I received a free ARC to review by Netgalley

There was much to appreciate in this book but there were also several parts that felt rough,difficult to move past without pondering what I had just read and trying to make sense of it. Many parts were written in a way that made it difficult to follow the timeline or the world building.There were far more questions than answers throughout the whole book and I understand the writer is most likely doing this as a way to keep you guessing but the way it was done often left me more frustrated than wanting to figure it out.
Choices for the characters ended up just leading to flat moments or were simply pushed to the side and ignored leaving a lot of mixed feelings for myself. In the end I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to like these characters based on decisions that had simply been covered up or shrugged off and not talked about.

Ocean Blood had intrigued me the moment I saw it was “like” the Captive Prince series. I didn’t realize how absolutely similar moments of the book were going to be. Some parts even felt like they were taken directly from C. S. Pacat’s book then altered to align with the moment and made its way into Ocean Blood. I personally just wish some of the situations and details hadn’t felt like it was ripped out of another book.

At the end of the day I enjoyed reading it. The book was simply just missing a lot of elements that hopefully manifest in book two.

3.5⭐️
I have conflicting views on this book. The beginning was very hard to get into with barely any explanation for the world we are in. I found myself taking a lot of time trying to piece together who is who and what was happening. Even with saying this, once the world was established I found the concept of the magic of the singers and the general world interesting. I haven’t yet come across a world with this type of magic system and found it very intriguing. On the other hand, I wasn’t entirely in love with the characters. I almost felt like something was missing from them. In a way I wanted to see more of where the relationship between the main characters was going to go but unfortunately wasn’t met with much. Though ,in this circumstance, I do understand how this disagreement worked into the actual story itself. Overall, it didn’t really amaze me much in terms of character but I did, in a way, enjoy the plot.

I received a digital ARC of this book from Netgally and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

This was definitely not for me, the world building could have been better. I was confused a lot of the time. The main character was boring. It took 2/3 Of the book for me to figure out why this was titled Ocean’s Blood. A slave that wants to be free but then lusts after his master, but turns him in for his freedom then tries to save him. It wasn’t interesting until the last 60 pages or so.

4.5 stars. This book was extremely well written and I can't believe how much I was able to connect to the characters and their emotions in a shorter fantasy book. I loved the extremely slow burn and tension. My only complaint is that I thought water and the ocean would play a much larger part in this book, considering the title and cover - the first half of the book is not what I expected, which made it hard to focus on some of the world building at the beginning. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.

There are parts of this book that I really enjoyed and other times I was confused. Overall the concept is really great and I do find it intriguing but the story as a whole could use some streamlining. I was confused as to the timeline in parts. The characters are definitely morally gray which I do enjoy in books. The beginning of the book is wonderfully done and the last 50-75 pages were amazing but I think the book suffered a bit in the middle and I had to force myself to keep reading, but ended up really loving the end.

I am really torn between 3-4 stars for this so I'll land on 3.5 and round up to 4 because I do really think this book has a ton to offer even if in the end it wasn't a 5 star for me. The cover of this book is stunning!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Thelma Mantey for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“Ocean’s Blood” by Thelma Mantey

Vindt life is altered when his home is taken over and humans with a trait to be controlled by the Singers are enslaved. The Singers are magical beings that use their enslaved humans’ voice as a weapon to fight with their dark song magic. Vindt struggles to break free from his master Singer, Asche, even as his feelings toward him are becoming more muddled every day.

I didn’t like this book very much. The concept was interesting and held promise, but it just didn’t deliver for me. The last chunk at the end was the only part I thought was okay. The world building was confusing, and the time spans just left me unsure of what was happening. The slave and master relationship thing going on would have worked and usually I like morally great characters, but it really didn’t work here. The characters that are morally grey can be evil people and all, but they need some relatable traits or reasons behind them to make readers forgive bad behavior, but I didn’t feel any connection to these characters. I didn’t care what happened to anyone in the book and so the story plot just really didn’t work for me. 2 out of 5 stars.

I don’t know exactly where to start with this review. I was very attracted to the title and the cover. I decided to go in blind with this one and not read the description. Around the halfway point, I did however read the blurb. As with any fantasy book, the start is always a little slow as you have to learn a whole new world and their magic systems.

Oceans Blood takes sirens and turns them into something that humans may depend on but in exchange they too will depend on humans.

Although I was confused a couple of times, not realizing that the events in this book took 2 months and not 10 years, I think anyways, maybe I’m still confused about that one. I throughly enjoyed this book, I read a couple chapters each night before bed however it is now 4am and I just couldn’t fall asleep once I got to the last 100 pages. It was a slow start even with all the action and war/ fighting sequences. But I was at the edge of my bed for the last 30%

Also my first time ever reading a male on male smut scene…. And if you read this book you would know there was nothing romantic about it so it just left me in shock… still not gonna stop me from reading more male on male smut ;)

Anyways I liked it, it was a great read and my first 4 stars of the new year


ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I received an ARC of this from NetGalley. People who like lite fantasy will love this. It’s an easy read with some interesting plot reveals. That being said, there’s not enough world building for it to be a compelling fantasy world. For example, the setting is really general. There’s a cast of invisible antagonists which has no fun. It’s already a book, paint me a picture with words! Also big cringe when they come across dark skinned people living in a jungle setting where the women go around topless and they eat food using bread instead of utensils. Woof. Nor are the characters likable enough for me to want to continue the series. They want me to empathize with a morally gray abusive slaver. Didn’t work for me.

This book was not for me but I could see others enjoying it.

Pros: I thought it was well written and the play on vampires and thralls was fun. The world building was well done.

Cons: It moved very slowly and is heavy on descriptions. The battle scenes felt repetitive. It’s a book that romanticizes the relationship between slave and master which is uncomfortable.

My goodness this was so filled with interesting characters and good plot I would so recommend this. The singers are a very unique way to handle vampires, and the protagonists slow burn love with the love interest is incredibly slow, incredibly tense and incredibly enemy which works so well. Thanks for the ARC NetGalley

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

CW: blood, blood drinking, sexual content, dub-con, torture, war, mentioned suicide attempt

“With my blood, I bind you. I bind your body and your soul. My blood will
fulfill your destiny. You will be my shield and my sword. You will be my voice.
You will depend on me as I will depend on you. You will defend my life with
yours, and I will do the same for you. This Bond is sacred.
It shall only be broken by death.”

My thoughts:
I love the world building. It is one of the more unique ones I've recently read and I love the concept. There was also no info dumping on the magic system or the world (nor that many explanations of it in general) which sometimes left you a bit confused but I didn't mind. I prefer this way over having too much information to remember. And you could definitly work out what you need to know (the MC doesn't know that much himself tbh).

I also very much liked the pacing: it started out rather slow and then really sped up towards the end.

The MC's are both assholes and morally very grey. I love them. I love their relationship/their interactions with each other. Vindt hates Asche in the beginning and it's not much better at the end. And Asche is a manipulative dick. But somehow I still like them both.

I will definitly be reading the sequel once it comes out!

this is hard for me to review because i feel very conflicted about how i felt but i'll try.

first of all, the writing. i didn't like it; i'm generally a very visual person and i like my writing to be something i ca connect with, and this wasn't that. it wasn't the worst but it wasn't the best either. it felt like the author wanted to say something more but they couldn't quite put it into words.

but everything else. the plot, the characters. they were all so nuanced and so breathtaking i needed to see more of them. i loved the complexity to each character and how we got that.

overall, i would recommend it, but only if you know what you're getting into with this book.

I was drawn in at the beginning by this book's description and cover. At the beginning of the book, I struggled with immersing myself in the story but found myself drawn in as the story progressed. By the end of the book, I couldn't wait to read the next installment in this series. I found the world this author built to be unique, and while there was sometimes a sense of confusion surrounding the magic system, it felt intentional and important to the story. This book explores a lot of elements that I found intriguing, and I can't wait to see where that exploration goes in the future of this series. Be sure to check your trigger warnings before reading.

I was so, so excited about this book, but the writing was too confusing for me to really get into it. The first line had me hooked, but after that it quickly felt like the author was either a non-native English speaker and the translation got clunky, or they were trying too hard to create prose that was unnecessarily flowery and grandiose.

I think the premise is really interesting though! And I think people who enjoy this type of writing will love this book.