I have a real weakness for books with animal protagonists and Pod was no exception.

A fascinating exploration of the ocean and the crimes we are committing against the creatures therein, told through the prospect of a spinner dolphin.

I recently read “Pod” by Laline Paull and was thoroughly captivated by this enchanting novel. Set in the vibrant and immersive underwater world of the Indian Ocean, the story centers around Ea, a deaf spinner dolphin who is thrust into a journey of self-discovery and survival following a family tragedy.

Paull’s ability to weave intricate details about marine biology into the narrative makes the ocean come alive, allowing readers to vividly experience the beauty and complexity of life beneath the waves. The book doesn’t shy away from addressing the environmental impact of human activities, providing a poignant reminder of our interconnectedness with the natural world.

One of the standout aspects of “Pod” is its rich characterization. Ea’s growth from a place of isolation and guilt to one of understanding and community is both heartwarming and inspiring. Her encounters with bottlenose dolphins introduce themes of family, belonging, and sacrifice, making the story deeply emotional and resonant.

Additionally, the novel’s exploration of communication through sonar and ancient languages adds a unique and fascinating layer to the dolphins’ interactions, enhancing the depth of the reading experience. The vivid imagery and lyrical prose transport readers into the heart of the ocean, making this book a must-read for anyone interested in environmental themes, marine life, and richly woven fiction

I have absolutely loved this book. I knew what to expect from it after reading Bees and I wasn't disappointed. Yet again author made me have all the feelings for creatures I never knew or thought about before. It's beautifully written and gripping.

I enjoyed this novel. I was crying so much for the soldier dolphin. Really interesting about our impact on the ocean and it’s creatures from their pov who have no understanding of humans.

Having read, loved and recommended The Bees many times (and The Ice, too!), I thought I knew what to expect from Laline Paull. Well, I was right and wrong!

Firstly, I loved Pod.
Secondly, it gave me a lot to think about.
Thirdly, how does Laline Paull put herself in a dolphins shoes (flippers? Sorry…) and not make it sound like a children’s book? And I should stress: this is NOT a children’s book.

Paull may have anthropomorphised dolphins, various fish, all and any sea life, but she has stayed pretty close to what I’ve learnt is their true nature (thank you David Attenborough!). Dolphins are very intelligent, playful and seem to know what humans want (maybe that’s just me reading more into these things). But they’re also hunters, they have a pecking order, and I don’t think you’d want to be at the bottom of it if you were a dolphin!

This novel shows the joyful side of being a dolphin, the way that they must work together for the greater good of the pod. It also shows how violent they are - there’s even a dolphin rape scene that was every bit as upsetting as if it had been a human.

In amongst all the dolphin drama is a message for us humans. We see the damage the human race is doing to the oceans: pollution, over-fishing, capturing dolphins for food, entertainment, or warfare.

Pod is graphic in places. It most definitely doesn’t pull its punches - and why should it?

This novel is not sentimental, jam packed with happy, child-friendly dolphins. Pod looks at the real struggles of sea life (and there’s not just dolphins involved). These dolphins are fighters, authoritarian, protective of one another, followers of tradition as well as migration routes, they deal with the results of humanity’s selfishness and cost-cutting.

The imagination and empathy that must have gone in to writing this: I’ve seen how a dolphin, a whale, a wrasse, a clam, a remora and a sea anemone feel and behave (I like to think so, anyway!).
How could I NOT love this book? 🤷🏼‍♀️

So I finally read POD by Laline Paull. The publisher was so nice to grant me access to a review copy via netgalley for the paperback publication. Thank you!

I had a kind of torn reading experience with this book in the end. I vibed with some of the ideas and had problems with others. Like in BEES you are in the world and mind of an animal, for some reason that didn't work as well for me as it did in BEES. Probably because presumably a dolphin's mind is more similar to a human's than a bee's would be? Anyway, I had some problems with getting into this kind of setting or point of view.

I did enjoy the writing, though. The acutal reading experience - as in words on the page - was great! The plot wasn't quite my cup of tea, also: content warning! And some (undoubtedly important) messages were implemented a bit bluntly, I think. Altogether it had more of the obsessive quality of fanfiction than I like in my fiction. (I once had a running joke with an old work colleague when working in the bookstore that we should write a trashy book series called "Killer Dolphins" about some kind of paramilitary organisation of dolphins... and well, I had to think about this all the time while reading POD... but this certainly isn't the book's fault! 😂)

So, I really wanted to love this, but unfortunately I didn't. I'm sure others will though. 🙃

btw it has a very beautiful cover you obviously can't see here from my eARC. 😉

#fiction #review #arc #netgalley #littlebrown #clifi

This was very unusual. I don’t think I’ve read anything quite like it - mostly I enjoyed it but there were elements (such as the description) that I felt weren’t quite right. Not, for me, a light read.

Paull’s story engaged me from the start. Ea is a dolphin who doesn’t want to be like the others in her pod in the ocean. Early on she identifies with a whale who is painfully sad. Like the whale, she feels somewhat isolated by her feelings. To be within the pod is to comply with all their associated rituals but Ea does not want to participate. A remora then takes residence on Ea much to her horror. There is nothing her pod can do however for if forcibly removed, the wound left would keep bleeding. So Ea must bear this chattering burden.

There are tales linking to other tales in this novel which reminds me of the continual ebb and flow of the tides. The community of each pod is safety though dangers arise everywhere. The whale story is told, the decimation of his people from the intrusion of man, who are conducting military experiments. Other pods are encountered and we are given a look into terrible things that can happen within a pod during a storm. In this watery world, the sexual urges of dolphins are no different to any other species.

From all this sadness however emerges love and hope. An original novel which brings in another perspective to dolphins, different to viewing them in the way of a nature documentary.

I love Paull’s books but I’m sorry I found this such a difficult read. So brutal and the graphic descriptions of dolphin rape were just awful. I get that the ocean world is a violent place, but it was such an uncomfortable read. Not for me, sorry.

I’ll start by saying that this is a beautifully dark novel featuring scenes of violence and animal rape. This is nature. It won’t be everyones cup of tea.
That said, there are also scenes of beauty, kinship and unfettering devotion.

I never thought I’d resonate as much I did with a misfit dolphin! - Through whose perspective this book is written alongside voices from several other sea creatures.
The crux of the story is rivalry between two dolphin tribes - each with their own customs, habits and complexities.

The amount of research that must have gone into writing this book absolutely blows my mind 🤯
The details of oceanology and marine life in this book are INCREDIBLE - did you know that dolphins alternate which side of their brain is sleeping meaning they never fully lose consciousness?
Not just the dolphins, but the behaviours of the beasts portrayed in this book along with structure and hierarchy within the differing tribes fully embellish the story.

The entire cast is made up of marine animals and I applaud @lalinepaull who does not shy away from what actually happens in nature, from the vile remora fish character to forced migration, taking the reader on an unvarnished warts and all journey through the story.

Whilst the anthropomorphism was expected, the violence towards weaker members of the pod wasn't. It did give me pause to think. I am not squeamish by any definition, but the graphic descriptions made me wince a bit. Overall, I appreciate the attention to detail and I suspect this took a great deal of research, but I preferred 'The Bees'.

Lárlíne Paul yet again enters a world and a unique society outside of our own unfolds on the page. Just like with The Bees we are transported to a world of the creature. This time we meet Dolphins, we are enmeshed in the story of language hierarchies and loss.

Ea is a dolphin who lives with a type of deafness which means she cannot master the spinning rituals of her pod. Blamed when something terrible happens, Ea leaves the pod and finds how terrifying the world outside can be. Studying family, love, duty and sacrifice this is a very moving and original book.

This is a dark and quite sad book to read and I’m not sure how I feel about it after reading. Ea is a young dolphin, part of the Longi tribe of spinner dolphins who live in a lagoon after fleeing their home waters many years ago. Ea’s life is a happy one, despite the troubles she has hearing the ocean’s music and spinning. One day something terrible happens which makes her flee her family, but alone out in the vast there are many dangers, some she may not be able to escape.

This is quite a dark novel with a lot of unsettling things happening to the characters. The book begins with a prologue showing us a little of an elder Ea, thinking about the younger generation and about the home she’s now in before the rest of the story begins showing us a young Ea who has only recently reached adulthood. Ea’s character is one I liked straight away. The young spinner dolphin is still very young and childlike with how innocent and unknowing she is and I like how she has a problem hearing the ocean which can make her a bit upset. When the story begins Ea is scared of performing a special dance, that all the Longi tribe perform at a special time, to mark Exodus, their leaving of their own home waters years ago.

We get to know a little of Ea before the story switches in the next chapter to another character, and this switching of characters happens throughout the story with different chapters for different characters. Apart from Ea we also get to know a rorqual whale, the Tursiops tribe of bottlenose dolphins, a lone dolphin raised by people called Google, and a few fish. I have to admit to having some trouble engaging with the story at the start as the chapters switched just as I ws enjoying getting to know Ea and her family and I especially didn’t really know what was happening with the Tursiops.

As the story moves on in becomes very dark. Things happen to certain characters which are disturbing. I felt like some of the things that happened made this difficult to read, especially for someone sensitve like me. I don’t want to spoil the story by saying too much of what happens but there are some very horrible moments including multiple scenes of dolphin rape. This is rape of female dolphins by male ones and it’s not just singular rape but gang rape too. The dolphins characters are like people, we get to know them and feel for them as you would a human and I found these rape scenes to be pretty horrible to read as I just wasn’t expecting it. It’s not too graphic in description, but the amount of times one particular sweet character is raped made it hard for me to keep reading this and I only kept on going through the pages as I desperately wondered if there was anything good that would happen in the story.

The tursiops story is difficult to read at first as I just idn’t really know what was happening. It took a while to get to know the structure of the pod but it did get more interesting the further into the book. While the Tursiops story was decent, I really did enjoy reading about Google! Google, a dolphin that was raised by humans and named by them, is a character I really loved and what happens to him is so interesting and also heart-breaking when you learn more about him.

At first all the main characters have their separate stories but after some time the different characters meet each other. I like what happens with Ea’s story and also Google’s, and as the book reaches its ending it’s very dramatic and exciting. The action builds up and is really fast paced near the end with what happens to the dolphins in a dangerous situation. And although this was really interesting and kept me gripped in the final pages, the overall ending is a semi satisfying one for me. The actual ending is good, but before it there are so many sad moments, that I found it hard to enjoy the very final pages of the story, and in the end I felt like I was cheated out of a better ending, it could have had so much more in those final pages to be more satisfying.

The book seems to be well researched. Certain things that happen to the dolphins and to the wrasse and ocean feel like they are well researched and this book left me feeling like I learned something as well as reading a fictional story. The environmental story of what’s happening to the ocean is good, however at times it felt like there was just too much realism, too many explanations of what was happening, especially when it came to the wrasse and its body transformation, and also too much realism with the rape which happens multiple times and didn’t feel like it had to always be there, and even though it happens in reality (I’ve since looked this up), it felt like it was just too often and at times I felt like this book could have been a little more fiction than fact.

As I’ve said already there is rape but also a lot of violence and death in this story of marine animals. There is about one use of the s swear word and some of the violence towards animals and deaths are quite gory. The story focuses a lot on what is happening to the ocean from an environmental perspective which is actually very good and throughout the tale the different animals experience horrible things happening to the life in the ocean. This book is very much a book with an environmental message and shows how horrible life can be for animals who encounter humans and the result of human activity like oil spills. The environmental message is one I really liked, and much of that part of the story was good to read. It does show well how badly humans treat the oceans and I especially liked the dark and eerie scenes in the Sea of Tamas and what happens to some of the animals there.

Overall this book leaves me feeling more sad than anything else though. I actually cried after reading this but not in a good way and I have to be honest, I was very upset for a long time about the violence some of the characters experienced. This is definitely a book that needs a content warning for some people like me who are very sensitive to certain things and who love animals as this book might be too much for some as it was for me. Overall it’s a decent story about the environment and I did like some of the scenes in it, but there was too much sadness and sad and horrible things happening to outweigh the good, and although the final ending is good for all the characters who are there, it just felt like something was missing, like there could have been more added, like a better ending to make all the sadness worth it.

I have struggled to decide what to rate this book. Normally a book I didn’t like gets a 2 because there’s still some good parts to it, and this book does have some good moments where it’s dramatic and exciting, but this book left me feeling upset and disturbed and it just felt like a happier ending was missed out. Another aspect which made reading this harder was the narration which at times made it difficult to connect with any of the characters as it felt distant somehow except with scenes of Ea. The story of the wrasse, although interesting, slowed the pace a lot for me and it felt like it took away from what was happening to the dolphin story and could have been omitted without really affecting the main plot.

After saying all that I just didn’t like this book and it’s a shame as I really was excited to read this as it featured animals, especially dolphins which I love. But it’s just too dark for me, contains too much rape and sex in general (there’s a lot of talk about the festival of sex in the ocean!) and while it means well to push the environmental message, it’s just too realistic for me and I’m sorry to the publisher and author for my rating, but I just didn’t like it. :/

I have to admit, I wasn't expecting so much dolphin rape. This is such an unpleasant, violent story that I'm struggling to think of anyone to whom I'd recommend it.

The prose style is fine, but the structure of the novel as a whole feels quite untidy. Ea's story could have been compelling as a novella.

I found this quite hard to get through and not at all enjoyable.

I have mixed feelings about this. It is beautifully written and the knowledge of the ocean is impeccable - as is the imagination that has gone into this. But, on the other hand, I did find it difficult to relate to the characters at times. I think this will be one that you either love or are not fussed about.

A unique and quirky book a watership down for undersea creatures which somehow shines a light on human relationships and our relationship with our planet particularly the oceans
I enjoyed this book so much that I managed to read it on the NetGalley Uk app on my phone as it would unfortunately not download to kindle .The fact that I persevered on this very tricky reading format showed the strength of the book and if my desire to gobble it up
As a reader it very soon feels completely normal that dolphins and other sea creatures can communicate freely ,we know the clicks of dolphins and the song of the whale .The book sets up their complex hierarchy and inter species relationships smoothly and believably
I particularly liked the tiny fish that lives as a parasite in larger fishes and mammals and could talk to them ,it reminded me of the Babble fish in hutch hikers guide to the galaxy.Little touches like this show wit and humour
There are sections that are fast moving and exciting such as the final battle but the main section of the story moves smoothly along and is easily readable and enjoyable
I’d recommend to lovers of anthropomorphic novels but also to this who enjoy reading about the effects of climate change on the earth

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Laline Paull writes from a very different perspective from other writers. Her other novel, The Bees, was a fascinating insight into the lives of our most important pollinators, and Pod is no different when it comes to dolphins and other sea creatures. Through the stories of several dolphins and their family groups, Paull explores issues of climate change, overfishing, plastic pollution and the relationship between humans and animals more generally, including illegal activities such as dolphin hunting. It gives you a fascinating and at times worrying insight into how we are affecting the seas and the creatures that live within them. Paull's works should be a must-read for everyone.

After reading Laline’s The Bees – and buying it for a few friends – I was excited as to what the next novel would be like. It does not disappoint. Ea has a type of deafness that means she cannot succeed in the rituals that unite her pod of dolphins. But worse is to come when a family tragedy leads to her to make the ultimate sacrifice and leave her home. She tries to come to terms with her solitude, and almost does, despite the many dangers that lurk above and below the water. But life for Ea changes immeasurably when she encounters a group of bottlenoses. When you’re out of pod and on your own, you have to take chances even if you can’t predict the outcome. The dramas of the ocean are played out in a perfectly compiled plot and – as you’d expect – the beauty of the underwater is vividly and sensitively written. It’s another conversation starter from Laline.

I have never read anything quite like this book before. The story follows different animals (whales and dolphins and fish) and their journeys trying to survive in the harsh and unforgiving ocean. Personally I don’t think this book is meant for me. I don’t really often gravitate towards books with animal protagonists and I have already forgotten the animals names. But I have to admit the writing was very good and a coherent plot was executed. For another reader, the dramas of the ocean would be very compelling. However unfortunately for me, it is just a case of the wrong book, so I am rounding it up to a 2.5.

Thanks to the author Laline Paull, Little Brown UK and Netgalley for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.