Be the Sea had a wonderfully strong character voice, and a fascinating world, but I often found the pacing went against where I wanted it to be. We lingered in moments and scenes that didn't need the break, and sped through some of the world-building and character connection scenes when I would have liked to linger. I do think, however, that this book would be very enjoyable to those who can get their sea legs, as it were, with the swell and fall of Ward's writing style.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Be the Sea by Clara Wardimmerses readers in a future where environmental consciousness has led to a vibrant solarpunk world, explored through the eyes of a non-binary marine scientist, Wend Taylor. The narrative follows Wend as they join a voyage with marine photographer Viola Yang and culinary artist Aljon aboard a zero-emissions ship heading to Hawai'i.

The novel’s strength lies in its rich character portrayal and its exploration of diverse identities. Wend’s neurodivergence is depicted with nuance and depth, offering a refreshing perspective on communication and interpersonal connections. The book’s representation of queer identities and various forms of relationships adds significant value, creating a truly inclusive and authentic experience.

The storytelling method is distinctive, featuring Wend’s life stories as a central element. This approach, while unique, can lead to a slower pace, as the focus shifts to personal anecdotes and reflections rather than a fast-moving plot. The slow-burn narrative allows for an intimate exploration of the characters and their environment, though it might challenge readers who prefer more immediate plot progression.

The environmental themes are thoughtfully integrated, emphasizing the importance of sustainable living and respect for marine ecosystems. The vivid descriptions of ocean life and the lush setting of Hawai'i enhance the novel’s atmospheric quality, drawing readers into its eco-conscious world.

Overall, Be the Sea offers a meditative and character-driven exploration of identity, environmental stewardship, and the power of storytelling. Its slow pace and detailed focus may not suit all readers, but those who appreciate a deep dive into character development and thematic exploration will find it a rewarding read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

The choice to open this book with just straight up dialogues and nothing else for pages and pages on made me check out so fast of what was going on. This was not what I was expecting out of this book and despite the content of the dialogues being something I could be interested in, it just made the whole thing so boring to go through. it's probably not helped by the writing because the while thing was a struggle I couldn' t wait to end. It really sucks because I could see the book bringing up niche topics I am really interested in and then it was just boring and not set up well. The pace is glacial. I'm literally nonbinary working in plastics recycling this should be my book! So frustrating.

The plot summary sounded good, but I just did not connect with the main character. They just kind of are there? It feels like they are an observer on a more interesting story and there could have been a more interesting point of view explored than effectively a research pirate who just happens to have the skills that are plot-relevant.

Plot convenience is going to happen in all fiction stories, that felt like the only driving force for any of the plot that occurred in the first 10% of the book and I did not care about any of the characters. There are enough books on my TBR that I just do not spend time on anything that does not interest me.

I really loved this novel! I found it to be a gently slow story. It captured me very quickly with the beautiful writing style and story within a story feel. Some of my favourite parts were the stories Wend told.

I really liked the found family elements and the different connections made throughout the story - both with people and nature.. The queer rep was wonderful too, I loved that this move was told from the pov of a non-binary person.

DNF at 35% but might come back to and reread at a later date.

I don't think I was in the right mood to read this book.

The wording is beautiful but some of the stories that Wend provides feel irrelevant or more just to learn more about their past life rather than them being a storyteller.

The concept of the book intrigued me and there is definitely an audience that will love the beautiful writing, I might too when I reread it.

I am going to buy the ebook of this and hope that someday soon I'll be in a better mood for this book/writing style!

I loved the Nonbinary rep and found family concept! And the writing is once again beautiful, just my mind is finding it hard to concentrate.

Thank you NetGalley and Atthis Arts for allowing me an advanced readers copy.

I’m disappointed to say the least. I thought this was going to be so fun and enjoyable and atmospheric. And it wasn’t. I thought the stories were going to be adventure, pirate-like stories and they were not. I do appreciate the diversity in this story. Very good. But overall it did not deliver. I am hoping this story finds the right audience.

Review 9/10 The recipe for this book is as follows: an ocean life documentary, an optimistic green future, a large helping of neurodivergence, the beauty of Hawaii, a giant scoop of found family + queer love, and a sprinkle of magic and mystery

Going into it my main worry was that it would be slow. And it was at points but in a good relaxing enjoyable book vibes way. The start of the book is a two week journey on a boat with a couple of characters sharing life stories as they learn how to communicate and share themselves with each other. Other reviews called the book love letter to neurodivergent communication and I second that. It was wonderful seeing Wend show others how they best get to know people and communicate.

I loved all the ocean living and how beautifully everything was described once they got to Hawaii. I felt like I was sailing on a boat then enjoying Hawaii myself.

The solar punk elements were amazing. I now love this genre. It was so pleasant to read in a world where climate change was being taken seriously and large efforts were being made to save the planet and life on it.

The characters were great and so diverse. There was lots of queer rep of all different kinds, poly rep, disability rep. The neurodivergent rep was particularly special in this book. Most of the characters were so accommodating to peoples feelings and disabilities, it was lovely to read.

The plot was a bit meandering as there were a lot of stories and people weaving together to make the big picture and solve the main mystery. I found it really unique and enjoyable overall!

If I could describe Be the Sea in just two words they would be: lyrical prose. This book is beautifully written, and while I didn't connect with the story as much as I wanted to, the writing was beyond my expectations as it flowed through me and wrapped itself around me like the water that our MC, Wend, loves so much. If you want a brilliant brain-tickle when it comes to prose, look no further.

Beyond that of the gorgeous writing, Ward sets the tone of Be the Sea as a (Dare I use this term?) cozy, solar-punk science-fiction. Wend is the opposite of so many MCs being a young soul in an old body, and it's honestly extremely refreshing to read a book with this point of view. The novel is set aboard scientist Viola's zero-emissions ship, a person that Wend admires greatly and happens to share a birthday with, as they traverse the Pacific ocean. As they sail, they tell each other stories of their youth to pass the time, and Wend hopes they can find a deeper connection with Viola and her cousin, Aljon, as they go.

Be the Sea is a wonderfully cozy story that will have you speculating on how our dreams, actions, and relationships impact us and intertwine with each other as we grow.

Did not finish book. Stopped at 32%.
Thank you to the publisher, Atthis Arts for providing me with an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Be the Sea is futuristic sci-fi book focusing on nonbinary marine scientist, Wend Taylor, or throws themselves aboard a ship to join the crew of Viola Yang. Viola Yang is a nature photographer. Wend bargains stories in order to earn their place on board.

Ultimately, this book just did not work for me. Wend’s stories just come off as emotionally charged and awkward info dumping. Though the story is told from Wend’s point of view, we don’t fully understand why Wend chose Viola’s crew or is seeking emotional connection with Viola so intensely. Although I stopped reading, I read a little over a third of the book and only got a slight hint at Wend’s reasoning. Considering the POV choice, I thought we would get more insight.

Other dialogue is also awkward. It’s disappointing that millennial jokes are still being made at this point in the future and that any attempts at empathy (example: asking if something is triggering) is treated as stupid and brushed off as “millennial speak.” There is also a LOT of science jargon in the books and it was hard to understand, in my opinion.

There were other odd elements to me. Such as a character saying they were proudly declaring “post-problematic” or two characters “holding feet” as a sign of intimacy. Ultimately, this was a very meandering story during which at no point I felt no connection to the characters or any grasp of the plot. The book would have benefitted from more explanation- we knew what the characters were doing but hardly ever why.

I chose not to finish this book when conversations about healthcare became a central issue in one chapter. Healthcare is just a touch too stressful of a topic in my life right now (a personal issue, I know) and seeing it in this book was the final straw for me.

Although I loved that there was a very queer cast of characters and neurodivergent representation, this story was not what I hoped it would be.

i think this book just wasn’t the one for me. it was incredibly slow i had to force myself to read. i wish it would’ve been more fast pace or just not have been as monotone.

thank you netgalley for the e arc!

I really wanted to love this book in its entirety but it often felt like it was dragging on a bit. There were definitely elements of the novel that I enjoyed like the consistent Pacific Islander theming and the characters actually being Islanders is half the reason I picked up this novel. The other half being the sea exploration theming.

I loved the actual action scenes and many of the heart to heart scenes but there was occasionally just too much information dumping. I love a good info dump as much as the next person but at some points it was hard to keep up with.

Wend, Viola and Aljon will have my heart though, the characters are so relatable and Ward's writing really made me feel for a lot of the characters especially with their backstories and certain eveents that go in the story but I won't go into too much! You'll have to read this story yourself!

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for the arc! Ho boy, I really wish I had more positive things to say about this book, but honestly, it missed the mark for me and I had to DNF.

The first act was incredibly boring and was doing so much telling, and telling, and telling. It was monotonous for me. When it wasn’t going on and on about the workings of a boat (yawn) or some other mechanical stuff (also yawn), it was constantly driveling out extremely shallow discourse on neurodivergency, the queer spectrum, and other pc topics. I myself am a neurodivergent woman, and I love to read diversely in general. I also have many other things in common with these people, but if I wanted a book about neurodivergent, gender, sexuality, and other studies I’d pick one up. In other words, these topics seemed forced. They don’t blend in with the story (in which there is barely any). The first act of this book is just constantly rehashing the same talking points and topics. It became redundant and eye-roll worthy. It didn’t help that I already couldn’t connect to the characters, despite having many things in common with them. Unfortunately, I heard that these issues continue for the rest of the book. I had to put it down. I just couldn’t anymore.

A slow-paced but enjoyable solarpunk story full of a queer cast and excellent representation. I don't mind slow paced stories, in fact most of the time I enjoy them over action filled movement based books. Especially when they're as descriptive as this one. Be the Sea doesn't just explain a journey, it takes you on one. The book being split into acts makes it easy to have spots to sit and reflect on what you've read and how it was written.

Learning about environments that normally aren't explored in fiction is something that I always enjoy and I've read more books about the ocean than I can count and this one still managed to grab me in ways that others hadn't. Putting forth a message of needing to protect our natural resources and the creatures that live in them is a great message for a novel such as this.

It was an absolutely delightful read that I will be reading again, and recommending that others read as well.

I was genuinely so excited to be approved for this ARC, bc I loved the cover and that it featured a neurodivergent enby main character (hello, representation feels wonderful). But I have tried three different times to start this and can't seem to get more than a few pages in. I'm certain it's just bc I'm not in the right headspace for it rn, and will keep trying bc I desperately want to love it.

Be the Sea feels a lot like it’s going for The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet vibes, but solarpunk and marine-based rather than out in space. Which feels like a very intuitive set of vibes/themes to me, and a really promising one! I mean, that’s why I requested an arc of it!

But… I was very bored.

It’s not the pacing that’s the problem – I have absolutely zero issue with long, languid, rambly stories; I love them! I would love to see more of them! This is instead an issue of… While I care ideologically about marine life, I’m not actually that interested in fish and algae and so on for their own sake. If Be the Sea had been written more descriptively, I think I could have enjoyed myself – tropical waters are absolutely gorgeous, after all, so I would have loved to have all that colour and diversity described to me! A more sensory style of prose, and this probably would have gotten at least four stars from me.

Unfortunately, it’s not written that way. I wouldn’t call the prose completely bare-bones, but it’s not lush and descriptive. And I completely understand the way the main character, Wend, communicates – how and why they find it easier to communicate via telling stories instead of what a lot of us consider ‘normal’ conversing – it makes sense to me. But instead of having what I can only call the Arabian Nights effect – that thing where stories are nested and interconnected with other stories; is there an official trope name for that? – it reads like semi-constant, and very, very boring, info-dumps. Which I at least can’t connect to whatever Wend & co are, or were just, talking about. I was bored to tears by Wend’s stories, for the most part, and nothing was happening except that they and their crew-mates were on a boat.

From other early reviews, it’s clear that Be the Sea picks up a fair bit towards the middle, and from what I’ve read of the book I think I can guess what the big science conspiracy plot might be. But I really just don’t care – I like the characters fine, but I don’t love them, and without lots of sensory description to balance the slow pace, reading this was a chore. I made it to 20%, but I won’t be pushing on any further.

This is actually 3.5 stars.

This book was good, but I found it to be incredibly confusing. This book consists of the main character, Wend, telling two other characters about their life via stories. The stories are mostly told through Wend talking, and there are very little breaks in text, which means it begins to get confusing when another character speaks. Or when Wend is repeating something someone in their stories said. It's possible this is an issue that will be fixed in copy-editing and in-print will be much less confusing.

For me, this spoiled the whole book. It's also a very slow-paced book, so if that's not for you, I wouldn't recommend this book in particular.

The publisher's description of this as a slow-paced, free-flowing long story told in the tradition of fanfiction certainly holds true, for both the good and bad aspects of that.

For the good, the cast of characters are all identities that don't typically get centered or really explored in close-future speculative fiction. It's full of queer, neurodiverse characters from all walks of life and cultures, drawn together in what ends up being the story's central mystery.. That mystery is full of wonderful details that dance between the line of speculative sff and reality, a hope for the future and a wish for this world to be both stranger and more interconnected that we can imagine.

However, the free-flowing and slow-paced gets in the way of that a lot. The first third of the book is almost entirely set-up, but done in such a way that feels both overly explanative and avoiding what is really happening. This sort of continues, as the meat of the mystery and plot gets sandwiched and buried in the interpersonal relationships and found family-building of the characters. This will really work for some readers, but I found the blend unbalanced.