Lost Ocean

Author: Johanna Basford
Genre: Colouring Book
Type: Paperback
Pages: 80
Source: Random House Publishing
Publisher: Penguin Books
First Published: October 27, 2015
First Line: "Lost Ocean is an inky adventure beneath the waves full of enchanting illustrations for you to colour and embellish."

Book Description from GoodReads: From the creator of the worldwide bestsellers Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest, a beautiful new coloring book that takes you on a magical journey beneath the waves.

With Lost Ocean, Johanna Basford invites color-inners of all ages to discover an enchanting underwater world hidden in the depths of the sea. Through intricate pen and ink illustrations to complete, color, and embellish, readers will meet shoals of exotic fish, curious octopi, and delicately penned seahorses. Visit coral reefs and barnacle-studded shipwrecks, discover intricate shells and pirate treasure. Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest fans and newcomers alike will welcome this creative journey into an inky new world.

My Review: Colouring was one of my favourite hobbies to do as a child and when my children were old enough to enjoy it I'd happily join them.  There's something creative and yet so relaxing about passing the time with a gaggle of sharpened pencil crayons in seemingly every colour of the rainbow and a big colouring book.

Adult colouring books have been all the rage lately and Johanna Basford has created a wonderfully creative way for adults to enjoy colouring again.  The pages are made from thick, quality stock and are FILLED with detailed graphics of fish, octopi, sea creatures and greenery to fill hours of time or you can choose to colour in fits and spurts as your creativity desires.  Also included are various objects that readers can find within the pages of the book.

I was always the kid who went for the detailed pages of a colouring book.  I didn't want one giant cow on an entire page where I'd hardly have to colour anything at all.  I wanted detailed pictures filled with chances to use many different shades and colours.  Basford has created exactly my kind of colouring book.  And while occasionally some of the graphics are so detailed that it was hard to get even a well sharpened pencil crayon in between the lines overall this is the colouring book of my dreams.

Lost Ocean is a fun way to pass the time doing something that I loved as a child but seemed to have forgotten about as an adult.  It's something that I can spend a hour on or, more likely, sit down for twenty minutes to finish off a detailed fish before jumping back into my hectic life. Colouring can almost put you in a meditative state and I appreciate how I can happily zone out of the chaos around me and just focus on bringing the picture before me to life.

My Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Johanna Basford and Penguin Books for providing me with a complimentary copy of this colouring book in exchange for my honest review.