Ocean's Blood by Thelma Mantey: A Review

This week I managed to get my hands on a brilliant advance to read a copy of the lovely Thelma Mantey’s ‘Ocean’s Blood’ on NetGalley and I am very excited to tell you all about it. Ocean's Blood is a dark gay fantasy novel that really does do a brilliant job of revealing how the line between hatred and obsession can be almost invisible.

This book is amazingly complex with its own unique lore and world-building that is genuinely so well thought out that it surprised me to the point where I had to reread just to make sure I got all the details. For me, this book was relatively easy to read but, I'm aware that for some people, this story could become complex very quickly, with events happening in quick succession and twisted games being played both on and off-page by characters.

One thing that makes this book stick out for me is how easy it is to both hate and adore the characters simultaneously with nothing to differentiate if you should or shouldn’t back them. No character is ever really good, and no character is ever really evil; each character has their own individual motivations and reasons for being and it is a really well brought-across feature of the book. Morally grey characters can be difficult to write well, but Mantey does it with grace.

Mantey discusses themes of struggle, obsession, hatred and love throughout this book and I think it's a beautiful representation of all these emotions. Everything discussed is raw and vulnerable and I don't think in any way presented falsely. Often I feel as though the topic of suicide and the thoughts surrounding the topic are either overly exaggerated or downplayed but Mantey does the topic a great service with her inclusion of the topic.

Personally, this book was a brilliant read and I’m very happy to have been able to read this.

Happy reading,

Mei x