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abby_ace_of_books 's review for:
Ocean's Echo
by Everina Maxwell
Fake dating but fake mind control was not a trope I had on my 2024 bingo card, but I love it so much.
Ocean's Echo has been on my TBR since I read Winter's Orbit last year, but I was hesitant to get into it because of the different characters. As I expected, the vibes were a bit different, but this book is going to be living in my head 24/7 for the next week or so. I don't know if it's because it's been a while since I really enjoyed a romance in a story or if it's that I read sci-fi infrequently; I just know that once I started this book, I didn't want to put it down.
Tennalhin is a reader and a rogue one at that. When the government finally finds an excuse to conscript him into the army, he is matched with an architect (basically someone who can control other people's minds) who will "sync" with him and control him for the rest of his life. However, when Surit - the architect - discovers that he must sync with an unwilling civilian, he and Tennal decide to fake the sync and escape. There's so much political stuff happening in the background, but this is also a story about military exploitation. I really enjoyed most of the plot twists and how angsty the second half of the book was. I don't want to call the ending anticlimactic - because it definitely wasn't - but something about it just feels a bit off to me, although that's my only main complaint.
Like the author's other book, the romance and the characters were all amazing. I love Tennal's personality and his complicated feelings for Surit as well as his arc...it's all just so good. Surit really reminded me of Steve Rogers (I think Tennal is a little too sunshine-y to be Bucky, though), and I wasn't expecting to like him as much as I did, especially with his angsty and equally complicated feelings for Surit. I also really liked the background characters, like Istara and Basavi (and their romance was super cute). I wish we got to see more of Zin.
Ocean's Echo is a thrilling sci-fi story about what it means to be a weapon and the infinitesimal role of humans in the face of the universe.
4.25/5
Ocean's Echo has been on my TBR since I read Winter's Orbit last year, but I was hesitant to get into it because of the different characters. As I expected, the vibes were a bit different, but this book is going to be living in my head 24/7 for the next week or so. I don't know if it's because it's been a while since I really enjoyed a romance in a story or if it's that I read sci-fi infrequently; I just know that once I started this book, I didn't want to put it down.
Tennalhin is a reader and a rogue one at that. When the government finally finds an excuse to conscript him into the army, he is matched with an architect (basically someone who can control other people's minds) who will "sync" with him and control him for the rest of his life. However, when Surit - the architect - discovers that he must sync with an unwilling civilian, he and Tennal decide to fake the sync and escape. There's so much political stuff happening in the background, but this is also a story about military exploitation. I really enjoyed most of the plot twists and how angsty the second half of the book was. I don't want to call the ending anticlimactic - because it definitely wasn't - but something about it just feels a bit off to me, although that's my only main complaint.
Like the author's other book, the romance and the characters were all amazing. I love Tennal's personality and his complicated feelings for Surit as well as his arc...it's all just so good. Surit really reminded me of Steve Rogers (I think Tennal is a little too sunshine-y to be Bucky, though), and I wasn't expecting to like him as much as I did, especially with his angsty and equally complicated feelings for Surit. I also really liked the background characters, like Istara and Basavi (and their romance was super cute). I wish we got to see more of Zin.
Ocean's Echo is a thrilling sci-fi story about what it means to be a weapon and the infinitesimal role of humans in the face of the universe.
4.25/5