Storm Siren by Mary Weber grabbed my attention from the first page and I couldn’t put it down after that.¹ Or at least, I didn’t want to. I started reading it aloud to my husband at first but eventually it reached the point where I couldn’t wait for him to return home from work. So while I’ve finished the book, he is stuck about 1/4 of the way through. 😉

I loved the world-building and the mythos of Storm Siren. Everything is familiar enough to not feel too alien but unique enough to make you uncomfortably aware you are definitely not in Kansas anymore. Bolcranes and giant wolves and the definitely unique horses (which totally freaked hubby out, btw!)

Nym herself is an engaging character. Her sarcasm and attitude instantly endeared her to me, along with her highly sympathetic circumstances. She’s sunk deep into a self-loathing and despair that is understandable, even while the reader chafes for her to move on. And to me, that was the biggest point of the story. The plot may revolve around Nym learning to control her abilities and deciding how she wants to fit into her war-torn world but the true crux of the story is her internal journey.

This is where the incredibly subtle Christian elements come into play. I suspect Nym’s journey may be helpful to young ladies struggling with self-harm and other issues. Or it could be a trigger. The book doesn’t shy away from violence, even while it doesn’t revel in it.

I hesitate to delve too deeply into the plot. I think the story has much more impact from the mysteries that surrounds everything (and I do mean everything). But that being said, there were maybe three big twists throughout the plot and I saw two of them coming immediately and the middle — one I guessed about halfway after the first foreshadowing. I was proud of myself for guessing the first one but after the other two I was a bit disappointed.(Although we’ve passed where I guessed the first twist and my husband is still blissfully unaware so maybe my exposure to Korean dramas has ruined me to suspect such things.)

I also found the romance, if you could call it that, very flat. There is instant connection and chemistry, except we are told about it and I never actually felt it. The fixation on his attractiveness got repetitive and their romantic progress was about as unromantic as you can get. If I were reading just for the romance, I wouldn’t finish the series. I found myself more smitten with the secondary not-quite-love-triangle-material guy.

I was warned ahead of time about the ending and it does indeed end in a place that will make most people rage. But the next book in the series comes out soon and frankly, this is the kind of book that takes a few weeks to digest anyway. So don’t let the cliffhanger hold you back. Share our pain!