Title: One Boy, No Water
Author: Lehua Parker
Series: Nihui Shark Saga #1
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Fantasy, Mythology, Young adult
Pace: Medium
Format: eBook, Novel
Year: 2012

I really loved the island-life feel. It had this breezy, relaxed, surfer kind of vibe, that felt kind of familiar to my surfy cousins. There was such a lovely, breezy feeling to this story and I most definitely want to revisit this world. Aside from the vibe in this story, I loved that there was a lot of cultural information and aspects to the story that made me more and more fascinated by the Hawaiian life.

Then there was the fantastic language used throughout. Not just the language and tone of the story, but also the island slang throughout. Each chapter starts with the meaning of one piece of slang. Then, there’s bits and pieces that you have to put together yourself. I love this pidgeon form of English and Hawaiian that is used throughout. It may actually be the aspect of this story that I love the most – learning new slang that I will probably never use.

I loved how although this story is very much around a mythology and fantasy and powers, at it’s heart it is a coming of age story. One where a boy discovers who he is and that, like all of us, he has his own powers. It’s been a while since I’ve so thoroughly enjoyed a coming of age story. So it was nice to read this one. And, as I previously mentioned, definitely a world and journey that I will return to.

Zader is an incredibly fun lead. He is obviously kind of awkward and a fish out of water. Which, I always connect best to these types of characters – I’ve always felt like a bit of a fish out of water myself. I enjoyed how as his story unfolds, a bit more of his background and the secrets of his past. It made it incredibly difficult to put down this fantastic book.

<- More Lehua Parker

One Shark, No Swim ->

Image source: Booktopia