Daughter of the Siren Queen by Tricia Levenseller becomes my fifth ocean-adventure book this year and it is certainly an interesting sequel to spend my time with before I put the sea-themed reading journey to a temporary halt. It's been a fun escapade to undergo, I admit, but in the near future, I foresee a harder time to commit to a duology let alone a series, so I'm going to go for more standalone books no matter the genre.
Disclaimer: Please stop reading if you haven't read Daughter of the Pirate King yet. Or you can first read my spoiler-free review here.
"The first step to feeling good is looking good,
and I look like the royalty I am."
Following where we left off in the first book, Daughter of the Siren Queen follows the half-human half-siren Alosa who has now completed the mission from his father, the pirate king. Now that she has Riden under her direct orders and Draxen as well as Vordan in the brigs, Alosa can breathe normally knowing that justice will be brought by her father for the latter. However, when Vordan unexpectedly reveals the secret Kalligan has kept his entire life, Alosa finds herself questioning every truth she has come to believe. With that, follows a deadly race between her crew and her father, though Alosa believes she will find the treasure first considering she is the daughter of the siren queen.
Even though I didn't simp for Riden as much anymore, going through this book through Alosa's lens was still as fun and thrilling as the first. Daughter of the Siren Queen was a quite solid sequel even though a few plot holes could still be found here and there, like (please stop reading if you have not read it) how hard it was for Alosa to control her humanity in her siren state of mind while the other sirens did not seem to act as ruthless. It probably had to do with the fact that they were used to their form while Alosa was not, but wasn't it a little strange that she acted like somebody totally different? Huh, or maybe it was just me.
But still, I really liked that we got more stories about the sirens, especially about how beautiful their names sounded, though it would have been more awesome if we were given more details about the underwater world, just saying. There were also more details and development about the Ava-lee crew as individuals, which was awesome, but since the pacing of the story was still as fast, the few moments of grief surrounding the loss of crew members didn't feel as painful as they should have been.
With the plot rushing like that, Alosa's reaction following Kalligan's big reveal didn't feel that believable either. I mean, I got that his father was not the person she had always thought he was. Despite how hard he was on her, it must have been very disappointing for Alosa to uncover the truth. But considering how the two were pretty close, I actually expected Alosa to give his father a benefit of the doubt longer or at least for her to have a harder time accepting it.
"He relaxes considerably.
"Thank the stars. I was trying so hard to be supportive and forget what I want most."
"And what's that?"
"And what's that?"
Those beautiful brown eyes glint. "You.""
However, this fast-paced adventure was still a thrilling journey to be embarked on. That being said, it's safe to admit that I had a great time reading Daughter of the Siren Queen. The story was riveting and I would totally love to give this duology a reread in the future—certainly was a good book to spend my Saturday with. To sum up, I would most absolutely recommend it to you if you find yourself enjoying the first installment.
Actual rating: 4★
