Syren (Septimus Heap Book 5)

There’s nothing sweeter than waiting, waiting, and waiting for the next book in your favorite series—and finally being rewarded with something that richly fulfills your expectations. Having been disappointed with the last Harry Potter, Looking Glass Wars, and other series finales I read, I was delighted to find that Angie Sage’s latest Septimus Heap installment delivered all I expected and more.

To be fair, Syren isn’t a finale, so it doesn’t have the same weight riding on it the others I listed do. But it does continue the Septimus Heap tale with a swashbuckling adventure filled with new creatures, new places, and characters that delight and terrify. In short, fantasy lovers will finish it well after midnight after starting it the same day—and spend the next day partly glowing, partly lamenting how quickly they read the book and didn’t savor every scene.

In Syren, you’ll certainly meet a siren—and she’s pretty freaking spooky. But you’ll also meet a few pirates, a genie, a cat-person, a tentacled beast, and many more amazing characters. You’ll also be reunited with the scary witches of Port, Aunt Zelda, Wolf Boy, Beatle, Lucy Gringe, Simon, Nicko, Snorri, Spit Fyre the dragon and of course, Septimus and Jenna. Like Sage’s previous novels, each character is ensnared in some whirlwind adventure that coalesces with all of the other characters’ adventures by the end of the tale.

We get to witness Septimus growing ever more into the role of Apprentice—indeed, he is awarded with a higher level of apprenticeship early on in the novel—as well as a man. His sense of responsibility, coupled with normal teen brooding, give him a sense of heroism as well as humanity that is sure to grow as Septimus grows. He even separates himself from Jenna—effectively saying that, as queen, her life is more important than his own—to help save the castle from a certain invasion. Will Septimus eventually fulfill the role of Extraordinary Wizard—and Jenna that of queen? Sage will reveal all within the final books, I’m sure, but I’m also sure that she’s got plenty of surprises in store.

Syren is awesome, no doubt. But I do wish we’d have had a bit more of Nicko and the other Heaps in on the adventure. I don’t see how they’d fit much, but after most of the Heap boys went wild in the forest, we haven’t seen much of them. I’d also love to see more of Silas and Sarah, who I’ve always thought were completely adorable.