Ocean's Echo

CW: compulsion, mind control, mild substance abuse pertaining to the world

This is a book that has been high up on my tbr since it was announced because Winter's Orbit was my most favorite romance book of last year and I had high expectations from this one when I realized it was gonna be set in the same world. I'm still trying to compile my thoughts but I think having too many expectations can sometimes be an unnecessary hindrance.

I started reading this quite a while ago but stopped about a quarter in coz I was just not in the right mood for it and I wanted to love it. And there's much to enjoy here. It maybe set in the world as it's predecessor but we are dealing with completely different planets here along with chaotic space and neuromodified individuals called architects and readers - and it was fun to explore these new ideas. But there's also familiar themes from the first one like forced proximity of the main characters, a planet in flux, possibilities of a coup/ civil war/ revolution, and the antagonists using the alien remnants to alter people's thoughts and actions. I think there's a fine line between being familiar and being repetitive, and maybe I found it a tad bit repetitive thematically. But the pacing is super quick and things happen so fast that we don't even get time to process everything before the characters are thrust into more dangerous situations. And the author is definitely very accomplished at writing characters successfully getting out of tricky situations through their wit and quick thinking.

The fun characters definitely help. Tennal is a chaotic disaster and I just can't imagine being in his head. He is actively causing destruction to his own life coz he can't catch up with his ever spinning thoughts, and is then forcibly conscripted into the military to straighten him out. He is to be brain synced with Surit, a very proper soldier who breathes rules and regulations and just wants a promotion so that he can financially support his parent. They together make for a very satisfying couple because they complement each other almost perfectly. I liked that this is an extremely slow burn romance because there is immense power imbalance in one being able to literally mind control the other, and the author navigates these tricky waters quite well. We also get some interesting side characters and antagonists but definitely loved Istara and Basavi for being so loyal and doing the right thing even when they are in danger.

While controlling other's thoughts and compelling them to do things has been a common action of the antagonists across both the novels, the author is also quite subtle in showing us how power - and especially military power - is used to garner more of it, do harm in the name of research or security, and justify it later by force or manipulation. Almost everyone in a position of power feels corrupted in some way here and it's hard to even take them at their word when they strive to make changes or right their wrongs. And now I'm not sure where I was going with this paragraph