Reviewed by: Chris J Kenworthy, for Armadillo magazine.
‘The Last Whale‘ follows Abi Kristensen, a fierce teenage environmentalist on a quest to save Earth with the help of her AI computer, “Moonlight.”
Abi’s great grandfather Peer worked on a whaling ship, but instead of killing whales, he instead chose to study them and their songs, and present his findings to the world. However, in a community of whalers, his research was ignored and he never spoke of it to his family.
As Abi discovers how whales could help save the planet, she also faces a similar level of disinterest from the world. NewTek – the tech company from whom she has ‘borrowed’ Moonlight to help with her research – is so obsessed with how she has made its AI hardware more self-aware, that it completely dismisses her scientific findings into whale songs, phytoplankton and climate change.
In her later years, Abi’s reluctance to leave home due to her ill-health, is symbolic of humanity’s reluctance to change. But despite Abi’s inaction, her daughter Tonje ventures out to track a passing whale and prove her family’s theories.
Author Chris Vick uses lots of wonderful imagery to connect the four generations of the family. One example of this is when Tonje initially describes the taste of strawberries to Moonlight as like “eating sunlight.” Abi later tells her granddaughter Astrid that she is “a human strawberry plant” and that, like strawberry seeds, Astrid is a seed for the future of humanity. Strawberry aromas are later used to comfort Astrid as she sleeps.
‘The Last Whale‘ is a thought-provoking piece of Young Adult fiction, with author Chris Vick drawing on his Norwegian heritage and his work with the charity Whale & Dolphin Conservation. In the Author’s Notes, Vick reinforces his message that the science in his novel “concerning the role whales play in the ecosystem, and our need to save them is very, very real.”
Stowmarket Reporter 