bookish_spoonie's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.0
2 Stars
After loving the first three books in the Married To Magic series (and all of Elise Kova's other books), I was super excited for this book. So it makes me genuinely sad to say that it did not live up to my expectations and that sadly I did not enjoy this installment.
A Duet with the Siren Duke is about Victoria who when escaping her abusive husband, finds herself in the sea and in the arms of a dangerous Siren. She is given the option to die now, or live with some powers for five years before becoming a sacrifice to save the world of the Siren population. She obviously takes option b and lives the next 5 years as a captain of a ship until her time is up and she finds herself taken into the Siren's world.
I found the storyline to be very basic and on one hand there was a decent amount of detail about the God's the Siren's worship and their song. However there is barely any information about their day to day lives. It all just felt incredibly basic to me and meant I didn't feel swept away into the story.
The characters were the biggest issue for me. The lead character Victoria has the most personality but she is still incredibly 2D and I didn't felt connected to her at all. Some of her decisions and actions were also bizarre and made it hard for me to like her, let alone feel a connection. It is a shame as to begin with I felt like she had promise after leaving her husband and working as a Captain of a ship but her personality just faded away until she was incredibly boring.
The love interest Ilryth I had high hopes for but despite being a kind and caring person, he is generally quite bland. I wanted to know more about him and his past because then he may have had more about him but as it stands he is a completely forgettable character.
Sadly because of this the romance is also boring and pretty obvious. I didn't feel any real emotion and the romance generally needed more chemistry and humour.
The book is around 550 pages long and I believe 200 pages could have been taken away and it would have been better. The writing was fine, just not up to the standard I have come to expect from Elise Kova. There was so many pages that nothing happened in and it made the pace too slow and reading it a slog. A good edit was desperately needed as those dead pages could have been used to add more detail to the world and more personality to the characters.
Overall I am gutted to say that this was my least favourite Elise Kova book. I still definitely recommend reading this series, however I would sadly say to skip this one.
Please note that I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.
After loving the first three books in the Married To Magic series (and all of Elise Kova's other books), I was super excited for this book. So it makes me genuinely sad to say that it did not live up to my expectations and that sadly I did not enjoy this installment.
A Duet with the Siren Duke is about Victoria who when escaping her abusive husband, finds herself in the sea and in the arms of a dangerous Siren. She is given the option to die now, or live with some powers for five years before becoming a sacrifice to save the world of the Siren population. She obviously takes option b and lives the next 5 years as a captain of a ship until her time is up and she finds herself taken into the Siren's world.
I found the storyline to be very basic and on one hand there was a decent amount of detail about the God's the Siren's worship and their song. However there is barely any information about their day to day lives. It all just felt incredibly basic to me and meant I didn't feel swept away into the story.
The characters were the biggest issue for me. The lead character Victoria has the most personality but she is still incredibly 2D and I didn't felt connected to her at all. Some of her decisions and actions were also bizarre and made it hard for me to like her, let alone feel a connection. It is a shame as to begin with I felt like she had promise after leaving her husband and working as a Captain of a ship but her personality just faded away until she was incredibly boring.
The love interest Ilryth I had high hopes for but despite being a kind and caring person, he is generally quite bland. I wanted to know more about him and his past because then he may have had more about him but as it stands he is a completely forgettable character.
Sadly because of this the romance is also boring and pretty obvious. I didn't feel any real emotion and the romance generally needed more chemistry and humour.
The book is around 550 pages long and I believe 200 pages could have been taken away and it would have been better. The writing was fine, just not up to the standard I have come to expect from Elise Kova. There was so many pages that nothing happened in and it made the pace too slow and reading it a slog. A good edit was desperately needed as those dead pages could have been used to add more detail to the world and more personality to the characters.
Overall I am gutted to say that this was my least favourite Elise Kova book. I still definitely recommend reading this series, however I would sadly say to skip this one.
Please note that I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.
tinasabolo's review
3.0
I have loved the married to magic series and the authors other books and series, but I’m sad to admit that this was probably my least favorite. I was excited about sirens in this one because I feel like you just don’t see them that often. Did I read this in just a couple days and enjoy the journey? Yes. But I feel like there were some things that needed further explanation, details that happened that I didn’t feel like were relevant to the story, and I wasn’t a fan of the ending.
kuria's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
natkimbrough's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Death
hayleyb16's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
icedpinecones's review
4.0
I never go too in depth with these reviews because I assume we all know what we're getting into. Siren romance book, cool.
Characters were likeable, plot was really decent and quite ambitious for these novels! Really enjoyed the ending!
I feel like these married to magic novels have really improved since their inception, going from 300 page basic romances to 600 page quite fleshed out stories with some really emotive points!
Solid read innit, no more to say!
Characters were likeable, plot was really decent and quite ambitious for these novels! Really enjoyed the ending!
I feel like these married to magic novels have really improved since their inception, going from 300 page basic romances to 600 page quite fleshed out stories with some really emotive points!
Solid read innit, no more to say!
julierose_mann's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0