Reviews

When Oceans Rise by Robin Alvarez

canderson's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

melziethegreat's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.0

When Oceans Rise is such a beautiful story about love, family, friendship, abuse, Filipino mythology. I was first drawn into the story because it is a Little Mermaid retelling. I liked the twist of Mal leaving her original timeline and slipping into the new timeline to escape her abusive ex boyfriend. Normally abuse would really tigger in my a book but in When Oceans Rise it was well written and not to graphic. I also liked that Mal found love in the new timeline. It showed her how she deserved to be loved. 

One of my favorite parts of the story was learning about the different Filipino monsters. The story deals with many different monsters and they are all equally terrifying. Except for the Tikbalang, Felipe, who is my absolute favorite monster. He might have been a bad ass on his own before but now they are a bad ass team when it comes to getting the timeline fixed and saving the world from monsters. 

Another of my favorite aspects of the story is Malaya's relationship with her mother. I feel like as the story progresses she is able to look outside of her narrow original viewpoint and understand her mother's reasoning more. Her mother just wanted what was best for her even though she wasn't always able to verbalize it in the way that Malaya need to hear. 

Overall I really enjoyed When Oceans Rise. It is a great debut novel and I can't wait to read other books Robin Alvarez puts out in the future.

beautyandthebookcase's review

5.0

It's not often that I get to read about other half-Filipino/biracial characters and it was nice to find a character that embodied real life struggles like Malaya and still maintain an air of fantasy. This book is captivating in its tales of culture, bad relationships, and magic. This has by far been my favorite read of the year

laurenontheweb's review against another edition

3.0

This book was such a beautiful showcase of filipino culture and mythology. The plot was creative and had me racing to find out what would happen next, and the audiobook narrator did a wonderful job adding to my reading experience. The characters were unique and well written. I appreciated that the depictions of abuse were described in minimalistic terms while maintaining believability. The only negative of this book for me was that I didn't feel like enough time was spent building the characters emotions; Because I wasn't pulled into celebrating or grieving alongside the characters, I didn't feel the strong emotional connection to the story that would have me picking it up for a reread down the line. The redeeming moment for emotional connection came to me during the epilogue.

Overall, this was a good YA book. I would recommend it for teens, tweens, and adults who enjoy YA.

Thank you Tides Collide Publishing for providing this audiobook for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

cassidyk17's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

littlebookterror's review against another edition

fast-paced

3.0

Maybe my expectations got too much into way here because I was expecting a stronger focus on the abusive relationship and the fallout of that and less of an urban fantasy where she has to defeat various Filipino creatures to get back to her own timeline.

I personally needed more time with Malaya and her boyfriend early on - that time passes so quickly and while I understand the author's wish to not go into detail of his abuse, I it also meant I was surprised by how quickly this all wrapped up. I barely saw her fall in love, let alone out of it. (It's not like she has forgotten his actions and there are occasional references to it but it was not the main theme of the book). The handling of the loss of her voice by friends and family was also a mixed bag - I was more annoyed by Malaya's attitude towards it than the thoughtless comments from others.
As for the fantasy aspect, I thought it was okay if a little gimmicky at how the monsters and the sea witch are handled in the end.


<i>I received an advanced reading copy from Tides Collide Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

fanoora's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

alibrarymouse's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I’ll preface this with: at first, I couldn’t see the forest for the trees. When Oceans Rise was one I didn’t think I’d enjoy as much as I did. It was a bit of a slow start, but once it hit stride, it was absolutely beautiful. 

My biggest struggle was probably getting used to the narrator. I didn’t hate her, but I also just didn’t vibe with her. The buildup was a little on the slower side—though, later you find this is necessary for the development of all characters. A development Alvarez writes gorgeously because her take is realistic and doesn’t pull any punches. Her writing style is so readable while all of her effort to create a relationship that begins to take more than it gives plays so well into the action and development of everything in the end. 

This wasn’t quite what I expected, but it was a great listen, I learned so much about supernatural creatures and gods from the Philippines, and gave readers the most satisfying ending. The characters were so likable and funny. We want those who deserve it to achieve their happily ever after.

Getting into it and, when we get to where they figure out what to do about everything, I was hooked. Even the supernatural felt like it could really be happening because relationships and reactions weren’t overdone or overacted. The buildup definitely made me appreciate all of it more. 

Absolutely read this! It was honestly so good; like, I don’t know any other words to describe it. Definitely recommend it to everyone.

stephsfeelinbookish's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Do look up tw’s! 


Wow can I first start off with how well done the characters growth is!? Mayla I just want to hug you because you don’t deserve that shit! 

This little mermaid retelling was so powerful! I also adored the magic and representation for filipinos!

lpcoolgirl's review against another edition

5.0

This was such a great read, I hurt for her, going through this, it was hard, but she wasn't alone, so that was good!