 | Title: Sirensong
 Sexual Content: Kissing. Scenes of sensuality. References to sex Rating:
Good - A fun read with minor flaws. Maybe read an excerpt before buying. |
Description
When Dana is invited to Faerie to be officially presented at the Seelie Court, it’s no easy decision. After all, everyone knows Titania, the Seelie Queen, wants her dead. But Titania claims not to be the one behind the death threats; and her son, Prince Henry, makes the decision a whole lot easier when he suggests Dana might be arrested for (supposedly) conspiring with her aunt Grace to usurp the Seelie throne. So she and her father better do as they're told…
The journey through Faerie is long – and treacherous. Dana thought it would be a good idea to have friends along, but her sort-of-boyfriend Ethan and her bodyguard’s son, Keane, just can’t seem to get along, and Kimber’s crush on Keane isn’t making things any easier. When a violent attack separates Dana from their caravan, the sexy Erlking saves her just in the nick of time… and makes it clear that he hasn’t given up on making her his own.
Arriving at Titania’s beautiful palace should be a relief. But Dana is soon implicated in an assassination attempt against Titania’s granddaughter, and is suddenly a fugitive, forced to leave her father behind as she and her friends flee for their lives. Will she be able to prove her innocence before the forces of the Seelie Court – or, worse, the Erlking – catch up with her? And will she save her father before he pays the ultimate price in her stead?
Review
When a queen invites you to court, even if that queen wants you dead, you go. That’s what Dana learns at the beginning of SIRENSONG. At least she gets to take her boyfriend and best friend with her. But she also has to take her relentless fight instructor who might or might not be transferring his affections to another, her father, and the queens haughty son. Almost without fail, I lose a bit of interest when books with fae end up crossing into Faerie. There are the obligatory forests, nasty critters, and not quite normal phenomenons, but I always find the scenes set there—regardless of the book—a bit ho-hum. Sad to say it, but I found that true here too. Fortunately, the last third of SIRENSONG, even set in Faerie, is pretty great. The action, romance, and emotions all kick up ten fold.
Don’t expect the same amount of sexy time as in the previous books. There are a few scenes that still push the YA boundary, but they are significantly lighter and less frequent in SIRENSONG. That’s not to say Dana doesn’t think about sex a lot, she does, but it’s in the context of knowing she will never have it and whether or not Ethan will stick around without it. I wish Dana had had more self respect to realize that if Ethan wouldn’t stay without sex then she doesn’t need to waste her time. In that sense, she took a step back from the strength and intelligence I admired in her previously.
My biggest disappointment with SIRENSONG is the fact that it is the unintentional swan song for the series (Jenna has confirmed that SIRENSONG is the final Faeriewalker book). It is very clearly not written as the final book since many of the extremely compelling storylines threading through the previous books are left hanging. Is the Erlking secretly not as bad as he pretends? Will Ethan be able to accept the physical limitations imposed on his relationship with Dana? Will Dana’s mom ever acknowledge her alcoholism and seek help? Why is Dana able to use magic when no other faeriewalker ever could? Will Dana break her vow to the Erlking with Ethan or give her virginity—and her powers—to the Erlking as promised? Precious few of these questions are answered in SIRENSONG.
Overall, SIRENSONG is another fun foray into a faerie infused world, but there are too many questions left unanswered and too many storylines left unresolved in the series as a whole. It isn’t a cliffhanger, but it isn’t the true series ending either that it needed to be. Jenna has said that she is working on a new YA series and it’s clear by now that she has the writing chops to make it another winner. It’s just unfortunate that this series won’t get the chance to end the way I think Jenna and we readers would have wanted.
| 0.5 Remedial Magic (ebook prequel)
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