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spaghettii's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Moderate: Grief, Gun violence, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Suicide, Death, Drug use, Medical trauma, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, and War
starlitpage's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Cursing, Death, War, Mental illness, Violence, Alcohol, Body horror, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Gun violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Death of parent
wardenred's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“They’ve taken down your defenses.” The mental touch withdrew. Surit sounded blank, so blank that Tennal wasn’t expecting it when he said, “That’s barbarous.”
Tennal swallowed in shock. The elevator doors beeped a protest, unable to shut. “Welcome to the military,” he said. “Is this your first day?”
I remember back when I read Winter's Orbit, I absolutely adored the romance part of the story but kept getting lost when it came to worldbuilding. Apparently, that's just what I should expect with Everina Maxwell's books. At least with Winter's Orbit, I found my footing by mid-story or so. With this one, I'm sorry to say I only kept getting more lost.
I guess a big part of it is that worldbuilding is even more important here, what with the big focus on chaotic space and all. However, the way all the relevant information is delivered just fellt... off? If I tried to treat all the lore as mostly trappings for the interpersonal conflicts, I got lost. If I tried to delve deeper into it, too many things just didn't seem to work upon closer inspection. Or maybe the bigger ones actually did, but whenever I started overthinking, I couldn't get past even the arguably smaller stuff. Like the math. The gap between when the experiments that led to the emergence of readers and architects were conducted and when those talents became a genetically inherited thing is just too small. I don't understand how it works. Or even just the lingo: like, okay, we've got two kinds of telepaths here—[mind] readers who read and architects who write. Why not call the latter writers to keep things consistent? Where does the "architect" part even come from?
I fully accept it might be on me just overthinking the wrong stuff or approaching everything from the wrong angle! My brain can be weird! But alas, I kept getting confused.
I expected a lot from the romance/relationship arc, because at the beginning, it looked like very much my jam. I mean, forced proximity? Opposites attract? A lawful character who is solid and dependable in his principles and a chaotic one who is a mess of jagged edges? Count me in! And at the beginning, while the two were just getting to know each other and adapting to their situation, I was very much invested. Unfortunately, the more I read on, the less invested I became.
I can't say there was anything *wrong*, exactly, with this slow burn romance for me. It's more about what was lacking from it. I expected a bigger focus on the possible ethical conundrums specifically surrounding the whole mind control/mind link think, and there was some discussion of it, but more through the general lens of fraternization dangers and power imbalance within the chain of command. I also didn't get satisfactory and timely understanding of what made both Tennal and Surit the people they were on the page, which felt rather important. Like, there were certain aspects of both their personalities that just didn't feel 100% right / organic, but I was willing to roll with it because I kept expecting a backstory-related explanation, something to fill the gaps and tie the disjointed parts together... but it never came.
Honestly, now that I'm trying to tie all my thoughts and feelings about this book together into this rambly review, I think there's one thing every aspect of the story had in common for me. First, I saw it and thought, "cool." Then I spent time with it, and thought about it, and it became less cool the more I tried to inspect it. The worldbuilding seems cool on the surface; when I tried to poke at it and grok it, not so much. The two leads and their dynamic were absolutely cool at first, but the deeper their relationship and personal arcs ran, the more unanswered questions I had. Cool side characters appeared and had 1-2 brilliant scenes that suggested lots of interest stuff to come, and then plenty of it fell flat and those same characters turned forgettable.
With all that said, I did enjoy the beginning of the book enough to want to finish it even when it turned draggy. The way the dynamic between Tennal and Surit developed may not have been entirely to my taste, but it definitely had some very satisfying moments, and not only in the first part of the story. Tennal never stopped being entertaining in that way that had me torn between wanting to ask him to neer change and also wanting to give him a hug and punch whoever hurt him. There was plenty of engrossing banter. What I was able to parse from the lore was cool.
It's just that all of that never quite came together for me, I guess.
Graphic: Confinement and Violence
Minor: Alcohol and Drug use
mind control, self-destructive behaviorannoyedhumanoid's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Cursing and War
Moderate: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Addiction, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Minor: Drug abuse, Grief, Medical content, Torture, Body horror, Murder, Vomit, Alcohol, Confinement, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Slavery, and Terminal illness
re: ableism: people have genetically-inherited mind-reading/commanding abilities, and mind-readers are stigmatized. re: slavery: discussions of aforementioned mind-readers being conscripted into the military and basically worked to death. re: terminal illness: mcs find themselves in an untenable, rapidly worsening mental statedolores_madil's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, Toxic relationship, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Medical content, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and War
Moderate: Gaslighting
anxiousnachos's review against another edition
5.0
Fake soul-bounding is also like the levelled up fake-dating and I am so here for it, I need more books with this trope now. Obsessed.
Content warnings: war, abusive parent, parent death (past), violence, gun violence, mind-control, coercion, drug and alcohol use
——
Oh my god I am DECEASED new Everina Maxwell in the same world as Winter’s Orbit!! Please take my money now
Moderate: Alcohol, War, Drug use, Violence, Death of parent, and Gun violence
jjjreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Violence, War, Confinement, Medical content, Murder, Addiction, Alcohol, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, and Xenophobia
ronniethereader's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Definitely check out the author's website for a more detailed look about content warnings since it does have to do with mind control/coercion/consent/etc.
Moderate: Drug use, Medical content, and Alcohol
Minor: War and Violence
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
OCEAN’S ECHO is the mind-control version of a forced marriage/fake dating plot… in space. It’s fantastic.
Tennal doesn’t want to be synced, Surit is affronted by the very idea that he’d be forced to mentally link for life with someone who’s unwilling. Together they hope to pretend the sync worked and fake it long enough for Tennal to get away and for Surit to keep his military career intact. The political intrigues are complex enough to imply a great deal of other stuff that’s happening while reducing the pieces Tennal and Surit have to track into a relatively small list.
I love Tennal and Surit, they make a very interesting team. Tennal is an absolute mess, and Surit is grounded in a way that lets him notice Tennal’s antics without getting bowled over. The course of their relationship is affected early on by the circumstances of their meeting just as much as it is by their personalities, something which continues to matter right until the end of the book. It’s a character-focused story, centering their reactions to what’s happening whether or not one of them was the catalyst. They’re frequently buffeted by someone else’s moves, piecing together what’s going on and why while the adjust their course. It means that even though there’s a lot happening other than their relationship, everything is filtered through their processing of events, singly or together.
Though technically not a sequel, this is in the same universe as WINTER'S ORBIT. The main way this matters is they share a galactic convention for gender-markers by way of jewelry material. Someone could read them in either order or even just read one or the other and have everything make sense.
The ending leaves open the possibility that they’ll show up in later books, tying off major and minor plot threads so that this is a complete story on its own while giving an indication of what they’ll do next.
Moderate: Violence, War, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
Minor: Vomit and Ableism
caseythereader's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
- OCEAN'S ECHO is basically a sci-fi twist on the fake dating trope, and I adored it. Even more than WINTER'S ORBIT, which I didn't think would be possible.
- Tennal and Surit are perfect opposites-attract pair, and the slow burn between them is marvelous.
- This book expanded on the worldbuilding set up in the OCEAN'S ECHO, uncovering more history and more secrets along the way. Maxwell's detailed universe is masterful, and i hope she writes more books about other parts of it.
Graphic: Alcohol, Death of parent, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Medical content, Murder, Violence, War, Blood, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, and Grief