Scarlett Reads: Ocean’s Echo
One of my vague goals for 2023 is to read more actual books (instead of just fanfiction about my faves, which is excellent reading and also important but sort of a different vibe) and to that end I plan to review at least one actual book a month so: Here we go!
The cover of Ocean’s Echo by Everina Maxwell
I loved Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell. I mean... arranged marriage? the excruciating ordeal of falling in love with your new husband? cool gender stuff? a space conspiracy? HUDDLING FOR WARMTH? THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED????!!! If she'd managed to mess up a book with those tropes it would have been honestly impressive, but she didn't! It was an excellent read, and as soon as I heard about Ocean's Echo I was so ready to read her work again. I never for a second worried I wouldn't like it as much as the first one.
Excellent news: I liked it as much as the first one.
Listen, you all probably know at this point how much I love the cdrama The Untamed and the Chinese webnovel The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation upon which it was based. If you've seen a single gifset from the show, you may have gathered that it's a romance between a feral chaos goblin and an uptight, emotionally repressed order warrior. If you've done any further investigation into the characters, you may have learned that the chaos goblin is actually incredibly insightful and the order warrior, instead of being unfeeling, is actually so full of feelings that he has to keep them under careful control at all times.
Friends: Enter Tennal and Surit. They are a chaos goblin/order warrior ship like none other. They hate each other! They admire each other! They have a terrible time trying to communicate with each other! They have mind powers! They end up telepathically bonded! Wait, that wasn't hate, that was love!! THIS IS MY FUCKING CATNIP!!!
Throw in complicated family dynamics, a military conspiracy, space as an ocean, wild alien shit, and compelling prose? You have a compelling, fun, seat-of-your-pants sci-fi romance that had me guessing at the twists and turns and only getting some of them right. I highly recommend reading this if you haven't already, and pick up Winter's Orbit while you're at it.
Info about both books can be found at https://everinamaxwell.com/