Storm Siren

“ ‘Fourteen circles for fourteen owners.’
I shade my eyes to block the sun’s reflection off the distant mountains currently doused in snow and smoke and flesh-eating birds” – Kindle Location 107.

In this first snippet of the story already we see its bloody DNA. I should have read the online sample and been warned.

Seventeen-year-old Nymia is a Uathuil, a citizen of the land of Faelen in Mary Weber’s paranormal fantasy Storm Siren. Of the Uathuil’s she is a female Elemental who shouldn’t even exist. But she does, having been sold and resold from one slave master to another. At the point the story begins, she’s bought again by the evilly attractive Adora.

Adora puts her in the charge of handsome and mysterious trainer show more Eogan. Soon Nymia is learning to harness her powerful weather-creating abilities and combine them with Colin’s earth-moving talents. Together they are being prepared as Faelen’s weapons against neighboring Bron’s army and war planes.

As training proceeds, Nymia feels herself being increasingly drawn to Eogan, who can calm her explosive nature with his touch—and does with touches that progress from hand, to waist, to neck, to...

Nymia, for her part, fights any softness within herself or sensed in others with sarcasm, anger, and violence. She is honest, abrupt, vulnerable, and self-loathing but does display infrequent flashes of nobility as distaste for the killing machine she feels she is destined to remain.

The book is written in first person (Nymia’s point-of-view) present tense. The writing is vivid, action-filled, and poetic.

Despite Weber’s intriguing fantasy world, strong characterization, and strong writing, I didn’t like this book. Nymia’s inner life and thoughts seemed overly melodramatic—teenaged angst on caffeine-laced hormones. The fight scenes were complicated and felt almost cartoonish in the way the main characters were able to dodge death in split-second maneuvers. The romantic scenes hovered between lustful and creepy. Halfway through the book I seriously considered not finishing it. But Thomas Nelson published it, I told myself. Surely it will end up having some redeeming features.

I guess one might call Nymia’s visit to the Valley of Origin such a feature, and Colin’s sacrifice, and the inclusion of words like “redemption” and “atonement” near the end. But I found the meaning of these bits so abstruse, their message so vague and subtle--not to speak of the little that felt positive being cancelled out by the whiplash ending--the total of the positive really didn’t justify the hours spent in dark negativity and bloody violence. As a result, I don’t recommend this book.

I received Storm Siren as a gift from the publisher, Thomas Nelson, for the purpose of writing a review. show less

The author does a phenomenal job of describing and giving life to the world of a slave girl persecuted and outcast by her people for who she was born to be. I felt the pain and the struggle to forgive herself for everything. I felt the wrestling against the need to love. I felt the sheer pain it took just to exist. Do not even get me started on the ending! I will be circling back and reading the rest of this series.

WARNING: There is self abuse as well as gory and/or slightly disturbing scenes. The world is in a war and there is an antagonist that has the ability to take over people’s bodies as one of his powers.

I first picked up this book when I saw the beautiful cover and heard that it won the Christy Award a few years ago. I appreciated the unique setting of Faelen. It was a combination of historical, fantasy, and steampunk. I have not read a book quite like this, and that made it very enjoyable. Nym had a fierce temper (literally) that whipped up storms. She was also very likable due to the fact that her emotions after certain events seemed real. There is a content warning for those who dislike reading a book with violence. I would recommend having book two near you because I could not put the series down.

The Story

Trapped in a world at war, unable to harness her inner self and waiting to be sold to her next master. Oh, they won't last long, none of them do.

In times like these, all things are hard, hard to come by, hard to live with and hard to get away from. When we meet Nym, she is the piece of attention in a whispered slave sale, all of which is only the precursor to being sold onto a new owner. Though expected to be quiet, Nym isn't afraid of showing her attitude and distaste for the system, something we all grow to love.

As she's bought, for the lowest ever slave price, she is brutally shoved onto a stage, to be gawked at by her potential buyers. Amid the jeers, requests for the removal of her hood and outright crude suggestions, show more Nym notices a woman - a mad woman. She diverts her attention, she has to keep calm, but a child catches her eye. She's being choked, the life squeezing out of her eyes. Oh no, do't let this happen again...

The nest Nym knows, she is dressing for parties, training and preparing for something her slave mind can barely comes to terms with - she's the Elemental who's supposed to save her home country...and the world. How? She's only a slave, a cursed slave.

Over time, she grows to learn that she, and other Elementals - like Terrenes - can learn to harness their powers. They can turn their curse into a gift. Though she is not fully convinced she can do this, or deserves more that a quick death, to atone for her murders, she begins the journey to self-elightenment.

With the help of Eogan and Colin, she finds her true self, in both the form of her Elemental being and her heart - which she opens to these new friends and love.

However, she doesn't have long to bask in the light of a life worth living, as the war, her master and those around her thrust the pace of her story to a sprint. Traitors creep out from the corners, airships bomb villages and a darkness is coming to take them. Colin and Nym are forced to move quickly, if they want to save the world from a horrid fate. Yet, they have now idea what they are getting into.

Luckily, Nym's inability to follow directions lead them to uncover the truth - everything they thought they believed in was a lie. Eogan, the true meaning behind the 'plan' they were to carry out and her growing love for someone. All of which must be faced, before the airships obliterate the world.

What I Thought-

Wow! I was pulled into this story from the beginning. I love stories that involve powers/manipulation of the elements. I have always found them intriguing and this story was definitely one to top the list.

The characters had great personality, depth and the attitude of the heroine is one to remember. It is always great to see the hero in a story be a strong-willed (though troubled) women, as it is not often that we find this. However, Mary has done it brilliantly because she doesn't just give us a strong main character, but also a party of strong, deep characters to surround her - which gives us a few male charters to love as well.

The mix of personalities, flaw and strengths really builds this story, from the base up. All of the details have been written out, so as not to leave any holes that need explained.

The pace of the story is great. It starts out with detail and a slower pace to give you a feel for the story and the characters. It begins to pick up pace about midway through and the final chapters are a frenzy - much like what I would think war really feels like.

Mary covers all aspects of the story, including emotion. I felt sorrow, fear, elation, love, remorse, hatred and went from laughing to tears in the span of these covers. I felt as though I was attached to these characters and found myself choosing sides and wanting to see their victory through.

With twists and turn, Mary uses the surprise element to throw the story for a loop, and always at the perfect moment. Whether it be hearing Eogan's confession about his connection to Nym or the deception of Myles, this book keeps you guessing and gripping the pages- wanting to see what happens next - but nothing will prepare you for the end. Nothing.

OVERALL: I personally LOVED this book. It was well-written, attention grabbing, had great pace, excellent character depth and really kept my interest and excitement on the edge of it's seat. I not only can't wait for the second and third books, but i NEED to read them.

I would highly recommend this to any adult and YAs ( I would recommend an age of 14 for start as some of the scenes have a lot of 'detail' that could be less appropriate for anyone younger). show less

When I finished Storm Siren, I was speechless. If I am correct about what the ending implies, I just could not believe the story had the audacity and boldness to say, “Oh YES indeedy, I am going to go there!” And honestly, it’s refreshing whenever a Young Adult novel surprises me. I like unpredictability especially when it comes to my YA, and weird as this may sound, I admit I do get a little thrill in my heart whenever I get completely blindsided.

It was, however, a journey to get to that point. One of the reasons why I think Storm Siren will be a very successful book is because it mixes the familiar with the new. Yes, we have some unexpected plot twists and bombshells, an incredible world with a rich magic system, and a heroine show more with a unique superpower. But balanced with this is also a novel that feels distinctly like it belongs in this genre, with archetypal characters and the usual tropes of YA. Despite this, I believe YA readers will feel comfortable with it and love it for what it is.

The book opens with our protagonist, a seventeen-year-old Elemental girl named Nym, facing her fifteenth sell as a slave. An unfortunate incident triggers her storm-summoning powers while she is on the auction block, resulting in chaos and panic. After passing out, Nym wakes up inexplicably in a luxurious bedroom in a mansion, and is informed that she has been purchased by Adora, the rich and influential noblewoman and court advisor to the king of Faelen.

Throughout this entire novel, we are told that Nym is special. This is practically thrust into our faces the entire time, from the fact that she shouldn’t even exist, since Elementals are all supposed to be only born male, to her role as the only person who can save Faelen in the war against the neighboring kingdom of Bron. But Nym isn’t the perfect savior either. She’s reluctant to use her powers even in defense of her friends due to her inability to control the storm. She has also already caused no small number of deaths in her life, albeit accidentally, and hates the idea of killing more people even if they are the enemy.

Storm Siren features a great story, encompassing a lot of political intrigue and epic battles. The story itself is definitely a winner. But that isn’t to say it couldn’t have been stronger, and perhaps it is a credit to the book and author that my only issue was that I always felt like wanting more.

I mentioned the world and the magic earlier in this review, for example. When Nym is sent to train with a tutor to hone her Elemental abilities, her classmate as it were is a boy named Colin who is a Terrene, someone from his land who can manipulate the earth and stone. Terrenes are also always born as twins, with one twin having abilities and the other not. Apparently, there are even more “brands” of magic users in this world, each with their own specific types of powers and presumably interesting facts about their backgrounds. I mean, this stuff is great! It’s world-building gold. Unfortunately, we just don’t get to learn much about them at all. This is possibly due to limitations like book length or the fact the author couldn’t work those details into the plot, but I sometimes also felt like she may have been trying to put too much into her story.

I also think more emphasis could have been placed on supporting characters. We only have a total of about five characters we really get to know, and I found Breck and Eogan interesting but a few others were quite superficial, like Adora the classic cold villain or Colin with the heart of gold and a personality of a golden retriever puppy. I thought some of the other characters of the court, like the king and a couple of visiting nobles and a princess could have been developed more as well, since relatively they weren’t given much attention but they all had pivotal roles to play by the end of the novel. It would have given the politics and the brewing war between the different kingdoms that extra oomph, and perhaps made things less confusing.

Like I said, I wanted more – but I’m also the kind of person who constantly asks questions when I’m reading, especially when it comes to a book’s world and lore. Did I need all this information to enjoy the story? No, the story itself is solid, even though I felt more world building could have enhanced it. Just when I thought for sure I had everything nailed down, just when I figured it was all going to end the same neat and tidy way that all YA books do, the last few chapters with the final showdown threw me for a loop. I learned that Mary Weber is someone who is not afraid to do things with her characters, even if it means shock and heartbreak to the reader. And I just have to admire and raise my glass to that.

The issues I mentioned notwithstanding, I did have a good time with this book. It started out like the YA novel it’s meant to be – feels like YA, reads like YA – but then went and gave me a surprise at the end. So ultimately I got exactly what I expected, plus a bit more as a bonus! 3.5 to 4 stars from me. show less

Oh wow, this book! Beautiful, stunning, moving, exciting, emotional, mesmerizing. All that and more. Mary Weber has a gift with words. This book is one that kept me entranced even after I finished - I spent a couple of days still carrying it around to reread my favorite parts. And I never do that!

Storm Siren is written in first person POV. For me, a book has to work harder when this is the case, especially at first. I'm just not a fan, usually. Storm Siren might have changed all of that because I was drawn in from the very first page and could not imagine the book written any other way.

The plot was exciting, and the pacing kept me turning pages way past when I should have stopped to take care of other things. Yet this book really shines show more because of the protagonist. Nym is one amazing character, and is the reason I love the book so much.

The world created had some interesting touches. For example, the made-up curse words. They're one of my favorite things about reading fantasy, and I was glad to see that happen in this book. There were also carnivorous horses. I would have liked to learn more about the world and it's culture/history/religion though. I hope future books delve into this area a bit more. Also, I'd have liked to see some of the secondary characters developed a bit more.

The book does end on a cliffhanger, which would usually mean minus a half star as I hate those, but I couldn't imagine a more fitting end for this book so I'm actually okay with the cliffhanger!

Overall, this is a wonderful fantasy book driven by a very interesting character. I can't wait to see how she develops in future books and find out more about this world. show less

Consider my choice to read this book a massive case of cover lust. In fact, it was the second book in this series, Siren's Fury that caught my eye. These books are honestly gorgeous. When I found out that these stories dealt with elementals, my heart soared. I love Fantasy, and elemental magic is one of my favorite concepts. I couldn't wait to dive straight in.

Things start with a bang, quite literally, as Nym and her powers are introduced. I was drawn in by Nym's uniqueness. As an elemental, she should have been killed at birth. As a woman, she shouldn't even be an elemental. I loved this idea. To be caught up in a world where you don't really belong, and constantly wondering who will try to use you next. Or worse yet, who you might be show more forced to kill.

Anyone who follows my reviews know that I'm big on both characters and world-building. Those are the two cornerstones of Fantasy. In this case, the characters were spot on. I didn't always agree with Nym's choices, but I liked her well enough. Colin and Breck were actually my favorite characters, despite their more supporting roles. Eogan, well, I could have done without him. The problem with love triangles is, they need three people. For some reason, one always has to be a bad boy. Eogan fills that space, but it doesn't mean I enjoyed his character.

Now here's where the book started to lose me. First of all, I'm not a love triangle fan. Never have been, likely never will be. This is also the point in the book where I found out that Nym didn't want to step up to her powers. She doesn't want to kill. Anyone. Not even the people who want to kill her. The fact that she had the ability to save so many people, and chose not to? I wasn't a fan. As I reached the second half of this book, I also realized that a lot of my burning questions wouldn't be answered. No world-building was really done. I had no idea why elementals existed, nor did I learn a lot about any of the other magical races. It seemed that all of the focus was on the romance aspect.

So, did I love this book? Not quite. I did enjoy a fair bit of it though, and definitely liked it enough to continue on to the second in the series. My only hope is that I'll finally have some of my questions answered. That, and perhaps Nym will finally become the courageous character I know she has the ability to be. A bibliophile can hope. show less