I am having a rough time deciding how to rate Lost Savior by Siobhan Davis. As far as most the reverse harem books I’ve read, this one is definitely near the top of the pile, but there were so many tropes and some things REALLY caught my attention.
Davis does a great job of writing a compelling story, but she falls into a trap of her own making every now and then. There are tropes (hidden alien who needs to be awakened to know her own powers) that Davis makes her own with an awesome story line. However, then she seems to take well-known plot points (Superman, Star Wars) and leaves them as she finds them, which made me frustrated and annoyed. She could have eliminated this irritation by simply taking the idea and making it her own instead of simply co-opting it for ease of furthering the story.
The maturity level of the MC bothers me. She seems REALLY young and sheltered. She definitely does not mature enough for anything other than dating a football player until the end of 1st semester in college when she realizes that what she thought was forever-love isn’t because he’s banging a sorority girl on the side. There seems to be a character shift early in the book where a maturity level that was apparent emerges, redeeming her.
This is another story where the MC gets insta-knowledge and skills. The one thing saving this from being an eyeroll and DNF is the explanation (or implied explanation) and the fact that MC is also confused by her new skills. Instead of the regular trope where the MC is excited and thinks she’s super awesome, she’s reluctant to use her skills and is seriously upset and confused by this knowledge that she has but doesn’t understand. Her being a ‘sleeper’ and ‘waking up’ fits nicely with the story and allows for this instant acquisition of skills without being extremely trite.
This story includes two of my least favorite plot lines: prophecy/hidden princess. *sigh* Also, fated mates *double sigh* Despite all the tired tropes being thrown at me left and right, I did enjoy the story. It’s well-written and engaging, with just enough uncertainty about what’s going to happen at the end of each chapter to keep you going. The pacing is on-point and accelerates and decelerates smoothly, leaving you feeling as if this is a cohesive event. There is a bit of a lull in the book right around the half-way point that makes it difficult to continue, but after pushing through the pacing evens back out and keeps going.
For some reason, I really enjoyed the teenage angst in this book. However, the boyfriend? So much wrong with her continued acceptance of “fault” and “guilt” for his controlling behavior. It might be my own personal issues, but this REALLY bugged me. I’m all for owning up to your mistakes, but the boyfriend’s behavior was way out of line and it bugged me that this was never addressed–not even by the harem.
There were a few places where a content/line editor could have been helpful—disconnect in actions or things (where’d the prom dress go?) Things just disappear or suddenly change position without any narrative to explain it, like her magically disappearing shirt. It’s all small stuff that is easily ignored and moved past, but it’s still a bit bothersome.
The sex scenes are mild, but not quite ‘fade to black’. Given the characters are only 17, I think this is something that the reader should be aware of. When I read it, I assumed that with the characters’ ages, it was young adult, and as such there would be no sex scenes. It’s listed as YA in the Kindle store, so I’m not sure how that first sex scene got through, but I would definitely put this on a mature young adult list.
All-in-all this is a decent story. Davis makes use of typical tropes and actually makes it so that they’re not terrible (dare I even say enjoyable) to read. However, there were a few areas where improvement could definitely be had. If you want to check out this reverse harem sci-fi novel, grab a copy by clicking on the image below.
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