Siren and Scion is a bit slow to start with its main characters being more morally complicated than the preceding books; one is a gambling addict and the other is doing her best to strong arm herself into a political marriage. So it took time for me to be able to emotionally invest in them, specifically the time necessary for the author to display more of their characters. Amara is excellent with her emotions and motivations and the way her backstory/character affect nearly every action she undertakes. She is nuanced and her evolution through the narrative well paced. Cassian is good as well, but just ends up being overshadowed by Amara both in the narrative and in how their backstories affect the narrative. His backstory is good, but where Amara’s is allowed to define the plot in several key instances, his ends up feeling more like an afterthought.
Siren and Scion does fix one of the major issue I had with the previous book; Amara and Cassian actually feel like a good pairing for one another even though Cassian is ungifted. There are several scenes where the just fit together well, or Cassian does something that fills in an emotional crack Amara has, resulting in a romance that worked well for me.
Author Goodreads link:https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19830003.J_D_Evans