Solid debut novel that focuses on the crew of a spaceship being drawn into a larger plot against a member of the galactic elite, and on the legacy of deep sea oyster divers as applied to a future Korean space program. Fairly solid, probably won't remember much of it in a year, but still a fun time.

2.5 stars
Even immediately after finishing the book I'm so confused about what I've just read!! Constant references to Korean traditions and family but set in space where the main characters are zipping around the solar system on a misson for "The Alliance" which I'm not fully clear on their alleged purpose, but they are constantly being portrayed as the bad guys by everybody off the ship they talk to. Ocean, the main FMC, has just broken up with her boyfriend for cheating on her, one of the MMC is Haven, a member of a sect that people treat differently (again this isn't fully explained why) and the other MMC is a famous Korean (can't over emphasise enough how many times it is mentioned that he is of Korean descent) who is on a ship that explodes and then all sorts of other mad stuff happens afterwards. I don't know if there were too many characters to keep track off - halfway through the book a new crew is introduced and lots of the old crew is never really mentioned again despite still being present. I just don't get what the point of it all was?! Space opera with Korean heritage - is it a series or standalone? I'm not sure but I won't be reading book 2 if one arrives.

When you read as many SF books as I do you get to placing them in categories. I hate it when publishers say "Perfect for fans of XXX and YYY" but here I am doing it myself. This is perfect for fans of Miles Vorkosigan, and if you don't know who that is, read this book and then the Vorkosigan books.

Space opera and convoluted plots with lots of deception. I like it.

So I tried to read this book a few times but I was not connecting with it, in the end I dnf. But truly is more of a me thing and the book can work for other people because the ideas are rather interesting. Maybe someday I will try again.

Thank you Zando and NetGalley for an eARC. All opinions are my own.

Ocean's Godori follows Ocean Yoon, the pilot of a transporter spaceship, Teo, the second son of a powerful corporation, and Haven, an outcast working on the same ship as Ocean.

I really enjoyed seeing all the Korean words sprinkled throughout the book and the cultural references. I especially loved reading about the food. The book was engaging from the beginning. I liked that there were multiple points of view from very different people, and I thought the supporting characters added to the story. I thought the MCs could've been developed more, or that we could've deleted into their minds a little more than just surface thoughts. Sometimes the book felt like it didn't have an entirely clear sense of direction and I wasn't completely invested in the plot. The ending was !!!! and I was not expecting it, but I kind of like it.

I enjoyed the book and recommend it.

I never fully connected with the plot or the writing style, but I'm confident others will appreciate it more than I did.

I had trouble tracking the POV characters at the beginning of this book, but by the time they came together and their stories aligned, I was hooked. I do feel like this story was just the beginning of something longer, so I certainly hope it will be a series that can build on the story and worldbuilding started here. A great sci-fi romp.

"Ocean's Godori" is a much hyped and deeply anticipated book that falls far short of expectations. This book fails to accomplish everything it sets out to do and instead of portraying a future with a strong Asian presence it produces a muddled and unbelievable mish-mash of badly cliched and derivative Sci Fi themes.

Although the book does portray, as promised, a future in which a reunited Korea dominates space flight and commerce within the Solar system, it does so in a haphazard and poorly articulated manner while failing to provide any significant description of the historical events that led to this state. This instantly deprives those interested in world building scenarios of critical detail that would enhance the book.

Other world building elements, such as descriptions of the cultures populating various planetary bodies are mostly nonexistent and the development of non -Korean earth groups is almost completely neglected. Additionally, character development is flat , one dimensional and generally cliched. Plot development is equally neglected. The movement of the plot itself alternates between turgid stagnation and erratic jumps. To top it all off, the book just ends in mid sequence once it finally starts to pick up momentum. Perhaps, the ending was meant to bridge into a sequel, but if so there is no indication that it would be worth reading.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Hillman Grad Books, for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

A very generous 2.5 stars rounded to 2.

Once the action really starts, things pick up. The other characters are more engaging and the story gets more interesting as a result. But just when we finally start to get some emotion out of Ocean and really start to feel a relationship forming, the book ends abruptly. It was actually a little jarring to me. I read through quite a bit of the author’s note at the end thinking it was some strange pivot in the story before I admitted it was over, and I was left feeling unfulfilled.

I’m sure there’s another book coming, but I really hated the suddenness to Ocean’s Godori’s ending. I felt like I had put so much effort into getting to know Ocean and just as it was starting to pay off, the end. I felt like Cho could have done better with that.

Full review at link https://thecosmiccircus.com/book-review-oceans-godori-by-elaine-u-cho/

A Korean space opera with stunning aerial battles? YES YES YES 100x over. I loved the way the found family was built, the relationships between all the characters, and just all the heart that this book was written with. The action scenes were highly immersive and I loved all the discussions on humanity and the choices we make. The Korean culture presented was also extremely vibrant. One thing I didn’t like was the love triangle and the cliffy at the end. Nonetheless, I had an amazing time.

I thought this was so fun and unique and adventurous. Really just enjoyed the overall ride of this story and thought the writing made reading a fluid process.

"Ocean's Godori" is a great addition to the sci-fi genre. While the book has a warm up period, readers get to meet the players and quickly after we readers get to the good stuff: space adventure! and yes, romance too.

Than you author and fellow bookseller Elaine U. Cho, Zando, and Netgalley for bringing us readers this title.

This was an incredibly fun little space opera! I liked everything about it except the extremely abrupt ending (and a tendency to treat spaceships like they are bound by friction). But the characters were well-drawn and enjoyable to spend time with. The story was compelling. I hope there's a continuation of the story to offset the sudden end!

Ocean’s Godori manages to explore a popular narrative while creating something fun and unique that keeps the reader hooked by every page.

A sci-fi adventure all in the name of a missing best friend was exactly what drew me in and it didn’t disappoint. Elaine U. Cho’s character development and emphasis on found family while finding oneself, which is explored by Ocean, was refreshing and tied this story together.

I couldn’t find much at fault with the writing, but I had issues with the formatting of the e-book, which did take away from my overall read.

Ocean Yoon is Bad*ss in Elaine U Cho’s OCEAN’S GODORI—Highly Recommend!!

‘When her best friend, Teo, second son of the Anand Tech empire, is framed for murdering his family, Ocean and her misfit crewmates are pushed to the forefront of a high-stakes ideological conflict. But dodging bullets and winning space chases may be the easiest part of what comes next.’

‘“Oh, it’s you.” The scar at [his] mouth twists as he frowns. “Had your chance, but you missed.”’

‘“I never miss,” Ocean says.’

Thank you, NetGalley and Hillman Grad Books (Zando), for providing me with an eBook of OCEAN’S GODORI at the request of an honest review.

I loved the characters in this book. Ocean was a strong protagonist. Her portrayal and character were compelling, and the author incorporated her background well into her development. I will say I was a little concerned based on how we first meet her, but there was good growth present throughout the rest of the book. It was the same for the secondary characters/other protagonists, which led to them all feeling like real people. The worldbuilding was also strong, with enough details incorporated throughout to make the world feel well developed and engaging.

There were only two real things that were negative for me. The first is that the beginning felt rather fragmented, and it took a bit longer than I prefer to become situated into the story and to figure out who was who. I almost felt like I needed to reread the beginning after I was about a third of the way into the book. I think this was partially due to there not being too much of a plot present in the first portion of the book. The second thing is that the ending is quite abrupt. I certainly hope a sequel is coming, or else I’m going to be disappointed!

If you enjoy sci-fi that’s somewhere between adventure and cozier found family, then you may like this one (I know several folks who disliked that it didn’t fit squarely in either genre, but I enjoyed it). The cover is also stunning! This is the author’s debut work, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they do next. Many thanks to NetGalley and Zando Projects for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Whew boy do I have some thoughts. Full disclosure: I did not read past the 10% mark. To be fair, I read up to that point twice. The first was back in February when I got approved for the ARC (thank you, NetGalley). But I was completely lost. I could not for the life of me figure out what was happening. I put the book down, thinking I just wasn't in the right headspace for it that day, and decided to try it again later. Well, the later is now, only now I have lots of thoughts on why this book was so freaking confusing.

For starters, the novel begins with a prologue, moves to chapter one, then moves to chapter two. Okay? In the course of those chapters, we spend 4-5 pages with a different narrator, not revisiting any of them until mid-chapter two, when we revisit Ocean. There are novels (like Priory of the Orange Tree and Masters of Death) that do this well. They set up the character of focus clearly, orienting the reader in their personality, goals, and place, usually hinting or at least lightly alluding to how they might connect with other characters. (In Priory this is done with geographical references, in Masters of Death it's done through the fact that we have a medium who doesn't like supernaturals for some reason, and then a whole lot of supernaturals, several of which are suddenly in need of a medium). But we don't get that with this book. We just get scene after scene after scene that changes place and characters. They're also so short, we barely have any time to get to know the character. We're also not given much reason at all to care, which is so so important in the set up of a novel. I liked the scene in the restaurant--it was the only one that I could follow easily on the first read, and I remembered it clearly on the second. But that was because the narrator of that was at least interesting. He had a goal for the scene which he achieved quite competently. We knew him well by the end, because we saw him working his way through the steps to attain that goal as the scene played out.

None of the other scenes are like this. On my second read (which I actually did the audio to see if that would help, which bless the audiobook narrator it did), I found myself wondering why we even saw Ocean's first scene in the bar. I have SO MANY THOUGHTS about that scene that I will save for a bit later when I talk about the actual writing, but looking at this scene emotionally, it pales in comparison to Ocean's second scene. In Ocean's second scene, we see her going out to do some badass piloting so she doesn't have to go to the big social event next year. Now THAT'S relatable and interesting! We could so easily have gotten literally everything we learned from her first scene in a few lines of internal monologue. Not having the full story would have added more intrigue to her character as well, keeping readers asking questions about why she is so cold and numb to the world. Her opening scene did nothing for us. Not to mention the writing.

So. When I went in for my second read/listen of this, I put in a lot of focus and attention into trying to figure out why the hell this was so confusing the first go round. I literally thought Ocean was genderfluid and that her pronouns were just being poorly introduced because the scene was so confusing. She begins the scene in a bar packed with far too many people to track. Since it's in third person, it took me a minute to even orient myself to Ocean as the MC (tho to be fair, I'm awful with names) so I was fumbling with who I was supposed to be rooting for the whole time. She's also completely emotionally cutoff in the scene, which again means that we don't get anything from reading it. The point of seeing a scene up close like this instead of through reflections later as a backstory piece is that we can feel the emotional journey with the narrator. Now, I'm not saying emotional numbness is bad writing. That's a very real thing, especially in bad relationships, and is important to be portrayed. But we were given nothing else about Ocean's character aside from the fact that she somehow knew she'd been cheated on. And then we get a time skip her next scene anyway (I think?? Though i could be wrong there. Again: so. damn. confusing.) so there's just ... no point in seeing this stale, uninteresting scene? Also, thanks to the chaos of the crowded bar, I had a very difficult time grounding myself in the setting. This was a huge issue with every scene, but it was the most detrimental to my tracking what was happening in this scene, due to the sheer number of people in there. There was another character who was going to buy food? I think? And then suddenly the guy he was talking to was in a flying vehicle that zoomed away? Also we're apparently on earth this whole time, I think? though again, that alone is super unclear.

For anyone wondering why I don't just finish the book: I kind of care about the one gay guy. (I don't remember his name.) I am a little interested in ocean after the ship race scene. But since there are so many confusing issues with the writing, I know that continuing is just going to make me feel stupid, and I don't feel like going through that. There are other books with characters I will care much more about that will not have me doing 180s every five pages trying to figure out where the hell we are, who the fuck we're with, and why I should give a damn.

Anyway. This review is already longer than like ... my last four reviews combined, probably. This novel desperately needs some more editing. I came for the space gays and left a confused queer. You have been warned.

Stars: 2.75/5.0

I was so excited going into this book!! I heard such a great review of it and was quickly sold, but unfortunately in the end, it didn’t live up to the expectations I had. It was such a cool book in concept with the world building with so many elements that would created such a rich environment if it wasn’t overshadowed by my issues. The exploration of death and grief are beautiful in this book. I rarely see in sci-fi books such a focus on death and grief, and Cho’s writing was stunning for it.

My primary complaints are:
1. The pacing was off, and it feels incomplete. We spend half the book getting to understand the characters dynamics with no real plot movement, but when we get a little more than half, then the story actually starts. Before this, we just exist as a viewer as long as we are willing to stay. Once we get to the end, I legit came back to Goodreads to see if the book is actually a series. It just ended. No real clear resolution. Cliffhangers maybe but if this was a series, it felt like we barely started to set up the conflict and things are ending.
2. I don’t know if Cho meant for the book to be Fast and Furious but make it space and sci-fi, but that’s what it felt like. I love cars, I love driving, but for the life of me I couldn’t stand listening to how this far future society, with top-of-the-line space exploration has this main character who can only drive this space ship if it is set up like a manual car basically. If you want to talk about racing spaceships like they are street cars, there’s better ways to explore that.
3. That Fast and Furious comment also does extent to the group dynamics too. I appreciate that these characters all have their own background which clearly influences the world they see. The way the characters interacted with one another were inconsistent. At times, things would feel natural, but others felt forced for the sake of the narrative (this does include the romance). At the second meeting of one character, they quickly 180 from the first time we meet them, and it felt like their whole purpose was to fill whatever gap existed in the narrative at the moment.

I wish it was better. I want it to be better because it was such a great idea, but it fell flat.

Thank you to NetGalley and Zando for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was an absolutely delightful experience to read. The characters were so interesting and engaging. The world building was phenomenal and really immerses the reader into the world of Ocean Yoon our protagonist/rebel Alliance pilot.
If you are a fan of Firefly and "found family" scenarios you will love this story.
The story circles the main character, Ocean Yoon, a pilot with a troubled past filled with loss and reckless decisions. When Teo, the second son of the Anand Tech empire and Ocean's best friend, is falsely accused of murdering his family, Ocean and her unconventional crew are thrust into a high-stakes battle. However, evading bullets and triumphing in space chases might prove to be the simplest challenges they face.
I really enjoyed this book and I anxiously await the next book because this one sure left off on a cliffhanger!
Highly recommended!

🧠 My thoughts
I grabbed this book due to its promising premise. I was so excited to read this sci-fi book that explored the themes of identity, colonialism, capitalism, etc. Most importantly, it was set in Korea with spacy elements, that sounded amazing right? But sadly it was not the case.

There were too many characters and the stories related to these characters in different timelines were told already in the first chapters in a very confusing way. I couldn’t keep track of all of the characters and the mystery behind their stories. I was already burned out in just 3 chapters. I felt so stupid not understanding anything. Moreover, the dialogues were super dry, it just couldn’t stand it. I tried to read more already but I really couldn’t.

I might give this book a try another time but I can’t promise.

Thanks NetGalley, Zando publisher, and the authors for a great advance copy of the book in exchange for my honest review!