In a world at war, a slave girl’s lethal curse could become one kingdom’s weapon of salvation. If the curse—and the girl—can be controlled.
As a slave in the war-weary kingdom of Faelen, seventeen-year-old Nym isn’t merely devoid of rights, her Elemental kind are only born male and always killed at birth — meaning, she shouldn’t even exist.
Standing on the auction block beneath smoke-drenched mountains, Nym faces her fifteenth sell. But when her hood is removed and her storm-summoning killing curse revealed, Nym is snatched up by a court advisor and given a choice: be trained as the weapon Faelen needs to win the war, or be killed.
Choosing the former, Nym is unleashed into a world of politics, bizarre parties, and rumors of an evil more sinister than she’s being prepared to fight . . . not to mention the handsome trainer whose dark secrets lie behind a mysterious ability to calm every lightning strike she summons.
But what if she doesn’t want to be the weapon they’ve all been waiting for?
Set in a beautifully eclectic world of suspicion, super abilities, and monsters, Storm Siren is a story of power. And whoever controls that power will win.
My Review:
I really have mixed emotions with this book. I enjoyed the creativity and interesting protagonists and villains. However, the story was rather dark and at times somewhat gory. I would not suggest this book for younger teens. I was sympathetic toward Nym. She had been through so much in her life and nobody ever gave her any mercy. Eogan was definitely my favorite character. He was part of the plot twist that kept the book interesting. He was also sweet and kind toward Nym, showing her in little ways how much he cared for her.
One aspect of the book that I found somewhat disturbing was that Nym carved tattoos on herself. The author never really said that this was wrong. However, it does go to show how deeply Nym had been scarred by life. Even though this is supposed to be Christian fantasy, I really saw nothing about God introduced into the book. It was all rather ambiguous.
I would call Storm Siren a dark and depressing story. Oh, and the ending was terrible! It was a cliffhanger that made my mouth drop open. It’s an ending that will make the reader read the second book just to find out what happened or drive the reader away out of pure frustration with the author. I don’t know if it was the wisest ending on the author’s part. I’m not sure I’m going to read the rest of the trilogy now simply because I was upset with the ending in Storm Siren!
All in all, Storm Siren was just all right for me. It could have used some more levity every now and again, since the storyline was so dark. However, the world and characters the author created were quite enthralling.
I give Storm Siren 3 out of 5 stars.
**I received a Kindle copy of this book from the publishers through Netgalley. The opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone.**