Ocean’s Blood by Thelma Mantey: Review

Ocean’s Blood | Goodreads | Amazon by Thelma Mantey | My rating: 5 of 5 stars

LOVE THIS BOOK

What a captivating book! This story drew me in from the start with its twists and turns. I love how the reader is thrown into the unknown, asked to figure out what’s happening. It’s a journey that parallels Vindt’s, the main character and the character from whose point of view we see the world. This tactic is a brilliant, and I think purposeful, way to cast the reader straight into the fire and helps us start to understand both Vindt and the way he sees the world and situation he finds himself in.

World-Building

The world this story takes place in is vaguely familiar at times but different from most others. The lack of information at the start is, in my opinion, an asset. There isn’t page upon page of world-dumping. The world is built little detail by little detail as you read, rearranging itself to make sense of the new piece of information just learned. I like this style of world-building, it feels authentic and real. If you however like a more information-dump style of expository writing, this might be a frustrating read for you.

Magic and Blood-Drinking

The magic system is exquisitely unique, and the completely different take on vampiresque creatures was compelling and fresh. Singers are humanoid creatures with the magic to do terrible and wonderful things through their songs. With their otherworldly melodies they take down armies and mend ailments, depending on who they want to harm and who they want to heal. The drawback to their power is that they are unable to defend themselves against Verdurs with only their magic. Verdurs are shape-shifting otherworldly demon-types who want nothing but to take Singers down. Enter the Thyds: humans born with the ability to merge themselves with a Singer’s power and defend the Singers against the Verdur attacks. Demons are also present in this world. Demons can, with a touch, turn birds into rock, forests into ponds, and limbs into tree branches.

Thyds

Thyds are a special class of human in this world, bound to their Singers under duress. They are slaves. They become dependent on the Singer through their blood. One imagines that this bond likely becomes mutual at some point. Doesn’t the Singer depend on the Thyd just as much as the Thyd desires the Singer’s blood? Asche brings that captor/slave relationship into question with the brilliant line, “So golden-boy, next time you think you are the dependent one in our relationship, the slave–think again.”

And speaking of Asche and Vindt

Asche is the mystery, the wall, the cold unfathomable depths. And Vindt can’t help but wonder what’s under the still waters of his psyche. Indeed, even with as much as he despises Singers and wants to be free, he’s pulled in by the bond. The reader learns about Vindt’s past much like we do the world; in bits and pieces that make us reevaluate what we thought we understood about him.

Vindt is trying to figure out the pieces of the puzzle before him. However, that’s made more difficult as he’s a part of the puzzle that he can’t figure out. Events near the end of the book start to make things fall into place. But without too many spoilers, I can’t divulge too much.

Dub-Con?

Asche is on the receiving end of Vindt’s desire and wrath. More to the point, while many have commented on the dub-con element of what happens, I don’t necessarily feel that’s on the mark. Asche could have overpowered Vindt at any point. As for why he didn’t, well the reader doesn’t understand any better than Vindt himself. We’ll have to wait for the next book and see how their relationship develops to find out what’s fully going on.

Ocean’s Blood (The Drowning Book #1)

Overall I enjoyed this book so much more than I anticipated I was going to. I downloaded it from a Facebook ad, so the amount of enjoyment I got from it was surprising. Ads from Facebook are hit or miss for me. This one is a hit in my book. Enthusiastically, I am waiting for the next book and hope that there are plenty more in the world the authors created. It’s such a creative and unique world, not cookie-cutter fantasy by any means.



Read more of my MM Romance Reviews here on my blog, or on Goodreads