Siren Song: Book 2 of the Blood Singer Novels (The Blood Singer Novels, 2)

Celia Graves, bodyguard turned half-vampire/half-siren is back in this follow up to the truly excellent Blood Song that finds her once again hunted at every turn by mages, sirens, demons and even humanity. Unlike in most urban fantasy books, vampires in The Blood Singer series aren't sexy love interests, they are the scourge of the earth. Feared and loathed by almost everyone, Celia has to navigate this story filled with lots of action, betrayal, and fragile romance--all without getting staked.

I thought the fight scenes in Blood Song were cool (and I don't often find myself impressed with detailed fight scenes), but SIREN SONG is packed with fast and fun fights that had my adrenaline slamming through my system. Celia is believably capable and resourceful, yet she is still acclimating to both her vampire and siren abilities. She never gets easy victories (getting jumped outside a grocery store with nothing but baby food jars as weapons, for example) and she never emerges unscathed.

Another high note in SIREN SONG is the romance. It is much less overt in this book as opposed to Blood Song (and there is a significant reason for that), but the new romantic lead in Celia's life is a surprise to both her and the reader, and yet by the end of the book, I couldn't imagine a better match.

As with the previous book, Adams laces SIREN SONG with subtle details in the early part of the book that tie together later on for a truly robust ending. Sadly, I thought that those details contributed to SIREN SONG being a little slow out of the gate. A number of side plot elements needed to be tied up, which I appreciate, but Blood Song ended with Celia being summoned to Siren Island for a trial and that storyline didn't pick up until halfway through SIREN SONG. From then on, the story races along at much more satisfyingly pace. Demon Song will be out sometime in early 2011 and I'm already anticipating another action packed blast.

Sexual Content: References to sex. References to homosexuality. A scene of sensuality.

Something's just not right in Celia Graves life. Assassination plots, harassing cops, a drunk mother, and it's only Monday. With one crisis after another Celia hardly has time to notice a pattern let alone breathe. In this second installment the action begins from the first page when Celia is abducted. Narrowly escaping the ordeal just leads to more reasons why the humans want Graves dead, and it's not helping her legal issues. In the meantime Celia is learning to balance her inner vampire without losing her humanity. Her latent siren abilities, are causing more problems than they're worth, after all having fangs is bad enough without the glowing.

Everything's coming to a head and the dynamic duo Cat Adams proves the devils in the details. Pay attention because the most minuet bits of information come into play in Siren Song. The fact that most women can't stand Celia, her mother's self destructive ways, her sister and Vicky's unfortunate demises, even Graves' string of near death experiences are all connected. And in this wonderfully woven story all those answers will be revealed. But the end of this journey isn't free, Celia will pay a hefty price. She will be betrayed, and those betrayals will test and collapse her inner circle.

Siren Song has a really relaxed pace after that initial first scene. But stick with it there is more action to come and quite a few heartbreaks and double crosses. Nothings what it seems especially in the land of sirens. At first the siren issue was a bit of over kill for me, but it really is an integral part of the story and Celia's character. Also this series is more story and action driven, less romantic, but with the introduction of Creede as a love interest there is a strong possibility of a future love triangle. Even though a lot of questions were answered in this book there are new concerns raised by the end, leaving a lot to look forward to in the future.

My top reasons to love this book:
1. Urban Fantasy with lots of world building.
2. Strong female protagonist, Celia Graves, in the first person point of view.
3. Lots of multi-tasking in the plot department that weaves seemingly unrelated story lines into 1 tightly woven ending.
4. There is a romance sub-plot, but it was definately not up front and center. FYI:There were no sex scenes, so if you are looking for paranormal romance look elsewhere.
5. This is what a book 2 should be! Lots of back story on her siren abilities, which included meeting her royal extended family.
6. Lots and lots of action. There was alot of mini adventures. Sometimes, even I was overwhelmed by the quick transitions from one sub plot to another and I love a book with an adreniline junkie plot. This one was really a lot of fun!

My top reasons not to love this book:
1. OK. This is really a criticism about the first book, but since I didn't write a review for it, and the ex is in this one, here I spout. I think it is lazy for an author to have an ex-boyfriend be the love interest in a book. We don't know him, we didn't get to see the sparks fly when they first met, and I feel that the make up sex happens too quickly. I hope the Deluca, the ex, stays the ex, reguardless of her "siren" committment issues. Creed, the business associate, was intriguing in book 1 and now I am rooting for him in book 3.
2. The last 25% of the book had sloppy setting transitions. At times I was disorientated as to where they were after a scene break. I even went back to reread to make sure I didn't skim something important. It did make for a long (although it didn't seem long) fast reading through to the end though.
3. There were several spelling errors, gramatical, and punctuation errors in the kindle version. It didn't slow me down! (I often have those in my reveiws!)
4. You should read book 1 before this one.
5. I like Celia, but I need to see more emotional growth from her. Maybe less description of the settings and more of her feelings. Like near the beginning, when she was in Birchwoods (psychiatric/rehab facility) she discussed with her therapist things that left her crying. I wanted to know specifically what was making her cry.

My biggest regret about this book is that it sat in my kindle unread for 5 months (I pre-ordered). My best mistake is that now I will only have a few weeks before book 3 is out. YEAH! I really enjoyed this book 2. I felt handled by an experienced story teller and I feel my faith renewed in the "newer" authors in UF.

I strongly suggest you read the previous book in the series (Blood Song) prior to reading this installment.

I was really looking forward to reading this book since the end of Blood Song. The possibility of having a different preternatural creature to focus on, as oppose to the same old vampires, witches and demons was a nice prospect. However, I must admit this installment was a bit of a disappointment. The inconsistencies were too great to ignore; plus, the whole postmenopausal women, old men and lesbians are the only ones that can resist my siren charms felt immature to me.

Another strike against this book was the author built and revved up a situation, only to have the resolution occur after the fact. The author used this horrible technique in the previous book with the death of Celia's sire and she also repeated this heinous technique for a certain part in this installment. Through many of the subplots, I kept wondering why is Celia even here? Celia's character just felt thrown into situations, which felt convenient for the author but held no real purpose for Celia's character.

Aside, from my many complaints above, this installment had a high entertainment factor. This crucial component was the sole redeeming quality, which kept me reading this book until the end. There was plenty of action to go around and there was thankfully zero romance.

I was conflicted on what score I should rate this installment. This series has a lot of potential. However, there were some parts of the author's writing style that were pretty irritating but at the same time, I read this entire book without skipping head and was completely entertained.

I recommend this book judging solely from an entertainment standpoint alone, to fellow dark urban fantasy readers and look forward to the next book Demon Song due out 3/1/2011.

I also recommend:

[[ASIN:034551209X Spellbent]]
[[ASIN:0441018521 Magic Bleeds (Kate Daniels, Book 4)]]
[[ASIN:0061138037 Black Magic Sanction (Rachel Morgan, Book 8)]]
[[ASIN:1439110042 The Darkest Edge of Dawn (Charlie Madigan, Book 2)]]
[[ASIN:1416598146 Bitter Night: A Horngate Witches Book]]

Adams was encountered with quite a challenge in this second novel for the Blood Singer series. Blood Song was such an intense and spell binding novel; that I was concerned about the direction of this second novel. Successfully, she has continued the fast paced and action packed momentum. Celia Graves is an incredible character with witty and compassionate charm that promise attraction for all readers. Having discovered her Siren abilities in the end of Book one readers when expectant of a new direction in this new novel. I love this new addition to Graves's character. Beware Adams has twisted the characters of book one, and she has finished Siren Song with all new changes that will leave you guessing. With a continuous story that will carry readers from one book to the next, Adams as promised much more to come.

Great

The second installment in the Bloodsinger series is no less exciting than the first. Siren song starts just where Blood Song left, in fact the characters are still hung over from the party at the end of Blood Song. I really like sitting inside Celia's head. This is definitely an urban fantasy in that the romance elements are very much below the surface. There is a great twist at the end of this story that does involve the romance, but it is more of a set up for the next book.

The duo of Cat Adams has set up a complex world of magic, hidden cities, political turmoil, and death curses - all of which fit neatly around Celia's struggles being part siren, part vampire, part human and all bad ass!

The only negative thing I have to say about this book has nothing to do with the story which is why it doesn't affect my review of it. The blurb, the cover art and the title set up expectations which don't seem to match up with the story inside. First, the main character is blonde. You would never know that from the cover. Also, in this book the sirens don't play a major part until the last third of the book. But none of those things change my enjoyment of the story. As an author it is just something I noticed and know that traditional authors normally have zero control over.

The Book has no damage. It came in the mail on time. I am so happy with the book. I will totally order any book from this company again.

This series is a HIT!!!
If you love supernatural romance this book has that...as well as lots of action and intrigue. You will LOVE IT!
READ IT~from the beginning!

This series is really good. I am so excited to read the last book. kat Adams really takes a new apporach to the whole 'what goes bump in the night'. I am an avid reader so I can tell you that this book and series is worth the investment!