Ocean's Echo

Product Information

The author on acknowledgments thanks many many many people, including presumably two editors, and big teams at two publishing houses (Tor US and Orbit UK). Maxwell's witty dialogue, tender characterizations and portrayal of diverse gender identities should quickly win her a devoted fanbase. Maxwell's delightful debut will please science fiction and romance readers alike, telling a slow burn of a relationship fraught with high stakes and action.

Although I would still say that if you are expecting a similar experience to Winter's Orbit this is not 50/50 sci-fi/romance, this is more 70/30 in my opinion.There were a few threads that were left without answers and even Tennal and Surit's future together was presented more as a hopeful thing than a sure one. The beginning, like all the rest, is beautifully written - seriously, Everina Maxwell is an artist with words, and I am in awe of her writing style - BUT I found it a little painful to read.

Everina Maxwell's debut, "Winter's Orbit", stole my heart, and I hoped this one could too; unfortunately, while I did enjoy it, it just couldn't hold my interest. BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. The only way to avoid life under full military control is to complete the very sync they've been faking.Ocean's Echo is a slow burn that eventually blazes into a supernova, a novel constrained in its location but massive in its ambition.

Others will probably find the set up very intriguing and enjoy the way it was developed throughout the novel--because it is extremely well developed and detailed--but, due to personal preferences, that was not the case for me. I didn't like this one as much as I liked Winter's Orbit, and I think a lot of it was because of the messy second half, where the plot overran the romance and was just. Not talking about explicitness levels again, first kiss at 88% of the book, though one of the main characters has sex with other people (and it makes sense for him to do so) during the book. 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.Ocean's Echo is a stand-alone, romantic space adventure, set in the same universe as Everina Maxwell's hit debut, Winter's Orbit . 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. I wish I understood why, maybe because I do have a forever soft spot for this type of concept, slashy space opera romances and the blurbs/cover really got me for both books.

Because it takes place in the same world, it's hard to not compare them, but it has a similar vibe to Winter's Orbit, but Ocean's Echo feels much more of a sci-fi story, with an undercurrent of romance in it. From the first few pages, Tennal’s self-deprecating humour captured my attention, and I only grew more enthralled by his character the deeper Maxwell dove into his emotions. But it is bad sf (I am going to rant about the worldbuilding in a bit, I can not help myself) and it is a bad romance. Nevertheless, it is a mark of the author’s deftness that the book still felt driven by Tennal and Surit’s relationship, even where it was not dwelled upon.Tennal often set out to make trouble, it was true, but this evening, he was genuinely here for a drink and a good time. Unfortunately for the military, they chose the most unwilling and stubborn reader, as well as the most upstanding and rule-following architect ever. The focus of this book is slightly more on the latter than on the former, which is a slight difference from Maxwell’s debut novel, but I think that also provides an opportunity for exploration of power systems and the way they’re upheld and inherited. At the center of Ocean’s Echo is Tennal Halkana, the rich, smarmy nephew of a powerful legislator who fancies himself to be a charming rogue flirting his way across the galaxy.