I found blending and shading with coloured pencils quite a bit more challenging in Lost Ocean than in Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest, it’s not impossible but the tooth dies pretty quickly so you can’t create as many layers as you might like to. They had thick (almost card-like), cream, lightly textured paper Lost Ocean has bright white medium thickness paper which cannot be mistaken for card and is smooth. The paper is NOT the same as in any of the Secret Garden or Enchanted Forest editions. Under the dust jacket, the book is paperback with bright blue card covers which have an inky black seaweed and coral design on the outside and inside covers. This dust jacket is a little looser than the previous two and feels a little thinner, it is also bright white and not cream (see the photo below to see the difference) so it does look a little different from the other two. The jacket is made of thick paper which you can colour and the inside of it is covered with a beautiful fish pattern which has a waxy finish and can be coloured but only with certain mediums because most pens and pencils are repelled by the shine.
The UK edition has a removable dust jacket which has gold foiling accents on the front and back, really adding to the luxurious feel of this book. It has a black spine with white text, the same as Secret Garden and it looks beautiful with the other titles on the shelf (see photo below). Lost Ocean is a paperback, square book (25cm x 25cm) which is exactly the same size as Johanna’s previous two titles, Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest. Both versions are sold on Book Depository and the links to each are at the bottom of this review. The biggest difference is that the dust jacket in the UK version is removable, like the previous two books by Johanna, but it is not removable on the US edition. I have written a comparison of the UK and US versions because there are a number of obvious and subtle differences and this can be found here. It is worth noting here that the UK and US editions are different and I’m reviewing a UK edition.
In short, Johanna’s done it again – it’s fabulous and everything you’d want from a watery-themed colouring book. So, without further ado, here’s my review of it. This book is the most hotly anticipated colouring book of the year and is from my personal collection. It has been released early in some UK stores (including WHSmiths, Waterstones and Sainsbury’s but do phone ahead as not all of them have stock yet) and is set for general release in the UK on the 22 nd of October and worldwide on the 27 th of October.
Lost Ocean: An Inky Adventure & Colouring Book is published by Virgin Books and illustrated by the very talented Johanna Basford. Disclaimer – Please read this disclosure about my use of affiliate links which are contained within this post.
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