine and connect by having a different character narrate each chapter from their own point of view.

That jumping back and forth between characters isn’t confusing once you get a handle on the character names, but I had to admit that I was more taken by the stories of the more “ordinary” children, Dean and Kaui, than I was of Nainoa’s. It’s hard to explain, particularly since I love magic realism so much, but Nainoa seemed too “godlike” for me and beyond ordinary, so it was tough to get invested in his plight. In fact, the ups and downs of Dean’s basketball career seemed to resonate more with me for some reason, as did the story of Kaui, because both characters have to work at their success, whereas it generally comes more naturally to Noa — as he’s also known as. The focus changes more in the last half of the book, where it becomes more of a family saga and delves deep into what makes this remarkable family tick, so that took a little of the load off of Noa’s tale — though he figures large in the narrative of the piece.

Whatever this novel is deficient in — and it is a debut, so it isn’t perfect — is more than made up by the fact that these individuals are connected to a bond stronger than what they have individually. The stories are appealing, and the interconnectedness makes this novel seem whole. There were a few pain points, however. There is the odd anachronism here and there — at one point when the novel is set in the early 2000s (it spans the mid-‘90s to the year 2009) there is a mention of YouTube that stopped me cold because YouTube didn’t exist until 2005. (This just goes to show how pervasive YouTube has become; people think it has been around forever.) The book is also a little hard to get into at first, as the author frequently uses native terms and minor character names without much in the way of explanation as to what these mean and who they are to the lay reader. You have to keep reading and connect the dots on your own. This might not be necessarily a bad thing, per se, as — if Sharks in the Time of Saviors is a masterpiece, then masterpieces teach you how to read them — but it can be a little disconcerting at first. It’s like walking in on a movie that has already played for 15 minutes, which means you have to catch up on what came before you walked in by reading between the lines of what’s unspooling in front of you.

Despite these minor flaws, Sharks in the Time of Saviors is a glorious read, as good and fulfilling as a good bowl of Poké. Washburn manages to deftly manage the reader’s emotions, making for a bit of a tragicomic read. I instantly fell in love with these characters, and was desperate to find out what happened to them after the novel was finished. The author does strike a raw nerve when it comes to families, how close and far away they can be at the same time — and I just don’t mean that in terms of distance, but in terms of emotional contact. You can take in a lot with this novel, something that might make it sit with me for a little while, and if I can say anything about the sharks — literal or metaphoric — that populate this novel, it is evident that they do have bite if they don’t harm you at all. Sharks in the Time of Saviors is a delicious delicacy and one that won’t be easily forgotten by its readers, not for a long while. Be sure to give this one a shot the next time you’re in the bookstore.

“Sharks” is centered around a Hawaiian family, and I really enjoyed the bits of Hawaiian culture and slang thrown in there. The story is told mainly from the alternating perspectives of the 3 siblings, and the mother and father also have a few chapters, a format which I think worked really well and kept the story moving along.

I will say that the summary of the book is a bit misleading; there is a small fantasy element but it’s a very minor part of the story and is really only included in the first half of the book. I wouldn’t come into this thinking it’s going to be a mystical supernatural type of story, it’s definitely more of a family drama with a charming sense of humor throughout.