I'm speechless.

I don't remember the last time a book made me feel so much, so many different emotions. Sadness, happines, fear, hope... they were all there.
They were all there when I followed a teenage Abi, fearless eco-fighter with great intelligence who was ready to do anything to save the planet and whales. They were all there when I was observing how years later she and her daughter were trying their best to prove the existence of the last whale, to find proof that not everything is lost. They were all there, when the hope for Earth's survival was growing but only if the one thing that brought the planet to its knees left it to recover.

God, this was such a beautiful story about the importance of saving our planet and every piece of the massive puzzle of nature. Honestly, I don't think many people think about how everything around us is connected. I'm usually trying not to think about how many species of animals and plants have gone extinct because of us, humans and our very skewed view on the world. Just like Abi and later her daughter, I also would like to have kids someday but I'm scared of what the future could bring if we we won't stop putting financial gain over the health of this planet.

'The last whale'is a eco sci-fi novel, which handles very heavy topics in an easy to understand way. Not to say this book is childish, hell no. I think even though the author's writing style is simple, definitely targeting younger readers, this book is a great read for everyone. I think making an evolving AI one of the main characters was a smart move, especially taking into consideration the rapid development of it over the past few years. I believe the author tried to show through this story that the use of Al may be one of the key ways to salvation for the Earth and by extention, for us. I'm not sure if I agree or disagree with him on this as I don't know how likely it is that AI corporations would use them for good as opposed to gaining money and control. As I said, we'll see what future brings.


I think ‘The last whale’ was more a story about us as humans, our need for family and human connections, and our strong will and determination than just a story about a lonely whale. I think this made this book even better, and made it easier for us readers to connect with the characters and their goals. In my opinion, the story of these three generations of women perfectly reflected what was happening with the whales. Starting with teenage Abi who was still surrounded by family members she deeply cared for. Then her adult self, stuck in a small island with her daughter desperately looking for a whale, just like when the last whale was looking for at least one more of his species. Finally, in the last part of the book, bringing hope in a form of a new life for people but also, symbolically, for whales.

Truthfully, this book was just incredible and I will definitely think about it and it’s meaning for a long time. Wonderful read!

An insightful and important read with well-developed characters, the ending was quite rushed unfortunately and seemed to be more focused on A.I.'s and technology instead of whales and the environment. It never specified what whale species they are researching or talking about which I find a little confusing.

The Kristensen family are whale hunters and the story of The Last Whale centres on Abi who is the third generation female.
Abi steals an AI with the hope of using it to track Whale migration. However, the government has other ideas.
Abi escapes to her grandmother's island where the AI starts to adapt to its surroundings. It's left for her daughter Tonje to take up the climate change fight and search for the last whale on earth.
The novel covers climate change, the possibility of AI adaptation, and family.
Lots of strong themes but a worthy read.

The Last Whale is ultimately a story about connection and hope.

I will admit that it took me a little while to get into this book, and I think it was more the AI element that I struggled with at first – not because it wasn’t well written or executed, but because I wasn’t quite expecting it in this story. However, that was my only hesitation with this book and it was short-lived as Vick took that element, and unfolded it into something I couldn’t have imagined at the beginning.

This is cli-fi made accessible to a younger audience. Vicks could have left it at that, because he has taken the complex and sometimes bleak outlook, that can be seen in the news, in the nature shows and everywhere today, and turned it into a clever, through-provoking and exciting story that doesn’t gloss over the topic, doesn’t pretend there is an easy fix, but ultimately offers hope. It shows that there are still steps that can be taken. That people can still make a difference. And I think that is an incredibly important message for the target audience, especially in a time where we see younger people being the loudest voice.

That would have been enough, but…

Instead, what we are given is a multi-generational family story, that shows us the power of human connection – to one another, whether in the present or across time-periods, and to nature itself. It’s a fantastic reminder of that connection, and the different ways in which we can connect to and reach out to nature – we see it in the past, with a whaler realising that there are more to the magnificent creatures they are hunting, and in the present with Abi who learns that while her activism is one tool, more is needed, to the future where we see Abi and her daughter Tonje trying to find a solution while living isolated with nature. This element is one that will resonate across the generations, just as the story crosses the generations.

Another element I found interesting is the role of technology in this book. It took me a while to warm to the AI ‘moonlight’, but what I liked was that it was a tool in the arsenal, but Vicks didn’t paint it as either the enemy or a fix-all. Climate Change and all the issues that derive from it, are not something that can just be fixed, it will take time, it will take innovation and technology…and it will take people, and their connection with both technology and the natural world. It’s a challenge, one that intensifies as the future rushes towards us – as it rushed towards Abi and Tonje in the book – but not one without hope, as Vicks shows us at the end of the book, and I think that is the most important message of this book.

This is a fantastic and important book, that takes something vital and complicated and opens it up for its audience, while delivering a story full of hope and heart, adventure and sci-fi. It was a great read, and I look forward to checking out more of Chris Vick’s work in the future.

The Last Whale is a realistic and well-researched look at whales and conservation efforts and the plight the creatures face. It's a book that you will enjoy reading but will also learn something from.

This book may be aimed at middle grade, but has been enjoyed very much by this adult reader.

An interesting, though depressingly realistic, view of what our future may hold if we don't look after our planet. The story follows Abi, through three stages in her life, as she searches for whales. There is also a sci-fi slant to this story which I found most unexpected but gave the story an original twist.

THE LAST WHALE is a tale of the interconnected nature of the world, how creatures we often don't think about as being crucial have a major role in keeping the earth balanced, the consequences of not caring for the environment, and also the hope of change.

The book is mostly told from Abi's perspective as she learns about the whales and tries to do something about raising awareness - along with an AI she's absconded with. She is the most "relatable" of the three, as she's got the life closest to a reader, with a lot of teen rebellion and desperation. Plus it's set more or less in our timeframe, which made it feel the most pressing and immediate. The "do something now or else" (the "else" being the later POVs and the nightmarish world they live in.)

Tonje then narrates next. She's also relatable but her situation is different and requires a much more obvious form of courage (I wouldn't do what she does!) The world is pretty bleak then, pretty much all hope lost save for Tonje (and her mother, Abi.) By contrast, there's only a single chapter from the final generation, which takes the hope of Tonje's section to make the book feel less depressing (I always think a book with warnings about the future, telling us to act now, work so much better when we can see hope - and Chris Vick does that well here.)

This is also a story about family and legacy, both the good and the bad we can pass down. While there are three generations who narrate, the book actually involves characters from six generations, and seeing the world change and values change but also that link of family impacting one another was really interesting.

This multi-generational story is a powerful piece of writing addressing climate change and teenage activism in a way that is easily accessible for teens and higher middle grade readers.

The way that it covers several generations of the family is powerful as it takes us across several years to show the progression of the environment and politics while allowing us to see multiple different distinct characters.

This book is a call to arms but it's also filled with hope, which makes it feel motivational rather than overwhelming.

Talking about this book? Use #TheLastWhale #NetGalleyThank you so much, Head of Zeus, for inviting me to read the arc of Chris Vick's The Last Whale in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
The Last Whale is a top MG / low YA story that follows three generations of the Kristensen family as they work to save the great whales and our planet, from whale hunters to missionaries. We meet Abi as a fiery adolescent activist as she is forced to spend the summer with her family on an island off the coast of Norway. Abi has 'borrowed' the AI 'Moonlight' in the hopes of organising a global protest, but on the island, Abi learns more about her family's history and is inspired by it.

This story of three generations of the Kristensen family, their history as whale hunters and later their mission to save the great whales and our planet. I loved this book! Grab yourself a copy you won’t regret it!

Teen eco-warrior Abby, an exceptionally bright young girl has “borrowed” an AI. This AI should have been returned to the company she acquired it from but Abby has not finished with it. The world is on a downward spiral and Abi is determined to get the population to listen. Her family and herself are holidaying in Norway, visiting her grandmother on an island off the Norwegian coast. It is whilst she is there, that she learns that her grandfather was not the whale killer she thought he was. Instead, he went against his family's wishes and traditions of whaling and took to trying to learn and understand them by recording the first whale song. This knowledge thus spurs Abby on to help save the whales, as, without them, Earth will die.

The story then moves forward 30 years, when Abby and her daughter Tonje live on an isolated island somewhere in the Atlantic searching for whales. There haven’t been any sightings or recordings for a long time. Earth’s ecosystem is collapsing, and their futures are dying but they can’t give up on hope.

This is a brilliant introduction to time-lapse books as it dips into the past and then ends in the future. It’s not a lecturing eco-warrior story either as it's just factual and you can hear Chris Vick’s passion for whales in his writing. Chris not only writes; he also works for a whale and dolphin conservation charity so his passion is true. This is an incredible story filled with action, adventure and beauty. I love Abby’s determination and hope and the AI, Moonlight is an interesting character, although its capabilities, despite being astonishing, it’s a little bit unnerving. Whether you are a teen or a fully-fledged adult like myself, this is a beautiful and compelling story for all!

Thank you to @headofzeus and @netgalley for this arc.

The Last Whale opens in the present and spans three generations of the Petersen family as they try to save first the planet, then the whales and finally the human race. Abi is a climate change activist and a brilliant student. She uses her tech abilities to hack the systems of companies causing environmental harm. Forced to go on holiday to a remote island off the coast of Norway to visit her grandmother, Abi happens to "borrow" a valuable piece of AI technology from NewTek, the company that she's had a summer studentship with. Moonlight, as the AI comes to be known, is able to read the patterns and sounds of the natural world and harness the power of other computer systems.

Reunited with her grandmother, one night Abi is woken by whale song as they pass by the island. Finding some recordings of whale song made by her great-grandfather, she becomes fascinated by whales and believes that they are the key to saving the planet. However, when the story moves forward 30 years it's clear that we weren't in time to stop climate change causing severe weather events, mass human migration and crop shortages. Abi and her daughter Tonje are now living on an island still desperately seeking whales with the help of Moonlight who has become more powerful and sentient over the decades.

This middle-grade book deals with some difficult issues and yet, like the best of children's fiction, it makes them entirely approachable. The relationship between Abi and her grandmother, together with the Scandinavian setting, reminded me a little of Tove Jansson's summer book. The Last Whale never preaches, it shows not tells and even into the far future, there remains some hope, albeit in a choice that we hope that we would never have to make about our home planet. The story raises questions about the role of technology in reversing climate change and about what makes a sentient being and whether that is even something that we, with our human fallibilities, can judge. However, ultimately, even in the face of planetary destruction, what sings off the page is the majesty of the whales and the sacrifices we humans will make for love.

I read this from the point of view of interested in animals and the sci-fi elements of the story. A lot of books seem to be written nowadays about climate change, with rather a lot of them lecturing the reader. This book was more interesting than that, and the lecturing, although there, was less annoying than some. From the sci-fi part and the historical, it was interesting, and I think many younger readers will like it.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy from the publisher The Head of Zeus in exchange for an honest feedback.

Summary: The storyline goes from past, to presence and then to the future. The book is split into three parts and covers three generations.

The first part of the story is told through the eyes of Abi, a teenage eco activist who works for NewTech. Abi is forced to go on a summer vacation in Norway with her family. Abi not only steals the AI and takes it with her all the way to Norway, but she also made some changes to the device. The AI , nicknamed Moonlight by Abi’s younger sister, Tig, starts behaving more….humanlike by the day. The big tech corporation is after her, trying to get back their property. But that’s the least serious problem. Abi, with the help of Moonlight, starts studying whales. She soon learns how valuable they are for our existence. But there is one problem. There is only one whale left. That means that the human race, along with the entire planet, will vanish in the very soon future.

The second part of the book. Thirty years later, Abi and her daughter Tonje needs to remain hidden because of NewTech. Abi still works on her studies as her health continues to rapidly deteriorate. One day a boy appears out of nowhere on the shore. His name is Lars and he just survived a storm. He speaks about the increasing migration, and lots of food shortages happening outside in the world. Which only confirm there isn’t much time left.

The book ends in 2070 with seven years old Astrid, daughter of Tonje. She is the future and the hope. The entire human race depends on her.

My thoughts: A captivating science fiction YA tale. The story shows humanity’s ignorance and arrogance. The book is targeted towards the younger readers, but awareness and importance of the message should reach as many adults too. The matter is suitable for our time right now. The writing style is steady and pleasant to read.

You can’t help notice the changes to our world’s climate are getting faster. Records for hottest day of the year get continually broken; trees start to get confused with autumn and summer and rain when it does come can lead to violent storms and floods. All of this impacts us but also the flora and faun that we live on this planet with. One of the most symbolic animals we often relate to is the whale; something we have nearly hunted to extinction; found out is one of the most intelligent animals on the planet and then even now our increased use of the sea is drowning out their song while our pollution and climate change now poisons their waters. A startling reminder that climate change can affect the whole planet through our regular inaction. In Chris Vick’s intelligent YA tale The Last Whale we have a science fiction successfully exploring our history and future with these creatures while delivering a multi-generation tale of one family and their connection with these mysterious creatures.

Abi is going on a short family holiday to see her grandmother in Norway. Abi though is hiding a few secrets from her family. Although the bright but environmentally conscious daughter has admitted she has been expelled she has not told them why nor hs she told them about the borrowed/stolen piece of AI she has taken from her student placement. Abi wants to focus on more protest work but she finds herself getting unexpectedly finding out her family’s history with whaling and in particular her grandfather’s notes on whale song caused by his experiences in the 1930s. This starts the beginning of a new obsession for which her new and inquisitive AI starts to find clues to something greater. But Abi’s desire to know more pushes her and her sister Tegan into danger but also starts to shape her family’s long-term future as the world gets ever closer to a final collapse.

I really liked the flowing approach of this story and the focus on making us see that relationship between ourselves and the wider world. It’s subtle and not focused only on the science of either climate change or AI consciousness but this YA tale is more a miniature family saga that crosses over two centuries and is incredibly thoughtful. We see the awakenings of Abi’s grandfather who on his first whaling mission started to realise whales are not simply food and tool supplies but conscious – something that quietly drives him for the rest of his life but never in a world that was not ecologically minded go anywhere. With Abi we have a bright young and passionate protestor who as a teenagers see only protest as her outlet to her anger and concerns. Her encounters with whales start to send her instead on a path not just of activism but finding a solution and then in the future we meet Abi and her daughter Tonje in a world on the cusp of collapse trying desperately for one last mission to find a living whale.

Vick shows humanity’s arrogance and slow fall into decline and realisation of what we have done to our home very skilfully. In the past sections of the story we see exactly how humanity has taken everything for their own gain – whales are fuel, material and ultimately subservient to our needs. The idea of resources declining is then a joke when it is raised – we are masters of all we survey. In Abi’s time we see humans are technically progressing with AI, Wi-fi and yet we see the air-con is continually needed for ever increasing high temperatures and ice on mountains is increasingly pushed back. Finally in Abi’s future we see a wilder and more chaotic world; constant and unpredictable storms and we realise an atmosphere that for asthmatic Abi is making it harder to breathe. How the connections between these periods and human’s hubris plus what we see this means for whales is a sobering but persuasive piece of storytelling.

The magical aspect is Abi’s AI companion who soon gets nicknamed (very smartly) Moonlight and their bonding with Abi and development of consciousness is delightful if a little predictable. Vick doesn’t make it easy for humans to sort this out and indeed we see climate change isn’t a problem you can solve overnight and not without some cost to humanity, but their scenes and perspectives are entertaining and intelligent. Vick also knows when to move from conversation to action and there are scenes of peril and danger that really do flow and pull you into wanting to know what happens next. Sometimes we have to take a little on trust around time jumps as how somethings happened are never quite explained but I think younger readers will be able to work out the likely path the characters then took.

With an ever important message on climate change and a focus on doing things about them being really the only answer I highly enjoyed this story. I think for younger readers there will be much to discover and think about but also that they will be highly entertained by the quality of Vick’s writing. Worth a look!

Again, an absolutely gripping read from Chris Vick! The book itself is not my usual go to read….I prefer fantasy but I really enjoyed Girl, Boy, Sea by Chris Vick and thought I’d give it a go……and I’m glad I did!
The story follows Abi, a highly intelligent young girl who is very passionate about the climate and is forced to go on holiday with her family to see relatives in Norway. Whilst in Norway, Abi finds old tapes of her great grandfathers whale watching wand with the help of her AI, they translate what the whales are saying.
The adventure goes from past to present and then to the future and follows Abi and the AI and how they try to find the last whale.

Brilliant story line and very apt for our time right now and hopefully will encourage us all to change what we can now.

I have to admit that when I was approached by the publisher with an invite to read an arc of this book I didn't know what to think. Being an animal lover I was incredibly uncomfortable with the fact that the family centred around this story were whalers. I usually steer clear of anything with hunting and brutal killing o animals as much as possible - I can't even watch the charity TV adverts. But after reading the back blurb and doing what I usually don't do ( seeing what other reviewers thought on Netgalley and Goodreads I thought to give it a go, as this is essentially about a family turning around and moving past their murderous pasts and trying all in their power to help to save the whales in the future.

I am pleased I read it, it's completely different to what I usually pick up, but I am pleased I took a leap out of my comfort zone. I can't say I loved it or that it was for me, but I can't deny that it is completing reading and raising a lot of questions on how we preserve what we have before we lose it.

I doubt it's aimed at a 30+-year-old woman, but more for young adults/coming of age kids aged around the 12+ mark, I think that that generation will appreciate certain things far more than I did, but I can't deny that's it cast a light on the important things in life and what humans have done to our beautiful yet fragile planet.

As always I want to start by saying that I was given an ARC of this to review. My review is honest and left voluntarily. Thank you to The Head of Zeus and Netgalley for giving me access to this.

A beautiful, heart-breaking and poignant top middle grade to low young adult novel that will speak to any age range. I have no shame to say that I became very emotional upon finishing this book. A book I feel needs to be not only in school curriculum but something everyone needs to read and acknowledge before it is too late. Chris Vick tells the tale of The Last whale over three generations of the Kristensen family.

Told in part through the eyes of a fierce teen Abi, transcending to Abi’s hopeful daughter Tonje thirty years later and the start of Tonje’s daughter we follow the world to nearly the end of world’s echo system as we know it. The writing style is easy to follow and engaging for a younger audience but as a woman in her thirties it was still deeply touching. It is a beautiful story of hope and faith despite the odds. Of fighting for what is right in a world where corporations and businesses put profit before the world we live in. You need only look at the events of recent years that are beginning to plague us to see just how important fiction like this is for future generations.

That isn’t to say this is some woke agenda with no heart. The characters are layered, complex and believable. We experience the change in Abi from the fierce eco-warrior to jaded adult trying to keep that hope alive. This is juxtaposed by Tonje’s hopefulness and belief. A belief that had been once mirrored by Abi’s sister Teagan. This is why I feel that while the intended audience may be teen that even those older will find something to resonate with. The inclusion of Moonlight, although an AI, was also beautifully done. Seeing how the work and passions of those humans around it helped the AI awaken to full consciousness was a lovely touch.

It is a beautiful book that I would hope evokes emotions in all who read it, whether that be anger at those in power who do little to listen or help or hopefulness for the future. Perhaps a mixture of both. The ending in particular I enjoyed that instilled a message of hope, the same hope and wonder we had seen from Tig, Tonje and later Astrid. Of a better world and a world that was slowly beginning to repair itself.

I will honestly be recommending this book to any one who will listen. With it’s message being needed more now than ever before.

The target of this book are very young people but I think it should be read by people of all ages as we need to know what are the risks and what will happen when there's only silence.
There's a realistic description of what is happening and will happen but there's also hope.
And hope is what can makes wish that the whales will sing for a long time.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Thank you so much Head of Zeus for inviting me to read the arc of The Last whale by Chris Vick in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

The Last Whale is a top MG / low YA story that tells the story of three generations of the Kristensen family, from whale hunters to missionaries to save the great whales and our planet. We meet Abi as a fierce teenage activist, as she is obliged to spend the summer with her family at her grandmother’s home on an island off the Norwegian coast. Abi along with the AI ‘Moonlight’ that she has ‘borrowed’ with the hope of organising a global protest, but on the island Abi learns more about her family’s history and inspired by her great-grandfather’s rejection of whaling and recording of whale songs, she learns more about whales, their songs and criticality to Earth’s future.

This book is written in such a way that it is perfectly toned to early teen awareness, understanding and experience of the world today. It’s definitely not a read for the beach, but what it does is deliver a well crafted story across the generations from Abi’s great-grandfather through to Abi’s daughter Tonje and her daughter.

A multi-generational story that carries a key message about our environment, the impact of humankind and how there is still hope for the future, that even in the depths of despair, hope and possibility are there.

Vick is brutally honest and factual regarding our negative impact on the environment and doesn’t shy away from politics and business as drivers for the delay in our response to the message, but he also delivers an engaging and captivating story that immerses you, and had you teetering on the edge, hoping and wanting a positive outcome. This is definitely an environmental call to arms that 12+ will embrace and empathise with…a great read with a powerful core message that should not be ignored.