The Siren - Kiera Cass

The Siren
Published: January 26th, 2016

Page Count: 336


"Kahlen is a Siren, bound to serve the Ocean by luring humans to watery graves with her voice, which is deadly to any human who hears it. Akinli is human—a kind, handsome boy who's everything Kahlen ever dreamed of. Falling in love puts them both in danger . . . but Kahlen can't bear to stay away. Will she risk everything to follow her heart?" 















★ ★  ★ ½ STARS

The Siren was both hauntingly beautiful and heartbreaking.

I was absolutely fascinated by the mythology of the sirens, especially in regards to the singing that they have to go through. It was incredibly interesting to have the religious aspect of the Ocean and 'Goddess' mixed into the justification of taking the lives of innocent people, in order for the Ocean to continue 'living'. What was even more interesting was how different the sirens behave in comparison to the way they are usually represented in media and stories. Kahren and her sisters aren't evil, vicious sea monsters who delight in the killing of innocent people. Rather, their duty is seen as a great burden. They take no pleasure whatsoever in their job, but they understand the sacrifice needed to sustain the Ocean and therefore humanity itself. A life for multiple lives. A very morbid thought, but something that we see in war daily.

The Ocean Herself was a very interesting figure. On the one hand we can see that she can be incredibly selfish and cruel at times, labelling those actions as 'love'. She is incredibly possessive and therefore forbids her sirens to fall in love or have children, to ensure that their obedience only lies to Her. They are supposed to belong to Her, and only Her . However, underneath all of that, there is a tender, warm-hearted and loving side to Her, and you cannot help but feel pity for this 'Goddess'. She doesn't want to be alone and by trying to get people to love her and be obedient to her, She pushes them away. (I can't help but compare this to what we Christians believe about God ourselves. There is no room for love if the love isn't done out of a free will and that is why free will is such an important and reoccurring theme in the Bible. Also it is a foolish thing to think that loving one person means that you do not have the capacity to love anyone else beyond that.)

I enjoyed the romance in it and absolutely loved Akinli as a character. He and Kahren were absolutely adorable and the end of the book was just so heartbreakingly beautiful that I couldn't help but cry. 

Nevertheless, I am also really glad that this book focused a lot more on the self-discovery that Kahren goes through and that the romance did not in any way seem 'insta-love'-y or forced. 


Overall, the plot itself wasn't overly gripping, but I think the mythology and the fact that this book was so thought provoking on topics like love, possession and religion very much made up for it in my eyes.  


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