First of all, wow.

This book was so full of rich and wonderfully woven world building and culture - you can tell the author lived this life because the reading experience fully engulfs you and spits you out onto a beach in Papua New Guinea. The sea, the sand, the heat, the lives of these villagers, the book was slow paced in terms of storyline because so much attention to detail was given to the area it took place, this village was a character in itself.

The book follows Blue Wing, a young girl who lives with her waspapi - the man who took her in after her parents died in a shark attack. An American man and his daughter come to stay in the village while he searches the ocean looking into the coral. Maple, the daughter is of a similar age to Blue Wing so after a small time at loggerheads, they begin to bond over the loss of a parent.

Blue Wing has a very unique and individual voice, I loved how the book was written. Not only does it include Papuan Pidgin throughout, but also just the way she structures sentences and explains things is different to the norm.

As I mentioned before, the story is quite a slow one, spending a lot of time with these characters just learning about each other and experiencing new things (Maple of course not knowing anything about island life, but also Blue Wing seeing how her home is slowly changing and becoming more Westernised and opening up to outsiders, in good and bad ways)

There are specific themes of loss, revenge, forgiveness and family woven throughout.

The ending really brought everything together, and was beautifully sentimental

Spoiler

but also bittersweet