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A review by doogsley
Ocean's Godori by Elaine U. Cho
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
this book was given to me for free from bookwormreads in exchange for a review! thank you so much for this opportunity! 🪱💖
i LOVED this.
ocean's godori is an adventurous, diverse, heartfelt space opera with big beautiful roots in korean culture and heritage. it starts slow, but not boring; just nuanced, complicated human stuff being aired out. the number one focus in this narrative is the ragtag cast of perplexing people, and how all of their red strings of fate lead to a big tangled rats nest of anti-heroes. i wouldn't consider this to be a tidy narrative, as some charas get larger spotlights than others, much to my chagrin. i genuinely adore the whole main cast, and because of that, i wish this book were like... 100 pages longer. i want more time on the ohneul, more face mask and movie night moments, more mundane companionship thick with shakespearian metaphor. it's so atmospheric, and weirdly quaint. great worldbuilding too. def giving cowboy bebop vibes in the best ways. in fact, i recommend reading this book a la watching an anime in your head. pretty peak experience.
i LOVED this.
ocean's godori is an adventurous, diverse, heartfelt space opera with big beautiful roots in korean culture and heritage. it starts slow, but not boring; just nuanced, complicated human stuff being aired out. the number one focus in this narrative is the ragtag cast of perplexing people, and how all of their red strings of fate lead to a big tangled rats nest of anti-heroes. i wouldn't consider this to be a tidy narrative, as some charas get larger spotlights than others, much to my chagrin. i genuinely adore the whole main cast, and because of that, i wish this book were like... 100 pages longer. i want more time on the ohneul, more face mask and movie night moments, more mundane companionship thick with shakespearian metaphor. it's so atmospheric, and weirdly quaint. great worldbuilding too. def giving cowboy bebop vibes in the best ways. in fact, i recommend reading this book a la watching an anime in your head. pretty peak experience.
this book has the very fun sidequest of learning an entirely new language and culture via common google searches. i deeply appreciate when a fictional book expands my irl worldview; i've spent a lot of time these last few days nestled into korean wikipedia articles. my loved ones are now ALL aware of haenyeo, go-stop, and the syntactic concept of 'namisa'. BUT, upon finishing the book, i discovered a very helpful glossary in the back!! haha. nonetheless, it's always a fun time when i get lost in the sociolinguistic sauce.
ocean, the fmc, rules. i just adore a good jaded, bloodied, rough around the edges lady, who also carries grace and poignancy. she's a less-friendly spike spiegel. i loved whenever she arrived on-scene cuz i knew some casual badassery would be afoot. cho really let this character fly free, and despite holding onto some classic tropes, she didn't elicit any eyerolls or feel heavy-handed. just a solid protag all around. the whole cast is charming imo. i just want more time with all of them!
which leads me to my main complaints: the last 30 minutes were WAY too out of control/abrupt in contrast to the peculiarly-cozy pacing of the first parts of the novel, and it also introduced one of my least favorite romance tropes on the second-to-last page lol. like i previously said, i wish this were baked a lil longer, gave us a lil more to hold onto re: character dynamics, romances, mysteries. the foundations are so excellent though. i was SO giddy to find out that a book 2 is coming!! it's not perfect, but i loved it.
recommended to those who enjoy becky chambers' bibliography but are lookin for a lil more blood-n-guts and political intrigue. saturn in aries vibes.