The Aquatic Labyrinth by Alastair Fontana

I love any book with a puzzle in it. Something that must be figured out in order to see the whole picture. So it was definitely a no-brainer when I saw this book that I must pick it up and read it. And all in all, I was quite happy with the read.

For some reason, to me the beginning kind of scrambled in my head, making it hard to follow. But as I kept reading things became clear and I actually enjoyed the story. In fact, it was quite exquisite. The pictures were breathtaking, and I loved the use of Italian in this. Even though I do not understand it, and the translations are put in the back of the book to let the reader know what he or she is reading, I felt that the use of English would have dimmed down the whole experience of the book. The parts in Italian are so much a part of the story as the rest of the book is. They add to the exquisiteness of the book, and they made me feel as if I was truly there in the story listening the lines being said.

The concept of the story in itself was phenomenal, and I loved the characters and their backstories and even their memories of other characters and influences of the past. I loved the individual character chapters, giving us parts of a whole to create the whole picture, because of the fact that they did just that. They gradually pieced together the whole story bit by bit and revealed how each character was connected to each other. Because they all influenced each other's personal stories.

I would definitely read more work by this author. I was so impressed by this book and its story and just everything that it was about. The world was created beautifully and the characters were each given a voice with which to speak.