I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell Published by Tom Doherty Associates on November 1, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Science Fiction / Action & Adventure, Fiction / Science Fiction / Space Opera
Pages: 320
Ocean's Echo is a stand-alone space adventure about a bond that will change the fate of worlds, set in the same universe as Everina Maxwell's hit debut, Winter's Orbit.
Rich socialite, inveterate flirt, and walking disaster Tennalhin Halkana can read minds. Tennal, like all neuromodified “readers,” is a security threat on his own. But when controlled, readers are a rare asset. Not only can they read minds, but they can navigate chaotic space, the maelstroms surrounding the gateway to the wider universe.
Conscripted into the military under dubious circumstances, Tennal is placed into the care of Lieutenant Surit Yeni, a duty-bound soldier, principled leader, and the son of a notorious traitor general. Whereas Tennal can read minds, Surit can influence them. Like all other neuromodified “architects,” he can impose his will onto others, and he’s under orders to control Tennal by merging their minds.
Surit accepted a suspicious promotion-track request out of desperation, but he refuses to go through with his illegal orders to sync and control an unconsenting Tennal. So they lie: They fake a sync bond and plan Tennal's escape.
Their best chance arrives with a salvage-retrieval mission into chaotic space—to the very neuromodifcation lab that Surit's traitor mother destroyed twenty years ago. And among the rubble is a treasure both terrible and unimaginably powerful, one that upends a decades-old power struggle, and begins a war.
Tennal and Surit can no longer abandon their unit or their world. The only way to avoid life under full military control is to complete the very sync they've been faking.
Can two unwilling weapons of war bring about peace?
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
So I did stay up until 3am last week to read this book, and then I had to fall asleep and wake up again to immediately finish it as soon as I was conscious again. This is crunchy sci-fi mixed with fantastic romance that hits all my favorite tropes. I’ve recently been finding regular contemporary romance a little boring, even at that third-act breakup scene, and this is just what I needed: romance with SCIENCE FICTION as its backdrop. I loved both characters, and even though I personally am a Surit, Tennal was his perfect foil that also made him better as a character. I feel like I can never do this justice with a description! I loved this book! Five stars, absolutely one of my top favorites of 2022.
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