Light of Lorelei (Tales of Skylge #2) by Jen Minkman - Ashley's Review

*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*

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Title: Light of Lorelei (Tales of Skylge #2)
Author: Jen Minkman
Publication Date: January 10th, 2015

My Sound of Sirens (Tales of Skylge #1) Review

Synopsis: There is no light without shadow,
no truth without sacrifice,
and no way to keep us all from harm.

Aska wants more out of life than being a temple girl in the St. Brandan Convent of Brandaris. Her life-long service to the Baeles-Weards is the only reason she wasn’t killed immediately after birth – she is atoning for the sins of her parents. Her Anglian mother and Skylger father were never supposed to love each other and have children, and Aska is reminded of her low status and illegitimacy by her fellow temple girls every day.

But then she meets Tjalling, a young, mysterious, and charming Skylger fisherman who doesn’t seem to care that he is not supposed to befriend her. Soon after they meet, the island falls prey to the largest Siren attack in the history of Skylge and Aska is beginning to doubt the wisdom of the priests. If the Light in the Tower really keeps the people from harm, why are the Shriekers taking more and more lives each day?

Adding to her inner turmoil is a secret meeting with Royce and Enna, who want to recruit her into their resistance movement, an unexpected confession from her best friend Melinda, and Aska’s realization that she likes Tjalling a bit too much for her own good.

Soon, she is going down a road there is no turning back from, forcing her to make choices that shake the foundations of her world.

For Aska, there is only one true choice – to bring the truth to light.

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Review: When I finished Sound of Sirens, I knew I had to have Light of Lorelei as soon as I could get my hands on it. Sound of Sirens had a HUGE cliffhanger at the end, and I've been chomping at the bit to find out what was going to happen next. Light of Lorelei certainly did not disappoint me! 

This story picks up several months (I think) after the end of Sound of Sirens. Aska lives and works in the temple, and unlike the other girls, will always live and work there. She's essentially a prisoner, and she wants nothing more than to be free. I loved watching her growth over the course of this novella, and I loved that she's willing to take risks to change the world even if it means that she could lose her life. At least it would be on her own terms.

What I especially liked about this book is that it shows another side of life on the island. Instead of following Royce and Enna again, we're shown what it's like for the temple girls and the priests who guard the Light of Brandaris. There's so much mystery surrounding the Light and the Baeles-Weards and I was really hoping we'd get to see inside the Tower in this book. So many of my previous questions were answered, but now I have SO MANY more! 

I also really appreciated the diversity in the cast of this book. We have Aska, the child of a forbidden romance. There's Royce, the Anglian rebel, and Enna, the Skylger girl who has been betrayed and is trying to put back the pieces. We also get to meet Tjalling, who has incredible secrets of his own that made me love him all the more. And then we have Melinda, who is Aska's best friend in the convent. But Melinda has secrets and confesses something to Aska that turns Aska's whole life upside down. I loved how Melinda's story was included in Light of Lorelei, and she's a character I would love to learn more about. I really hope that Aska trusts her with more information in the next book, or really even that she just shows up. Because I loved her. 

I read this book in basically one sitting, so I would definitely recommend it to anyone that has read and enjoyed Sound of Sirens. I think I liked it even more than the first book, so even if you didn't love Sound of Sirens, you should still read Light of Lorelei! I would recommend this series to anyone looking for a sci-fi/fantasy story with hints of mermaids, diverse characters, and a little bit of romance thrown in for good measure. A 5/5, and I cannot wait to read the conclusion to this series, Fire of Fryslan!


--Ashley

Sound of Sirens (Tales of Skylge #1) by Jen Minkman - Ashley's Review

*I received this book as an eARC from the author in exchange for an honest review*

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Title: Sound of Sirens (Tales of Skylge #1)
Author: Jen Minkman
Publication Date: November 28, 2014

Synopsis: An ancient land protected by a Tower of Light,
its people ever tempted by Siren song,
and a girl who falls for the wrong boy.

On the island of Skylge, electricity is only for the Currents – the rich ruling class who once came from across the sea and brought the holy fire of St. Brandan to Skylge. Ever since, the light in the Brandaris Tower has protected the islanders. Heeding the Siren's call will drown your body and steal your soul, but the sacred light in the Tower will chase the merfolk away.

When Skylger girl Enna welcomes her brother back from a long sea voyage, he gives her a special present from the mainland – an electronic record only playable on a Current device. The problem is that Royce Bolton, Current heartthrob and the town’s most gifted pianist, wants it too. After she stubbornly refuses to sell the LP featuring his favorite artist, he suggests sharing the record by secretly meeting up in his private summer house. Taken aback yet thrilled, Enna agrees – and discovers that there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to Current society and the history of Skylge. Why do the Sirens tempt the islanders to give themselves up to the sea? And where does the Currents’ monopoly on electricity really come from?

While struggling with these questions, Enna begins to fall for Royce, risking everything to be with a guy who is clearly wrong for her. She will learn that the sound of Sirens isn’t the most treacherous thing out there to haunt her dreams.

(The setting of Tales of Skylge is loosely based on the Dutch island of Terschelling, or Schylge in the island’s dialect. Although the names and places in this book will sound very familiar to people living on the island, the characters and events are, of course, entirely fictitious in nature.)

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Review: I've been a huge fan of Jen's writing since I first read The Island. I love that trilogy, and then I read The Space In Between and fell in love with Jen's gorgeous writing all over again. And then she sent me Sound of Sirens, and I'm pretty sure there's nothing Jen can't write about. This book is just full of fabulous world building, character development, mystery, romance, and so many other incredible things. 

First of all, there's Enna. She's a Skylger girl just trying to get by with her aging father and her sailor brother who is absent for long periods of time when he's away at sea. Most of this book focuses on Enna and Royce, and how they meet in secret to share the LP and how their relationship develops from there. But in the course of watching their relationship grow and change, we also learn quite a bit about Enna, Royce, the Sirens, and the island. The way that all of the world-building is built into and around the characters is flawless, and I loved learning about the sirens and the island and all of that at the same time that I was getting to know Enna and Royce.

Royce bothered me a little bit because of the way he treats Enna in public, but I also understood why he does what he does. He's part of a very influential Current family, and the relationship between the two groups of people is incredibly tense. But still. He could give a girl a little heads-up or something without having to break her heart all over the place. Silly teenagers. 

There's still so much I want to know about this world and about the Sirens, and I'm so glad that Light of Lorelei is out in the world already! I'm so excited to read the sequel and the rest of this fantastic new series, and I would totally recommend it for anyone looking for a romance with a bit of fantasy/sci-fi/dystopia thrown in. It's an excellent read, and was definitely one that I didn't want to put down. In fact, I'm pretty sure I read it all in one sitting. So yeah. Definitely a 4/5!


--Ashley