Moderate Becoming Good Later is a wonderfully salty adventure, a quixotic odyssey driven by equal parts grit and good humour around the stormy shores of western Europe. The sort of adventure I've often dreamed of late at night, with additional layers of poignancy and love. At the beginning, in chapters Toby managed to complete before his death, he describes his upbringing, family life and reasons for taking on the challenge.

Thank you to Netgalley, the authors and publishers for a free copy in exchange for an honest review. There is something special about people experiencing loss who decide to make the most of life while they still have the opportunity. Katie Carr is a British author, artist, educator and coach who never imagined her first book having anything to do with sea kayaking. At the beginning of this adventure Toby didn’t know that he would die before he completed it, but the death of his brother and having a life limiting condition drove him to grab life by the proverbial horns. Yet beyond the exotic locations, the narrative is most compelling as we are drawn to find something of ourselves in this odyssey.On her year-long journey through loss, frustration, creation and storytelling, Katie was able to put into practice her training in expressive arts therapy and talked the talk on storytelling, as she had so often encouraged her graduate students to do. I think any hobby revolving around the sea brings with it a very special group of people - who give so much, are loyal, dependable and thoroughly good - with a side helping of cake! Obviously, I understand how hard it must have been to finish writing a book someone else started when Katie didn't even experience what her brother lived through but at the very least, maybe it would've been worth it for her to go to the places he went and try and picture what he felt by being there, instead of looking at photos on Google.

They chapters about the kayaking were interesting, particularly in terms of the people he met along the way, but for me, the most interesting chapters were at the beginning and end. But I got tired of being thrown from one place to the other, sometimes multiple ones in one paragraph (especially in the last chapters) like all he was doing was kayaking as fast as he could and not stopping to admire where he was which I know wasn't true. For those not familiar this is a radio broadcast of weather conditions for those on the sea but has become over time a rather calming British institution that people listen to even if they aren't near the sea.From the wildness and the peace of the sea, looking back at the land, Toby hoped to gain the strength and balance he knew nature could provide and to discover the things that anchor us to each other. It’s a book I will keep on my bookshelf and remember and refer to when visiting some of the places in the future. Written by Toby's sister Katie from his extensive notes and recordings after his untimely death, Moderate Becoming Good Later is both an epic adventure - sometimes choppy, constantly moving - and a personal voyage of discovery that includes old friends and new, plenty of wildlife, and the ever-present sea. Not a book I would have picked, I was gifted this and felt that I should read it - I am so very glad that I did.