Daughter of the Siren Queen is the sequel to Daughter of the Pirate King and concludes Alosa and her crews journey to Isla de Canta. Alosa discovers her father’s betrayal and rescues her mother, the siren queen from captivity. As Alosa grapples with the news of her family, growing romantic feelings with interrogator turned prisoner, Riden Allemos. This novel explores the mythology of the sirens and Alosa’s abilities that disgust and impress her throughout the series. She needs to discover a way to stay in her human mind while a siren in the seawater and the answer to this problem is Riden.
This novel has a deeper exploration of Alosa’s character and her siren half as she attempts, and succeeds, to control her ‘beast’ form when in seawater. I enjoyed this book more so than the first as the plot had a clearer goal of journeying to the Isla de Canta for the siren’s hoard of gold and treasure. Alosa shows her vulnerable and conflicted feelings that was brushed over during the first novel. The dynamics with Alosa’s crew, Riden and her siren side creates a lot of tension, humour and action that enriches Alosa’s character from a stubborn and violent pirate to a caring and vulnerable friend and family figure to her crew.
However, due to the writing style of first person narrative the reader only views these characters from Alosa’s perspective and her feelings are one sided – we don’t see how the other crew members view and respect their captain. The romantic relationship between Alosa and Riden begin to develop and the reader is shown the vulnerable side to Riden and some of his traumatic past. I would have liked to have a flashback or deeper discussion in how Riden’s past impacted his life and shaped how he behaves. He is a kind and selfless person despite his violent father and his brother Draxen – who is saved by Alosa and never to be seen or mentioned again. It would have been interesting if Draxen returned as a hero and ally to Alosa as a debt to be paid for Riden’s safety. Due to the fact that Riden’s past is only briefly touched upon does create a disconnect between his words and actions. In the same way, Alosa’s past is briefly mentioned, but it would have been interesting to understand how Alosa’s life and actions had been manipulated by Kalligan, such as quiet reflection or flashbacks.
The novel’s focus is journeying to the Isla de Canta, but Levenseller fails to mention what finding this treasure will mean for Alosa, her crew and her place in pirate society. At the novel’s denouement we have a brief idea of Alosa becoming the Pirate Queen and setting up a new keep, but this is a future plan and one that she had always aspired to do – nothing changed in her ambitions once she was free of her father’s control. I think having the crew discuss what they hope to find on the island and how it would impact their lives could have deepened the unity between the captain and her crew. It appears that the crew do what Alosa says because she is the captain and their friend, rather than any personal agendas – they are agents of Alosa’s will.
Overall, this is an enjoyable, fun and thrilling series that helps push the plot and characters along. I think this is an easy read and one that the reader won’t want to put down!
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