Review: Saven Deception by Siobhan Davis

Posted December 19, 2015 by Lola in Dystopia, Review, Romance, Sci-Fi / 4 Comments

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Saven DeceptionSaven: Deception (The Saven Series #1)
by Siobhan Davis

Blurb:
I’ve fallen hard for an alien, but he’s harboring secrets.
Massive ones that threaten the very essence of humanity.
How can I give him my heart when his race plans on taking my future?

Sadie Owens has been slowly dying inside. Bit by bit, piece by piece, day by day. Trapped in a life she hates, she relies on only one person—herself.

Despised by her family and betrayed by an unscrupulous government, Sadie dreams of a different life. When she is chosen to participate in the government’s new social experiment, she is ecstatic at the prospect of spending six months in Thalassic City, the shiny new city under the sea.

Immediately drawn to Logan Chandler, Sadie is captivated by the beautiful boy with the ocean-blue eyes. Logan seems to embody everything that has been forbidden, but he isn’t all he appears to be.

Confused over Logan’s true intentions and concerned when best friend Jenna starts transforming in front of her eyes, Sadie partners with newcomer Jarod in a bid to uncover the government’s real agenda. The truth is more shocking than anything she could ever have imagined.

When Sadie finally understands why the Saven walk among us, will it be too late to save her heart and the human race?

My Review:
I received a copy for review in exchange for an honest review

Saven: Deception is an exciting start of a new series. It’s about aliens, an underwater city, a corrupt government and much more. The pace is well done and the story progresses nicely, with a big bang towards the end of the book with lots of revelations and things coming to light. The end felt a bit rushed, but it fit with all the revelations and things that happened. There are some interesting twist and turns and the story kept me interested.

One of the things I’ve come to expect and love about Siobhan her books is her foreshadowing, from the start there are hints that more is going on and slowly but surely the main character and reader learns more. I really like that and it keeps the mystery going for a bit more, while revealing things in a way that makes sense and even at the end of the book there is so much we don’t know. Although it did got a bit old when every time they would talk she still didn’t learn anything and things kept procrastinated unnecessary at times. There also is a lot of hints and foreshadowing that doesn’t fall on it’s place, which I assume will be set-up for the next books. And I am really curious about what some of those things means. In that sense this book does feels like merely a set-up for more to come and the basis for this series where we only see a bit of what will become a much larger story.

The overall concept of the story is pretty original, maybe also because I haven’t read a lot of alien books. And then there is the underwater city, which was pretty unique too, but there are also parts like the oppressive government, things about Sadie and Logan their relationship and a few plot lines that were a bit cliché. I do think it put an original spin on things that it still felt different enough from the other books out there, but there are certain more common themes that play a role as well.

While from the blurb we know there are aliens, it isn’t until later in the book that the main character finds out. I do think that her reaction to that revelation was a bit unbelievable, she took is way too easily in my opinion. The aliens do seem pretty normal, there is a good explanation for that, but at the same time I wished they would be a bit more alien at times.

The main character Sadie is a likeable character, I liked how she had goals and was dedicated to make something of her life. She has had a bad life and now she has a chance to make more of it and she grabs it with both hands. I liked how she was ready to fight for the kind of life she wanted. She does transform a bit quickly from a silent girl who keeps her thought to herself to an outspoken girl who doesn’t hesitate to tell others what she thinks. While I liked Sadie I did think she sometimes did a few stupid things and there are also moments where I like her less, like how she turns into a puddle of swoon when she’s around Logan. Especially the scenes where she thought he had done something nasty and still when he touched him all she could do was swoon, no matter what she thought he had done. And yes the reader knows it isn’t true, but Sadie doesn’t know that. I thought her tarot hobby was pretty fun and original, although I wish there was more focus on it as I would’ve liked to learn more about and see it play more of a part in her life.

And then there is Logan, one moment I kinda liked him and the other moment I strongly disliked him. At first he seems like a nice guy and I liked how he and Sadie got to know each other although the emphasize on his hotness was a bit over the top at times. And then when they actually move to the underwater city and he almost seemed to change into a bossy arrogant jerk then he is sweet and thoughtful again and he switches from one moment to another. There are scenes where he insisted on talking to Sadie and didn’t respect her when she said no. And it got annoying how he would box her in or pick her up to force her to talk to him and she turned into a swoony mess every time, while I thought he was being a creep.

The side characters are nice, although it stay pretty limited to what we learn about them. My favourite side character is probably Jarod, I though he was a great guy and a good friend to Sadie. Although he could be a bit closed minded when it came to aliens and I was a bit annoyed he wouldn’t listen to Sadie, but on the other hand I also could understand him as Sadie was infatuated with Logan. I liked Fern from what we learned of her, while Neve was a bit weird and maybe the most alien of them al. Haydn was interesting too and I am hoping we see more of him in the next book. Sadie her family is pretty horrible, with the exception of her sister and made me wonder why they hate Sadie so much. And Dante is just a horrible character from the start and I didn’t like him at all, he seemed to have no redeeming qualities.

So the romance was a bit of a hit or miss for me at times as I didn’t like Logan as much and I thought Sadie her swooning got a bit old after a few times. And ofcourse Logan is hot and important, while Sadie looks exotic and is the lowest class. There are also some scene that should be romantic, but just felt a bit cheesy or cliché to me. There were also scenes I did like and I did feel their connection, I just wished there was build more upon that and see them get to know each other more, but I am hoping we see more of that in the next book and that now they got the start out of the way I will enjoy their relationship more.

The world building is pretty original and I liked getting to know more. At first we get a feel for how the society is and the government and it isn’t a pretty image, I can totally understand why Sadie isn’t happy with her life and it almost felt a bit extreme how the government acted. It’s definitely horrifying when we learn the true extend of how far the government has gone and I was really wondering whether they had a sense of right and wrong. I really liked the underwater city part, but on the other hand it felt pretty normal when they eventually got there. Although I guess that’s part of the purpose of those cities, I would’ve liked to see more of the effects of living underwater. It just felt too easy to forget at times that they were underwater.

Then there are the aliens, I am still not sure what to think of them as there is still so much we don’t know. I do like how horrible they are, while at the same time it’s obvious there are different aliens as well and not everyone is the same. There is also the reason for why they are on earth, which took me by surprise. I am not sure if I fully like it though as it’s so vague and difficult to wrap your head around and I can’t fully imagine what the results of it would be and how they should act. There is so much more that remains unclear about the saven. Like I said before, this books sets the basis and makes me curious for the next book and what more there is to know.

To summarize: I really enjoyed the book, the story is well written, nicely paced and kept my attention. There is a lot of foreshadowing, which I love, some of which get’s revealed and makes sense at the end of this book when some big revelations happen and some which are probably set-up for later books in this series. At times it feels like only a set-up for a much larger story. I liked Sadie and her determination, although I didn’t like how she turned into a swooning character when she was around Logan, it was like all of her common sense and plans went out the window and she could only see how hot he was. Logan is the love interest and in certain scenes I liked him and in other less so, he can be very bossy and even mean with how he almost seems to play with Sadie her feelings with his warm and cold behaviour. It sure drove me crazy at times. I did feel their connection and I hope that get’s build upon a bit more in the next book. I liked Jarod, although he could be a bit closed minded when it came to aliens. The other side characters are nice, but we learn less about them and who they are. The world building is unique and well done, although there are a lot of questions still open that hopefully get answered in the next books. Some things didn’t fully make sense and when it comes to other things I feel like I don’t know enough to make up my mind. All in all a great start to a new series and I am curious where Siobhan takes this series next.

4-star

Links:
Goodreads
Amazon

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4 responses to “Review: Saven Deception by Siobhan Davis

  1. Great review Lola. This mainly sounds like an interesting book, but I don’t really like female characters that change in swooning idiots at the sight of the guy they like. Perhaps I should give it a try.. I’ll add it to my TBR!
    I also haven’t read a lot of books about Aliens. I think the only Alien books I read were written by Jennifer Armentrout.. The Lux series. I love that series.
    Maureen Hinten recently posted…Blog Tour ‘The Standout’ by Laurel OsterkampMy Profile

    • Except for the swooning part it was a great book. It’s just a shame when a female characetr seems to practically forget who she is at the sight of the guy. Luckily the other parts made up for that. I love how this author puts a lot of foreshadowing into her books and the plot and alien part where interesting. You can sign-up for a review copy through the review opportunity if you’re interested 🙂

      The lux series is also the only other alien series I’ve read and The Host. This series did remind me a bit of lux, but that can also be because that’s the only other alien series I’ve read.
      Lola recently posted…Review: Saven Deception by Siobhan DavisMy Profile

    • Feel free to request a copy for review if you’re interested :). This author sure knows what she’s doing with all the foreshadowing and an interesting world. I have only read a few alien books so far, although I have liked those that I’ve read.
      Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #157My Profile

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