As an author, I guess if you have a good theme, then continue to milk it. This seems to be the principle adopted by Laline Paull. The Bees—with the premise, "what is it like to be a bee?", per Thomas Nagel—was an exceptionally memorable read. Here, Paull attempts to repeat the trick with dolphins, hence the name of this work. (In between she wrote a book called Ice, presumably about polar bears or penguins?) Unfortunately, Pod fell and felt very flat. Sure, there was an acceleration in narrative pace and intensity as the novel progressed, but I found it hard to empathise with the animals or believe the credibility of the action. I certainly didn't get to feel what it might be like "to be a dolphin". At times Pod descended into too sickeningly mawkish and sentimental for my liking. Where Paull was perhaps stronger was on her "cli-fi" angle: if we keep polluting the oceans, then bad things will happen. Nonetheless, to the charity shop.
By Laline Paull