Oublié | Speak The Ocean |
I wanted to see more of two unique stories: a stranded moon amnesia colony and a contemporary fantasy where merfolk are a corporate waterpark attraction.
(from Captured In Words)
143. Susana Imaginário, Oublié
Telepathic siblings try to navigate the interspecies difficulties of surviving a few years into a post-crash-landing moon colony.
This reminds me of a silver age sci-fi story in the best way. It feels very much cut from the same cloth. There’s much about it that is strange, but enticingly so.
The 3rd person pov is descriptive and engages in good scene and character details while keeping its protagonists at the center of the narrative. At least two distinct characters begin to emerge before the reader, both interesting.
They are in conflict with each other, tho they have common goals – survival. They are in conflict with their environment – their subterranean colony is beset by moon quakes. There’s much they’re uncertain of. There’s tension with their non-telepathic cohabitants.
There’s a lot this opening has to get us up to speed on, and while all of it is engaging, I have been slow to understand some of the details, especially those that would have oriented me in the circumstances of these two characters.
I think I did a good job summarizing what this opening is about in my first paragraph, but it took pages for me to build the confidence to write that much. Dialogue took precedent over context. Something WAS happening, and it was important … I just wasn’t sure what it was.
Beginnings are hard, especially when so much of consequence has happened before the first page – an asset to any story. That’s very much the case here. We begin in the middle of things, and once I AM oriented, the circumstances are exciting.
Despite my delayed understanding, there was always enough energy, enough character, enough interesting detail and competence of prose to keep me turning the pages.
I especially enjoyed the deftness with which a minor character – something of an old medical crone – was rendered.
The characters, their collective post-crash quasi-amnesia, the problems they face in a quaking moon colony with strained resources and the weight of leadership, it’s all fascinating.
I stop reading and find myself still thinking about the situation and the characters, drawing me back into the world of the story. This is a quality that simply cannot be denied. This may be more sci-fi on the surface than fantasy, but I’m in!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/205424910-oubli
144. Rebecca Enzor, Speak The Ocean
When a mermaid dies, they turn into sea foam. Finn has euthanized 6 in 4 years. You have to when they kill their trainers. Now he’s got to kill 1 more.
The conceit of this beginning immediately draws me in. It’s 1st person present tense POV begins with action. A dead trainer. A large merman that has to be put down. The team at Oceanica that will perform the euthanasia.
The opening subtly establishes the corporate, profit driven mistreatment of this intelligent, newly discovered species. The narrative shows us everything without having to tell us.
This, and the practical, focused prose on display, is the great strength of this opening, I think. It’s precise. It’s impactful. It gradually introduces us to the world through the eyes of a character who has an immediate, weighty goal.
It’s the character, tho, who keeps me turning the pages. I want to know more about how this job of his twists inside him. How does he feel about all this? What is he going to do?
His feelings aren’t clear – in the best way. He’s struggling with the intelligence in the eyes of the merfolk. That’s clear. Subtle, but painfully clear. I keep turning the pages to see how this pain will manifest in his behavior.
I have been the least interested in the dialogue of this opening, but I think that’s because it’s all pass-by dialogue. The characters aren’t really saying anything to each other in the same way people often don’t say anything to each other.
They’re saying directly what they need to do, or they’re talking about beers and girls. They’re not saying what they really think. They’re not expressing what they really feel. They don’t talk about the merfolk, the dead trainers, or what happens on ch1.
And so the story has me. It keeps wrapping me up tighter and tighter and has me turning the pages. Everything feels intentional and interesting. This already feels totally unique and is off to a great start. I’m in!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52041460-speak-the-ocean
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Tom Mock 
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