Reader's Digest version: A great read for anyone who enjoys YA, dystopian fiction, or aliens. A must if you are a fan of Ms. Davis's writing. Does include romance.
Also, here's the good news for you, if you buy this boxset, you don't have to wait in between the books, you can just keep going! Which is a good thing, because Siobhan's fans have lovingly nicknamed her the Cliffhanger Queen. ;-)
Feel free to read further if you'd like my thoughts on each book. :-)
Saven Deception:
I became a fan of Siobhan Davis's when I first read True Calling, her first book. I have since then read everything that she has written and published. I've loved all of them. I was of course, excited, when I heard that she was working on a new series. Ms. Davis does not disappoint. Just as she did in the True Calling series, she creates a completely new world in Saven: Deception.
As always, Ms. Davis's writing pulls you in right away. I'm finding it hard to describe this book without giving lots of spoilers, which I try not to do. I love the new world that she's created. I loved the characters. I loved how most of the plot twists were completely unexpected. (I guessed one of the main ones, but because she wanted her readers to, she laid the groundwork early on.)
Saven Diclosure:
I was really looking forward to Saven Disclosure, and it did not disappoint. I really liked this book. I was not expecting most of the story lines. They were just so neat and cool, I found myself thinking, "How does she come up with this stuff?" numerous times. I really loved how I could not anticipate the story at all.
I loved getting to see kind of a new phase for the story, if that makes sense. The characters were in a completely different setting, and things were really different, and really interesting.
The only thing that I wasn't a big fan of, was how the romance was depicted at times. (Only a little bit, overall, I liked it.) I am a complete sap, and I love romance, that being said, sometimes the way Sadie described her feelings for Logan felt over the top, to me. It didn't take away from my enjoyment, and I can even figure out why she was so dramatic- she's 17, it's her first love ever (that right there is enough to make you dramatic), but then when you add to that, the fact that she hardly felt loved as a child, the fact that they have this really cool, incredibly strong alien love bond, it starts to make more sense. I realize that as someone in my 30s, I can't really remember what my first love felt like, or what it felt like to be a teenager- but I'm pretty sure it was dramatic. So, it didn't bug me a ton, but it was something that I noticed. It is definitely not enough to be a big deal, or to take away my enjoyment from the book. It's just something that I noticed, and I think I noticed it, just because of the way that I am thinking about books that I read lately- I'm not just thinking about my enjoyment of them, but also really thinking about them. That didn't really come out the way I wanted to, but hopefully it makes sense. Anyway, I thought their romance was really great overall, just sometimes the way she described her feelings was a bit dramatic, but again 17 year old girl.
This book was wonderful. There was so much suspense, especially at the end. It was so suspenseful for me, and I was so worried for the characters that I had to hold my husband's hand while I read the last few chapters. And then, a cliffhanger!! I cannot believe the cliffhanger she left us on. Siobhan, how could you do this to us? I have so many QUESTIONS!!!!! Thankfully, she's being kind and releasing Saven Denial (a novella) in a month. Thank goodness! I can't wait to read what happens next.
Saven Denial:
After the big cliffhanger at the end of book 2, Saven: Disclosure, I had no clue what was going to happen. I only had one hunch, which did end up being true, but having much more complexity behind it and other things I definitely would never have predicted. There were definitely some very surprising twists and turns in this novella. This book is a nice, fast read- the pacing is great. It's really interesting to meet a lot of new characters in this book, in particular, one who I'm guessing will play a big part in the rest of the series. I am trying to review without giving away spoilers, but, I really loved this novella. I think the writing is some of the strongest I have seen yet from Siobhan Davis. Fans of the Saven series will not be disappointed. Be forewarned though, as a novella, it really doesn't end with a lot of closure, but the cliffhanger didn't feel quite as anguishing as the cliffhanger at the end of Saven: Disclosure.
Saven Defiance:
First things first, if you have read any other book by Siobhan Davis and liked it, then you will like this one; go out, buy it, read it, love it.
Secondly, if you have read all of the previous books in the Saven series and liked them; go out, buy this, read it, love it.
But, make sure you’ve read the Saven novella, Denial, first. You really have to read it before Saven Defiance.
Okay, so this book was amazing. I’ve read it twice, and I still got to places where I had to tell my husband- I need mommy time to go read for 10 minutes because I’m in a spot where I can’t stop. Also, it was one of those books where there was so much happening in the last few chapters that my fingers were gripping my kindle, and my eyes were drilling into the page, and I was reading as fast as possible because there was SO MUCH GOING ON.
Seriously, this book is chock full of happenings. Lots of secrets are revealed, and there are a bunch of plot twists.
There are so many things that I want to talk about but I don’t like posting reviews with spoilers. So, I’ll keep it vague.
First of all, we get some good resolution on the Ax/Sadie/Logan triangle. Who will she choose? You’ll find out in this book. I’m Team Logan, so this book was hard for me in some ways because Ax really got on my nerves. I feel bad for him, because he’s coming from such a tough place, and his life has been so rough, but I don’t like how he dealt with things. But, it was in a love-hate kind of way, as in, it’s so well written, and so believable that you just find yourself wanting to yell at the character, but you’re not really mad at the author for writing it- if that makes sense.
We met a new character in this book called King Coryn, and he’s the king of an alien planet Narik. His character is really important to the series, but even if he were a fringe character it wouldn’t matter- I just loved the guy. A lot of the people in power in these books have no moral compass, whereas King Coryn was just a really good guy, so it was really neat to get to know his character.
I really liked how Sadie came into her own in this book, in a lot of ways she was a lot more mature and confident and that was really nice to see.
Oh, and remember that crazy cliffhanger at the end of Saven Denial, where Haydn was acting all hostile towards Sadie? Well, you have to read Saven Defiance- I liked Haydn so much in the other books and he was making me so mad in this book, grrrr!!!!
Oh my gosh, there’s so much I can’t talk about without giving away spoilers!!
SO MUCH HAPPENS IN THIS BOOK! So much! There are so many things that we find out about different character’s pasts and most of them were completely surprising to me, but then of course it made so many different puzzle pieces fall into place.
So, since I don’t want to specifically talk about all of the amazing stuff, let me just say this again: go out, buy it, read it, love it.
It’s top-notch writing. The more Siobhan writes, the better it gets. Saven Defiance has all of the things we love about her writing- action, romance, plot twists, and characters that we are drawn to: characters we love, and characters we love to hate. When it comes to this book, Siobhan has knocked it out of the park.
Saven Deliverance:
First of all, I love that this was my first read for 2017. I hope it means I have set the tone for lots of kick-ass books this year, because let me tell you, this book kicked some serious literary ass. This book was amazing. I am a huge fan of Siobhan's, and have been ever since I read her first book, True Calling. I have liked her Saven series even more. She has flourished as a writer while working on this series. It has been really neat to see. I am lucky enough to BETA read for her, so I really do get to see how much work goes into her books, because I get to see it before the final edit, and then again I get to see it once all the editing and changes have been made. Her BETAS are always of a very high quality, and then once it's edited, WOW. I usually only put up very vague paragraph reviews after the BETA read because I really like to wait to review it until I read the finished product, but I just can't wait!
This was one of those books where when you get to the end, it's been such a rollercoaster of a ride that you are on a complete book high. I almost feel shaky, as if I've had too much coffee. You just can't believe what you've been a part of, a witness to, and everything about real life feels a bit surreal and muted. (Anyone who isn't a book nerd right now probably thinks I'm off my rocker, but I know true book nerds, especially lovers of YA/Dystopian/Fantasy will get where I'm coming from. Us fantasy book geeks are a whole nother level of bookworm, now aren't we?)
Siobhan had a lot of ground to cover in this book. This series was originally planned to be 3 books, but she realized along the way that it needed to be a 4 part book (plus a decently sized novella). I'm really glad she did, because she does full justice to the ending of this saga.
At the end of book 3, she left us with, wait for it, a cliffhanger! ;-) Book 4 jumps in straight after that cliffhanger, and on your mark, get set, go! Away we go- and the action, the drama, and the plot do not stop until the end. The pace in this book is amazing, and it's part of what contributes to that euphoria when you finish. It truly has been a ride.
There are so many twists in this story. There were a few small twists that I guessed, but honestly just because I had spot on intuition for a few things. There were barely any hints at all, I just had a feeling of, "What if blank happened? Oh my gosh, that would be cool" and then maybe 50 or 100 pages later it would turn out that I was right. But again, not because they were obvious, just because I had a lucky hunch. There were many many more twists that were just, "WHAT? OH MY GOD. Wait, did that really just happen?" My jaw actually dropped open a few times, and I don't remember that ever happening for any book I've read. I also actually exclaimed out loud several times, too.
I really loved the plot line for this book. So many of the characters have growth in this book and it was really neat to see. It was really interesting to see where the Logan/Ax/Sadie storyline went in this book and how it concluded.
I hardly ever put spoilers in my reviews, especially not before they are released. So, there's a lot that I can't say.
But, this book is extremely well written, the storyline and the characters are amazing, and it is so suspenseful! Once you pick it up you will not be able to put it down! This is another home-run for Siobhan Davis. It is the perfect ending to her Saven saga.