Reviews with content warning for Death - Ocean's Godori

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Ocean's Godori by Elaine U. Cho

8 reviews

rorikae's review against another edition

adventurous fast-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

3.5

Ocean's Godori by Elaine U. Cho is a fun space romp that needs a little bit more space to fully tell its story.
The novel centers on a cast of characters, primarily Ocean Yoon and her friend Teo. Ocean is working aboard a space ship when Teo's ship is attacked. After reports note that he has arrived home, Ocean and the crew of the ship she is on are surprised to find an escape pod with Teo outside of their ship. As they work to determine what is really going on, they get caught up in space fights and Teo's family's business history.
This story has so much promise. It has great characters, a fascinating world, and interesting political situations. Unfortunately, it tries to do far too much in too short of a space. Though I like the characters and understand their motivations, I never felt like I had the full amount of time to fully get to know them. Plot beats move too quickly and the ending is particularly rushed. With a complex world and political machinations, this book should have been given a lot longer. More time on each plot point would have gone a long way. I will definitely be interested in what Cho writes next since they clearly have a great mind for plot and characters. I hope in their next book, they will provide themselves more time to let their story really feel fleshed out and well paced.

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chanlo1994's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

3.75

I wasn't too sure of the character foils presented.

I thought the crew Ocean was with didn't seem to go with her personality and therefore the initial tone of the book, but maybe it was the voice actor who I didnt enjoy so much.

I did start enjoying the book about halfway through and I really liked the action scenes.

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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adventurous funny tense fast-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? No

4.0

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kuporeads's review

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adventurous

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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caidyn's review

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adventurous emotional tense medium-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

An interesting debut scifi. I wasn't quite sure and then the twist and genre shift caught me off guard. But an excellent read!

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I like science fiction and I love reading Korean writers. Axie Oh’s Rebel Seoul books were a lot of fun, and that was my baseline for reading this one. This one missed the mark for me. I think there were too many elements. Needed a bit more editing.

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starrysteph's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.25

Ocean’s Godori is a clever sci fi adventure with an eclectic cast and a whole lot of heart.

Ocean Yoon is a brilliant spaceship pilot, but she’s been demoted after a [redacted] mission that squandered her reputation and chances of rising up in Korea’s renowned space agency the Alliance. Luckily, she’s found support from her charming crewmates on her simpler but safer new assignment.

Haven is Mortemiam - a religious, thoughtful, and ostracized group that does death rituals. His dad has sent him off to work for Captain Song for a bit and immerse himself in the greater galaxy. He wants to bridge the gap between him and his father, has mixed feelings about his expected marriage to his fiance back home, and is quietly curious about his crewmates - especially Ocean.

And Teo is the outwardly cocky and charming second son of the Anand Tech empire. He never wants for anything, but secretly struggles with living up to his father’s expectations and being there for his family. He’s also got a lot to learn about the truth behind his empire, especially after he winds up at the center of a complicated & violent plot.

Then there’s a whole swirl of chaos and escapades. It’s a story of navigating identity & figuring out your legacy, tackling complicated parental relationships and expectations, and finding family outside of blood.

There are intense spaceship battles, terrifying body morphing technology, thrilling escapes, the SWEETEST misfit found family, and two smatterings of romance (once is queer and one is very will-they-won’t they). The technology is both interesting & fun, and I enjoyed learning some Korean words (and some imagined future Korean slang). The glossary, which was written in-character, was both helpful and a delightful addition to the journey. This was a really cool and creative world and vision of the future.

The events of the summary don’t happen until the book is more than halfway through - I actually flipped back a few times to make sure I had read it right, since it seemed like the inciting event. And then I was just anticipating it! I think that’s a bit of a marketing mishap. And then there’s a massive cliffhanger at the end. I don’t see this listed as the first in a series, but it HAS to be, right? If so, I think this story will absolutely shine now that the setup is done.

I absolutely adored these characters. They’re a prickly but loveable group, and even though we only get deep glimpses into some of them (it’s a very large cast), I was thoroughly charmed. I particularly loved the raider Phoenix and his crew who came in at the end; I’m sure that their roles will be much bigger if there are future books.

There’s a start here to a galactic exploration of colonization & capitalism - mostly through Teo’s influential family - and Teo starts to unpack his own biases. There’s also condemnation from supporting characters from various planets who have been directly hurt by the Anand Tech exploits and innovations. I would love to see deeper conversation around these themes, going beyond just acknowledging them. How do our main characters envision a better world? What will they do to bring us closer to that?

If you love books featuring charming found families & characters puzzling out their relationships with their parents - AND books set in cool, futuristic worlds with action scenes galore - I think Ocean’s Godori will be a perfect match.

CW: death (family/parents), murder, war, colonization, classism, guns, panic attacks, fire, grief

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(I received a free advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

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sakeriver's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-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

5.0

Interesting space opera set in a solar system where a reunified Korea is the dominant space power. There's a fair amount of action, but it's pretty character-centric. Each of the main POV characters has an internal struggle related to their backstories, trying to understand their current identity and how it fits with their personal history and culture. Found family and queer love are also major themes. Based on the rather abrupt ending, this one appears to be the first of a series, and I'm interested to see where it goes.

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