This continuation of Ocean’s Goderi wraps up the story started in book one in a satisfying way,

I enjoyed this book, but it paled a little in comparison to the first. Not in terms of the characterization or the prose, but more so because it feels like it lost momentum from the first book. It takes a great while to get this one started, as the characters spend the first third to almost one half just sort of sitting around for the most part - rather than over the plot, they react to things that happened ot them, which wasn’t as engaging as their circumstances in the previous novel. There were times when I wondered why this couldn’t have been trimmed down a little bit, as I struggled a) to remember who everyone was despite the handy re-cap at the start and b) to see where the story was going.

But once it shook this off, the novel is very compelling with interesting character arcs and interactions, and two love stories that are similar in circumstance but different in approach. The depth of feeling between the two pairs of lovers is really well developed, though some might find it overly dramatic (but I liked it). The villain, Corvus, also gets some backstory, which was helpful in understanding him, though while his invention was really fascinating, his motives were a bit suspect, given that he has the same background as Phoenix (yet Phoenix wasn’t a lunatic). If why they diverged had been approached more, it might have worked better for me.

The action scenes were great and the dialogue slaps, so if you enjoyed Ocean’s Godori, it is well worth checking out the conclusion!

I will say that I should have re-read Ocean's Godori before reading Teo's Durumi as I felt lost at times during the first half of the book. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it though because I quickly remembered it after reading something. I love how all the characters continued to grow from the last book and seeing them not in a ship's setting helped a lot as well. I understood where Corvus was coming from at the end but it still felt a little confusing during his POV. Again, that could just be because I need to re-read the first book. I will definitely be reading it again in the future

6.5 / 10 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2025/07/27/teos-durumi-by-elaine-u-cho-review/

I adored Ocean’s Godori (up until the end, at least), for it was a rollicking space adventure with good world-building, deep and human characters, a thrilling plot, space pirates, and an emphasis on space and science fiction above all else. Then came the end, which was too abrupt, and didn’t resolve anything. Well, I’m happy to report that Teo’s Durumi has a definitive and satisfying conclusion. Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of, well, anything resembling a plot, and really any science.

So, Teo’s Durumi is a romance set in space, centered heavily around its characters and their relationships and growth. There’s very little science to this fiction, and a story that I would describe as “wandering”, when it’s present at all. Basically, the book swaps one problem for another. While I legitimately enjoyed one of the two romances—and largely tolerated the second—I’m not sure it made up for the loss of a discernible plot.

There are very real, human characters, for the most part (there’s also a pirate captain with soulful eyes, a tender spirit, and a heart of gold; pretty much a walking cliché). How they live and grow reminded me very much of Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers, but with a more determined romance. Even Corvus, assassin and series’ antagonist, is relatable, and shows depth. Their story is nearly worth the price of admission on its own.

And yet, Teo’s Durumi once again failed to live up to expectation. After all, I expected another rollicking space thriller, heavy with character development. What I got was a romance, set in space, heavy with character development, growth, and evolving relationships. There’s some small science fiction at the edges, but that fades over the course of the text. By the end, I could barely remember the plot past “a man out to clear his name, and save the world”—even though the last 10-15% is just one extended action-sequence. But, to a certain extent, I didn’t really care. The plot may have let me down, but the characters kept me reading. I really CARED what happened to them, and wanted to see how everyone fared in the end.

TL;DR

Ocean’s Godori was an excellent sci-fi/space-opera thriller, let down by a sudden ending that failed to resolve anything. Teo’s Durumi is much more of a mixed bag, ditching the rollicking space adventure with a character-driven romance, set in space, overarching plot optional. There’s a thriller within, but it’s got far more holes than the original. While surprising, it wasn’t altogether disappointing. While I lamented the lack of really any science amidst this fiction, and the loss of a motivating plot, I quite enjoyed the character relationships, and at least one of the two main romances. That said, I can’t really say that Teo’s Durumi is really any better than its predecessor. There’s an ending this time, which was nice, but there’s no real lasting satisfaction from it. The conclusion does its best to claw some of the action and thrill back, but (on the whole) it’s Swiss cheese at best.

The second half of Ocean's Godori.

Literally.

My complaint with this one is the flip side of my complaint for the first one. This is clearly written as a single book and then sliced down the middle with little concern for the creation of two solid volumes. Where the first ended on a nonsensical cliffhanger which left you wondering if the publisher had forgotten a couple of pages, this one starts back up leaving those few pages of information still missing. The author just yada yada yada'd through the conclusion and moved on. There was no craftsmanship put into creating a sequel. As someone who read the first book over a year ago, and with no desire to re-read it, I found the start back up confusing. There are too many characters that are given centre-stage and I couldn't remember which names went with which people. Since the author didn't bother crafting this half as an actual sequel, there was no recap or re-introduction of the characters. For someone picking the books up together to read all at once, this criticism might not affect their enjoyment of the story as a whole. For me, I found it very hard to get my head back in the game.

On the whole, there is somehow both too much storytelling and not enough story. There isn't enough plot here for two books and there are too many words for a single volume. Too many characters getting their own POV and not enough focus. It's fine, but it could have been great.

Teo’s Durumi absolutely delivered on all of the promises made in Ocean’s Godori providing just as much adventure and heart but with bigger stakes and more political intrigue to unravel. Picking up where the first book left off, the combined crews of the Ohnuel and Pandia must figure out how to survive new enemies while still trying to clear Teo’s name and reckoning with their complicated pasts. While this book has a fair bit of action, especially in its final third, it also makes time for quieter moments and relationship building between crew members. I appreciated the way it balanced both the romantic relationships and friendships without losing sight of the tension and stakes inherent in their mission. Although the villains did occasionally veer into the territory of over the top, I did admire the time given to explore their POVs and motivations. Overall this was an extremely satisfying conclusion to the duology and I look forward to whatever is next from this author.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an ARC of this title!

This work begins with a character’s ship log that provides a brief rundown of the characters and the major events that happened in book one. I liked how this was done, as it melded smoothly with the story and means you don’t have to reread the first book to remember what happened (though it’s certainly worth the reread).

The pacing of this work is very uneven. There’s more intrigue in this one. Almost the entire first half of the book focuses more on the intrigue, characters planning, and a quick attack anytime someone leaves the safe house. This was disappointing, going from the momentum of book one into this somewhat standstill. This work also includes chapters from the main antagonist’s POVs. I really didn’t prefer these chapters. I couldn’t tell if they were meant to humanize Corvus and make him more sympathetic, but since he kept doing increasingly awful things, it didn’t work for me. And then the last fifth of the book was nonstop action until the very end. The first two-thirds of this book suffered from middle-book-syndrome to the point where I was a little scared the author was trying to turn this into a trilogy. I also felt that this one was missing much of the sci-fi of the first one, leaning more into conversations and planning.

There were still some strong aspects in this one, especially relating to the culture and food, some worldbuilding, and continuing the relationships that were started in book one. I really appreciate the slow burn romance in these and that the author didn’t try to rush any of the relationships.

This was still an enjoyable read, but the reasons I loved book one weren’t as present in this one, which led to a little disappointment for me. I would still love to read more from this author, especially in this world. My thanks to NetGalley and Zando Publishing for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Such a satisfying sequel! Although I am partial to Ocean's Godori, and Ocean is just a top-tier protagonist for me, and I missed the focus on her, I did enjoy the further development of the relationships that resulted in the combining of the Ohneul and the Pandia's crews, and the resolution of Teo's story.

The book began with a much-appreciated recap of Ocean's Godori (and a review of the many crew members), and then jumps right back into the action where Ocean's Godori left off. Although the first 30-40% of the book was a bit slow for me, it did do a good job of setting up the action-packed second half the book. What I enjoyed most about both of the books in this duology was the combination of a classic, science fiction setting and the careful examination of the characters' pasts, emotions, connections, fears, and desires.

I seriously cannot believe that this was a debut - this is how it's done!

When a pilot crash lands and loses her ship, she must think of who she is without it. Such is the beginning of the second installment of The Alliance series by Elaine Cho. Ocean is the pilot who is the central character in the first novel, but she is just one of many personalities here. This novel titled Teo’s Durumi, seems to be so different from the last. I did not get the excitement that I found in the last novel, as this one was mostly conversations between many characters. The author seemed to be wanting to reveal these characters’ pasts and utilized small scenes between them to do so. I missed the science fiction that was in the first one, which is minimized while putting dialogue in. Despite the added information of the characters, there was no real drive for me to push forward in this novel. I enjoyed more of the Korean food and culture, but the ending was predictable and could have been revealed much sooner. However I appreciate the chance to read it, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Zando.

I absolutely loved this. It is a well rounded story with an amazing plot. Cannot wait to see more from Elaine :)

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book.*

If you enjoyed Ocean's Godori, you will also enjoy Theo's Durumi. I just love the crew, the story is somewhat secondary for me and not all of it made sense. The slow burn romance bits were tragic and hilarious at the same time, I especially love Haven. I'm glad the story has been somewhat concluded though I would love to read more stories set in this universe and with the dramatic personnel from this series.

4 stars because the story is a bit much & I got confused by some of the characters

What a fun series! I immensely enjoyed this, from the characters to the action to the world. (But especially the characters.)

This takes a lot of things from the first book and just amplifies them - the action scenes! The yearning! There's a lot of both of those things, and they're excellent, especially the action scenes. The entire last quarter of the book, essentially? So good! Writing action scenes that are engaging and move the plot and character development forward is truly a gift.

The relationships between the characters were a highlight in both books in this series, and seeing them continue to flourish, as well as get context and background for some of the characters, was easily the highlight of the book for me.

Honestly, this was just such a delight to read and while I don't want to make it sound like it's all light-hearted fun, because it's not - there were emotional beats, specifically around grief and expectations, and there were certainly stakes - but I just really had such a fantastic time reading this.

Thank you to the publisher, Hillman Grad Books, and to NetGalley for the ARC.

Does it stick the landing? Yes. Does it stumble on the way there? Also yes.

Those coming into this straight from Ocean's Godori know that there was a LOT of momentum going from that book into this one. That momentum stutters to pretty much a complete stop at the beginning of this book, and the characters spend about the first 50-60% mostly hanging out in a mansion on the moon. Occasionally one or the other of them will emerge from the mansion to be shot at, kidnapped, stabbed, etc. and then they will go back to the mansion and hang out some more. One would think that Cho was using this time to further develop the relationships the characters started in the first book, and there is a BIT of that, but not enough for this to be most of the first 50% of the book.

The non-hanging-out-in-the-mansion chapters of the first half are Corvus-centered. These are pretty much a transparent attempt to make him more sympathetic as a villain, but they don't really work because he keeps doing worse and worse things, and the background we're given on him doesn't outweigh that because Cho has already given us the character of Garrett/Phoenix, who has a background almost identical to Corvus' and DIDN'T turn into a supervillain.

Once we hit 80%, the rest of the book is pretty much one long action sequence. There is good emotional payoff in the end, but overall the pacing and balance of this felt so off in comparison to the first book. The side characters weren't developed as much as I wanted to them to be for a found family narrative and we basically had no Teo-and-Ocean-besties-forever moments, which was sad. I did still like the book as a whole, but the first one was AWESOME and I don't think this one held up to its predecessor.

Thank you so much to Zando and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book!

SPOILERS FOR <i>Ocean’s Godori</i>

This book picks up exactly where <i>Ocean’s Godori</i> left off. The joint crew of the <i>Pandia</i> and <i>Ohnuel</i> have landed on the Moon. Narrowly avoiding an attack by the group that framed Teo for the murder of his family, they now have to figure out their next steps. Both towards clearing Teo’s name and fixing where his family went wrong all those years ago.

This book was brilliant. It was super action packed while also taking time to focus on the characters personal lives and the more severe issues regarding interplanetary trade.

This book is definitely more focused on the plot rather than the characters. By this point, a few relationships are already established and the others still have that push and pull dynamic. It was interesting to see the latter evolve as the plot forced them closer together.

I was honestly kind of worried as we encroached the halfway point that this book wouldn’t wrap up and cleanly as it needed to. I was very wrong. Despite so much of the final confrontation being packed into the last 30% of the book, it didn’t feel rushed at all. The final scenes pulled on the characters strengths and weaknesses and formed a satisfying conclusion for both the character relationships and the overarching conflict.

I will admit I was a bit hesitant going into this because book 1 fell a bit flat for me but I am glad I gave it a try.

We start off right where book 1 ends. So running. I think what I enjoyed about this book are the members of the crew themselves. Yes there is more plot and elements of world building that make up the bulk of the book but the established relationships and addition of new characters help pull it together for me. There is a lot going on in this book plot wise and it did come together in the end. Overall it is was a solid read.

This book y’all! I was absolutely blown away! I could fill an entire paragraph with my thoughts on the first six pages alone. It was one of the best openings to a sequel I have ever read, reintroducing the characters and summarizing the major plot points of the last book in such a clever way. And from then on the book was full speed ahead, with a fast pace and lots of action. I was one the edge of my seat the whole time, even in seemingly quiet moments that were secretly politically maneuvering and scheming. But no matter the plot I would have read every word, as I love the characters that much. They are such an amazing found family with so much love. Ocean and Teo are truly platonic soulmates, and they both grew so much over the course of this book. Teo in particular really came into his own and showed his true genius and heart. Ocean was able to process so much of her lingering grief and come out stronger and ready to build a happier future for herself. Sasani had similar development as he wrestled with his place in the world. The last character that had truly phenomenal development was the villain, Corvus. He had an incredibly well written descent into madness that culminated in a dramatic finale for everyone. The ending was absolutely action packed and a thrilling conclusion to the events of the duology. The epilogue was a sweet add on that wrapped up the characters and gave them all beautiful, hopeful futures. All this is to say that I love this book and duology with all my heart and cannot recommend it enough!

I just love this series and the characters within! The pacing remains as fast-paced as the first book, with action and character moments perfectly balanced. I also loved getting a closer look at Teo and other characters we didn’t get to see as much in book one. We also get a healthy dose of yearning, which is something I personally LOVE to see in all the books I read. This was absolutely a character based book and I’m here for it!! I’d highly recommend this series for any sci-fi fan!

I was so enrapt by the time we got to the ending of Ocean's Godori, and then I was enraged when it ended right after the action sequence ended (what! I want more!) Now I'm so excited that I finally have my hands on the ARC of book 2, Teo's Durumi to find out how the conflict of being framed for several murders of the Anand Tech family plays out. Finishing the book, I can say I was thoroughly entertained the whole way with our original Ohneul crew teaming up with Phoenix's space raiders to illuminate and unravel Corvus's plot to take down the tech giant and those of the solar who he feels had been exploited and wronged on Mercurians.

While book 1 felt more like the setup of being put into a trap (murder! deepfake suits! spaceship battles!), book 2 felt more like the story of unmasking the evil mastermind behind the conspiracy and fighting back. The gang has to try to navigate executing a plan while trying to figure out who they could actually trust, considering that Teo's wrongfully wanted by the whole solar system. It explores themes of grief and metamorphosing identity in the face of finding out maybe your family wasn't exactly who the presented themselves as.

Also, I loved Haven Sasani, I wish we had more of him in this book. His interactions with Ocean were so tense this whole time, I wanted to scream.


"You should stay hydrated. You're not used to how hot it gets in the summer here [on Artemis]. It's just like Korea."
This does bring Ocean's attention back to Joonho [the diplomat]; he's studying her. She shakes her head. "I don't share a drink with just anyone."


👀🙊

Lychee Soda

That being said, I think what detracted from my enjoyment of this book is essentially the type of villain that Cho constructed as our big baddie. Yes, he had a backstory and motive to hate the Anands, but his personality and sci-fi device that he used felt so cartoonish to me. It felt like it could be summarized as, "And now with this powerful soul-sucking device, I will take over the world solar! Bwahaha!"

Cartoonish villain asides, I really enjoyed this series so far. It's ended in a way where you could see this being the final conclusion for the team, but also it's open-ended enough to continue on with a new plot line, should Cho decide to--I for one am rooting for more.

I may have squealed wildly when I received this ebook ARC from Netgalley. Ocean's Godori was one of my favorite sci-fi reads in recent times, a rare reread even before I knew the sequel was imminent. This picks up almost immediately after where the last book left off -- shortly after the crew crash landed into the swimming pool of a Korean scholar commune on the Moon. A lot more of this story is intrigue and action than the last one, and at times seems to suffer from an overabundance of POVs, but ultimately it all serves well to make for an exceedingly vivid narrative. Even though the title indicates a Teo-centric plot, this is still a continuation of the utterly heartwarming and pure bond between Ocean and Teo, and the extremely lovable and quirky crew of misfits and rebels that coalesces around them. Their individual romance plots progress in very distinct and believable ways, with Teo and Phoenix being Shakespearean, while Haven and Ocean's KDrama levels of impossible yearning. Literally every single crew member gets to have their own little arc that intersects with everyone else's emotional arc. It is such a brilliant way to simultaneously do effective worldbuilding and also ground the narrative in the absolutely crackling chemistry in a large crew of characters. This more than covers up for the occasional clunkiness of the pacing and the villain trajectory and the improbability of certain convenient resolutions to complicated political and societal knots that the crew is stuck in. But I'm more than willing to chalk it up to a debut author quirk. While I'm glad there isn't more sequel bait, I will miss this crew and think of them for a long time. Definitely will be checking out the audiobook when it releases. Now someone PLEASE adapt this for the screen!

A deep and introspective take on the usual space adventure highjinks. Following on the heals of Ocean's Gidori, Ocean, her crew, Teo, and the pirates have safely landed on the moon, but their troubles aren't over. The shapeshifter is still impersonating Teo's brother, the terrorists are still hunting our heroes, and the Korean representatives are still assholes. Teo is also developing feelings for Pheonix that go far beyond his comfort zone. I adore this book and its predecessor, but I know that such a introspective take isn't for everyone. The quick recap at the start is a strikingly different tone, one which really brought home the ways this book is more about the journey and not as much about the plot. People who itched for more action in the Wayfarers series won't be placated by the gunfights and space battles in this novel - the focus is much more on the quiet moments between the crew and their feelings and hopes. A brilliant work, but sadly unlikely to be a popular one.

A really great sequel to Ocean’s Godori that completes each main characters arc in a satisfying way.
This book picks up right where the first one left off, after a very helpful recap on the characters from the last book. It continues the main conflict and introduces a few more characters. I really appreciated that the main antagonist of the story was fleshed out. It really helped pull things together. The main romance is also continued and I thought the way it wrapped up was nice, but the love triangle bit went on for just a bit too long. I really enjoyed how to the conflict wrapped up and how the stakes were raised more from the last book.
It was really great to dive back into this story and serves as a great conclusion.