Ocean's Echo

By: Everina Maxwell

Narrated by: Raphael Corkhill

"Listeners will relish the interstellar politicking and Corkhill's talent for voicing unforgettable personalities."- AudioFile

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?

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books.

©2022 Everina Maxwell (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"This earns a space on shelves alongside the very best of the genre." —Publisher's Weekly, Starred Review

"Writing fantastically memorable characters, Maxwell masterfully draws out a rich and complicated story which explores military incursions, familial ties, and the impact of secrets revealed." —Booklist, Starred Review

“Compassionate, queer, slightly horrifying, and wildly inventive—Ocean’s Echo whisked me into a faraway world of spacefaring outcasts and rogues, teased me with the promise of not-quite-human romance, and vaulted me into a transcendent meditation on identity, truth, and meaning of existence itself. What a glorious read!” —Ryka Aoki, author of Light from Uncommon Stars

The Main Characters.

It’s very difficult to write this review,
I am not sure honestly, how I feel about the book and the story.
As the story progressed, I really came to like both Tennal and Surit. Tennal, wild and irresponsible, ping-ponging from one disaster, after another, under the disapproving eye of his legislator Aunt.
Surit, earnest and honest, and so tightly reserved that he is almost robotic.
Is so completely opposite, how can they possibly find common ground and yet they do gravitate towards each other, building trust, as they work to discover a deep, dark cap secret that threatens their entire planet.
And this is where the uncertainty begins, I love a good sci-fi, outer space novel, I really liked these two guys, but I personally wish there had been a little more spark in their interactions .
Everina Maxwell writes beautiful, lyrical, prose and lovely descriptions, but hoping and waiting for meaningful dialogue and advances in the relationship was like watching paint dry.
The story wasn’t dynamic enough, and their relationship had zero spark,
I did find it to be a tad frustrating and disappointing. I do like the writers writing style just not the content of this story so much.
On the other hand, I listen to this as an audiobook, and the narrator, who, I apologize the name escapes me, was absolutely fantastic, it most definitely elevated the enjoyment of the story.
So I’m thinking of this as a 3 1/2 star rating .

Great

Loved the book. The story kept me interested and paying attention the entire time much better than the fist book ( 1st was good but not as good)

Where's the epilogue?

I loved this story so much I bought a copy of both the audiobook and the ebook (and will probably buy a print copy in the future). Thoroughly enjoyed this read with only one complaint: Where's the epilogue? The audiobook ends with chapter 34, and my ebook most definitely has an epilogue. I bought my audiobook copy some time ago, so maybe this issue has already been corrected. If not, audiobook listeners may not realize they're missing out.

All the stars!

RTC RTC R T C R T C R T C R T C R T C. LATER when I can think.

All of the 5 star reviews are deserved

Not One Wasted Word
I wasn’t at all familiar with this author or narrator. For me, this is a discovery; an unexpected find.