At the onset of every mass extinction event, the Spirit of the Ocean takes form as matter, in a last-ditch attempt to preserve the memory and memories of all in the family of life on Earth.

The “OceanHeart” always incarnates as the dominant species of the time, and this time around, that happens to be humans. This time around, that happens to be… complex.

You see, Nukolo is named for both the keeper of the oceans, and the cosmic oceans themselves, in their nickname ‘Nu,’ meaning ‘abyss.’ But before they received their divine name, they’d been given a human one, and it was humans who ultimately caused Nukolo the most pain. Now, imbued with the life force of the water element, they strive to master its secrets and patiently unfold the limits of their own abilities.

As both human and natural expression of the darkly divine, watery primordial abyss, the balance between divinity and mundanity is explored through the depth of Nu’s character.

But also, through the East African setting and imaginative, richly-built, Afrosurrealist world.

There’s always something new (pun intended), iconic, and interesting happening in ‘OceanHeart.’ Whether it’s the cleaning of the terror birds’ stables, the challenge given by the lions of past and future, or the worlds that Serpent Queen Anandti dreams up; Nukolo is always being tested to their limits, so those who like shonen mangas that display some of their greatest power-ups through character development in moral themes like responsibility, respect, leadership, valuing community and nature, etc., will love ‘OceanHeart.’

And yet, perhaps the most interesting thing currently happening to Nu, is their spontaneous astral projection to a particular orca inside a particular tank, for a particular two days.

She is based on the one known as ‘Wanda,’ the first captive orca.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this book is its ability to interweave the polarizing-oscillating themes of human supremacy and interspecies kinship though thirteen poems spread throughout the work, and told from the points of views of thirteen deceased previously captive orcas.

All in all, ‘OceanHeart’ presents a brilliantly vivid, empathic worldview that examines and admires not only the love that lives at the core of interspecies kinship, but also the love that lives in the core of life’s very longing, seeking, and finding, losing, and reminding of itself.