Review--Of Song and Scepter by Liesl West

 

She’s a killer in disguise. He’s determined to make her his queen.

As a deep sea death-dealer, Enna Valomir’s life is simple: kill the siren, deliver the body, collect the reward. There’s just one problem. Enna owes a mermaid her life, and in the cutthroat waters of the Abyss, that’s a lifelong blood-oath of service.

When the mermaid orders her to kill the Abyssal princess, Enna is pulled into an impersonation scheme with no choice but to infiltrate a gaudy surface court and help the mermaid win the heart – and throne – of its unwitting future king.

Focused on restoring the Kingdom of Coral to its former strength, Prince Soren isn’t interested in courting the so-called Abyssal princess, or any power-hungry princess, for that matter. He’s finally met his match in her fierce and mysterious handmaid, and he’ll be damned if he can’t have Enna for his queen instead.

Despite the risks of breaking her blood-oath, Enna finds herself falling for the powerful siren. Will Enna forsake her own life to warn Soren of the mermaid’s ruse – or will she watch everything he’s worked for fall into ruin?

Part of the dark fantasy romance series, Sirens of Adria, Of Song and Scepter is a standalone little mermaid retelling intended for mature audiences.

Liesl West's debut, Of Song and Scepter is a dark retelling of The Little Mermaid, but with a twist! Instead of the little mermaid trying to woo the prince, we have the sea witch trying to woo the prince with a siren as her "sidekick." The setup is definitely twisty, but it works for the story and brings you a whole new story on a beloved tale!

Enna is a siren and an assassin for Odissa. Odissa took her in when she was young after her family was murdered and Odissa in turn trained her to be a top notch assassin. Because of this, Enna owes a debt to Odissa and until Odissa claims her free, Enna remains her prisoner of sorts.

Odissa's latest mission is to take on the identity of a mermaid princess and try to win the heart of a merman prince. Enna is to act as her handmaiden and to be there to help in sticky situations. I'll admit, the back and forth use of "mermaid" and "siren" did get a bit confusing as it appears they are two different species of "mermaid" but share similar qualities, much like the different kinds of fish and sharks we have in the ocean. For the most part, I felt like it wasn't truly necessary to know who was what, and just enjoy the story.

Since we have dual point of views in this story, we get Enna's, and the prince, Soren's point of view. Soren's was definitely an interesting guy to read about. He's the crowned prince and his mother is forcing him to find his bride to take over the throne as she is ready to retire. But Soren has been "picky" about his bride choice. He truly wants to find a match where he could fall in love with the woman instead of her being a power hungry trollop. And so far, they've all been power hungry.

Then he meets Enna and mistakes her for the mermaid princess who he is supposed to be meeting and wedding in just a few weeks and there's an instant connection, for him at least. She's different from the other girls that have been thrown at him and he thinks his mother might have finally found the perfect match...until it's revealed that she is just the "handmaiden" of the actual princess he is to wed.

While this was not a direct retelling of the fairy tale, all the right elements were there. Plus, if you've read the original tale, you know how that ends and well, this story is not that story, I'll say that! Lol. 

This story was wrapped in secrets and deceptions and the whole time I was reading I was just waiting for that other shoe to drop as you know it's got to happen eventually when dealing with people pretending to be something they are not. But gaining a sense of the story I was reading, I anticipated the ending that was coming and I was not disappointed at all!

This was a remarkable and fresh take on The Little Mermaid! I enjoyed what West changed up and what she kept in line with the original story. Which is kind of what I hope for when going into a fairy tale retelling, you get just enough of a taste of the original story and then there are differences thrown in for added flavor! It was spot on!

The story wasn't totally flawless, there was a point near the end with a scene change that kind of threw me through a loop, which having gotten out of that loop, I feel was intentional. It was just a little mind-boggling and some of it could have been blamed on the fact that I took a reading break in between those chapters, so that really messed up my sense of comprehension, but it wasn't enough to detract from my enjoyment!

The romance aspect was adorable! I love a romance that takes time to form and while Soren might have fallen for Enna first, she took awhile to come around but since this story is steeped with romance, you can expect quite a bit of spice to come along eventually! 

All in all, this was a delightful read that I quite enjoyed! Definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of spice and fairy tale retellings! What's even a nice touch is that West includes what chapters are spicy if you are wanting to skip over those parts--which I sometimes do in certain series when they are just too many to handle! Lol. 

Overall Rating 4/5 stars