Audiobook Review - Seawitch (Greywalker, Book 7) by Kat Richardson (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 352 pages
Publisher: Roc Hardcover
Release Date: August 7, 2012
ISBN: 978-0451464552
Stand Alone or Series: 7th book in the Greywalker series
Source: Audiobook through Audible.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the seventh book in the Greywalker series. It was a solid addition to the series but was pretty contained; there was no new big story-arc started.

I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was very well done. The narrator does an excellent job and sounds exactly like I imagine Harper would. She also does an excellent job distinguishing between voices.

Harper and detective Solis have both been assigned with the investigation of a mysterious ghostly ship that has appeared in the harbor named the Seawitch. Of course the appearance of the Seawitch is linked with a number of disturbing paranormal things. It is up to Solis and Harper to unravel the mystery behind its reappearance before it is too late.

The story is written in a very detailed and analytical way, like all of the books in this series. These book are very heavy on the investigative aspect of the story. In this installment we are introduced to some new paranormal creatures; mainly mermaids and the Father of all Otters.

There isn’t a ton of character growth in this book. Harper spends some time trying to learn how to be a better friend to those around her, but she doesn’t really grow in power or learn to use her power as a Greywalker in new ways. More of the story is spent on Solis and him trying to deal with all of the paranormal things he runs in to. Solis is forced to face some uncomfortable truths and he does grow quite a bit. We learn a lot about Solis and his background.

This wasn't really the start of a new broad story arc, the investigation and the Seawitch mystery are fairly self-contained to this one book. There are some things going on with Quentin and his father that sound interesting and are set up to be dealt with in the next book. This set up leads to us learning more about Quentin’s background.

The plot was well woven and well put together. There are a lot of interesting mystery/paranormal elements that come together in fascinating ways.

Each of the books in this series has focused on something. In this case the book focused on the Father of Otters mythology and boating in general. The story was nicely tied up and there were some things left unresolved that will most likely be tied up in the next book.

Overall a solid addition to this series. The whole book is pretty self-contained and could probably be read just fine as a stand alone novel. It was fun to meet some new paranormal races and we get to learn a lot about Solis and his background. The book sets things up for an interesting storyline involving Quentin and his past in future installments of the series. This whole series is recommended to those who like detailed and analytical investigative urban fantasy.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge

Audiobook Review - Siren by Tricia Rayburn (3/5 stars)

Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Size: 368 pages
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Release Date: May 10, 2011
ISBN: 978-1606842126
Stand Alone or Series: 1st in a series
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 3/5 stars

I had been wanted to read this book for some time. I ended up getting it to listen to on audiobook at one of Audible's book sales. It was an okay book, while there wasn't anything technically wrong with the story I had a lot of trouble engaging with the story or the characters.

I listened to this on audiobook and I don't recommend it. The narrator had a breathy, cutesy voice that bothered me. I think the sounds of the narrator's voice made me like the main character even less than if I had been reading about Vanessa in paperback.

Vanessa and Justine are sisters. They spend every summer at Winter Harbor with their family. Vanessa is scared of everything and Justine is fearless. Then one night everything goes wrong; Justine gets in a fight with their mother and storms out of the cabin...the next day she is dead. Two weeks after Justine's death Vanessa can't help but feel something isn't right. She journeys back to Winter Harbor to confront Justine's boyfriend about what really happened that night. Little does Vanessa know that she is going to be entagled in doings beyond her wildest imaginings.

Okay so my main problem with this book is that it is named Siren. Guess what Vanessa spends the whole book doing? Well, she is trying to figure out what is killing people in the waters outside of Winter Harbor. I felt like shaking her the whole book and saying "Duh, it's Sirens! Obviously!" It would have been better to title the book something that doesn't totally give away the mystery that the characters spend most of the book trying to solve.

Enough griping about that. This is one of those high school kids go away for the summer and solve some seaside mystery sorts of books. It moves pretty slow, Vanessa is kind of dense, and of course she has to fall in love with the boy who helps her unravel the mystery. I am not sure why but this book constantly reminded me of Moonglass by Jessi Kirby. Granted this book has more supernatural activity; but it also has that same feeling of high school age characters slowing getting over grief and slowly solving a mystery.

Vanessa was hard for me to engage with as a character; she is always uncertain and always scared. She grows a little in this story but not much and I found her difficult to be inspired by and hard to relate to. She was also incredibly dense, she just didn't understand things and how they related and it frustrated me.

A lot of the characters in this book are fairly forgettable. They must be because I had trouble even distinguishing some of them from each other. I didn't realize this was part of a series. By the times things are actually picking up pace and getting somewhat interesting the book ends.

Overall this was an okay book. There isn't technically anything wrong with it. I just found the characters to be lackluster, the story predictable, and the mystery slow-moving and difficult to stay engaged with. So far I remain unimpressed with all of the Siren YA books I have read. I did think that Lost Voices by Sarah Porter was better than this book but not a ton better. I won't be reading any more of this series.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge
- TBR Pile Reading Challenge