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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
adventurous
fast-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
This book hits the ground running and doesn't let you go into the finish line. I adored the story as a whole. The plot kept me interested. I actually wish there was a bit more fluff, especially with the romance. But dang. I enjoyed this ride.
It started off pretty interesting but the whole step-mother thing is creepy. I am super into mermaid books or little mermaid retellings but I am not sure about his one. If you just totally ignore the step-mother thing then it's fine.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I've been trying to read more fantasy books lately, especially young adult ones since I prefer to have more focus on the story and less on explicit scenes. The author for this book, Kristina, found me and reached out about this book. When I read the description and saw that it included a wide range of characters and a story line that was different from books I've seen out there, I knew I wanted to read it.
It starts out a little slow and takes some time to get settled in. Lirien is the son of a human man and siren woman, so he has characteristics of both. Including that he certainly does not look human, but can live outside of the water. The book jumps right into Lirien's father being taken out by the Siren mother and Lirien's remaining family being consumed by grief. This is the portion of the story (grief processing) that felt a little slow, but was very necessary to the story.
After this point, a tragic accident happens where Lirien uses his siren magic because of his angry step-mother and accidently unleashes a spell on her. The author is very straight forward about the fact that there are triggers in this book that many would not want to read about. The sections where the step-mother is attracted to her step-son is not overtly done and there isn't much to it other than some cringe worthy moments. But she is overcome by the siren curse and thinks that she is in love with him. Prior to the spell, she could barely stand him.
As the story progresses, there are layers of curses brought upon by Lirien initially and then the step-mother in her frenzied state. Lirien has to travel in and out of the mythical land of Elythia to find direction for how to break the curse and meets some amazing friends on the way.
I really enjoyed the friendship development between Lirien (Siren), Kitra (fae fox) and Brandegil (elf) where they just seemed to fit perfectly together and each brought their own unique qualities to the table for their adventures.
Lirien had quite the trial laid before him, but he perseveres driven by his love for his human family and wanting to protect them. He goes to great lengths to break the curse on them all and is willing to sacrifice himself once all is said and done to rid them all of his siren magic.
A story about acceptance, friendship and supporting others even when the odds seem insurmountable.
It starts out a little slow and takes some time to get settled in. Lirien is the son of a human man and siren woman, so he has characteristics of both. Including that he certainly does not look human, but can live outside of the water. The book jumps right into Lirien's father being taken out by the Siren mother and Lirien's remaining family being consumed by grief. This is the portion of the story (grief processing) that felt a little slow, but was very necessary to the story.
After this point, a tragic accident happens where Lirien uses his siren magic because of his angry step-mother and accidently unleashes a spell on her. The author is very straight forward about the fact that there are triggers in this book that many would not want to read about. The sections where the step-mother is attracted to her step-son is not overtly done and there isn't much to it other than some cringe worthy moments. But she is overcome by the siren curse and thinks that she is in love with him. Prior to the spell, she could barely stand him.
As the story progresses, there are layers of curses brought upon by Lirien initially and then the step-mother in her frenzied state. Lirien has to travel in and out of the mythical land of Elythia to find direction for how to break the curse and meets some amazing friends on the way.
I really enjoyed the friendship development between Lirien (Siren), Kitra (fae fox) and Brandegil (elf) where they just seemed to fit perfectly together and each brought their own unique qualities to the table for their adventures.
Lirien had quite the trial laid before him, but he perseveres driven by his love for his human family and wanting to protect them. He goes to great lengths to break the curse on them all and is willing to sacrifice himself once all is said and done to rid them all of his siren magic.
A story about acceptance, friendship and supporting others even when the odds seem insurmountable.
In The Son of the Siren, love is a twisted curse, like the dark magic of a siren’s song. Half-siren Lirien witnesses this when his mother sings his father into the sea. Attempting to reverse the curse, Lirien ensnares his stepmother, who then transforms his siblings into animals. Joined by a vengeful fae fox and an elf with a sacred sword, Lirien embarks on a perilous journey to save them. Meanwhile, his own curse looms if he strays too long from the sea.
The story overall is good. The pacing is good, and I felt engaged most of the time. However, the writing was lacking, and it may have been because of the world-building. I would also definitely encourage anyone wanting to read this story to look up the trigger warnings since the story did have some strange elements to it.
The world-building in this book was minimal at best. That is not necessarily a bad thing, and it depends on what type of fantasy book you prefer. I personally prefer a book with a bit more world-building, which this, sadly, did not have.
The story overall is good. The pacing is good, and I felt engaged most of the time. However, the writing was lacking, and it may have been because of the world-building. I would also definitely encourage anyone wanting to read this story to look up the trigger warnings since the story did have some strange elements to it.
The world-building in this book was minimal at best. That is not necessarily a bad thing, and it depends on what type of fantasy book you prefer. I personally prefer a book with a bit more world-building, which this, sadly, did not have.
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
Son of the Siren by Kristina Elyse Butke – I won a copy of this from Goodreads, and this is my honest opinion. If The Little Mermaid (or any other siren story), Donkeyskin (Allerleirauh, Tatter-Coats, other fairy tales with creepy parental figures), and The Children of Lir had a quest fairy tale, this would be that story. Be prepared to be triggered (google Donkeyskin) because I would quantify this as New Adult not Young Adult. This has a lot of sexual assault and trauma. But the world is very well built, the magic is great, the characters are interesting, and it has all the elements of a traditional fairy tale that make it Grimmtastical. Overall, I liked it! Happy Reading!
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
thanks to netgalley for providing me an e-arc in exchange for my honest review!
fun!! ending made me cry! bittersweet for sure. it has a lovely balance of adventure in the form of cursebreaking and a love story. the latter half had me more entertained than the beginning, but the world building in the first half is wonderful. at first i couldn't really tell if this book landed in the ya or adult range. its content was certainly of at least a new adult nature, but at times the writing style felt more like a ya novel. it's not a dealbreaker for me on this one though, as it consistently kept my attention.
fun!! ending made me cry! bittersweet for sure. it has a lovely balance of adventure in the form of cursebreaking and a love story. the latter half had me more entertained than the beginning, but the world building in the first half is wonderful. at first i couldn't really tell if this book landed in the ya or adult range. its content was certainly of at least a new adult nature, but at times the writing style felt more like a ya novel. it's not a dealbreaker for me on this one though, as it consistently kept my attention.
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
First of all, this is a very cute story. Lirien is the son of a mortal king and a siren, and after his father is lulled out to sea by Lirien’s siren mother, the king’s human wife (the Queen) makes Lirien sing his siren song to lure the king back. This backfires and forces the Queen to be enthralled by Lirien’s siren song, falling in love with him. She will do anything to make him love her back - going so far as to use a magical havoc stone. This causes Lirian’s half siblings to be turned into animals and fleeing from the castle. Lirian must set out to find his siblings, and help them shift back into their human bodies.
This is an easy YA read, filled with found family and coming of age themes. Great for a middle schoolers. My only gripe is it reads just like that - like it was made for middle grades. The pacing of the story was monotonous - whenever Lirien was faced with a problem, a supporting character would immediately be able to tell him what he needed to do and off they went. There wasn’t a lot of ebb and flow to the story, more just one thing after the other to build the plot and progress the story. I also wish more time was spent for Lirien to actually search for his siblings. Once they’re turned into animals, Nina (a snake) immediately slithers up Lirien’s arm and lives there for a majority of the novel. Sorin (a stag) and Sonalie (a swan) both run away. At one point Lirien gets the power to speak with his mind, so he mentally shouts for them to meet at the lake, and lo and behold they meet at said lake. I feel like we spent too much time developing smaller side plots (the reverie, killing the monster in the winter woods) that took up time that could have been spent searching for his siblings. Once he found them - that was it. I also think this story tried to jam in too many fantastical elements, and we sort of lost the initial premise of the sirens. There's the siren plotline, there's a magical wood with sections for each season, magic stones for wishing, siblings shape shifting, fae, elves - I think it stretched the story too thin and attributed to the "one thing after another" gripe I had mentioned earlier. I wish we stuck to one maybe 2 fantastical elements to give us more time to develop the plot and the relationships. This would've helped keep give time to Lirien actually spending time searching for his siblings and less fantasy filler.
All in all a quick, enjoyable, easy read.
Thank you to Booksprout, Oliver Heber Books, and Kristina Elyse Butke for the eARC.
This is an easy YA read, filled with found family and coming of age themes. Great for a middle schoolers. My only gripe is it reads just like that - like it was made for middle grades. The pacing of the story was monotonous - whenever Lirien was faced with a problem, a supporting character would immediately be able to tell him what he needed to do and off they went. There wasn’t a lot of ebb and flow to the story, more just one thing after the other to build the plot and progress the story. I also wish more time was spent for Lirien to actually search for his siblings. Once they’re turned into animals, Nina (a snake) immediately slithers up Lirien’s arm and lives there for a majority of the novel. Sorin (a stag) and Sonalie (a swan) both run away. At one point Lirien gets the power to speak with his mind, so he mentally shouts for them to meet at the lake, and lo and behold they meet at said lake. I feel like we spent too much time developing smaller side plots (the reverie, killing the monster in the winter woods) that took up time that could have been spent searching for his siblings. Once he found them - that was it. I also think this story tried to jam in too many fantastical elements, and we sort of lost the initial premise of the sirens. There's the siren plotline, there's a magical wood with sections for each season, magic stones for wishing, siblings shape shifting, fae, elves - I think it stretched the story too thin and attributed to the "one thing after another" gripe I had mentioned earlier. I wish we stuck to one maybe 2 fantastical elements to give us more time to develop the plot and the relationships. This would've helped keep give time to Lirien actually spending time searching for his siblings and less fantasy filler.
All in all a quick, enjoyable, easy read.
Thank you to Booksprout, Oliver Heber Books, and Kristina Elyse Butke for the eARC.
adventurous
emotional
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
Beautiful mix of mythology and fantasy. Borders YA and NA fiction. Sweet and naive MMC on a quest to save his family.
Content Warnings
Minor: Incest, Violence, Sexual harassment
“Son of the Siren,” by Kristina Elyse Butke
Lirien, half-siren, lives as a human prince until his father is taken to the sea by his siren mother. In an attempt to get him back he tries to sing the siren song, but the song causes his stepmother to become obsessed with him. When he turns her down, she uses dark magic to get him to love her. It ended up causing Lirien’s siblings to turn into to animals and spread across the land. Lirien goes on an adventure to find them and turn them back to humans.
An adventurous book focused on the morals and coming-of-age of the main character through the epic quest. I think it’s a good book for teens, boys and girls because the main character is a boy, but the story has lots of fairytales that girls are traditionally drawn to. The romance (thinking a girl is cute) is sweet and light which makes it a good book for teens on the younger side. I wish the main character was more emotional, he is very stoic and a matter of fact. 3 out of 5 stars, fun adventure.
-Fae
-Sirens
-Royalty
Thank you for the ARC, Netgalley.
Lirien, half-siren, lives as a human prince until his father is taken to the sea by his siren mother. In an attempt to get him back he tries to sing the siren song, but the song causes his stepmother to become obsessed with him. When he turns her down, she uses dark magic to get him to love her. It ended up causing Lirien’s siblings to turn into to animals and spread across the land. Lirien goes on an adventure to find them and turn them back to humans.
An adventurous book focused on the morals and coming-of-age of the main character through the epic quest. I think it’s a good book for teens, boys and girls because the main character is a boy, but the story has lots of fairytales that girls are traditionally drawn to. The romance (thinking a girl is cute) is sweet and light which makes it a good book for teens on the younger side. I wish the main character was more emotional, he is very stoic and a matter of fact. 3 out of 5 stars, fun adventure.
-Fae
-Sirens
-Royalty
Thank you for the ARC, Netgalley.