Tuesday 16 January 2018

Review: The Lost Savior

The Lost Savior The Lost Savior by Siobhan Davis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I wanted to love this one so much, and yet I fear I’m going to be in the minority with my views towards this one. On the surface, this is another great read from Siobhan Davis; however, there were so many little things I couldn’t quite bring myself to enjoy and this lessened my enjoyment. In all honesty, I would label this more of a three-point-five-star read, rather than the three-stars I gave it – but despite there being moments where four-stars were deserving, I couldn’t quite bring myself to round up.

In truth, I was somewhat tentative about this one from the moment I heard it was a reverse harem book. Reverse harem books really aren’t my cup of tea, if I’m completely honest. Despite this, I was excited for a new Siobhan Davis science-fiction read. The Saven series is the reason I fell in love with Siobhan’s work, and since then I’ve been following her author journey into new genres. I was nervous about her journey into contemporary romance, but I loved it. I was unsure about some elements in her standalone novel, Inseparable, but it won me over. Thus, I was hoping The Lost Savior would win me over – despite loving the work Siobhan has been releasing, I was craving a fill of her science-fiction and was willing to take the leap into reverse harem in the hope I would be convinced it is the kind of thing for me.

I’m sure the following may be a bit disjointed, and I apologise for that. I want to express my feelings towards this book without sounding like I hated it. I know many consider a three-star rating a bad rating, but I do not. It means I wasn’t crazy about the books, but there were elements I enjoyed. It also means I’m interested in what comes next in the series, and have hopes I could fall in love at a later date.

Because, you see, I believe there is so much potential with this one. The science fiction element promises to be really interesting – and, in all honesty, it was my favourite part of the story. There is enough world building in this one for us to have a general understanding of the bigger picture, but there is still plenty for us to find out. Based upon all the twists Siobhan Davis threw into her Saven series, I’m sure the future of the science-fiction element will continue to bloom throughout the series. There were plenty of aspects introduced, and certain ones I’m extremely interested in finding out more about. One of the things I had always wanted more of from the Saven series was a deeper look into the alien life forms, and I feel as though we may get that with this one. Already a handful of different species have been mention, and I have hopes we will be introduced to a lot more.

I’m actually crossing my fingers that this series will move us more into the science-fiction realm now that the world has been opened up. I know Siobhan Davis does not write hard science-fiction, but heading off into space and seeing the different worlds as we did in the Saven series is fine by me. I can accept soft science-fiction when done right, and Siobhan Davis does it right through creating many wonderful alien societies that grip the readers. So, yeah, my fingers are crossed that we do start the big journey in book two.

I feel as though that is where most of the potential sits for me, as a lot of the elements in the rest of the book were things I’m not so crazy about. I feel as though I was just unfortunate with this one, with many of the young adult tropes I’m not crazy about being included in one book. I can take one or two at a time, but it just felt like too many appeared in this one.

In truth, most of it can be dwindled down to a single label – high school drama. I’m so over that, have been for a while. I accepted it within the early Kennedy Boys books because it was so well mixed in with other elements of the story – it was prevalent, but we were not buried under it. In Inseparable, it was my least favourite part of the story – it is what left me worried I would not be enjoying Inseparable in the way I had been hoping for. In this one… it was all just a bit much for me. I know a lot of people enjoy high school drama stories, but I had far too much of that in my real life that I no longer want to look back at it. Hell, now that I’ve reached the point of post-graduate level education there are times where I find myself shaking my heads at books detailing the events of undergraduate living. Not to the same degree as I do with high school drama in stories, but still… I find myself to be the type to put sections of my life behind me once they are over and done with, and as high school was a very bad time for me I’m more inclined to step away from stories intent on reminding me of a past I’d rather forget. With this story, so many of the elements play back to what happens within the school setting, and I found myself wanting it over and done with.

In fact, I feel as though a lot of my dislike with the book stems from it taking place predominantly within the school environment. Those select scenes I considered four-stars all occurred well away from the school building and the associated drama. It’s just my personal preference.

Speaking of personal preference, we have my reverse harem issue. I tried, I really did, but I wasn’t won over. I felt like it was trying too hard in a way. Each boy was different, yet I felt as though they all fell into a different cliché box. Hell, even their names were cliched romance novel names. I prefer it when I can fall in love with just one male lead, and yet I didn’t really care for any of them. If asked to name my favourite I wouldn’t be able to – not because I liked them all, but because I was indifferent. It made for some rather predictable interactions throughout the story once we knew which cliché role went with which cliché name. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate them. I know many will have their favourites. I just felt like it was a bit too much. I have only read a couple of reverse harem books where the abundance of manliness felt smooth, and this wasn’t one I felt overly happy with. They played well off each other, I really enjoyed the science-fiction elements linked to the reverse harem element, but I didn’t much care for any of them.

I know I sound overly negative, but I think it’s just a reflection of how I was so hyped for this one and my worst fears were confirmed – not even Siobhan Davis, with her history of winning me over, has managed to win me over to reverse harem. There was enjoyment to be had, but this one didn’t blow my mind in the way Siobhan Davis has been known to do in the past.

Despite how this wasn’t a book that drove me wild, I will be giving book two a read. I’m interested in where the story is heading next, and I’m hoping the deeper we get into the story the more likely I will be to enjoy it. As I have already mentioned, there is potential for great things within the science-fiction element of the story and I’m hoping these great things will overshadow how this isn’t the kind of romance I usually enjoy.

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