Ocean's Echo

Before I read this book, I watched several CinemaSins videos, and I couldn't help but zing my way through this book. So let's go. Spoilers included.

0. How are readers scarier can architects? Architects can literally take over your body? Yeah you know what's happening, but the fuck does that do when you can't stop it? Excuse me, I'd rather somebody know about that time I was using the men's bathroom and some guy opened it and just kinda stood there while I awkwardly pulled my pants up and fled than you know, take control of my body. What kind of society do they live in?

0.5. Book opens with a young rake just doing some raking things. Then he has sex, so you know he's got game. Then he gets arrested, because plot's gotta plot.

1. There were several dramatic pauses in this book: “at that moment”, “In that moment”, “that was the moment”, “that was when he knew”, etc. Late in the book they began to occur more frequently. I didn't like this. It felt like withdrawing from the action. I vividly remember that one scene on the Fractal Note after they just made their plans, and then we cut away with something similar. Just let the story ride on.

2. The first half was better than the second half. I hoped the last quarter would be better, but it was all just too convenient. Surit dips in the tug, doesn't die immediately after breaking the sync, conveniently gets picked up by Archer, taken to Oma, who conveniently leaves him alive. He finds sudden strength, we get some Rank Onering, then he conveniently runs into Tennal who is there, somehow. They resync, conveniently find Oma, and conveniently take her out of the equation even though she is much more powerful than them.

Also Zin's around and does important lawyer stuff. The Resolution is like this all knowing council that always resolves everything the right way. The next book better be about the High Chain and/or have a Resolution main character.

So right, the second half was convenient. The last ten percent was actually boring. 

3. Surit loses his powers because Tennal forgot he had powers. No, no, Tennal never knew Surit had powers. Imagine. It's not earned. He should have lost it earlier, maybe when he was lending it to Tennal. Not because Tennal forgot. How does that make sense?

4. Speaking of forgetting. Here's a huge one: the compulsion. Tennal was in that room when Oma compelled Surit. Later he says (to paraphrase) “Oma said she put a compulsion...” but he was there. He saw it. He saw that it worked, because there was a dramatic pause with “Oma wrote Surit”. Not Oma tried to write Surit. So he knew, and Surit knew too. It's not like the compulsion makes you forget you were compelled. But they both forgot. Wonderful.

5. Where did the compulsion go? Oma could have used it in the last act and taken Surit out of commission. Did she forget too lol? Was the whole thing just a way to have that scene on the Note and trigger Surit's suicide plan?

6. Let's talk about Tennal. I oscillated between neutrality and, I don't know, not neutrality. He's not a great guy. He says so himself, often. He reads people with no remorse, so he doesn't exactly have moral high ground. And that's fine, I guess. Zing anyway for crossing Surit's boundaries when they first met. And also for not taking “No” for an answer when the tried to pressure Surit into sex.

Also, the scene where he goes to float off in space for no reason. At least Surit didn't forget his reader powers eh? 

7. Tennal has architect powers now. Nothing becomes of it. What was the whole point of Surit breaking the sync? If they simply resynced? Nothing changed between the break and the resync. No new feelings developed, no new threats. Absolutely nothing but that Surit decided he didn't want to die anymore. I mean that's a valid reason but not a particularly strong one, especially for Surit who puts Tennal above his self-preservation instincts.

8. The chemistry wasn't all the way there. It tried to be there, but two things happened:
A. Somewhere in that third quarter I wanted the plot to plot but we were stuck with Tennal and Surit and mostly in Tennal's head, and he did his best to squash all feelings for Surrit. So there weren't any romantic thoughts and all that.
B. In the end they get together but Tennal's going away soon anyway. Yeah he'll be back, but I don't care.

9. We get withdrawn from the action. The coup starts, and our heroes go off to do their own thing. Who sent those fucking coordinates? Why would the Emperor, sorry the Legislator, send the coordinates to Tennal? Not knowing if he was fully on her side? And why did she not expect him, knowing she sent them to him? Yeah sure someone else might have, but who? Convenient plot device is convenient.

But on the action, we miss the whole thing. Next time we come back the coup has spread to Exana (did I spell it right?), Oma is now Legislator Oma, and Commander Vinys (ha, remember that guy? He's here, somehow) is here with the Cavalry (see what I did there?). Surit gets to show him though and locks him out so he and Tennal (how did Tennal get in?) can fight Oma in a universe scale showdown at High Noon. Except it's two ancient aliens hurling rocks at each other. Mental rocks. Maybe some physical too. Idk there was a lot of striking.

10. Have I mentioned how convenient it is that the Resolution just cleans everything up?

10.5. Why does the Legislator simply not stay dead?
 

4.5✨

I really wish I could read casually instead of devouring books in one day like a starved goblin. This book was Perfection. World building 100%, Characters 100%, weird and interesting stuff 100%

Will I read this again? Hell yea! Buying the hardbacks as we speak. Also some extra book display stands. I need more shelf space.

Cute and fun story.

3.5 stars. Well written sci fi adventure that includes an understated romance between a chaos goblin and a rule-bound soldier. A little too much plot involving political machinations and theories about deep space, but fortunately, the last 100 pages amp up the romance quotient.

CW: compulsion, mind control, mild substance abuse pertaining to the world

This is a book that has been high up on my tbr since it was announced because Winter's Orbit was my most favorite romance book of last year and I had high expectations from this one when I realized it was gonna be set in the same world. I'm still trying to compile my thoughts but I think having too many expectations can sometimes be an unnecessary hindrance.

I started reading this quite a while ago but stopped about a quarter in coz I was just not in the right mood for it and I wanted to love it. And there's much to enjoy here. It maybe set in the world as it's predecessor but we are dealing with completely different planets here along with chaotic space and neuromodified individuals called architects and readers - and it was fun to explore these new ideas. But there's also familiar themes from the first one like forced proximity of the main characters, a planet in flux, possibilities of a coup/ civil war/ revolution, and the antagonists using the alien remnants to alter people's thoughts and actions. I think there's a fine line between being familiar and being repetitive, and maybe I found it a tad bit repetitive thematically. But the pacing is super quick and things happen so fast that we don't even get time to process everything before the characters are thrust into more dangerous situations. And the author is definitely very accomplished at writing characters successfully getting out of tricky situations through their wit and quick thinking.

The fun characters definitely help. Tennal is a chaotic disaster and I just can't imagine being in his head. He is actively causing destruction to his own life coz he can't catch up with his ever spinning thoughts, and is then forcibly conscripted into the military to straighten him out. He is to be brain synced with Surit, a very proper soldier who breathes rules and regulations and just wants a promotion so that he can financially support his parent. They together make for a very satisfying couple because they complement each other almost perfectly. I liked that this is an extremely slow burn romance because there is immense power imbalance in one being able to literally mind control the other, and the author navigates these tricky waters quite well. We also get some interesting side characters and antagonists but definitely loved Istara and Basavi for being so loyal and doing the right thing even when they are in danger.

While controlling other's thoughts and compelling them to do things has been a common action of the antagonists across both the novels, the author is also quite subtle in showing us how power - and especially military power - is used to garner more of it, do harm in the name of research or security, and justify it later by force or manipulation. Almost everyone in a position of power feels corrupted in some way here and it's hard to even take them at their word when they strive to make changes or right their wrongs. And now I'm not sure where I was going with this paragraph

Science fiction with a romance subplot is by far my favourite genre, and there sadly isn't enough of it so for that reason I'm biased into giving this book a 5, but would probably dock half a star or more otherwise. I binged this one in one sitting on the plane so I definitely enjoyed it!

Basically the plot revolves around people with the ability to influence minds (architects) as well as those with the ability to read them (readers). For some reason architects are accepted in society and it's the readers that have to keep their powers a secret. And I struggled a bit to wrap my head around that one since manipulating thoughts seems a lot more dangerous than just reading them. And then they smash in that romance subplot by forcing an architect to mind-bond with a reader (yes sounds cheesy but it's good I promise).

I was a little disappointed because there was less romance than in Winter's Orbit, and the plot wasn't as engaging. I was a bit confused for the first few chapters, but after that I got into the plot and it was worth the read.

3.50/5.00 [Good]