The very nice cover of We, the Drowned advertises it as an "epic tale of the sea." Its 675-page heft marks it as epic, and it does include several seafaring adventures, but the book is really the (fictional) story of a (real-life) town: Marstal, Denmark. The men of Marstal are sailors, which influences all aspects of town life. In the first half of the twentieth century, they had to adjust to the coming of steamers and engine-powered ships -- and one widow attempts to move the townspeople away from the dangerous sea entirely.
Although We, the Drowned is a multigenerational saga written partly in the second-person plural, Jensen keeps the focus on individual stories. I enjoyed the adventure and was intrigued by the widow's quest to re-orient a traditional town toward safer pursuits. However, her quest just kind of fades away in the final section of the book, and the final scene (at the end of World War II) reminded me far too much of the Ewok dance party at the end of Return of the Jedi.
Although We, the Drowned is a multigenerational saga written partly in the second-person plural, Jensen keeps the focus on individual stories. I enjoyed the adventure and was intrigued by the widow's quest to re-orient a traditional town toward safer pursuits. However, her quest just kind of fades away in the final section of the book, and the final scene (at the end of World War II) reminded me far too much of the Ewok dance party at the end of Return of the Jedi.
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