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lish_e's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-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
3.75
Honestly, I bought it because I read the first few sentences:
“I have a heart for every year I’ve been alive.
There are seventeen hidden in the sand of my bedroom. Every so often, I claw through the shingle, just to check they’re still there.
Buried deep and bloody.”
It really had the enemies to lovers trope. They wanted to kill each other, didn’t trust each other and had witty banter. But in my personal opinion there could have been more scenes to portray them falling for each other.
The characters had cute/funny interactions. I also liked the multiple kingdoms with different skills and customs. Also the differences between sirens and mermaids were interesting and the concept with them stealing hearts was intriguing.
The last fighting scene was a bit anticlimactic and the story wrapped up really fast.
And even though this isn’t something that has to do with the plot, but the cover is gorgeous.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Death
Moderate: Child abuse, Gun violence, and Hate crime
Minor: Cursing
s3lin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
cranereader's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Child abuse
literarypenguin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
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
5.0
Let me tell all of you, this book has to be one of my favorite loosely based retellings I have ever had the pleasure of laying my eyes on. The cover alone was enough to entice me to pick this up. The astonishing imagery, the A+ witty banter, and one of the most well developed, strongest female protagonist's I have ever read.
This book focused on two very different people, both ruling over different kingdoms and wearing crowns neither of them want upon their heads.
Lira, aka The Prince's Bane- The ruthless, cunning, daughter of the Sea Queen who wants nothing more then to please her mother and take over when she inherits the throne. Not satisfied with the hearts of ordinary sailors, she prefers the hearts of royalty and hunts them down with the skills of a trained predator. Though deep down, Lira doesn't like the reputation she has made for herself and deeply resents her mother for how she treats her and her young cousin. She soon discovers more to herself and the world beyond the sea.
Elian aka The Prince Of The Golden City- The young ruler of the kingdom of Midas, Elian would much rather sail the seas then sit on the throne. Adventurous, Charming, and Loyal Elian hates being a prince and would rather just live his life as a normal young man. It doesn't stop him from using his princely status to get things and bargain his way out of sticky situations. His loyalty to his motley crew and his family is something you do not want to mess with.
In this world, sirens on the eve of their birth's must find and hunt down a sailor and rip their hearts out of their chest. How many hearts one siren has determines how long that siren has lived. When a siren hunts, they use their enchanting, hypnotic voices to lull people to sleep and lure unsuspecting others to their demise. The Sea Queen rules the sirens with a cold, calculating hand. She can hear and see everything that goes on in the ocean depths and is always one step ahead of someone. If one siren disobeys her, she dispenses a cruel and horrendous dose of punishment that they have no choice but to receive.
I love the banter in this book, especially the banter between Lira and Elian. Lira has to be one of the most interesting and complex protagonist I have ever read about. At the beginning she was cruel and ruthless, stopping at nothing to accomplish her goal but over time she grew to love and care about these people who saved her. She realised how awful her mother truly was and learned that she had to be in control of who she wanted to be not anyone else. Elian taught Lira all these things and more and in return he learned from her that he couldn't keep running from things that he was afraid of anymore. My only wish was I wish that we would have got just a little bit more scenes with Lira and Elian just to further develop their relationship.
The imagery and world building was just phenomenal, I mean not kidding I could see this book being turned into a movie it was that in depth. The attention to detail and the different kingdoms and how they worked was amazing. The action sequences were intense and nail biting, my favorite was the last one near the end. That scene was so so good.
This book doesn't shy away from talking about tough topics, like parental/child abuse, gaslighting, manipulation. It really shows that in certain circumstances the people that are suppose to love and care about you just don't. They only care about themselves and what they can get from you. It is a sad but awfully true fact in our world.
Overall I would definitely recommend this book or at least give this a try. For lovers of pirates, sea creatures, retellings or those who are new to it. Give this book a try for yourselves and take a trip into the vast depths of the deep blue.
This book focused on two very different people, both ruling over different kingdoms and wearing crowns neither of them want upon their heads.
Lira, aka The Prince's Bane- The ruthless, cunning, daughter of the Sea Queen who wants nothing more then to please her mother and take over when she inherits the throne. Not satisfied with the hearts of ordinary sailors, she prefers the hearts of royalty and hunts them down with the skills of a trained predator. Though deep down, Lira doesn't like the reputation she has made for herself and deeply resents her mother for how she treats her and her young cousin. She soon discovers more to herself and the world beyond the sea.
Elian aka The Prince Of The Golden City- The young ruler of the kingdom of Midas, Elian would much rather sail the seas then sit on the throne. Adventurous, Charming, and Loyal Elian hates being a prince and would rather just live his life as a normal young man. It doesn't stop him from using his princely status to get things and bargain his way out of sticky situations. His loyalty to his motley crew and his family is something you do not want to mess with.
In this world, sirens on the eve of their birth's must find and hunt down a sailor and rip their hearts out of their chest. How many hearts one siren has determines how long that siren has lived. When a siren hunts, they use their enchanting, hypnotic voices to lull people to sleep and lure unsuspecting others to their demise. The Sea Queen rules the sirens with a cold, calculating hand. She can hear and see everything that goes on in the ocean depths and is always one step ahead of someone. If one siren disobeys her, she dispenses a cruel and horrendous dose of punishment that they have no choice but to receive.
I love the banter in this book, especially the banter between Lira and Elian. Lira has to be one of the most interesting and complex protagonist I have ever read about. At the beginning she was cruel and ruthless, stopping at nothing to accomplish her goal but over time she grew to love and care about these people who saved her. She realised how awful her mother truly was and learned that she had to be in control of who she wanted to be not anyone else. Elian taught Lira all these things and more and in return he learned from her that he couldn't keep running from things that he was afraid of anymore. My only wish was I wish that we would have got just a little bit more scenes with Lira and Elian just to further develop their relationship.
The imagery and world building was just phenomenal, I mean not kidding I could see this book being turned into a movie it was that in depth. The attention to detail and the different kingdoms and how they worked was amazing. The action sequences were intense and nail biting, my favorite was the last one near the end. That scene was so so good.
This book doesn't shy away from talking about tough topics, like parental/child abuse, gaslighting, manipulation. It really shows that in certain circumstances the people that are suppose to love and care about you just don't. They only care about themselves and what they can get from you. It is a sad but awfully true fact in our world.
Overall I would definitely recommend this book or at least give this a try. For lovers of pirates, sea creatures, retellings or those who are new to it. Give this book a try for yourselves and take a trip into the vast depths of the deep blue.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse and Blood
Minor: Slavery
februaryfriday's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Murder, and Violence
meberken's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse
olivialoveyloo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Physical abuse
Moderate: Blood, Emotional abuse, and Gore
Minor: Cursing, Death, Gun violence, and Slavery
catchmereadingnotsleeping's review against another edition
adventurous
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Death, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Confinement
chymerra's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Murder, and Violence
aandromeda's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
About a hundred pages in, I realized I don't like fantasy, but I kept reading because I didn't not like it yet and The Little Mermaid was one of my favorite movies as a child. This was the first YA fantasy romance sub plot that didn't make me cringe or roll my eyes, the characters were great and their relationship progression felt genuine and realistic. The main plot was solid but a little hard to follow at times but I think that was just me, and the world building was fun! This will most likely be the last fantasy book I read for a while and I'm glad I got to end here.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, and Physical abuse