Somewhat reminiscent of Feed, though not as well put together as that book. It has a high degree of strangeness and never properly explores the events. And there is no messaging, just a collection of events. The characters are inconsistent.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read an advanced copy of Siren, I sadly missed the window to read it in time so I read it through a library copy.

While reading, my enjoyment and rating of this book were heading towards a flat two stars, however, with the ending, it solidified itself into one star if not lower than that. It’s hard to describe what I liked about it because it was quickly overshadowed by everything I considered to be a fault of the book or a fault of my understanding of it.

Joel as the main character and almost every character within this story felt flat, the writing was more like beats set out for a draft of what each character had to do but no action with it. The writing being in the third person almost put it at a disadvantage because with it being a horror, it had the option of being written from a perspective that allows the reader to wonder where it comes from. I’m not expecting fanciful and flowery writing, but I am expecting a better description of what people’s motivations are aside from the very bland dialogue and base writing.

Another thing that put this book at a disadvantage for me was the missed expectation of what this book was versus what it was. The reader is set up to follow Joel on an adventure at the beginning of an apocalypse to find his family, while not set up to have a happy ending, I expected there to be a somewhat reasonable conclusion to the event, an answer for what the sirens are, and how people are going about surviving. What I got instead was following a character that was already hard to root for having to see everyone he cared for die and then choose to kill himself at the end with absolutely no trigger warning at the beginning of the novel.

If that ending affected me as a 20+-year-old, how would that affect the teens who read this? A book with the writing level of a middle-grade novel does not have a real message to relay to the readers aside from the idea that if they are in a similar situation to just give up. Horror books don’t have the be happy but often the author will acknowledge the subject matter they stick in their books and will give the reader a heads up before it.

I really wanted to get to this one, as it seemed interesting. The downfall was that I requested so many ARCs that I could not get to all of them before the book was archived. If I can find this somewhere for a reasonable price, I will try to get it!

***** I have received and read an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for giving my honest feedback. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.*****

The concept is great, but execution falls flat.

The story takes too long to get started, and the ending leaves to many questions unanswered.

It feels like a second or third draft rather than a finished book.

I did want to like this book but it took too long to get into the plot. I did not finish this book but do not put it against the author. There are times when I think a book will be perfect for me, but it turns out not to be the case. That said, I always give authors another chance, so I'll look forward to his next work.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

The concept sounded interesting, but the story fell flat. Way too many unanswered questions at the end. The reader never really finds out what is causing the sirens or what happens to those who disappear. Super confusing book overall.

Sirens features a very interesting concept but the execution just kind of fell flat for me and I found it to be just generally okay. I have so many questions left and I'm unsure if they'll ever be answered. I wanted more from the book in general and from the ending.

Absolutely loved this book. Great characters and many twists and turns. This author does it every time. Looking forward to the next one. Great place and setting too! Everything a reader could ask for!

This book was just ok. I was hoping for so much more than what it actually was. The description made it sound incredible. But it unfortunately fell flat. There were so many unanswered questions. Just wasn't really a fan.

Sirens is a sci-fi type book about an apocalyptic event that creates loud sirens at night. I found it a bit slow to get into and the ending did not really work for me. However, I did find the premise interesting. All in all, I found it a bit flat and did not really find it scary so I am not sure about that horror tag. I agree with other reviewers that when it seems like things are really starting to happen it ends.

Joel's mother and sister go to a movie and leave him home. When Joel wakes up the next day, his mother has left several messages about sirens going off and each message gets increasingly more frantic. He is so worried about his family he goes into the city to find them. Once he gets into the city it is post apoplectic quite, no one is around and vehicles are all stalled on the streets. He finds a girl Emily who takes him in and tries to explain what has happened. Sirens go off every night and if you are out at night you disappear the next day. They eventually come across survivors, the leader says Joel's family is okay but at a second location, but Emily thinks the leader is hiding something. What has happened and will Joel finally be reunited with his family?

I did not enjoy this book and it was very anticlimactic. We don't find out what is actually causing the sirens and we don't know find out what actually happens to those who go out at night except they disappear. I needed more information and answers to my questions.

Sirens was a book that had a unique premise, but in the end, my expectations were not met. I love YA horror, but I felt like this was neither YA nor horror. New adult, sci fi was more my feeling. I would like the direction the story was going, and then it would go another way that just didn't make sense. Then it would go a whole other way, that, okay, I could kind of see how we got there, but before I really got into it, bam, it went in another direction again. It felt meandering and disjointed. Then when it seemed like things were really starting to happen, it abruptly ended. I felt unfulfilled, to say the least. I was also very confused as to where the sirens came from because it was alluded to, a bit, but never clarified.

In summary, this wasn't a horrible book, but it wasn't great, either.

2.5 rounded up to 3/5 stars.

*** I would like to thank NetGalley, Scholastic Inc., and Braden Cawthon for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I am torn on how I feel about Braden Cawthon's 'Sirens'. At first I though that maybe it was a story based on Siren Head (a clever and creepy monster invented by Trevor Henderson, who just released a very good middle grade horror novel, 'Scarewaves')... but then it didn't go that way, though that was definite vibes at the start. Then after night one, it became clear that wasn't the case, I began thinking it was something like 'The Crazies', or '28 Days Later', or 'Left Behind', or even the 'The Mist' or 'Dead Space' (was getting cosmic horror vibes in the later half of the novel)... but I can honestly say that Cawthon took this book in every direction I did not expect, and yet nothing managed to take me by surprise either.

As I said, I honestly don't know what to make of this novel. I think my main issue is how little we know. Creepy situation after creepy situation occurs, the protagonists go out of their way into danger to try to find answers, people do die, and yet it feels as though very little happens or is found out; Sirens is the introduction of a story. A story I would very much like to finish but the ending feels quite final, even if it's incredibly unfulfilling.

In the end, this was a very quick and easy read for a couple hours in an afternoon, and I don't regret the time spent on it. I doubt I'll ever reread it, but the story is of the sort that I like and I know I'll remember it, and even think of it now and then.

Still, though, I think three stars is a good rating for this one, so long as you enjoy gently creepy cosmic horror in post-apocalyptic settings and are ok with a frustrating non-ending. Lol.

I didn’t understand this book at all, I didn’t understand the ending and everything was wayyy to mixed together for me to even try and guess what was going on.

(This review is based off of an uncorrected e-galley of this novel)

I don't necessarily think I would classify this novel as a YA novel. I think I would classify it more as a New Adult novel. Either way, I liked the premise of this story and was hooked by the second half. I wish it hadn't ended so abruptly so that we know the result of the choices Joel made, but overall, I enjoyed this read.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an e-ARC of this novel. Review will be posted on Instagram by or before publication date (@ellie.reads.a.lot).

This was a unique story with a lot of suspense. Captivating, gripping, and well written. I was on the edge of my seat from the start. I also loved the main character. He was just ad unique as the circumstances he found himself in and I was rooting for him at every crazy turn.

I enjoyed this one! I love idea of Joel being the the hero and desperate to find his mother and little sister. You can only hope for the best at the end (which I will not spoil for anyone!) I couldn't put this one down after I started reading it.

Thank you to netgalley and Braden Cawthon for allowing to read this ARC!