When I started reading The Desert Siren I was reminded of a few of my favorite movies that take place underwater like Little Mermaid (also mentioned in the book) or Finding Dory etc to name a few among others. I am nowhere implying that the story is inspired by any of the above-mentioned films.

The Desert Siren is a story about a girl named Sahara who has a fear of water as her mother drowned when she was just a kid. Water bodies have always haunted her. Forced to confront her fear Sahara is trapped in the world of Aquacity that lies deep within the death of the ocean where she is chosen in the royal choir for the queen. Sahara realizes that it isn’t just her but a group of shifters who are relying on her when they realize her transformation as a siren is different than normal.

The Desert Siren is one of the stories that relies quite heavily on plot development But the first few chapters felt like a drag which resulted in world-building that kept on happening until the first half of the book. As the world of Aquacity slowly comes to light, readers are confronted with a beautiful world where we get to meet mermaids, dolphins, seals, and sirens.

Loosely based on the myths and stories around sirens compelling sailors to abandon ship and dive into the water only to be taken by the sea, the desert siren is a compelling read about a siren who doesn’t wants to take lives. Although the story revolves around Sahara, the author has done an amazing job with the side characters, which only helps in making the story better for readers.

The only disappointment for me was the weak character development mostly in the 60-70% of the book where a lot was happening outside, paving the way for the characters to come out of their shells but sadly that didn’t happen. However, that doesn’t points toward anything negative about the book as there were ample positive points to balance it out.

A few of my favorite things about The Desert Siren are, firstly, a very real description and conversation about grief and guilt in various forms. Be it, Sahara, Nam, and Kai feeling guilty about doing bad things to others to protect their loved ones because they are trapped or Sahara and the other four sirens selected for the choir going through self-loathing when they kill sailors. Secondly, Sahara and her friends stand against the monarch ruling the sea and there is a very powerful statement that the author makes and I quote, “A queen needs her people, not the other way around.” Thirdly, it has two of my favorite trope namely, found family and family reunion after years.

A few of the things in the desert siren that make it a powerful yet light fulfilling read are: an intriguing world-building where 75-80% of the book takes place underwater. A group of people who come together to protect and fight for a common cause, an evil queen, a sea witch, and an unfulfilled prophecy.

Coming to the characters, I liked Sahara and even though I was rooting for her, I didn’t necessarily love her. I think she has still a lot of potentials that remains unexplored and the ending of the first book hints towards a sequel so she still has a long way to go, hopefully, she is going to grow on me in the next installment. My favorite character by the time this book ended was Kai. Kai felt like the perfect lead male character I love reading about. He was described as extremely handsome, he was smart, and brave.

The ending of the first book was extremely satisfying in terms of a few of the plotlines and it has an amazing for what is going to be a good second book with a lot of adventure for our characters. I’d recommend this book to anyone looking for a fantasy recommendation with cute characters and found family trope.

Pros:

• Amazing plot with interesting twists and turns to keep readers engaged
• Even without proper character building, these characters will leave an impression on your mind
• An interesting take on sirens and life under the sea

Cons:

• Weak character development
• An unnecessary love angle in the end

Cover Score: 8.0

Book Score: 7.6/10

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Review by Akansha

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