A recent review of Dolphin Way on Amazon by Anjoulie (the original review was in German).
When
you are an adult looking for books about dolphins that do not belong to
non-fiction or to the esoteric industry, you often encounter the following
problem: Everything is written for children or young people. Mostly from the
point of view of people who first encounter dolphins on x sides and then speak
about the animals from their perspective.
The author of this book does it differently and I could hug him for it.
“Dolphin way” is an animal novel from the perspective of (humanized)
animals. It’s about the bottlenose dolphin “Touches the sky”
(“Touches die Himmel”), but almost always called “Sky” in
the book, whose life is getting more and more difficult because the schools of
fish are increasingly missing. Another shoal of dolphins appears, who call
themselves the “Guardians”, who no longer adhere to the old teachings
of the dolphins. This includes, among other things, the absolute prohibition of
violence among fellow species. Their leader named “Storm after
Darkness” seems to be targeting “Sky”. But why?
What at first sounds like nice, shallow fantasy for under ten year olds turns
out to be a very exciting story on the first pages, which I would really only put
in the hand of young people and adults.
“Touches the Sky” has to watch in the first chapter how a friend is
seriously wounded on the beach and dies painfully. She’s not the only dolphin
to die in this book, I can tell you that much.
I particularly liked that dolphins in this novel are finally depicted as
three-dimensional beings and not as chronically happy cuddly toys of the ocean.
That makes the novel very exciting and I was really disappointed when it was
over. I justify the missing star with the abrupt end that cries out for a
sequel. The author has left so much open that it is too much even for the start
of a multi-part game, at least that’s my opinion.
For all who are unsure whether their English skills are sufficient: Those who
had a stable 3 up to the 10th grade should come.