"There are crimes," Bianca said, "that cannot go unpunished."
Threads That Bind follows a story of Io Ora (yes, that's really her name), who's living in a world once ruled by the gods (but they vanished) then ruled by gangs (but only one remained), and now surrounded by the descendants of the gods. Instead of being the ones to dominate in the society, they are overall feared by the non-powerful people and looked down upon. Io is one of these descendants - a descendant of the Fates. She uses her power (she sees threads, silver lines connecting every person) in her work as a private investigator. One day Io becomes a witness of a murder, where the attacker should be already dead. With the help of a boy she's destined to be with, she tries to solve the case before another person gets killed.
As a fan of Greek Mythology, I had to check this book out. It seemed like a breath of fresh air in comparison to the other inspired by Greek Mythology stories and I was really excited to read it. I knew that a romance will be involved (because of the whole thread of destiny thing), but I thought that it will be more of a nice addition to the story, while it will be more focused on the murder mystery and the worldbuilding. Sadly, that was not the case.
Don't get me wrong, the murder mystery is written pretty well. It kept me interested enough to actually finish reading this book. I was genuinely curious about the culprit and the reason behind all the deaths. And I have to admit, I was surprised when I got to the part of the culprit's reveal. I probably should've guessed it, but it still got me by surprise, so good job, book!
But when it comes to the characters, the romance and the worldbuilding, I'm afraid that I cannot say anything positive. For the life of me I couldn't connect with any of the characters, which left me mostly emotionally distanced from the story. Both Io and Edei (her destiny boyfriend) are incredibly uninteresting as individuals and as a romantic pairing. They were like two piles of woods and I genuinely do not know why they had fallen for one another, except for the fact that they were destined to end up together. It really seem to me that, because they knew that they are destined for one another, they didn't consider any other option and ended up together.
I can't say that I don't like stories involving destiny. I do. The problem that I have is that the destiny needs to be well explained. I mean, the pairing need to make sense. They need to pass to one another like missing puzzle pieces. Like soulmates. But Io and Edei didn't have it. For me they worked better as co-workers, maybe friends, than lovers.
Now when it comes to the worldbuilding, I think that the author had an amazing idea, but something went wrong while writing. I don't know, I just couldn't bring myself to care much and that's really sad, because this book had a potential. It really could've been truly something special. Maybe it can be better in book two, but I will not know that, because I will not read it.