I was really excited to read this standalone sequel to Winters Orbit, and I'm glad to say it measured up! And another beautiful cover. Of course, my review writing energy today is absolute trash, but here's thoughts anyway:

I really loved how distinct all the characters were. Not only did Tennal and Surit have complementary and individual personalities, but the secondary characters (and even tertiary/background ones!) had a solid sense of personality. No neglecting character depth in this book!

I enjoyed seeing Surit and Tennal slowly start to trust and work together. They kind of just gradually slipped into it, very naturally, and it was a lovely theme.

That's another general thing I loved - the development of their relationship and connection was impeccable. A slow burn, but such emotional depth! Hard to find a book with such skilled relationship development.

The plot and conspiracy and intrigue elements unfolded at a very accessible pace. I tend to struggle to follow many characters and plot lines, so maybe some might find it straightforward, but this had me both able to follow the developments as well as not quite knowing what was coming next! Definitely my favorite kind of balance.

The imagery in this was unreal - such colorful and evocative descriptions.

The one place I struggled the most was the beginning - there was just so many terms and factions and things happening all at once, I got a bit lost. Might not be an issue for more attentive readers, but it was somewhat of a struggle for me.

Overall, this was another lovely book by this author! Truly some unique concepts, and a very accessible sci-fi story. The romance was fantastic as well, and I always love an in-depth emotional connection. Highly recommend!

I was instantly intrigued by Ocean's Echo and its position as a companion novel to Winter's Orbit. While it is in the same world, I feel like we are seeing an entirely different piece of the world. To be fair, it's been a while since I read Winter's Orbit, but the world felt so unique to me! I loved this idea of "reading" and architects. So while I was just getting used to the characters at the beginning, I was drawn in by the world. While this one felt more 'space-y' and science fiction than Winter's Orbit because they are legit in space and there are space chases and battles, that's one of the reasons I loved it.

Thank you Everina Maxwell and Tor for the opportunity to read an ARC of Ocean’s Echo in exchange for my honest review. All the opinions that follow are my own.

I am new to this universe, but I found this story delightful!

Things I loved:
- The slow burn romance between the MMCs (this isn’t the focus of the story but I really enjoyed watching their relationship bloom in the background)
- The tempo of the story and the world building! This is the type of book I love to savor because each chapter is so well written. I’m not usually a fan of standalone stories but this series makes it work!
- The gender system created for the universe. It’s nice to read a story where non-binary people were part of their society. It was so well done and simple.

Looking forward to what Maxwell does next within this unique universe.

I'm definitely in the minority of most reviewers that are coming to this book after reading and loving Winter's Orbit, in the sense that I felt lukewarm about Maxwell's debut. I still thought that Maxwell was an author I could really enjoy though, which was absolutely proven true by her sophomore novel, Ocean's Echo. I greatly enjoyed it.

I'm more of a sci-fi reader than a romance, so it didn't bother me that this book is pretty lacking in the warm fuzzies department. I thought that the foxhole bond between Surit and Tennal was really compelling and kept me engaged, but will certainly disappoint those drawn into the book for more of a focus on their relationship.

I'm a sucker for brain magic bonding mumbo-jumbo, so I loved the focus on syncs between architects and readers. I thought it was a good balance to the more military sci-fi vibe of the rest of the book, which can sometimes be overwhelmingly technical in other works.

I did find the ending a bit scattered in the way that the plot was tied up, though. I didn't really understand the main big bad's motivations, or how they were eventually neutralized. I suppose I wanted a bit more finality, but I can see how the choices made for the characters make sense,

In general, a lovely standalone. I know it is based in the same universe as Winter's Orbit, but it can easily be read without having read the first book. Honestly, the only thing I remembered world-building wise from the first was the gender markers thing, and I held in just fine. The first chapter or two is pretty dense with info-dumping, but if you can hang with it, I soared through this book.

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*ARC Reading Vlog -- Ocean's Echo*

~Thanks to Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Ocean's Echo in exchange for an honest review. ~

From the beginning, I like that we’re dropped into this society and forced to put together pieces as we follow the characters. By the end, I found this was a pretty well-developed world, with a strong sci-fi quality to it, that sometimes made me think of *Mass Effect*. I really liked that the people of this world were edging into a more evolved group via their telepathy skills. It made me intrigued from the beginning and the relevance of it in the political plots made for some high stakes.

The start of the book felt very focused on establishing our characters. I liked Tennal from the start. He is a rebellious mess, who’s desperate to escape his own mind, but also terrified of any commitment. I could help but liken him to Mariner from *Lower Decks.* Surit, on the other hand, is pretty gruff and grumbly at the start, but lordy, he’s gotta sweet interior, which we often don’t see from his words or thoughts, it’s in his actions.

It was a ride to see these two get to know one another and slowly develop from fake comrades to friends to something more. There are small moments and actions that showcase their feelings becoming more than platonic. This is so slow-moving and definitely a lot lighter in regard to romance, but still, I loved every little moment between them. I was so taken off guard at how much I’d grown to care about each of them by the end of the book.

Slowly, the underlying politics that run throughout the book began to become a more prominent plot point. At the halfway point now and I both felt like a lot had happened and not a lot had happened, meaning the pacing was pretty odd. However, I was hooked when this started building up the political scheming more and exploring the imbalance of the society and the injustices that the readers were subjected to. This area was where the action really kicked up a notch and the ending? Oh, it was punchy and leaned a lot more into the sci-fi elements that had been hinted at previously.

With a setting in the military, the writing matched by being pretty stiff and formal, with a really proper tone to match, except when the author dives into the telepathy, then it edges into a more flowery, romantic style, that I much preferred.

This is stony sci fi fanfic change my mind

Oh damn, this ending was pretty punchy, DEFINITELY went harder into the fantastical and sci-fi elements that had been hinted at previously. The writing around the final fight was probably the most beautiful of the book and I was pretty close to crying.

The way this story wraps up is satisfying while also not really being the end of this world’s story. There’s definitely more to occur, but it’s a natural ending point for the book.

As for characters, I was so taken off guard by how much I’d come to care about Tennal and Surit by the end. This definitely was a lot slower in regards to their relationship, with much more focus on the main plot, but that didn’t mean I was squealing at these two finally realizing their feelings.

I received an eArc of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Maxwell, I am no fool, I know omegaverse when I see it. You can call the rare socially ostracized group "readers" and the powerful lionized group that can control readers, "architects", and the permanent telepathic bond between members of the two groups a "sync" but I know ABO by any other name.

Needlessly to say I loved every second of this book. Like it starts off a pretty typical ABO arranged marriage story: brash party boy meets by the book military man but it evolves into this wonderful romance about learning how to be loved in front of the backdrop of trying to foil a military coup.

Maxwell is deft at writing romance because she gets how to write emotional intimacy and the fear that comes with it. Ocean's Echo takes Winter's Orbit's themes to the next level thanks to telepathy and it works so well.

I honestly can't wait for what she writes next.

It's everything I love about arranged marriage amplified tenfold.
Like Winter's Orbit this is a space opera, but wit much more science in it.
Maxwell does a stellar job of making this feel like part of the same universe while still introducing an entirely new culture and characters. The Galactic Resolution, while personal presence in this book is lower, looms like a specter over Oceans Echo, it being the reason why the Oshran system had to stop their experiments with remnant technology. Unlike Winter's Orbit however, the remnant experiments are much more personal, both Tennal and Surit Oh yes, this book is all about the remnants, once again the macguffins of the book.
I'll have to read some of her short stories or wait until the next book to confirm, but Maxwell has mommy issues. It's not even subtle. Both books have overbearing maternal figures who are not quite actually mom's that push the two nice boys together and into horrible circumstances.
I love Surit and Tennal, possibly more than I loved the pair in Winter's Orbit. It's the perfect "stoic with a strict moral code" and "charismatic chaos gremlin" pairing. And they are both so mentally ill. Surit is the type of meticulously obsessed with order guy that reminds me of one of my mom's army buddies. And my mom come to think of it. Tennal has one of the strongest and most obvious cases of ADHD I have ever seen in fiction. Honestly, a lot of his tendencies remind me of symptoms I have displayed myself at times, poking at bears until the second before they snap, impulsively running away from home, being able to charm or elbow your way out of nearly any situation.
If I was going to criticize anything about the book it would be the cover. There is a lot of rocky outcropping in the illustration despite the characters not spending more than 20 pages total planet-side. I just think difference choices could have been made to better convey the reality of the book.

An interesting sequel but not sequel to the first. I like that it could be read as a stand alone if needed, but some of the world building would not make quite as much sense. Loved the sass in both main characters and their building attraction to one another.

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...kinda messy.

Anywho, I loved the chaos/order trope, which worked really well even though *technically* this is not really a romance? There is an implied HEA however, although the book ends with enough room to create a sequel.

I was super duper excited to request this one off NetGalley because I really enjoyed Winter's Orbit, but then I actually read the synopsis and it implied it had three of my absolutely least favorite things: mind control, military fraternization, and power imbalance brought about by those two things.

I'm happy to report that my fears were not necessary. Maxwell handled both of those sticking points (for me) very well, sidestepping something that would have made me put the book down and DNF right away. Not that she needs to cater to my whims at all or even knows who the fuck I am...but that's beside the point.

Anywho, I did enjoy this up until the 60% mark, where things got...weird? Messy? Melodramatic and filled with MacGuffins galore in the form of remnants, to the point where I finished for the sake of finishing. The last 40% felt less fleshed out, with character interactions not really hitting for me and the reveals not as impactful, mostly because it felt like the stakes were just blah.

But my opinion is in the minority, and while this was not the read I had hoped for, I can see it being a fun book for others!

I received an ARC from NetGalley

This was everything that I wanted! I absolutely loved winters orbit last year and was excited to jump back intro this world. And I am so glad that I did! Though the premise did worry me at first - military, mind control like plot - I loved the way this was done, and Surit is just a cinnamon roll of a character that must be protected!

While I do think the beginning was a bit slow to start, I really got invested with these characters (even the side characters)! This was sweet and emotional and exactly what I was looking for in this world.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

OCEAN’S ECHO is the mind-control version of a forced marriage/fake dating plot… in space. It’s fantastic.

Tennal doesn’t want to be synced, Surit is affronted by the very idea that he’d be forced to mentally link for life with someone who’s unwilling. Together they hope to pretend the sync worked and fake it long enough for Tennal to get away and for Surit to keep his military career intact. The political intrigues are complex enough to imply a great deal of other stuff that’s happening while reducing the pieces Tennal and Surit have to track into a relatively small list.

I love Tennal and Surit, they make a very interesting team. Tennal is an absolute mess, and Surit is grounded in a way that lets him notice Tennal’s antics without getting bowled over. The course of their relationship is affected early on by the circumstances of their meeting just as much as it is by their personalities, something which continues to matter right until the end of the book. It’s a character-focused story, centering their reactions to what’s happening whether or not one of them was the catalyst. They’re frequently buffeted by someone else’s moves, piecing together what’s going on and why while the adjust their course. It means that even though there’s a lot happening other than their relationship, everything is filtered through their processing of events, singly or together.

Though technically not a sequel, this is in the same universe as WINTER'S ORBIT. The main way this matters is they share a galactic convention for gender-markers by way of jewelry material. Someone could read them in either order or even just read one or the other and have everything make sense.

The ending leaves open the possibility that they’ll show up in later books, tying off major and minor plot threads so that this is a complete story on its own while giving an indication of what they’ll do next.

Source: DRC via NetGalley (Macmillan – Tor/Forge, Tor Books) in exchange for an honest review
Pub. Date: November 1, 2022
Synopsis: Goodreads
Purchase Link: Amazon
Other Books in the Series/Universe: Winter’s Orbit

Why did I choose to read this book?

I was so taken with Winter’s Orbit that I had to read something else by Everina Maxwell. That’s it, that’s the reason.

And FYI you could read this without reading Winter’s Orbit first. They are written in the same universe, but they are not connected in any other way (yet?).

What is this book about?

A long time ago people found little shiny balls called remnants after an explosion in space and experimented with them on military volunteers. They discovered that the volunteers were given the power to either (1) read minds (Readers) or (2) command minds (Writers). People are suspicious of Readers, so high level ones are conscripted into the military to be synced with Pilots/Writers to help them navigate chaotic space.

Yeah, I know. It’s a lot but you’ll pick it up quickly.

If Winter’s Orbit was about love and healing from trauma/neglect, Ocean’s Echo is about consent versus control and holding people accountable for their actions.

What is notable about the story?

KEEP WRITING BOOKS THAT SHOW LGBTQIA+ AS A NORMAL PART OF SOCIETY PLEASE I LOVE THEM. I am so over books that only present these identities as something that people fight against. Show how normal it is, show how it works, show how it looks when it’s done right – please Everina, write some more. I will read them.

I am a fan of the uptight rule follower/chaotic disaster pairing in a novel. It doesn’t even have to be a romantic pairing, they can just be friends, or friends to lovers, or enemies to friends or whatever. Tennal barrels into Surit’s life and they basically bounce off each other the entire book like they are in a pinball machine. It was very entertaining and I even laughed out loud several times.

Something I really loved about both of Maxwell’s books is the pacing. The first half or so is a slow burn. She does an excellent job establishing characters, worldbuilding, the magic system, and just as you’re about to be overloaded by all the detail, she slams her foot on the gas pedal and suddenly you can’t read fast enough, you can’t put it down, you have to know what happens next, and you collide into the last page out of breath and wishing there were more.

Maxwell also does an incredible job setting up jaw-dropping twists. No spoilers.

Was anything not so great?

While the love story in Winter’s Orbit felt natural, the love story in Ocean’s Echo felt very strange. The love doesn’t even happen until the VEEEEEEERY end, and I didn’t find it very believable. It would have been better if they could have been like brothers with a strong bond of trust, and then the love could have grown out of that bond. As it was, they were under too much stress for the entire book to make their feelings real to the reader. If I was friends with either of them I would give them the advice that maybe they should be friends first for awhile and live their new normal lives for a bit to get over the trauma before they decide they are in love. Seems fragile, and not in a good way. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: not every story needs to be a love story.

What’s the verdict?

Love story aside, this book was both very fun and very suspenseful. Maxwell tells a good tale and will leave you wanting more. 4 stars on Goodreads, and a glowing recommendation from yours truly. Go get it.

Let me tell you, I love Winter's Orbit, but I loved this book even more. Winter's Orbit has that murder mystery element, but I was still a little confused and not so engrossed that I could speed through it. This was completely different. With Ocean's Echo, we enter with Tennal, a (mind)reader being conscripted by his legislator aunt . He's supposed to be forced to mentally sync with an architect (mind compulsion person), but the architect, Surit, actually has morals and doesn't want to do that. Together, they have to uncover some government conspiracies regarding Surit's rebel mother and why they were supposed to be synced in the first place.
When I tell you I loved these characters so much!!! Winter's Orbit had great characters too, but Ocean's Echo was fun on another level. Surit, Tennal, and Istara are forever faves. Their motivations and personalities were consistent and clear, and beyond that, I just loved reading about them. Everyone was super complex and easy to read about.
Relationships. Gah. Amazing. The mutual adoration and love in this book? Unmatched. All of the friends are amazing, and the romantic relationships are, too. Tennal and Surit have a logical, nonlinear path to romance, and they value each other and their safety and happiness so much. They have priorities, too! No one is putting romance before survival, and they have the tough conversations.
Plot and world-building were surprisingly good for me reading a sci-fi book. I understood practically everything happening, AND I enjoyed it. One thing I felt both good and bad about was the pacing. Somehow, the last 60% of this book all feels like the last 20% of another book. Consequently, the last 20% was slightly incoherent and felt like the last 5% of the second book in a trilogy. However, this didn't affect my enjoyment at all and at times made it more readable.
I'd DEFINITELY recommend this book. It's definitely not a sequel or spin-off to Winter's Orbit, so I don't know why the cover looks like one, but it's amazing and even better. Ocean's Echo is great for fans of sci-fi and healthy romance that isn't in a romance novel.

Well, this was fun! I confess: I still haven't read Winter's Orbit, but something about description of Ocean's Echo intrigued me enough to request it. And I was right. Sometimes all you need is some light, queernorm sci-fi. Even though Ocean's Echo has its flaws, it simply clicked for me.

Tennal is a walking disaster of a person. He also happens to be a mind-reader. When his legislator aunt gets tired of him, he gets forcefully conscripted into the military and ordered to sync with an architect (mind controller). But Sunit, a promising officer who accepted a sketchy promotion unaware of what it contains, doesn't want to sync with someone who does not consent. So they fake it and start planning for escape. Of course, they accidentally get tangled up into something much bigger.

Though this is, in theory, military sci-fi, the focus is very narrow and firmly on the characters. I loved what a chaotic disaster Tennal was. Charming asshole characters can be very hit or miss for me, but here it clicked. Sunit, on the other hand, is firmly Lawful Good but with a delightful malicious compliance streak. The dynamic worked for me quite well and made the book a breeze to read.

It's not perfect. The worldbuilding felt very messy and barely sketched out and the plot lost itself a little towards the end (I found one of the character decisions particularly idiotic). But at the same time, none of it mattered or affected my enjoyment. It was fast and enjoyable and very easy to read in large chunks.

If you need a quick read, this is a great choice.

I feel terrible rating this one three stars. I loved Winter’s Orbit so much and was so excited to read this one. Unfortunately, the world building, the romance and the plot couldn’t pull me in.

While the writing is incredible and Everina Maxwell’s Brain is genius for crafting this intricate world and political system, I wasn’t drawn to the story. I didn’t care much for the systems in which brain control and brainwashing were put into effect. It didn’t work for me.

The romance between Tennal and Surit was messy and much less a focal point than I was hoping for. Even with the light romance I could have dealt with it had the two seem to fit well. I just didn’t feel it. I did really enjoy their contrasting personalities and the fact that they were both such strong characters.

At its heart, this is an intensely political sci-fi drama and the fact that some of the writing was just too much for my brain was in no way the fault of Maxwell. That was on me. Some of the writing was too over my head and that was on me and me alone.

I will gladly pick up the author’s next book but this one just didn’t hold my attention as much as I had anticipated.

I loved this! and just like Winter's Orbit I could not put it down and spent the whole weekend reading it.

I love the world that Everina Maxwell has created in Winter's Orbit so I was thrilled to see that Ocean's Echo takes place in that world, just in a different part of the galaxy. There is no overlap in characters, but the world building is the same- and expanded on in a truly fascinating way in Ocean's Echo.
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. I was warned this book would have less romance in it from the author's note on Goodreads and I was glad to know that going in. I would have liked more romance in this one, a little more on page tension, but it's still a very unique and intense love story, but that is very much secondary to the sci-fi story of political intrigue and warring planets. Come for the worldbuilding, space politics, and a twisting turning mystery, and stay because you love the main characters so much.

Thank you to the publisher and net galley for the e-arc!

CW from the author:
mind-control, coercion, mental health struggles (self-destructive tendencies and thoughts, self-neglect including chaotic eating habits), imprisonment, mind/body sharing, some drug and alcohol use.

Ocean’s Echo by Everina Maxwell is a perfect mix of romance and sci-fi. It takes place in a world of readers and architects, where readers can read the mind’s of others while architects can influence them. When Tennal, a rule-breaking reader, is conscripted into the military, he is ordered to sync with the duty-bound architect, Surit in order to make sure he is kept under control. When Surit realizes that his orders are not legal, he and Tennal come up with a plan to fake the sync and help Tennal escape. As their plan plays out, the situation becomes more complicated and a war breaks out that leaves them questioning everything they thought they knew.

I really enjoyed this book and I found the story very unique and interesting. I loved Surit and Tennal the most, but I also really enjoyed all of the other main characters. I thought they were all very well-written and I could really feel their emotions as I was reading. This story was filled with so much action and adventure that I didn’t want it to end! I definitely recommend this book!

5/5 stars
Recommended if you like: sci-fi, political intrigue, dual POVs, disaster gays, space opera, LGBTQ+

This review has been posted to Goodreads as of 10/19 and will be posted to my review blog as of 10/20 and to Instagram as of 10/22.

This book definitely delivers on the promises made in the synopsis. We get an overly disastrous Tennal, a too-good-for-people Surit, a sketchy military mission, mixed feelings on parents, political intrigue, and war. I was actually somewhat surprised the war mentioned in the synopsis happened, I feel like a lot of time the heroes 'save the day' or are conveniently somewhere else when that sort of things happens, but nope. Tennal and Surit are straight in the middle of it, and in ways they can't even imagine.

Tennal was definitely an interesting character. He is a disaster, but it also kind of just feels like he either needs help or a goal for his life. He's the kind of disaster that comes from being lost and not knowing what to do about it. At the same time, the self-destructive tendencies and acerbic wit and dramatics are just a natural part of his personality, so the whole 'disaster' thing kind of radiates off him even when he's not actively being one. That being said, I did enjoy being in his mind, and he's a lot better of a person than he gives himself credit for. Smarter too.

Surit is someone that I initially wasn't sure I'd like. He is a goody two shoes, working hard to follow the rules both because he thinks he should and to make up for the actions of his mother, Marit. I'm not really a huge fan of people who follow the rules simply because they're rules, but Surit ended up surprising me and not only did he break the law in refusing his orders (however secretively they were refused), but he continues to flout the rules when the morally correct thing requires it of him. Despite all this, and the many accomplishments he has and racks up, Surit's the kind of character who downplays their own skills and questions their abilities. It's an interesting thing to see since Tennal definitely sees how much Surit's achieved and then we'll be in Surit's head and he won't always realize it.

Despite the fact that Tennal and Surit are basically opposites, they work well together as partners, friends, and lovers. They're each able to contribute something and are willing to work together, and neither of them are so stuck up in themselves that they don't recognize the abilities and intelligence of the other. The romance is definitely on the slower side of things, but for a specific reason, and you definitely still get flashes of it throughout the book.

I liked the side characters in this as well. Tennal's younger sister, Zin, is far more polite and diplomatic than he is, but just as willing to fuck shit up, especially if she thinks the government (or anyone, I suppose) is doing something it shouldn't be. Basavi is one of the pilot's in Tennal and Surit's unit. She's kind of quiet, but she's a solid friend and proves to be a good person to have as backup. Istara is another pilot in the unit and is another person who proves to be a good friend and backup, but they're also far more sarcastic and prone to teasing insults (and sometimes straight insults). I very much enjoyed Tennal's friendship with both of them, and his interactions with Istara are particularly amusing.

One thing that kind of bugged me throughout the book, but does get answered, is why Readers are considered the dangerous/bad ones when Architects can literally control you, albeit for only short periods. It seems odd to me that the mind reader is considered more threatening than the mind controller. Again, this is answered in the book (kind of toward the end), but I also wonder how bunches of people weren't asking this same thing, especially since some time had passed since their creation and the propaganda has (I think?) died down.

The web of what's going on in this book is much larger than first glance. It definitely just feels like it might be a run-of-the-mill space adventure with two people faking it until they make it (and falling in love along the way) until Tennal and Surit actually get to the 'retrieval' part of their mission...and then everything kind of explodes. The politics is embedded in everything, and a number of the factions have similar goals. I enjoyed how everything came together around the beginning of the climax, as well as the absolute chaos that followed it. There were definitely some moments when I was concerned for Surit and Tennal.

I hope there's going to be another book in this world because I desperately want to see how Tennal, Surit, and co. interact and deal with the people on the other side of the Link. I imagine it would be very interesting and very chaotic. I'm 100% planning on reading Winter's Orbit now. I've been meaning to for a while, but this is a good kick for me to actually go and do it!

This was my first book by Maxwell, but it definitely won't be my last. The writing was beautiful and immersive, and the story had a great balance of science fiction elements and character development. It didn't get too bogged down in the science, and the story had both a great plot and a focus on the emotional journeys of the characters.

The world-building was fantastic. The galaxy and its mysteries felt vast despite the civilizations and technology pertinent to the story being well-defined. The excellent writing made everything easy to understand and follow even when things got a bit complex or nebulous. There was just enough information about the wider galaxy to intrigue me and make me hope for more books set in it, but the story never lost its focus on the characters, relationships, and factions at the center of the current conflict. The histories of the characters, their powers, and the civilization were all fascinating.

The plot was full of intrigue, political conspiracy, and military strategy. There were plenty of twists and turns that I didn't see coming. The pace was a bit slow at the start, but I didn't mind because the time was used to get to really know the characters and establish the basic foundations of the society that became necessary to understanding later plot points. There was plenty of action in the second half, and the entire story was full of interesting psychic powers, space shenanigans, and different military factions vying for power.

The center of the entire story, though, was the relationship between Tennal and Surit. Tennal was an absolute disaster of a human who sabotaged almost every relationship and thrived on total chaos. He was also a reader, someone with the power to read the minds of others. After being conscripted into the army because of all his messy behavior, he meets Surit, the Lieutenant who's supposed to keep him in line by forming a neural link between the two of them that would allow him complete control over Tennal. Surit threw a kink in those plans because he is literally THE BEST boy with an incorruptible moral compass. They fake the sync and work towards an escape plan for Tennal, which doesn't go as planned once they get embroiled in all the political posturing that threatens civil war. Their relationship was super slow burn and didn't involve a ton of heat, but the gradual growth of the emotional intimacy and trust between the two of them was so good. It provided a fun and unique science fiction spin on several common romance tropes, including soul mates, forced proximity, and fake dating.

I also just want to mention that there were parts of this book that left me in awe. There was a passage that described space in a fascinating way that left me contemplating its vastness and its similarity to the human mind. The prose was just so beautiful I felt transported almost to another dimension through the words.

Needless to say, I definitely recommend this book, especially if you enjoy sci-fi stories and are looking for one with a low-heat, slow-burn queer romance. The plot, characters, and writing were all fantastic. This will not be the last book I read by Maxwell. Therefore, I rate the book 5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you, NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Books for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

Tennalhin Halkana is a rich socialite and a flirt. He can also read mind and as the other neuromodified "readers" is considered a threat. When controlled, though, they can be useful and help navigate the space. Conscripted into the military, he's placed into the care of Lieutenant Suri Yeni, a respectful soldier, principled and serious, and the son of a notorious general, who became a traitor. If Tennal can read minds, Surit can influence them, as an "architect". Surit can impose his will onto others and he has to control Tennal, by merging their minds. Surit, though, he doesn't want to force a bond and so he and Tennal fake and lie a sync bond, planning Tennal's escape. When they went through a salvage- retrieval mission into chaotic space, they think it's their chance to run away, but among the rubble they discover a terrible and important secret, that could change everything. In order to save their unit and their world, they are now forced to do the very synch they've been faking, to avoid to live forever under military rule. Can both of them bring peace to their world?

Written by the marvellous Everina Maxwell and in the same universe of Winter's Orbit, Ocean's Echo is a standalone space adventure and I loved everything about it.
A sci-fi adventure, set in space, in the same universe as a book I loved very much, with two characters, so different from one other, but forced to be together and to lie to protect each other? I'm absolutely in.
The story is thrilling, captivating and so amazing. I loved Tennal and Surit's relationship, their growing and important bond, their feelings and actions and how they decide to act to avoid disasters and to protect each other. The book is truly written beautifully, I felt so involved into the story (even if, with every sci-fi I read, it took a bit to get used to the setting), but I loved everything and everyone. It's totally recommended.