Hello everyone!
Or well, that's what I'm calling it in my head haha.
Emma Hamm JUST released the third in her Deep Waters series, this one about a fan-favourite, golden retriever-type hero in the shape of one Maketes, who's the jokester of the group we've been getting to meet as our motley crew.
... and when you can get your hands on a copy this early, well, what do you do?
You read it of course!
Read it, then review it, then go back and read it again, because why the heck not.
So I'm not going to keep on yapping any longer, because we have some impatient characters who would very much like to have their story told.
Allons-y, then into Echoes of the Tide.
Maketes is someone we meet during Whispers of the Deep, and then we learn a little bit more about the helpful little buggy in Song of the Abyss, as he's very keen on helping both of his brothers, but he finally gets his own book now in Echoes, which I'm thankful for.
We need to get to know him better after all!
So if you remember - or if not, I'll summarize - our heroes took down one of the underwater cities humans live in, and then Gamma, the prison city, reached out wanting to connect with them. Maketes volunteers himself to hightail it over there, and he meets Ace.
Ace just so happens to be the human contact of our motley bang of misfits who's been helping them, and who was arrested because she stole money from people who had too much, so she was sent to Gamma from Beta.
Gamma is run by gangs though, so you need to play nice with them, and the gang she's currently with wants to make a deal with the undines - except Maketes can smell the lies they're spouting, so he tells Ace, after giving her the translator chip, that he'll do what they're asking for HER sake, not for theirs.
Which means they're off on an adventure that includes, but is not limited to, getting from point A to point B, talking to Fortis along the way because my unit of a man decides he wants to be a much stronger presence than in previous books, and figuring out the supposed key they're after for the gang leader might be something much more dangerous.
Much, much more dangerous.
See, they find holograms of the guy who originally had it, learning that it's got something to do with Tau - HA, TAKE THAT ANYONE AND EVERYONE WHO FORGOT ABOUT TAU! - and that it's bad.
They then track it to the "toy tower", which is basically where not even the gangs want to go. Why?
Well, because the crazies are all there, that's why, and they eat each other there for fun.
You read that right.
Anyway, Ace has, by this point, gotten into a scrape or two, gotten rescued by Maketes (and Fortis managed to literally break into a human-made tower that's supposedly not even possible, but this thing is 19 feet of pure rage and muscle, so I mean ...), and the two are now moving out of friendzone and into the fun-buddies zone (I'm using a neutral-ish word for it haha, but yes, there's sexy times).
She's also talked to the person who stole the key from its original place, who tells her she must never give it to anyone who might abuse its power. For real, because apparently, it's a communication device to connect with Tau, and Tau's been running the show since forever.
Unfortunately, our friendly guy doesn't make it, but Ace gets out of there with a little help from Maketes, and the two take a little time just to themselves to figure out what's what from here on out.
So, more sexy times later, Ace decides no, she can't give the key to the gang leader, no matter that he's threatening her sister's life, the only family she has left.
Maketes, being the good guy he is, asks one of his people to find the sister, and Fortis later tells him they got her out, in the nick of time.
He also delivers some schooling to the kid who's so much tinier than he is about mating needs, as you do LOL.
Anyway, Arges and Daios, as well as their human mates, now need to figure out the whole she-bang with Tau, and Arges conveniently remembers the dude who nearly killed Mira mentioning being from that place. So they find a spot which won't endanger the colony they're building, and crack the thing wide open, which reveals a few items nobody thought would be on their bingo cards that day:
- every city has an under-city that nobody of the regular populace knows about
- they've been abducting and experimenting on undines since forever
- the population of Tau are the so-called "originators", who've made clones of themselves and are the ones who made everything under the sea, refusing to die
The reason for their deal with the undines is: they want the longevity that these guys have, and they're willing to kill for it, as demonstrated.
Ace composes a video message to blast to every underwater city left, encouraged by her sister Laura (by the way, Ace's real name's Maura), who took up the mantle of rebelling against the cause after her sister was carted off.
They then give it to the droid, Tera, Ace's only true friend, who makes the sacrifice of broadcasting the message while Tau's hunting for the location of the message, to keep everyone safe.
... and then they get the same message inside every single droid they have.
It's obviously a trap.
And Fortis volunteers to spring it.
Which means buckle up, buttercups, because book four is a-comin, and it's going to be a bumpy, bumpy ride!
Now hear me out.
I love this world. The world-building is TOP NOTCH, and I finally feel less than a dog with a bone with Tau out in the open. I KNEW WE WOULD BE HEARING FROM TAU AGAIN SOON!
That said, Maketes and Ace just ... didn't quite do it for me in the same way the previous couples had. I have no idea why because they're lovely and deserve every inch of their hard-earned happily ever after. Especially since they open up about their fears and past hurts, Ace for being unwanted, and Maketes for being wanted too much, as he's considered "manageable" because of his size, would likely die during mating, and his colouring indicates that welp, his lineage gave it all and he's a genetic dead end.
But man, I LOVED getting more of Fortis.
So I guess, knowing what's next, this feels more like a bridge to that book in some ways? IDK I just didn't get the same intense feels as with Whispers and Song.
BUT I LOVE THIS WHOLE SERIES, OKAY. It's all 100/10 stars, and I cannot WAIT to see what Tau brings to the table.
Fortis is 19 feet that can break through human constructed stuff. Bring it.
I love this world. The world-building is TOP NOTCH, and I finally feel less than a dog with a bone with Tau out in the open. I KNEW WE WOULD BE HEARING FROM TAU AGAIN SOON!
That said, Maketes and Ace just ... didn't quite do it for me in the same way the previous couples had. I have no idea why because they're lovely and deserve every inch of their hard-earned happily ever after. Especially since they open up about their fears and past hurts, Ace for being unwanted, and Maketes for being wanted too much, as he's considered "manageable" because of his size, would likely die during mating, and his colouring indicates that welp, his lineage gave it all and he's a genetic dead end.
But man, I LOVED getting more of Fortis.
So I guess, knowing what's next, this feels more like a bridge to that book in some ways? IDK I just didn't get the same intense feels as with Whispers and Song.
BUT I LOVE THIS WHOLE SERIES, OKAY. It's all 100/10 stars, and I cannot WAIT to see what Tau brings to the table.
Fortis is 19 feet that can break through human constructed stuff. Bring it.
xx
*image not mine
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