Sci-Fi Book Review: Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell
JJ’s rating 5/5
How feral did it make me: 5/5. 6/5. 1000/5.
My book reviews
Okay, this was another book I read in my search for something to make me as feral as A Taste of Gold and Iron did. And guys…. oh my god. Oh my gOD! This book…is perfect to me. I read some reviews of Everina Maxwell’s first book, Winter’s Orbit, including one hilarious one that called it “too slow burn” (a better endorsement I couldn’t ask for), but I was hesitant because it is also an arranged marriage story, and I was worried that maybe that trope just isn’t for me unless there’s some serious enemies to lovers going on with it. So instead, I read this one, because the summary seemed way more my speed. And BOY was I right!
So, the summary: Tennal is an asshole socialite desperately trying to find anything to distract him from his troubles. He lives in a society where the military has created two types of neuro-modified people: those who can read minds (readers) and those who can control minds (architects). People who aren’t neuro-modified are called neutrals. For reasons that are explored in the book, readers are not trusted by society. When Tennal is conscripted into the military, he is ordered to sync with an architect, which is an irreversible procedure that will mentally tie him to another person forever. The architect the army chooses? The galaxy’s goodest boy and the son of a notorious traitor, Surit Yeni. Surit is very morally upright and has a very clear view of right and wrong. When he realizes that Tennal is being forced into the sync, he offers to fake the sync until they can find a way for him to escape. Basically, fake dating, except instead of dating, it's soul bonds.
Guys. GUYS. This book is so, so, so good. The relationship between Tennal and Surit is absolutely a very slow burn. I believe the author described it as something like a low heat romance, which is accurate. Like, the romance is at the very center of the book, but not in a “they want to rip each other’s clothes off for most of the book” kind of way (though there’s not none of that tbf). It’s more of a “they slowly develop a bond built on trust and respect that slowly turns into love” kind of way. Like if their romance is a pot of water on the stove, the burner is on the whole time, but it’s on low. It’s a SIMMER. The whole book is about these two characters who are carrying around these personal burdens of “no one could love me because of X”, only to have all those layers stripped away. Everything that they were using to keep the world at a distance, removed. FUCK. Despite being a book in which the characters don’t do more than kiss a few times, this relationship had me FROTHING AT THE MOUTH levels of rabid, feral gremlin. The “we hate each other because we have been thrown into a circumstance where conflict was inevitable and our personalities clash and we get off on the wrong foot” to “oh wow this person is… so much more than I could have expected.” to “I absolutely respect and trust this person more than maybe anyone else” to “I love him” is PERFECT. GOD. Okay this is kind of a spoiler, but has anyone seen this tiktok? Because minus the shape shifting aliens bit, I fully believe Everina Maxwell based Ocean’s Echo on that tiktok (if you care about spoilers, do not watch until after you’ve read the book).Â
I also want to mention that Everina Maxwell is out here writing ART. The prose in this book is great. Most of the time it doesn’t super stand out (in a good way), but then there will be a line that just punches you right in the gut. There are lines that I am still thinking about over a week later.Â
I guess I should also talk about the plot. Maybe. I guess. The plot is great. Much more developed than I have come to expect from sci-fi/fantasy romances. On the scale of “sci-fi with romance” to “romance with sci-fi”, I would put this one pretty squarely in the middle. Like, the plot is intense. There is a lot of lore and mysteries to unravel in this one. You do actually have to focus to follow along with all the politics and scheming and science shenanigans that happen. But it’s a good time! It was tense when it needed to be, the pacing was great, and the payoff was satisfying.Â
If I were to make some comparisons of this book, I would say that Tennal and Surit kind of remind me of Laurent and Damen from Captive Prince. Tennal, like Laurent, hides trauma and pain behind a very prickly persona. Surit, like Damen, is a good person living and thriving in a not-so-good system, until a prickly ASSHOLE comes along and makes him reevaluate. Like Damen and Laurent, neither Tennal nor Surit want to be in the situation that brings them together, and like Damen and Laurent, they both hate each other upon meeting. Also, Tennal and Surit have to work together in a military situation like Damen and Laurent, and it is during this time that they learn to trust and respect each other. I’m not a huge sci-fi reader for the most part, so I don’t really have other sci-fi books to compare it to, but I would say don’t let the genre scare you off if you don’t normally read sci-fi.Â
I am BEGGING people to read this book. There are like, 13 fics for it on Ao3 and all of them are great, but I would love for this book to have a bigger fandom. Read it!! Do yourself the favor!!!!!!!
Here is a stupid meme I made for anyone who, like myself, has gone through the entirety of the “Ocean’s Echo” tag on the author’s tumblr:
