Ocean's Echo

By: Everina Maxwell

Narrated by: Raphael Corkhill

Length: 17 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

"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

Wonderful sci-fi romance

I’ve re-listened to this several times already. Great characters, I loved the world building, I definitely want to read more books set in this universe. Also a great performance.

Sublime

My God. This story! This narrator! fantastic. World building is excellent, characters enjoyable, plot gripping. Loved every minute and wished it were twice as long. Next book had better have same narrator or I will burn stuff down. 10,000/10

surprisingly wonderful

I had never heard of this book or author, but it was mentioned on NY Times end of year book recommendations for the Romance genre. I had no real expectations going in, and I think that made me enjoy it more. Not really a traditional romance...very very slow burn, and not much physical affection between the protagonists, but has a lot of action and does a good job developing the very deep and emotionally satisfying bond that forms between them. Found it very emotionally satisfying, enjoyed the sci-fi elements, engaging plot! Would recommend and will be downloading the author's other novel next. The narrator does a good job, the accents he chose were unexpected but ultimately I got used to it, and it worked.

Amazing story and narrator!

I will read anything Everina Maxwell writes and I would listen to Raphael Corkhill read the phone book. Together they are a match made in heaven.

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.

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)

Amazing Story!

The narrator did such a great job and brought so much to the story! There's a great mystery part of the story as well as fascinating mental abilities and for those who've read Winter's Orbit, you get to find out a lot more about the remnants. There's no sex but a few very emotionally romantic scenes and a wonderful slow development of a steadily deepening relationship between the two men. Also there are some really great side characters that I loved. Now that I've finished listening, I'm tempted to listen to it again because the story takes you through so many interesting events and I'm still thinking back on it all. I highly recoomed it!

Plotty, Emotional Sci-fi Romance that Ups the Game from Winter’s Orbit

Ocean’s Echo was a fantastic read from start to finish! Tenal and Surit make a great match, balancing each other in the best way. Both the political plot of the brewing civil war and the mystery plot involving how the Architects and Readers were initially created and if the public story is accurate are intriguing and suspenseful, and watching Tenal and Surit play off each other as they work to simultaneously keep their secret while investigating the various mysteries is hilarious and suspenseful by turns. This was a delightful read without a dull moment, and its themes deal with timely questions like, Is it possible to act justly within an unjust system without that system destroying you? And, is personal escape from an unjust system a moral choice, or do we have a responsibility to each other to work to change what we can?

This is a stand-alone work and you do not need to read Winter’s Orbit first (if you prefer sci-fi plots to romance arcs, you will like this one better - if you’re in it for the romance you will love both), but Winter’s Orbit does provide slightly more context on what exactly the Resolution is and how it works.

Anyway, I’m going to immediately reread this, and I hope everyone reading this review gives it a try and loves it as much as I do!