So the plot of this was moderately convoluted and things wrapped up a bit quickly at the end, and the entirety of it was sometimes a bit difficult to take entirely seriously, but I really loved this.

This universe is a place I would love to live. Everybody in it loves books. Literary topics are almost the default conversation. Everyone has an opinion on the authorship of Shakespeare's plays. The plot hinges, rather evidently from the title, on Jane Eyre. Somehow, none of this comes across as pretentious, which is tricky when we are dealing rather exclusively with classics. Literature isn't just serious business (and in this world "defending the canon" takes on a whole new meaning), it's also casual fun.

Tuesday herself was fun to read about. She sometimes rushed in where it was foolish, and her romance issues were, as is common, almost entirely of her own making (though they were a minor point, so that is ignorable), but she shouldered on through a host of work-related mishaps, horrible people doing horrible things, and a family that rather defies description. She showed a hefty chunk of common sense, which is often more unusual in books than it ought to be, and pulled everything together in the end.

The plot did get a touch...tangled. It occasionally felt like there were more ideas the author wanted to toss in than really space for things, and there are a number of weird almost-but-not-quite side plots that aren't really explained (Tuesday's father? What on earth is going on there?) or are used as punch lines rather than actually explored. In a lot of ways, the main plot doesn't really get going for quite a hefty chunk of the book, despite the main antagonist getting set up pretty early on.

This sort of feels like what might happen if Monty Python met Doctor Who and they decided to write a love letter to literature together. It honestly probably had flaws I'm not even noting here simply because when faced with everything about this book that I loved, they paled so far in comparison as to be invisible on a first read-through. At any rate, I'll definitely be continuing on with the series, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Emotional, captivating and urgent, The Coral Bones is such an important book for the world today. Following three women through different timelines we look at the ocean in the past, present, and future, the author managing to convey both fear and hope for the future. I thought the triple timeline was such a clever way of writing this story. Each of the women find themselves in the same part of the ocean - The Great Barrier Reef - yet it looks and feels completely different for each, thanks to the passing of time and the changing of the climate. We first meet Hana, a marine biologist from our own time. The Reef is struggling, and the scientists are trying to help the coral evolve to withstand the warming seas. Fascinatingly, I discovered that this is real research being conducted right now, and I went down a big rabbit hole after reading this book. Hana is despondent, struggling as much as the Reef to process the devastation being wrought on the world. Reading her thoughts was tough - as someone in the environmental field myself, I have often had similar lines of thinking. We then have Judith Holliman, writing a journal as she travels across the ocean with her father, discovering new lands and wonders of the ocean. A stark contrast to Hana, Judith's parts are filled with excitement and joy at seeing the Reef in its prime, bursting with life. Our final POV is Telma in the 22nd century. The climate has collapsed, the planet is scorching, and humanity is trying to put the remaining pieces back together. Telma works to verify reported sightings of creatures that are presumed extinct, and the latest takes her out to the Reef in search of the leafy seadragon. Telma's parts are filled with rage at humanity, but also hope, and eventually that same wonderment we found with Judith. That is, I think, one of the most powerful messages here. Each character has a distinct voice, and felt so real to their own times. The Reef also became a character in its own right as I read - a place I have never visited, but grew to know and love through the pages. Swift's writing was excellent, powerful and almost poetic at times. I appreciated that there was never any softening of what our future could hold, of what we are facing right now in this present day, and I equally appreciated the optimism it laid out for our future. Not a lot of climate fiction leaves you with a gentle feeling of hope, but this one did, and it is sorely needed. This book will stick with me for a long, long time, and I believe it is one that everyone should read.

staggeringly underwhelming. after reading, i feel like the positives i kept seeing about this refer to the first third of this book, and the atmospheric vibes. but the plot itself, once it finally got started, did not feel worth the build up, if you could call it that. it's not a long book, but it dragged for me. maybe my expectations were too high? the whole "unlike any book you've ever read" campaign fell so flat in the end.