Before we begin this review, you have to know I started « The Siren » thinking I’ll adore it. Aaaaannnd…. This was unfortunately disappointing.
You may not know it but I liked The Selection series very much, even if it’s been a while now. I was very excited to read this new project, not only because this was Kiera but also because I’m quite in love with mermaids. When I was four, people were asking me what I wanted to be when I am grown up and I always said : « I want to be a siren » (I used to have high expectations of life at the time). So yeah, I couldn’t wait. Unfortunately I truly HATED it; actually I almost dnf it because it was not interesting at all.
I’m sorry I’ll be so harsh and I don’t judge the people who loved it; I just want to be honest. The writing is beautiful, I give her that. The biggest (the only ?) quality of this book was the concept. I absolutely loved how original this was, too bad it was not exploited fully. This is the story of The Ocean, who needs to feed on humans to let others live. For that, there are « singers » — sirens. Those are girls who once almost died and asked to live so desperately The Ocean answered their call.
In exchange of life, they had to become sirens and murder people for Her for the next one hundred years. A terrible fate for the price to live, but our main character, Kahlen, agrees immediately (we’ll talk about her soon enough). Those sirens are deadly beautiful, they live on earth (but near the water so that they can communicate with Her) and their voice is a weapon — if humans hear it, they’re instantly attracted to The Ocean, who has the right to eat them. That’s why they pretend to be mute in front of the mortals.
Books were a safe place, a world apart from my own. No matter what had happened that day, that year, there was always a story in which someone overcame their darkest hour. I wasn’t alone.
I thought it was a unique idea and that Kiera Cass could have had exploited it more. Instead, her plot was predictable and superficial. I mean, Kahlen and her friends are sirens but we NEVER see them underwater. How could it be?! I wanted fish tails, magical powers, forbidden love and mystical rebellion, dammit. There was nothing new here.
Also we were promised a love story and I still don’t understand where it is. Oh yeah, we have a boy. A very cute boy actually (he’s probably the best thing in this book). But I’m sorry, I didn’t buy it. They meet and it’s insta love (gosh I hate this). After meeting twice in their life, BOOM, they’re in love. And that’s all. Yeah because because Kahlen is a siren she decides to leave to protect him and we don’t see them together for the rest of the book. AND THEN, their very strong and powerful love is supposed to save both of them (of cooouuuurse) (you can hear sarcasm in my voice, right?). It was almost ridiculous, I’m sorry. It was too easy, too cheesy, too everything.
Let’s go back to characters now. As I said, the male character was great — I can’t remember his name because it was strange but he was kind, sweet, funny and so caring ! The problem wasn’t him, nor The Ocean, who was a complex and great character (villain but not so villain). No, the problem was the others. Kahlen’s friends were kind of OK, in a sense that they were flat and without personality, but not lame. They did not have any interest, any passion, any vice. They were just beautiful — how great. Concerning Kahlen herself… Well. I’m sorry I won’t be soft.
She told me to live. . . . I didn’t know how to tell Her that simply being alive was not enough to be called living.
The book begins with Kahlen drowning. I did not really understand at first, the whole scene was very quick and confusing. She asks to live because she doesn’t want to die so young and The Ocean answers her call, offering her life in exchange of her service. She has to let her family drown and be Hers for a hundred years killing other people to feed Her. I don’t know about you, but I found this is a little scary. I mean, if THE OCEAN (or anyone else, for that matters) tells me this… I ran away, right? Well, Kahlen is doing pretty great with her conscience, thank you very much. She accepts almost in the second, of course, and it’s supposed to be realistic. But it isn’t at all, sorry.
Then, Kahlen becomes a siren and lives through the years. Of course, after that, we discover that her nightmares are haunted by all the people she murdered for The Ocean. She starts questioning her service to Her (it was time, honey), especially when she meets a boy with a strange name I still don’t remember. After twice « dates » she tells her friends she’s in love and that because of it, she has to leave. OK. I understand your point, you’re a siren, your voice can kill and everything ; I give you that. So the rest of the book is Kahlen leaving the guy she loves, trying to understand why she’s depressed (she kills too much people and it begins to weigh on her, poor girl) blablabla. AND THEN….
PLOT TWIST, GUYS.
She is sick. Oh my gad. « But sirens can’t be sick !! What the fuck ? Oh wait… the-boy-with-the-strange-name is sick too ? Shit, what are we going to do? The Ocean says it’s impossible ! » (they still didn’t understand The Ocean was a liar bitch, forgive them). After a lot of researches, we find that…. *suspens* *even more suspens* *yes, we all understood ages before they did* THEIR LOVE IS THE REASON OF THEIR SICKNESS AND THE KEY OF THEIR SURVIVAL. Well… I wasn’t expecting it, that’s for sure.
The book ends with Kahlen becoming human again and The Ocean continues to murder people and everybody is happy like that !
