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5 stars! This review will be spoiler free!
Synopsis:
This story is told from two POVs, Lira and Prince Elian.
Lira is a siren princess revered and feared across the seas because she has 17 prince's hearts in her possession. However, no matter how cutthroat she is, her mother still believes her to be unworthy. After disappointing her mother yet again, Lira's punishment from the Sea Queen is to turn her into a human. Lira then has until the Winter Solstice to obtain the heart of the Prince Elian in order to get her tail back or remain a human forever.
Prince Elian is more pirate than prince, but even more so he is a siren killer. When on a quest to find a way to rid the seas of sirens forever, he rescues a human girl from the middle of the ocean and this girl is definitely more than she appears to be.
Shenanigans and witty dialogue ensue!
Initial thoughts:
My goodness did I have SO MUCH FUN reading this! I seriously couldn't put it down, read it in two sittings! I loved the main characters. Lira was the perfect brutal princess to compliment the sassy and self-sacrificing prince, Elian. The world was pretty flushed out for only one novel and I thought it was super intriguing. The plot was well-constructed. I was getting vibes from the Little Mermaid, Pirates of the Caribbean, and even H2O. All of which I love very much. The pacing was perfect, the hate-to-love romance is my fave trope, and the ending was great! I’m sad to say this is a standalone.
*I 100% RECOMMEND THE AUDIOBOOK, IT’S AMAZING.*
Plot:
The pacing of this story felt chaotic, but in the best way possible. Things were kicked off with bloodshed from chapter one and I was immediately sold. From there every chapter brought new and exciting changes to the plot. I seriously did not want to put this book down.
When it comes to the POV’s, I gotta say I loved both equally. If you want me to get super technical, I liked Lira’s most in the beginning and the end. And I liked Elian’s most in the middle. Prince Elian’s POV is just so enjoyable because he has the best, THE BEST, dialogue in the entire novel. I was geeking out laughing because of him a majority of the time.
Speaking of the two lovebirds, there’s the romance! I’m obviously trash for the love-to-hate trope, no denial. So this was right up my alley in terms of romance. Though the book was short, I didn’t feel that this was insta-lovey at all. They definitely took their time to learn to trust each other.
The world building is amazing. Not only are the creatures of the sea fleshed out (mermaids, mermen, sirens), but so are their hierarchies. The same goes for the humans who are each very individualized based on their kingdoms. The kingdoms and royalty play quite a decent part in this story. Each of the 100 kingdoms has a history, a legend. You actually get to learn about a few of them and see the truth/lies behind them. The Siren history was very flushed out and their legends and stories old throughout the book played well into the resolution of the story.
This book took some of the best aspects of the Little Mermaid, Pirates of the Caribbean, and H2O. I thought turning the evil Sea Queen into a version of Ursula was spot on. The drunken, brave, courageous pirates (with that one female aboard) that do what they want when they will it gave me the PotC vibes. And the magic, with the trident and controlling the ocean, and even Cloud Mountain made me think of H2O. If you haven’t seen H2O and you like mermaids, where have you been living?
Then we have this HECTIC ALL OUT FINAL BATTLE. Yes, that was one helluva ending and I was living for the epilogue of sorts. I enjoy having all my loose ends tied up nicely especially in standalone fantasies. I think if there was one thing I could maybe, sort of complain about it's the convenience of certain things that happened in the ending. BUT even though I predicted some of the events and some things happened maybe a bit conveniently, I still wholeheartedly enjoyed the entire lot of it.
Characters:
LIRA is a brutal, nearly heartless badass of a siren. I loved that no matter how hard her mother tried to break her, she still had that one small sliver of humanity in caring for her cousin. Even if she did realize what is was in the beginning. She becomes a better siren throughout the book while she human and learns trait about herself that I believe make her a better person, and thus would make her a better ruler.
ELIAN is a sassy, comedic, reckless prince with a bigger heart than he lets on. I LIVED for his sarcastic and hilarious comebacks. Nearly every time he had some verbal sparring with another character I was laughing out loud.
SEA QUEEN is a BITCH. Gods…
Overall:
HIGHLY RECOMMEND. It’s a super fast, super fun read. If you like the Little Mermaid or Pirates of the Caribbean, definitely give this a go. I mean it’s only 342 pages and a standalone, you have nearly nothing to lose. Pick it up even it doesn’t sound like something you’d usually read. I will absolutely be looking to read more from Alexandra Christo in the future.