Review: The Secret Heir

The Secret Heir by Siobhan Davis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Lost Savior, the first book in the Alinthia series, failed to wow me in the way I had hoped, and if the comments on my review are any indication I sent the wrong message when trying to explain why I wasn’t blown away by the story. I was unsure as to whether I would give the second book, The Secret Heir, a read, but in the end my curiosity won out. With a little bit of luck, I’ll do better explaining why I’ve yet to be blown away by this series.

In truth, my feelings towards The Secret Heir were extremely mixed. I’m a big Siobhan Davis fan, have enjoyed all her work (adored most of it), yet The Secret Heir is the first time where I was a bit disappointed by a story. The Secret Heir managed to pull an array of emotions from me, yet it wasn’t in the way Siobhan Davis books usually pull emotions from me.

When I started The Secret Heir, I was feeling quite happy with the story. In fact, I started this book believing it would be the four-star rating The Lost Savior failed to pull out of me. I was more into the events and the characters than I had been in the first book, and I believed this was because I finally had an understanding of them. At this point, I was plenty willing to dig deeper into the story.

As things progressed, my feelings started to change somewhat. I was overjoyed when the things I’d been hoping for more of in the first book appeared, yet I soon found myself disappointed when they were not taken to the extreme I had hoped they would be. You see, the main thing I wanted more of was the worldbuilding. I adored the Saven series, and I was hoping for a repeat of the wonderful worldbuilding we had seen in that series. When this one took us away from Earth, I was more than ready for the universe to open up to me. Unfortunately, the worldbuilding in this one quickly hit a dead-end. In many ways, rather than being shown the wonderful universe hovering in the distance we were told about it. We get lots of discussion without experiencing the universe. Even the nod to the Saven series (if you’ve yet to read it, you should, it’s one of my all-time favourite young adult science fiction series), wasn’t taken as far as it could have been. To me, with this one, everything seemed to sit just out of reach. Hence why I felt disappointed about the worldbuilding.

When we returned to Earth a part of me had hoped Siobhan Davis would start to throw in her usual twists and turns, that I would be shocked by the information being given. For around the second half of the book, however, I wasn’t blown away. In fact, there were points where my rating dropped to a two-star rating, something that has never happened with Siobhan Davis before. I find there is almost always one book from a favourite author that you do not enjoy in the way you usually enjoy their books, and for me that Siobhan Davis book is The Secret Heir.

You see, I found all the things that took place in the second half of the book far too predictable. Nothing shocked me, leaving me mentally rolling my eyes at the predictability. This is why I was disappointed with The Secret Heir. Siobhan Davis always throws in twists and turns, and whilst there have been some predictable ones in the past, nothing has ever been as obvious as the second half of this book. With how many things were thrown in, with how many new elements were introduced and past aspects were twisted, this one should have caught me off guard with at least one thing. It didn’t, and such a thing sadden me. The usual Siobhan Davis shock was missing with this one, and I found it difficult to enjoy the things being introduced when I’d worked them all out. Even the ending, the usual Siobhan Davis cliff-hanger, failed to grab me. Usually the endings leave me desperate for the next book, to see how things come together, but I’d worked it out and simply gave an ‘okay’ before picking up my next read – which was not book three, The Warrior Princess.

In many ways, I believe the Saven series has ruined me for future young adult science fiction series. The Saven series set the bar so high, and I cannot help but consider how much the Alinthia series pales in comparison. With The Lost Savior I thought it may have been a case of personal preference, but with The Secret Heir I think it is safe to say this series simply isn’t winning me over.

You see, I enjoyed the reverse harem element a lot more in this second book. Reverse harem is not my go-to when it comes to reading. I feel as though I gave the impression I hated it in my review of The Lost Savior, yet such is not the case. I’m simply extremely picky with my reverse harem, and due to this very rarely read it. When I pick up the right book or series, though, I’m more than happy to keep reading. My big issue, usually, is that authors do not give all the characters the attention they deserve. Multiple characters are introduced, and in no time at all we know which character is the author’s favourite. The others fade into the background until it comes to the steamy scenes, at which point everyone returns so the author can play out certain scenarios. It gets boring when such a thing plays out, and I’ve seen it happen far too often.

With The Secret Heir, however, I did come to appreciate all of the boys. I do believe there is a tiny bit of favouritism to be seen, but as a whole things are a lot more equal than in many of the other books I have read in the genre. Due to this, I believe Siobhan Davis may be one of the authors where I will willing read her other reverse harem releases. The thing that has me less willing to read such stories was done well here, and I’m willing to take the dive into other such stories by the author. This is why I opted for the three-star rating in the end, despite my mixed feelings towards the book.

I do wish to say, however, that I finally understand some of the reviews I have read on other Siobhan Davis books in the past. In the second half of the book, when I wasn’t as sucked in as I usually was, I understood the negative comments some people have made about the slut shaming that occurs in a few of the author’s books. When I’m sucked in deep, I find myself overlooking it – it is a part of the story that I understand and accept. However, when I wasn’t sucked in deep, it did seem a bit excessive. I now understand those reviews I have once raised an eyebrow to.

In part, I think a big reason why I noticed it so much in this one was because of the age of the characters. This series started as young adult but has quickly become new adult. With the way characters behave and certain elements that play out, I believe this series would have done much better being new adult from the start. Therefore, I’m labelling this under the ‘this is what Sarah J. Maas has done to young adult books’ category I have going on in my head. I’m not going to go into what side of the debate I fall on when it comes to Sarah J. Maas books, I’m simply pointing out young adult books seem to have become much more explicit and it seemed to start around the time everyone started to pick up Sarah J. Maas. With the Alinthia series, I think I would have been much happier had it been solidly in the new adult genre from the start – this kind of story just doesn’t feel right to me with young adult characters. Even though we are drifting more firmly into the new adult category, my initial response was young adult, and my brain is stuck in that young adult mindset.

Overall, as you can see, my feelings towards this series continue to be mixed. I’m now stuck with the debate as to whether I wish to continue reading the series, or whether I am going to call it quits. On the one hand, my mind is begging for me to continue – this is Siobhan Davis, she usually wins you over and you’re obsessed. On the other hand, my mind is reminding me of all the other books I have to read – including other Siobhan Davis books I’m sure to enjoy more. Maybe I will continue, maybe I won’t, I guess we’re going to have to wait and see – with how strong my Siobhan Davis addiction is, I fear it may be the former, but I have no wish to say just yet.

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