This is the dedicated *spoiler* thread for Ocean Light and earlier books in the series. Spoilers abound, so be warned!!
Usual rules: be kind to your fellow commenters and have fun. This spoiler thread will remain active as long as the blog does, so you can join in at any time. :-)
I don't monitor the thread for questions, so if you have a Q for me, you can email me (nalinisinghwrites AT gmail DOT com).
If you're at an earlier point in the series and would like to discuss that book, click on the Spoiler Zone tag and it should bring up all the previous spoiler threads. Some of the earlier books don't have them, but if there's a demand, I'd be happy to set them up. Just drop me an email .
15 comments :
Awesome. I love the epilog.
Loved Kaia and Bowen’s romance. I confess how they solved the chip issue went in a totally different direction than I’d thought. I briefly wondered if the others would only have a 5% chance as well, but then rereading the beginning of the book and figured the initial 5% chance given to Bo was from the simulated models and now that Attie had the data from an actual human brain interaction she was confident the procedure would work on all the others. So yay!
My two small quibbles with the story were (a) not enough page time for Atalina and Dex. I absolutely LOVED them! I know Nalini will reveal the gender and name of their baby somewhere down the road (fingers crossed for a novella!) but I was so sad we didn’t get to see them after the baby was born in this book! And (b) as much as I enjoyed the time with BlackSea, I wish we’d gotten to know more about the Human Alliance and Bo’s knights. I felt like we didn’t see enough of that part of the world in this book as the story focused more on the missing Changelings. And I get why; I was just a tad disappointed as I’ve been looking forward to learning more about Bo since he was introduced. We learned about him as an individual, but we didn’t learn as much as I’d hoped about the Human Alliance. That said, I really loved this book!
As soon as Kaia’s tattoo was mentioned I figured that was how they would find Kaia once she was kidnapped. But since the kidnapping occurs so late in the book I really wish it hadn’t been mentioned in the blurb. I spent the first two thirds of the book waiting for her to be snatched.
This is the spoiler zone so I hope everyone has already read the book. While I figured Hugo was a liar and one of the traitors therefore hadn’t truly been kidnapped, I WAS surprised by the reveal that Hugo was Trey. That was a great unexpected twist! (rereading it now and the clues were definitely there, but I sure missed them the first time). I thought everyone gave Hugo too big of a pass given he knew Bowen wasn’t guilty and he set up the supposed love of his life by using her to disguise the ship movements. Since they’ve known about the disappearances for nearly a year he was willfully blind to think his favors weren’t somehow involved. The way he treated Heenali wasn’t love. He used her and lied repeatedly. I understand forgiving him, but the whole “hero” bit pushed too far IMO. I had much more sympathy for George even though what he did was wrong as well.
(cont)
I suspected KJ was one of the traitors. It was actually his suggestion of the space for Bowen’s grand romantic gesture that tipped me off. I thought he was setting up her kidnapping (so I will again blame the blurb!). But something about his character just seemed off for me. I am glad that Nalini made someone we start off liking one of the traitors. Plus the fact he’s a Changeling as so far humans and Psy have been the main bad guys.
Loved seeing Kit, Ivy, Vasic, Kaleb, Sahara, and the others. Also getting to know more about BlackSea. I know it was silly of me to think the book would start off on Alaris (not sure why I thought that. Guess I just wanted more of Tazia and Stefan). The sheer variety of Changeling types and RyΕ«jin Station as a setting were fascinating. I was also very happy to finally meet Bo and Lily’s parents plus Malachai’s mom! I thought the meandering pace for the first two-thirds really fit the story. It gave us time to really enjoy the romance and get to know Kaia and Bowen. Hex was a fun pet.
I want to give a shout out to Nalini for her use of epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter. She always does a good job with those and it was fun to see Wild Woman Magazine and Adina Mercant quotes again.
So much humor. A few of my favorites
--He'd really thought he could trust Lily to make certain he was actually dead when his brain was put into a jar. He'd have to have a serious chat with his sister when she made it to the afterlife.
--Wild Women magazine’s coverage of Kaleb & Sahara at the StoneWater party.
--Bedison and Laymond.
Lily, Griffin, and Miane & Malachai were already on my “hope for a story soon” list. For the new characters, I would love to read more about Seraphina & Edison, Tansy & Armand (or someone else if he’s not destined to be her hero) as well as Cassius. But Atalina & Dex join Sing-Liu & D’Arn at the tippy top of my “existing couples I most want a story for” (Obviously this is only a small sampling of my “hope get stories” list – LOL!)
The major question of the implanted chips has been addressed and some of the traitors found, but there are still so many unanswered questions. Can’t wait to find out what Malachai shifts into. Will friendship bonds help heal the PsyNet? Who will the next book be about? Will we ever get to meet Lily’s doctor beau?
Overall a very enjoyable book and I am already rereading it again.
It took me a solid day to read this book (I'm just glad I didn't have a lot of work to do). I wondered who Bo would fall in love with since all his other dates thought he wasn't a romantic. Boy, if they could've seen what he did for Kaia...they would have fainted. Hex...adorable!
I laughed when Bo thought his brain was in a jar at the beginning of the story. Sheesh! His reaction to hear that Silver mated her teddy bear was priceless.
Mercy pegged Kaia correctly. Definitely a maternal even though BlackSea doesn't have that designation.
I really, really want to know what Mal turns into.
It was really nice to read about Kit, Hawke, Ivy, Kaleb, and Sahara. Ties the previous books into this one.
Patricia S
I was honestly confused by the references to minnows. It took me up to two-thirds of the book to figure out that minnows did not mean the silvery fish but children. So now when I have time, I will have to re-read the book with the correct inference in mind.
I'm not through the book yet (finishing today maybe) but I'd kill for a phonetic pronunciation of "Ryujin". Mine brain trips over it every time I read it! :)
I loved the name Ryujin (dragon-god), and that she incorporates bits of my (Japanese) culture and names here and there in her stories.
We actually have a Ryujin in my hometown. It's a natural spring which spurts out like a ton of water every minute (if I remember correctly). It has supplied water to hundreds of rice paddies for many years, and it's believed that a Ryujin lives deep inside that spring. There's even a shrine for him/her next to the spring.
Ryujin is pronounced rju-gin, I think. I'm not good at this pronunciation code stuff, but the first half kind of sounds like "reuse" without the "s" and the second one sounds like "gin."
I was happy to see Kit, too. And I knew it was him as soon as Bo sensed the "alpha" thing in him.
Also really excited about the budding friendship between Kaleb and Bo. I hope they'll be featured in a future short story.
Keep sending your blurbs! They did not me off this excellent and exciting story. I can't wait for the next installment. I'm just wandering who's next. I loved the way you inserted previous characters! Keep writing!!!π
The book was amazing.
I loved the new characters and the setting. It was all so beautifully described, almost magical.
I look forward to the next book with s BS hero/heroine. And I am so curious to see more about Bob's Knights.
A definite positive point of the book was the villain. I mean, first we have the villains that aren't really evil but who definetely made some major mistakes. At first, when we discover about Gearge, I really tought he was the one. And then, we discover that he was used and didn't really understand how much he actually betrayed his clanmates. Hugo was kind of expected. I mean, it was obvious that he wasn't the good guy, and that he was framing Bo. I had also considered that he was Henaali's boyfriend. I definitely didn't expect KJ to be the spy. No seriously? I loved the guy. And now I just would like to see what will happen to his girlfriend. I can already see her as a possible heroine for a future book. I mean, the girl was probably used by him to create his perfect imagine, and even if he actually cared for her, he still abandoned her and she had no idea of who he really was. A possible romantic relationship would have to overcome quite some difficulties. And that would make it just the more interesting. I'm not sure that's going to happen tough, because there are already so many characters that I think are going to have their own story and in this case we don't even know her name. Sigh. On the bright side: there are so many characters that will have their own bookπππ
I also loved how they solved the problem of (future) kidnappings with small tattoos.
I doubt KJ was the only spy, so I'm curious to see how they will discover the others.
On the downside tough
I didn't like is how everyone forgave Hugo. I mean, I get the forgiving part, but treating him as a hero? Nope. Sorry, but I can't condone what he did to Heenali, or the way he tried to frame Bo. Sure, he said that he knew Malachai would have noticed and understood that his accusations were false, but what if that wasn't the case? He risked to not only ruin the relationship between the HA with BS, but to actually cause a war over the two of them. And I honestly get that grief makes people forget his faults, I get that. But from forgiving him, making him a better person that he probably was to actually treat him as a hero? That's quite a leap. I'm not saying he was evil and downright terrible, just that he was on the grey area. And while they didn't seem to forget what he did to Heenali, they also didn't seemed to really care that much. (Except from Bo)
I mean, Heenali has already been described as someone scarred so much by her past, that she HATES psy. So much so that she is unable to be rational when they're mentioned (Bo goes as far as saying that she would be his best successor if she wasn't so blindsided when spy are concerned). Now she also has to deal with the fact that the guy she loved, not only used her but also framed her and his boss (someone she swore loyalty to) for his actions. All the while blaming herself because she knew he was doing something, but didn't think too much about it. Which was admittedly stupid, but it also indicates how much she wanted their relationship to work, how much she wanted him to love her. So now, she will also probably mistrust any men she'll have a relationship with. Not that it will happen any time soon considering that, because she loved the idiot, she will also grieve for him.
....
Obviously, I hope that she will have her own book (*But I am already pretty certain that she is going to have one*), altough I doubt that it will be anytime soon (sigh she needs time to grieve for Hugo sigh) because from the first time she was introduced I already liked her. And I already knew that I would love her story. And considering her hate for the psy, I wish that his hero is psy because... well, what better way to overcome her hate and past?ππ
@Lux_Klara
KJ’s wife is named Lis.
I love the idea with Heenali and a Psy.
I'm guessing Malachai might be a fin whale. Or maybe a unknown creature Nalini's imagination has invented. (Miane's line from Allegiance of Honor makes me question all of the other clues "It befit what he was, a secret unknown to the world.") What do you all think?
@library addict
How could I miss her name!?! Well, that just means that the chance that she's going to have her own books are higher (maybe with one of Kate's cousin or another member of BS?)
Honestly, since the introduction of Heenali and the hatred she has for the spy, I've been obsessed with the idea of her with a psy. It just stuck in my head and never left.
As for Malachai...he is quite a mistory. He is definetely big, bigger than a dolphin (at least that's the I impression that I got), but I doubt he's a whale. But I think you got it right when you say that "a secret unknown to the world" indicates a species that it's still a mistery. Maybe not invented, but a mythical creature. Something that has been described in myths and stories but of which there is no proof of its existence. It would explain why he is so secretive. I got the feeling that even in BS it wasn't that well known what he is. Not a secret, exactly, as much as something that is not really divulged. I mean, if he has to shift in front of them, he will have no problem about it, if one of his clanmates asked him what he is I doubt he would have a problem to tell them, but I got the feeling he still tries to be subtle. Or maybe I got this impression because poor Bo didn't even have a chance of discovering what he is...
I love your Psy / Changling series. But, I read Ocean's Light and I have two questions. At the very beginning, Kaia knows what Bo is thinking and answers him. How did she know? He was still waking up, blocked from her and he wasn't speaking, yet she was able to answer him several times. The second question is what happened to the mouse? I am assuming that it went with Kaia, but at the end, he wasn't mentioned. With as much of a part of the story as he was, it would have been nice to know.
Love all the comments, I too hope that Heenali will get her own story and like others thought her mate/partner could be Psy, perhaps an E-psy, or is that too cliche? I think that Malichai might be either a Sea “Dragon” or perhaps the giant Kraken that keeps being mentioned in the story, who knows with a relative that’s is a 200 yr old turtle. The story I would like is Bo’s best friend, Cassius, who Bo doesn’t think will ever find a partner because of the damage he suffered during the psy attack when they were teens. I don’t think he would do well with a psy, but I think a very feisty, dominant Changeling, maybe even a - Bear! Perhaps Val’s sister, Anastasia, now that might make for some interesting reading, plus we would get to see the bears and little gangsters again. Well this has made me miss everyone again, so might just pick a title too reread.
So... MIANE + MALACHAI, right?? I mean, she was wearing his T-shirt at the end of the book...
Loved the book - it was a great segue into the water changling world, while still drawing on characters from previous books.
Excited to read more about some of the characters introduced in this book, with Edison and Seraphina at the top of my list. Though I was also intrigued by the concept of a book about KJ's partner Lis, which was suggested by @Lux_Klara. From the betrayal she's faced, she definitely deserves to get her happily ever after!
What I'm probably most excited to discover is what on earth Mal turns into! From all the clues about his being something vast/old and unknown, I have this weird feeling that he's something amazing like a kraken. Though if his cousins are dolphins, maybe it's some ancient species of dolphin?
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