The parts of this book that actually had a plot were very good. But the plot is only 25% of it. The rest is EXTREMELY boring facts about whales and whaling. I get that the reader needs some information to follow the story, but it should be sprinkled in the plot as needed, not DUMPED for tens of chapters at a time. This would not be a book I would usually read, I was forced to by a professor. Would not recommend.