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A review by ankonyx
Sing Me to Sleep by Gabi Burton
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
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
Mild spoilers ahead for the synopsis, though it only really covers the first 100 pages of the book.
Sing Me To Sleep follows Saoirse, a lone siren in a world of a ruling fae class and subservient humans and witches. As a siren, she has the deepest urge to kill, particularly when near large bodies of water. This urge has brought her to her secondary career, as an assassin. This second job helps pay the bills to protect her little sister Rain, whom she affectionately nicknames Beansprout.
Her main day job, now that she has graduated her training job, is as a bodyguard for prince Hayes, having taking this job against her will and better judgement due to someone blackmailing her. The book follows Saoirse as she tries to uncover who is blackmailing her while also trying to remain undercover as a string of murders all tied to a beautiful woman become revealed.
Saoirse is a deeply grey character and is a fascinating perspective to follow.
Personal feelings:
Positives:
* I really enjoyed seeing the world through Saoirse’s eyes. The world was really interesting and well built, and most of the worldbuilding was done through the eyes of our principal character, which I found really well done. I also liked the synesthesia-esque descriptions of other’s emotions, and how it wasn’t constant (for example, none of the witches had these descriptions). It also really developed Saoirse as a character.
* The characters were really interesting and I enjoyed reading about them. They were all quite flawed but in ways that were consistent and engaging.
* The book had good pacing, keeping my gripped the whole way through without feeling repetitive.
Negatives:
* I would have like to get more of Hayes post-reveal, and in general see why he trusted her so much even when she was being really cagey. Obviously a personal thing, but the ending felt weird because of this to me.
This was absolutely excellent and I cannot wait for the next instalment.
4.5/5 stars
Sing Me To Sleep follows Saoirse, a lone siren in a world of a ruling fae class and subservient humans and witches. As a siren, she has the deepest urge to kill, particularly when near large bodies of water. This urge has brought her to her secondary career, as an assassin. This second job helps pay the bills to protect her little sister Rain, whom she affectionately nicknames Beansprout.
Her main day job, now that she has graduated her training job, is as a bodyguard for prince Hayes, having taking this job against her will and better judgement due to someone blackmailing her. The book follows Saoirse as she tries to uncover who is blackmailing her while also trying to remain undercover as a string of murders all tied to a beautiful woman become revealed.
Saoirse is a deeply grey character and is a fascinating perspective to follow.
Personal feelings:
Positives:
* I really enjoyed seeing the world through Saoirse’s eyes. The world was really interesting and well built, and most of the worldbuilding was done through the eyes of our principal character, which I found really well done. I also liked the synesthesia-esque descriptions of other’s emotions, and how it wasn’t constant (for example, none of the witches had these descriptions). It also really developed Saoirse as a character.
* The characters were really interesting and I enjoyed reading about them. They were all quite flawed but in ways that were consistent and engaging.
* The book had good pacing, keeping my gripped the whole way through without feeling repetitive.
Negatives:
* I would have like to get more of Hayes post-reveal, and in general see why he trusted her so much even when she was being really cagey. Obviously a personal thing, but the ending felt weird because of this to me.
This was absolutely excellent and I cannot wait for the next instalment.
4.5/5 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol and Sexual harassment