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A review by mcgbreads
The Sirens by Emilia Hart
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.5
ARC review; thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction, and The Borough Press for the access to this ebook. Pub date: Feb 13, 2025.
Oh, man... I loved "Weyward" so I was excited for this, but it ended up feeling like a less interesting and less well-executed version of that book. This sucks to say because, according to the acknowledgments, the author spent a lot of time on it. I would still recommend this if you love historical fiction, character-driven stories, magical realism, and a bit of mystery, but don't expect anything mindblowing in the mystery department.
-
The premise sounded interesting, but the characters, the setup, how things happen, and the twists are all just so underwhelming in "The Sirens." I'm not saying this book is boring cause it's not, it holds your attention just enough to get through it, but it's simply not as exciting as it wants you to believe. It left me feeling it was "a book I read" and that's never great.
I was able to guess the twist at 27% and that's also when the MC should've guessed it cause it's so fucking obvious. That's the most unfortunate part of this and my biggest issue cause everything after that point feels like a drag. When things finally come to light at like, idk, 80% of the book, I was already over it. There's no emotional impact or any kind of impact whatsoever cause I already knew that was coming and nothing was added to it to make it shocking. I felt absolutely nothing.
After that, everything gets resolved quickly cause women are great and men suck, which I don't disagree with. Statistically, men are the worst. My issue is that the author is heavy-handed with her man-hating sentiment but adds no valuable commentary to any kind of conversation, imo. Her evil male characters are extremely shallow and one-dimensional, they barely have any characterization beyond "domestic abuser", "groomer", or whatever reprehensible thing the author decides they are, and the same can be said about her good male characters. The female characters don't have any profound or impactful conversations/introspections about what these men in their lives have done to them. It's just "men are bad and they always victimize women," and we all know that.
I remember seeing a few reviewers mention this issue about "Weyward" as well, even boiling it down to "We get it, Emilia Hart, you hate men." It didn't bother me in that book because the female characters were so rich and interesting, but it does stand out to me in this one, where not much was interesting to me, so I was hyperfocused on everything that wasn't working for me.
Oh, man... I loved "Weyward" so I was excited for this, but it ended up feeling like a less interesting and less well-executed version of that book. This sucks to say because, according to the acknowledgments, the author spent a lot of time on it. I would still recommend this if you love historical fiction, character-driven stories, magical realism, and a bit of mystery, but don't expect anything mindblowing in the mystery department.
-
The premise sounded interesting, but the characters, the setup, how things happen, and the twists are all just so underwhelming in "The Sirens." I'm not saying this book is boring cause it's not, it holds your attention just enough to get through it, but it's simply not as exciting as it wants you to believe. It left me feeling it was "a book I read" and that's never great.
I was able to guess the twist at 27% and that's also when the MC should've guessed it cause it's so fucking obvious. That's the most unfortunate part of this and my biggest issue cause everything after that point feels like a drag. When things finally come to light at like, idk, 80% of the book, I was already over it. There's no emotional impact or any kind of impact whatsoever cause I already knew that was coming and nothing was added to it to make it shocking. I felt absolutely nothing.
After that, everything gets resolved quickly cause women are great and men suck, which I don't disagree with. Statistically, men are the worst. My issue is that the author is heavy-handed with her man-hating sentiment but adds no valuable commentary to any kind of conversation, imo. Her evil male characters are extremely shallow and one-dimensional, they barely have any characterization beyond "domestic abuser", "groomer", or whatever reprehensible thing the author decides they are, and the same can be said about her good male characters. The female characters don't have any profound or impactful conversations/introspections about what these men in their lives have done to them. It's just "men are bad and they always victimize women," and we all know that.
I remember seeing a few reviewers mention this issue about "Weyward" as well, even boiling it down to "We get it, Emilia Hart, you hate men." It didn't bother me in that book because the female characters were so rich and interesting, but it does stand out to me in this one, where not much was interesting to me, so I was hyperfocused on everything that wasn't working for me.