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Friday, November 22, 2013

The Sirens of Rhine: The Innocent and the Condemned by Kaylynne Spauls: A Review


BOOK TITLE: The Sirens of Rhine: The Innocent and the Condemned

ISBN: 9781480007833

AUTHOR: Kaylynne Spauls

GENRE: Fiction/Paranormal

NUMBER OF PAGES: 402

FORMAT: Digital/PDF

SERIES / STANDALONE: The Sirens of Rhine #1

REVIEW BY: Dhivya Balaji

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/20539669-dhivya-balaji

HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: The author requested a review and sent us a copy.

REVIEW:

          The Innocent and the Condemned, the first book of ‘The Sirens of Rhine’ series by Kaylynne Spauls is a paranormal novel set in modern times. The story follows a first person narrative of three sirens, supernatural creatures of enormous power, capable of destruction. The sirens are enslaved, sold for human trafficking, and subjected to torture. The legend follows that at any given time if one siren exists; two more exist of the same calibre. The three sirens together have power unrivalled by anything else… and powers are at work to prevent such a union.

          Lily Butler has been living all her life in the mystical island of Rhine. She has a peaceful life in a bakery and one day she is attacked by someone who calls her a siren. To Lily, this explained the feathers that stuck out of her neck and she is brought into harsh reality. She has to cope with her possessive boyfriend while she is attracted to the detective inspector Gerald. Her calm and fragile nature is shattered as she learns that sirens are deadly creatures and shooting a gun is as natural to her as baking a cinnamon bun.

          Kai, keeper of the keys finds herself enslaved for the umpteenth time in her life. She escapes the clutches just like always but finds a companion soul, Aria, an air nymph. Together, they escape the humans involved in slave trade. Kai does not know the feelings of compassion and softness, she specialises in killing. Snapping the neck of humans comes easy to this ruthless siren. But her companion is the softest of creatures who insist that she was born to save the supernatural creatures.    

          Ashlin Sinclair, daughter of Senator Robert Sinclair, is brought up by her father to serve her duty as a seductress. All she knows is to follow orders from her father, and she does it to perfection. Her father scolds her for even the tiniest bit of compassion but her grandmother insists that she is not a monster. One last assignment proves to be one too many for Ashlin as she makes her escape from her influential father and hides in the island of Rhine.

          When all three sirens meet, they are surprised beyond measure. Because till then, they did not know others like them existed. Each siren has her own characteristics and each has got a lot to learn from each other. The trials faced by the three sirens as they journey towards each other (without intending to) are all based on a common point. This book has enough twists to keep you engrossed for a continuous reading.

          The author does finish this book much like the end of a serial episode. But cliff-hangers are not suited for books. Any book, even if it is a part of a series, must have some sort of closure. Much like a sequel movie the book must create a pleasant anticipation instead of a frustrating surprise. But then maybe this was her idea of an interesting end (given, it is that).

WHAT I LIKED: The narration, handling of characters and the nice crisp story.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER: The book is narrated by three women, each as first person. This gets a bit confusing if you don’t notice the header at the start of each narrative.

VERDICT: Go for it, if you like a little romance, action, dry humour and incredible women in your books.

RATING: 4.2/5

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

          Kaylynne lives in Richmond Virginia with her wonderful husband, and spends time with her family and friends. She took several years of German in high school and college, and it has attributed to the inspiration for this book. She first became interested in the river Rhine while visiting Germany with classmates. That and a love of Greek Mythology started the foundations for this book.

EDITIONS AVAILABLE: Paperback, digital, kindle.

PRICE: $20.69 for kindle.

BOOK LINKS: http://www.amazon.com/Sirens-Rhine-Innocent-Condemned/dp/1480007838/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385130275&sr=1-1&keywords=The+sirens+of+rhine+innocent+and+condemned

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