I’m back with another book review, and this time I’m reviewing “Sirena” by Gideon Marcus! This is the sequel to “Kitra,” which I previously reviewed by this same author. Just like last time, the author reached out to me and offered me a free copy of “Sirena” in exchange for a review. If the author is reading this review, thanks for the free copy!
Here’s a quick summary so we know what it’s about:
“One starship, six friends, 10,000 lives in the balance
Young captain-for-hire Kitra Yilmaz has gotten her first contract: escort the mysterious Princess of Atlántida beyond the Frontier and find her a new world. It’s a risky job, fraught with the threat of pirates, dangerous squatters, and rising romantic tensions.
Still, Kitra and her crew are up for anything — until they find a lush world, perfect for settlement…with an enormous ghost ship already in orbit.
What secret does the crippled vessel hide? And is Kitra ready to take responsibility for its precious cargo?”
Plot Development: 3 out of 5 stars
Compared to the previous book, I think this plot suffered from not having much happen. Yes, we have some romantic subplots, yes we have the main characters helping the princess Sirena find a new world and so on, but other than that, not much happens. There are other aspects of the story I wish I could discuss in more detail, but that would give away too many spoilers.
The refugee situation in the story was probably the most interesting plot point, however, and not something I expected. I wish there was more detail given with that situation. But, it got neatly resolved by the end of the book. I’m curious to know whether there might be future conflicts with the refugees and Sirena co-residing with each other. However, I’m glad the situation didn’t get too overly complicated.
Worldbuilding Development: 4 out of 5 stars
The worldbuilding in this book is good. It affects the story in the latter half of the book more than the first half, but it’s still consistent and interesting to read. Add in the refugee situation in the story and it helped add more depth to the overall main story. As I mentioned earlier in the plot development.
Another point I’m interested in seeing if there will be future conflicts involving this, or at least similar situations in future books. I wish I could talk more about the worldbuilding, but unfortunately that would risk giving away various spoilers, especially for the main story.
Character Development: 3.5 out of 5 stars
This volume gives us more depth on Sirena, just as the title indicates, but also a bit more emphasis on the growing bonds within the crew. There are romances, but they’re not the main focus of this novel. It was good to see everyone working together.
Unfortunately, many of the side characters lacked development. Sirena and Kitra had most of it, since they were the main characters. But the only times the other characters got time to really develop was either through their relationships with each other or if they were romantic interests.
Overall, I’m rating this book 3.5 out of 5 stars!
This is a good sequel to the first book. Though it does lack in having much depth in the plot compared to the first one, it does make up for it with the worldbuilding and individual character development. The bonds growing between each of the characters also helps the story.
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