Book Review- In the Orbit of Sirens

Humanity is at risk and those who are left need to flee the Undriel and get to safety from the current war taking place. What remains of humanity are placed onto two ships, timed five years apart to make their way (after a 300 year sleep) to Kamaria.

We follow both past and present POV’s from the time of the war 300 years ago on Ganymade to the present colonised planet waiting for the second ship to come in. Eliana and her scouting crew fight tirelessly to find a cure for lung lock. Coming across a curious creature called an Auk’nai they believe they may have finally found the solution after all. Problem is there is not enough for everyone coming in on the second ship. During one of the scouting missions, their captain Roelin stumbles across a God like creature called a Siren, presumably dead. Unfortunately for everyone, it wasn’t as dead as they had hoped. Possessed Roelin flees his old life, leaving friends and family behind to descend into madness at the mercy of Nhymn.

In the present Eliana fights to improve relations with the alien creatures to obtain more information about their surrounds to cure lung lock for good and make the planet inhabitable for the 20,000 humans still on the ship waiting to be woken up and start their new lives.

Denton and his family arrive on the second ship, woken from their slumber on priority for his ability to fix machinery almost instantly. His mechanical knowledge it impressive and it has been noticed by the scouting teams as a useful skill. As they advance Eliana and Denton are caught up in a battle of ancient alien and human minds, their only hope is to make it out alive with their crew intact. 

This book was full of some of the genres most enjoyable elements; planet exploration, alien life forms, fascinating creatures, and a fight for survival. In The Orbit of Sirens had an excellent mix of fast paced adventure as well as a slower slice of life side that the reader gets to experience on a new planet.

Two standouts for me here were the imagination that has gone into the worldbuilding elements and the mash up of horror, fantastical and sci fi aspects used to up the stakes and make this story as good as it was.

The sheer amount of weird and wonderful creatures that we get to experience in this book was outstanding. From the ancient bird like Auk’nai which are a big element in this book, and we get to see their species in full action, to the small and pesky Bully Blokes, a sneaky earth octopus type creature with a taste for tools. Learning about each new species and where they fit into this world was one of my favourite things about this book. Each creature was a unique mash up of multiple creatures derived from the late human planets but included some sciency explanations for their existence.

The other thing I really enjoyed here were the use of horror and fantastical elements that helped build the stakes for the final climax. These were not overdone and did not take away from the harder sci-fi and space opera elements but were used to show the reader just how dangerous certain aspects of this world and the alien intelligence they were dealing with are.

As a final praise for this book, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the character work. The characters in this book felt very human even on a strange planet they haven’t quite figured out yet. They were a great contrast to the stranger life forms and technical aspects of this story. I really enjoyed both the familial relationships which reminded me of my own close knit family dynamic and the build-up of trust and friendships within our cast.

As a small criticism, some of the dialogue felt a little clunky, and there were a few times when I thought the development of a certain character was a tad overdone but overall, this was a highly entertaining read.

In the Orbit of Sirens is a Space Opera to look out for. With a surprising amount of heart, hope and humanity I thought this was a blast.