The sirens have one job: to feed the ocean. The ocean is a
alive, intelligent, and feeling. She takes girls from shipwrecks and offers
them another chance at life--as her siren, feeding her by luring humans into
the ocean. The sirens are made immortal, unnaturally beautiful. Their voices
are poison to any who hear it. After 100 years of loyal service, they're
granted their freedom, a chance to be human again. Kahlen is the most beloved
of all the sirens. She follows the rules strictly, stating far away from
humans, until she runs into an irresistibly sweet guy at the library, who
somehow understands and communicates with Kahlen without her having to say a
word. Sirens are allowed to have lovers, but nothing with commitment or love.
Suddenly, Kahlen finds herself yearning for what could never be.
The book itself is a siren. Whenever I put it down, I could
feel it's song tugging at me, drawing me back to the story. Every second of
reading was pure joy. Every paragraph was riveting, even if it wasn't packed
with romance or action. Kahlen and her world are both absolutely enchanting. I
couldn't wait to learn more about them. The only issue I have is that the power
of their song is inconsistent. At one time, they said only one siren was
needed, but during one particular singing, when three sirens out of four were
singing, they lost control of some of the people. At another point, it only
took one word for her to drown a person, though she tried to stop him. At
another point, as soon as she stopped singing, the spell was broken. But this
is a relatively minor, nit-picky detail, and in the grand scheme of things, it
was a minor distracted, but didn't detract from the pleasure I experienced
reading this. Overall, I think this is one of Kiera Cass's best—if not the
best.
According to Erin's post on types of fantasy, this book is a low fantasy. What types of fantasy do you prefer? And what would you do in Kahlen's position, if offered another chance at life? Would you be tempted to become a siren or would you rather drown?
Thank you for reading! I look forward to seeing what you guys have to say :)
-Elizabeth Newsom
P.S.
If you're interested in other book review like this one, feel free to check out my new blog: http://www.elizabethnewsom.com
Attributions:
http://www.kieracass.com/news/2015/8/20/the-siren-is-coming
Sounds like a neat book. Sirens have interested me since I was in first grade and my mom read me a book of Greek myths- I thought it was selfish of Odysseus not to let his men listen to the sirens' song with him.
ReplyDeleteI prefer high fantasy and portal fantasy, but I have not read many books of the other types.
Brenna
Hey, Brenna! I'm so happy to see you hanging around here :) Sirens have always fascinated me too.
DeleteI like both of those too, though this type of fantasy really fascinated me, since it's a collision of the normal world and fantasy :)
Thank you for your comment!
Ooh, this is definitely going on my list! I'm currently reading The Selection series, and I didn't realize Kiera Cass had anything else out yet. She always has the most gorgeous covers :)
ReplyDeleteYay! Kiera Cass is an amazing writer. Tell me how you like the Selection ;)
DeleteI know! I love her covers.
Thanks, Liz! This is going on my to-read list, too! : ) The list is getting so long! Looking forward to reading it. . . Thanks!
ReplyDeleteLol! I know what you mean ;) And my pleasure, Erin!
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