Storm Siren- Mary Weber

My Rating: 3 Stars

Description: “I raise my chin as the buyers stare. Yes. Look. You don’t want me. Because, eventually, accidentally, I will destroy you.”

In a world at war, a slave girl’s lethal curse could become one kingdom’s weapon of salvation. If the curse—and the girl—can be controlled.

As a slave in the war-weary kingdom of Faelen, seventeen-year-old Nym isn’t merely devoid of rights, her Elemental kind are only born male and always killed at birth — meaning, she shouldn’t even exist.

Standing on the auction block beneath smoke-drenched mountains, Nym faces her fifteenth sell. But when her hood is removed and her storm-summoning killing curse revealed, Nym is snatched up by a court advisor and given a choice: be trained as the weapon Faelen needs to win the war, or be killed.

Choosing the former, Nym is unleashed into a world of politics, bizarre parties, and rumors of an evil more sinister than she’s being prepared to fight . . . not to mention the handsome trainer whose dark secrets lie behind a mysterious ability to calm every lightning strike she summons.

But what if she doesn’t want to be the weapon they’ve all been waiting for?

My Thoughts: Storm Siren deals heavily with self condemnation. Nym is a girl who believes that she is curse and destroys everyone around her. While her anger has killed people in the past, it was more do to having not been taught how to control her power, as well as not believing that she could. Because of this, Nym self harms and draws in on herself. This theme was well done in my opinion. Nym's self-hate is treated realistically and is understandable. There is a great message that we can all choose who we become, no matter who orchestrates the world around us.

Beyond Nym, however, none of the characters felt well rounded. Collin only ever had two things on his mind, flirting and fighting, and his sister had an sharp tongue. While Weber delved into Eogan's past, I still felt like I didn't know him. The villains also lacked depth, and I found it difficult to discover what exactly they were trying to do other than turn the world into a smoldering heap.

The creatures Weber created were interesting, such as the bolcranes, but not really explained. Neither was the reason my Elementals are only ever males. By the last part of the book, I was caught up in the action of the fight, but I was left wondering what the lessons of this book were supposed to be. While I love the theme of self condemnation, there was a lack of God's grace to the story. As a novel published by a Christian publishing house, I expected there to be a mention of God's redemption and that only he can ultimately save this fallen world. Perhaps that will come in the sequel.

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.