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quietpageturner5's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars!
Saoirse Sorkova, the woman that you ARE! I loved every moment of this book and I'm wondering why the hell it took me so long to pick it up!? This author is now on my auto-read list! I've already placed a hold at my library AND libby for book two and I can't wait to dive into it!
How Gabi Burton wrote Saoirse's reactions to feeling others' emotions and battling her own was beautifully written. Don't let this being a YA book fool you! This book tackles so many tough topics including classism, elitism, sexism...the list goes on and on. I felt so many conflicting emotions throughout the story...do I root for or against the FMC? Do I want her to have a love interest? Do I want her to kill? Should she hide her abilities or embrace them? I believe asking yourself questions and not being able to sleep until you've at least partly had your question answered makes for a great read!
Saoirse Sorkova, the woman that you ARE! I loved every moment of this book and I'm wondering why the hell it took me so long to pick it up!? This author is now on my auto-read list! I've already placed a hold at my library AND libby for book two and I can't wait to dive into it!
How Gabi Burton wrote Saoirse's reactions to feeling others' emotions and battling her own was beautifully written. Don't let this being a YA book fool you! This book tackles so many tough topics including classism, elitism, sexism...the list goes on and on. I felt so many conflicting emotions throughout the story...do I root for or against the FMC? Do I want her to have a love interest? Do I want her to kill? Should she hide her abilities or embrace them? I believe asking yourself questions and not being able to sleep until you've at least partly had your question answered makes for a great read!
bonsai9795's review against another edition
4.0
You know when you've got a mood to read a bunch of different things and don't necessarily want to settle on just one? this book is the cure.
The book is so richly layered in so many different themes and Ideas but without feeling messy or overcrowded or leaving some things feeling like they wasn't developed as others; it was so rich in detail! and the themes themselves! There was murder. There was some feminine rage. There was mystery, and a royal conspiracy. There was talks of creatures nature and romance and social injustice and the moral battles within it!
Saoirse (which- Gorgeous name might I add!) is a Siren who is confident in her skills and abilities and gives a really refreshing view on sirens and also of how their instincts are portrayed and it was so nice having an FMC aware of her skills and not hide or demean them for the sake of seeming humble. She has this beautiful found family aspect and is willing to do anything for her sister which was so amazing because it was a pivotal aspect of her character and morality and it was so nice to have a story that is boasted to be enemies to lovers without it being the entire soul focus of the characters. Speaking of the characters there was so much diversity and nuance to them no two characters felt too "samey" as such, you was able to care for them- I think there was only maybe two characters that didn't have the same level of nuance but it didn't matter.
Sidenote here but can I also just say love the fact that we have a literal siren here but author never felt the urge to write like actual song lyrics or anything it is a book pet peeve of mine and I was so relieved it never happened here!
As I said there was a great focus on social injustice of this world too- I don't want to give spoilers so I can't say too much but this Kingdom has so much trouble and it was so interesting to see how this was handled by various characters from seeing no wrong, or wanting it to be good but genuinely not seeing/ understanding the bad (etc). It's easy to analyse and compare to our own world and see the implications between the two and for a YA I think its an amazing perspective to give readers and help open some eyes much like some characters did in this story. Seeing the development arcs in some of the characters gave me so much hope for this world that Gabi has lovingly made.
As I said with the mystery elements obviously there was some twists now I did spot some beforehand - the ending still threw me off and took me for a bit of an emotional ride initially! which isn't always easy to do and honestly had me hoping for a sequel- which will be coming in August and I am so excited and this says a lot as I went into this thinking it was a standalone! I came into this book wanting a standalone and it left me wanting a sequel that's how enjoyable it was!
The one thing that did stick out to me which may not necessarily be the books fault is as I've only seen how amazon advertised the book- I mentioned earlier that this was labelled enemies-to-lovers...I didn't get that vibe as such for a long portion of the book because it was like only one of them was aware they was enemies? but then this actually became a really interesting dynamic that I've not seen before in a book either and did become quite enjoyable once the initial confusion wore off and I will say as the characters knowledge changed it did then feel more obvious and then that again added another layer to this beautiful book and even felt like some new hybrid of slow burn enemies to lovers which again, so glad to see a sequel!
The book is so richly layered in so many different themes and Ideas but without feeling messy or overcrowded or leaving some things feeling like they wasn't developed as others; it was so rich in detail! and the themes themselves! There was murder. There was some feminine rage. There was mystery, and a royal conspiracy. There was talks of creatures nature and romance and social injustice and the moral battles within it!
Saoirse (which- Gorgeous name might I add!) is a Siren who is confident in her skills and abilities and gives a really refreshing view on sirens and also of how their instincts are portrayed and it was so nice having an FMC aware of her skills and not hide or demean them for the sake of seeming humble. She has this beautiful found family aspect and is willing to do anything for her sister which was so amazing because it was a pivotal aspect of her character and morality and it was so nice to have a story that is boasted to be enemies to lovers without it being the entire soul focus of the characters. Speaking of the characters there was so much diversity and nuance to them no two characters felt too "samey" as such, you was able to care for them- I think there was only maybe two characters that didn't have the same level of nuance but it didn't matter.
Sidenote here but can I also just say love the fact that we have a literal siren here but author never felt the urge to write like actual song lyrics or anything it is a book pet peeve of mine and I was so relieved it never happened here!
As I said there was a great focus on social injustice of this world too- I don't want to give spoilers so I can't say too much but this Kingdom has so much trouble and it was so interesting to see how this was handled by various characters from seeing no wrong, or wanting it to be good but genuinely not seeing/ understanding the bad (etc). It's easy to analyse and compare to our own world and see the implications between the two and for a YA I think its an amazing perspective to give readers and help open some eyes much like some characters did in this story. Seeing the development arcs in some of the characters gave me so much hope for this world that Gabi has lovingly made.
As I said with the mystery elements obviously there was some twists now I did spot some beforehand - the ending still threw me off and took me for a bit of an emotional ride initially! which isn't always easy to do and honestly had me hoping for a sequel- which will be coming in August and I am so excited and this says a lot as I went into this thinking it was a standalone! I came into this book wanting a standalone and it left me wanting a sequel that's how enjoyable it was!
The one thing that did stick out to me which may not necessarily be the books fault is as I've only seen how amazon advertised the book- I mentioned earlier that this was labelled enemies-to-lovers...I didn't get that vibe as such for a long portion of the book because it was like only one of them was aware they was enemies? but then this actually became a really interesting dynamic that I've not seen before in a book either and did become quite enjoyable once the initial confusion wore off and I will say as the characters knowledge changed it did then feel more obvious and then that again added another layer to this beautiful book and even felt like some new hybrid of slow burn enemies to lovers which again, so glad to see a sequel!
bitterblu's review against another edition
2.0
I loved the characters in this, the all Black cast, the morally grey protagonist. There's a lot to love here I just think the author could have done more with it. I'm not having the best time with YA storytelling at the moment so take my rating with that in mind, but I just felt like this had the potential for good political intrigue and what we got instead was very vague and oversimplified and unrealistic. I didn't like the hand-holding and being reminded every few pages of key details from the previous chapter.
The protagonist was really memorable though, she was as promised from the synopsis truly morally problematic and that conflict was the best part of this story and did keep me reading till the end. I think anyone in the target audience range might get on really well with this one, it just didnt translate very well to a mature reader.
Some of the side characters were a bit empty and needed more exploration for their decisions to have the intended impact. As a result most of the plot twists lacked the shock factor even if i didnt see them coming. I do also wish that Hayes' mother had a single line of dialogue.. just.. one word. She has nothing, we know her name and that is all. And i would have thought her influence on her son, or lack of, would have been a talking point when his father's influence is so important to the story. We also never find out why or how the King got to be what he is, aside from the discussion of one incident which isnt ever fully explained. As a result he is just 'bad' so he does 'bad things' and that didnt work well for me.
The protagonist was really memorable though, she was as promised from the synopsis truly morally problematic and that conflict was the best part of this story and did keep me reading till the end. I think anyone in the target audience range might get on really well with this one, it just didnt translate very well to a mature reader.
Some of the side characters were a bit empty and needed more exploration for their decisions to have the intended impact. As a result most of the plot twists lacked the shock factor even if i didnt see them coming. I do also wish that Hayes' mother had a single line of dialogue.. just.. one word. She has nothing, we know her name and that is all. And i would have thought her influence on her son, or lack of, would have been a talking point when his father's influence is so important to the story. We also never find out why or how the King got to be what he is, aside from the discussion of one incident which isnt ever fully explained. As a result he is just 'bad' so he does 'bad things' and that didnt work well for me.
onemassivereader's review against another edition
3.0
Pretty good for a first novel. It became a bit of a chore in the middle, and I stopped reading it for ages, but decided to go back to it. The storyline is fairly obvious, and the heroine is not particularly likeable, even with all her reasoning laid out before you, but it's an ok story if you're new to fantasy. I don't think I'll go out of my way to read the next one, though.
j_milla_04's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
thatonereader200's review against another edition
I really don’t want to read about creepy men even though the main character is a woman and she is fighting these creepy men. I just really don’t want to deal with creepy men right now.
natesfairytale's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I love how it is written. It pulled you in the story so fast.
My main issue with this book is the main character. Saoirse is the typic main characters in all points except one and I tried so hard to love her. But the fact that she enjoys killing people was such a turn off. I really liked the story but I almost put the book down once I realised she didn't have any regret about killing people. I was so waiting for her redemption arc, but it didn't come. And she was so mean to everyone, I feel like there wasn't really a moment where she truly oppened to the other characters.
The other characters were better and saved the story. And the principle was really good too.
The King… I was waiting for some sort of explanation of why he is bad. And there was none. It explained why he hated the sirens, but not why he did the other things.
Also, I feel like the sirens are a bit too powerful ? Nobody can do anything against them, except witches.
But the story has so much potential, and if we don't stop at that, the book is very good and I enjoyed it.
fermented_mangoz's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.5
kaylajcj's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
queenrie1's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-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
4.5