🌊⚓️ In the Veins of the Drowning ⚓️🌊

• Kalie Cassidy

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‘The monster is always slain…’

Imogen Nel has spent her whole life in hiding in the court of King Nemea, the cruel and tyrannous reader whose court hunts sirens for pleasure. If she keeps herself from the sea and salt water, she can conceal the black wings burrowed inside her. When her secret is at long last discovered, she throws herself on the mercy of a visiting king, King Theodore. In order to get her out of Nemea’s court, Theodore and Imogen must bind themselves together in a treacherous blood bond. For the first time in her life, Imogen is forced to confront the monster that lurks within…

The explosive setup and the blurb of this one really drew me in! The first hundred pages were so strong and brimming with potential. The initial meeting of Imogen and Theo already had me giggling and kicking my feet. Unfortunately, I felt the romance fizzled out a bit from the forging of the blood bond – which could definitely be personal preference, as this isn’t something I enjoy.

The atmosphere in this book was sumptuous, perfectly gothic and bloody. I’ve been yearning for a siren story that depicts them in a more vengeful and bloodlust light. I really feel like it could’ve benefitted from an extra hundred pages, just to give the story more time to develop. I did really like both Theo and Imogen individually, but I wasn’t completely buying their chemistry. It all felt too insta-lovey, and the trope of a mate bond did come into play, which I personally dislike. It seems to me to always acts as a tool to bring the characters together, rather than letting that happen organically.

The ending was very abrupt, and when I turned to the last page, I had that moment of ‘is that it? Where’s the rest?’ This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I do wish the second book were already out for me to binge! These critiques aside, I will still be reading the sequel, In the Wake of the Ruined, which comes out 7th July, simply out of curiosity. I’m still very intrigued to see where the story goes, especially with the siren lore, which we didn’t get a whole ton of in book one, and I’m really interested to see where Theodore and Imogen’s relationship goes beyond here.

Does anyone else yearn for a siren fantasies? We’ve had dragons, we’ve had lady knights, now let’s make sirens happen. (Stop trying to make sirens happen, Gretchen). If you have any recommendations, please drop them in the comments!