I loved the last two books from Powers and thus was excited for this one, but it was a bit of a mixed bag for me. It largely follows two separate storylines, one of Evelyn and the other of Rafi/Todd. I liked both storylines but not necessarily together (and they do come together), as I found it a little jarring to go back and forth between them. I adored Evelyn and her storyline and the rhapsodic love of the ocean we see in her. And I loved the story of Rafi and Todd’s friendship, but missed those glorious passages about the ocean and its creatures while reading them. I also have questions about the ending. A couple things are revealed that make me think what we’re seeing is not what we thought, but I’m not sure if I missed something there. Definitely worth reading, but not my favorite from Powers.

I came into this with high expectations because I loved Overstory. Usually, that means the stage is set for disappointment. In this case, I was just completely charmed. It was everything I loved about Overstory.

Review copy provided by publisher.

The Overstory is one of my favorite novels of all time, and the perfectly-named Bewilderment was such an incredible disappointment that I was nervous about checking this one out. Luckily it seems like the course has been corrected. This is an amazing companion to The Overstory, focusing on the world's oceans rather than trees. While it's not quite as epic or far-reaching, it absolutely serves as a worthy successor. This time I felt like there was a bit too much jumping around from one POV to the other (especially at the beginning with extremely short chapters going from one place to another before you could get your footing) but definitely worth picking up.