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Haven’t read Humans Don’t Have Horns yet? It’s available on KU, in paperback, and the audiobook is widely available across major platforms. All links in my Linktree.
This Book Gave Me:
🌊 A heroine forced to hide what she truly is
🩸 Blood magic tied to fate and survival
👑 A burdened king making emotionally questionable decisions
🌊 Sea mythology with actual monsters
✨ Slow-burn yearning that physically hurts
🖤 Gothic atmosphere and constant emotional dread
The Plot
Imogen has spent years hiding the truth: she is a siren in a kingdom that hunts her kind. Survival means control. It means suppressing instincts and never allowing anyone close enough to discover what she really is. Then she becomes bound through blood magic to Theodore, a king with motives and burdens of his own. As danger rises around them, so do feelings neither of them is prepared to deal with.
My Breakdown
In the Veins of the Drowning was a very fast read for me. The book’s gothic atmosphere and edginess really stand out, but I think it’s ultimately a book about acceptance. Imogen is not a villain. She is, however, flooded with self-loathing and makes many morally gray decisions. I actually enjoyed that she could be brutal without having to wrestle with the moral conflicts that sometimes appear in romantasy, where it isn’t really clear why the FMC or MMC suddenly feels the need to be better than saints. But maybe this is just me not being a very good person. Go figure.
The romance was very sweet. I know everyone hyped the longing. I agree that there is a lot of longing, and the FMC definitely falls first here.
That caring for you could possibly be the cause of my ruination. But if you are to devastate me, then let it be completely. Lay waste to me and everything.
I also liked how Imogen wasn’t a virgin. I think there was a very straightforward way the author dealt with sexuality, not just with Imogen, but with many of the characters, and it felt very unjudgmental.
I did like the worldbuilding, though I think the balance between romance and fantasy here leans much more toward romance. It takes a while before we actually see the worldbuilding in depth, and while I loved it, I don’t think it was extremely immersive. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and maybe that’s part of why it was such a quick read for me.
I read In the Veins of the Drowning on KU. It is the first book in The Siren Mage duology. I’m looking forward to In the Wake of the Ruined, which will be coming out on July 7, but is already available for pre-order, including exclusive art.
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