A review by sarahwriteaway
Anthesis, by Lauren Elizabeth
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Thanks to Librarything Early Reviewers for the ARC.
Our protagonist for this book is Aglasia, an immortal man-eating siren, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the book gets quite gory and dark in places. Aglasia lives alone, seducing and eating one carefully chosen (for his unacceptable desires) man per month. Her carefully controlled life is suddenly upended by the arrival of another siren, Rossa, who enters her life and refuses to leave. Rossa wants to follow an ancient ritual to turn a man into a siren as a companion. As this seems to be the only way to get her to go away so Aglasia goes along with it, and there we have our main plot. The ‘B’ plot is a romance between Aglasia and a barman named Hunter, which is in turns fun and terrifying (there always seem to be other sirens around who want to eat him).
The book was an enjoyable read, but it took me a long time to warm up to Aglasia. She doesn’t remember much of her past and without this, there’s no real explanation why she has qualms about eating men while Rossa doesn’t. I didn’t feel I understood her motives, and I felt more investment in Rossa getting her man than I did in Aglasia’s own story, because…what did she want, other than to be left alone? The sisterly relationship between Aglasia/Rossa seemed to be the core, but I just didn’t really fully feel it. For that reason I enjoyed the story but I didn’t love it.
Our protagonist for this book is Aglasia, an immortal man-eating siren, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the book gets quite gory and dark in places. Aglasia lives alone, seducing and eating one carefully chosen (for his unacceptable desires) man per month. Her carefully controlled life is suddenly upended by the arrival of another siren, Rossa, who enters her life and refuses to leave. Rossa wants to follow an ancient ritual to turn a man into a siren as a companion. As this seems to be the only way to get her to go away so Aglasia goes along with it, and there we have our main plot. The ‘B’ plot is a romance between Aglasia and a barman named Hunter, which is in turns fun and terrifying (there always seem to be other sirens around who want to eat him).
The book was an enjoyable read, but it took me a long time to warm up to Aglasia. She doesn’t remember much of her past and without this, there’s no real explanation why she has qualms about eating men while Rossa doesn’t. I didn’t feel I understood her motives, and I felt more investment in Rossa getting her man than I did in Aglasia’s own story, because…what did she want, other than to be left alone? The sisterly relationship between Aglasia/Rossa seemed to be the core, but I just didn’t really fully feel it. For that reason I enjoyed the story but I didn’t love it.