I really like this series! The mermaids in this story are terrifying! It’s no wonder that Lisa Papademetriou calls them sirens. They are vicious. In Fury’s Fire, the suspense factor is amped up to a whole new level. I loved that some of the old characters that seemed so stable in the first book (Siren’s Storm) have deeply troubling secrets that surface in this book. That really added to the mystery that shrouds Fury’s Fire.

Another thing that I liked a lot was the growing romance between Gretchen and Will. They finally crossed passed that “friend” line and realized that they felt deeper feelings for one another. It wasn’t one of those overly sweet fakey romances either. It was believable and flawed, which made it perfect. I also liked that the new character, Mafer. She was a great compliment to the story, even if she didn’t have a large part. I hope we see more of her in the next book. Another character I want to see more of is crazy Kirk and Angus. Kirk adds so much to this story that it’s hard to imagine a book without him. Angus is just nice comic relief.

I have to admit that the biggest surprise I found in Fury’s Firewas the mythology element. Yep, that’s right: Mythology. Gretchen had a run in with Calypso in Siren’s Song, but now she is battling against Circe. Oh, and don’t forget the HUGE role that the Fury’s play in this tale. Now that was a complete shocker—and I’m usually pretty good at figuring out plots. I knew there was something special about one of the characters, but I never guess thatoutcome. I geek out over mythology and mermaids, so when you combine the two, I don’t know how to handle myself. I thought the inclusion of Circe as an antagonist was clever and well handled.

This is not the series for you if you want rainbows and kittens with your mermaid story. These mermaids are hardcore killers bent on destroying men. In fact, the seek them out and slice them up with their razor sharp teeth and claws. How’s that for the warm fuzzies? If you like darker stories that develop slowly, then you should give Fury’s Firea try. You might find yourself pleasantly surprised. ( )

After reading Siren's Storm, I wasn't sure what to expect from Fury's Fire. Siren's Storm wasn't a strong book to me and I was afraid this novel may suffer from the same problems. It didn't. Whereas Siren's Song was choppy and didn't feel cohesive, Fury's Fire is a strong, well paced novel with a plot that follows a straight line. After a bit of a slow start, I couldn't put it down.

The story begins not too long after the end of Siren's Storm with Gretchen not really remembering what happened that night on the bay with the seekriegers. In fact, a lot of things are hazy in her memory, but her sleep walking has stopped, things have settled down and she's starting her senior year at the high school in Walfang. She has the sense that a presence is around her, but she dismisses it as just a dream or left over eeriness from the summer. Asia has disappeared. But Will is there with her as well as Angus. Even Kirk is well enough to attend school, though he keeps to himself and is still strange.

Soon though, weird things start to happen to her, accidents and then things that can't really be called accidents. She has a deep sense of dread. She makes friends the first day with a girl called Mafer, Angus tells her she's a witch, and Mafer admits that she can sense things and knows things about people. The romance between Will and Gretchen finally develops rather quickly once he realizes how he feels about her after all these years.

The biggest change is in Gretchen. She has this new found strength in her that demands answers, the power of fire that she is frightened of, and a dawning memory of what happened over the summer and even what happened the night Tim disappeared and Will was found on the beach with the sailboat on fire. I loved that Gretchen wasn't an oblivious flirt in this novel but a fully developed character who ran her own life and took control. Will is possessive and protective of her, but also seems to fall under the spell of a certain someone again that we know and don't necessarily love.

I read the ARC and there is a scene in the hospital in which Angus is there learning way too much as a budding newspaper reporter and then not questioning anything or getting involved in any other way throughout the rest of the story. I don't know if that was changed in the book or not, but if not, I don't buy that. Angus is way to nosy not to get involved completely.

As I said, this novel was much better than the first one and definitely worthy of reading even if you didn't care for the first one. It has a good story line and ties up many loose ends. I don't think there will be a third book. This one seems pretty final.

Thank you to Knopf Books for Young Readers and Net Galley for the e-ARC. All opinions in this review are my own. I was not compensated for my review in any way. ( )

Let me start off by saying that I haven't read the first book Siren's Storm. Because I somehow missed the opening line of the synopsis about this being a sequel, I was pretty confused when I started reading Fury's Fire. By the second chapter it was pretty clear I had missed some pretty big events, but I didn't let that discourage me. I kept reading, and I'm glad I did, although I would recommend that if you plan to read Fury's Fire, check out the Siren's Storm first.

I liked both main characters, Will and Gretchen. But the relationship bet ween them is where I found myself losing interest. Will is over protective, deliberately hiding things from Gretchen and acting possessive and jealous. As for Gretchen, I couldn't understand why she was with Will. There are no thoughts about their relationship. All of that comes form Will, making it seem very one sided and I wasn't invested in their romance because of this.

What kept me from giving this 4 stars is the over use of dreams and retelling of the past. I lost track of how many chapters started with a dream or memory, and even the ending seemed to be disconnected. After the main action, there is no aftermath, just an epilogue that tells me what has happened in the weeks since. I also had a hard time understanding why the villain in this story always went for the public kill. There were plenty of opportunities for the villain to get to Gretchen when only the two of them were present. It just didn't make sense to me.

Overall, Fury's Fire is an interesting read, and even though I wasn't sure exactly what happened in Siren's Storm, Papademetriou fed in enough back story so I was able to fill in enough details to figure out what was going on. She had a clean style that kept the plot moving at a nice flow, and the book was a very quick read. ( )