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Cursed Covenant #1
Blood Bound
The deadly competition begins in 2026's hottest fantasy romance debut
You cannot forfeit
Once in a generation witches and dragon riders must fight for control over the source of all magic
You cannot run
The heirs of their kingdoms, Princess Astrid and Prince Zryan, will clash in a deadly competition where the only rule is survival
You duel or you die
But when the future of their people, their lands and their lives are at stake, both will do anything to win…
You cannot forfeit
Once in a generation witches and dragon riders must fight for control over the source of all magic
You cannot run
The heirs of their kingdoms, Princess Astrid and Prince Zryan, will clash in a deadly competition where the only rule is survival
You duel or you die
But when the future of their people, their lands and their lives are at stake, both will do anything to win…
384 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 28, 2026
About the author
Ellis Hunter
3 books558 followersEllis Hunter is the pen name for Katie Ellis-Brown and Becky Hunter, two friends who wanted to write about two friends. Katie Ellis-Brown is an Irish British writer and editor who lives in Cornwall with her husband, daughter, and two familiars (black cats). Becky Hunter is a Bristol-based author, book publicist and romance reader – who is currently ruled by her two rescue ponies. They met while working in publishing and bonded over their shared obsession with fantasy. BLOOD BOUND is a love letter to the genre and their debut novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,216 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Book of the Month
2⭐️ (DNF @ 62%)
I really have not had the best luck with reads lately and this is no different. I wanted this to work so bad...so so bad. But I had quite a few personal issues with it which I'll go over. Now, I know I'm rating this 2 stars and it's still a DNF, but let me explain.
While I did DNF this book, I don't think it was bad enough to give it one star. I think that a lot of people would really enjoy this, but I did not. I don't think this book was a train wreck and deserves to be slandered, but I just could not bring myself to drag along with this book anymore. I really wasn't enjoying it.
The first thing I noticed was how much this book absolutely dragged on. There were so many words but felt like nothing of actual value was said. We kept going in circles over and over and over and it was exhausting. I'm known to be a very fast reader, right. The fact it took me 5 days to get to nearly 300 pages is unheard of for me. That's how much I really didn't wanna pick up the book. I had no desire, no inkling to want to continue this story. At the point where I decided to DNF is when it was slowly starting to pick up, but I didn't care enough to want to continue.
Another issue I had with this book was the characters. They felt shallow as all get-out. I couldn't find myself getting attached or liking just about any of them. You'd think that getting halfway would give you something....right?
Wrong.
There was no substance to them, no personality, no uniqueness that would make them standout from each other. It was disappointing. The chemistry between the characters, too? God, it was so bad. No build-up, no yearning, no wanting. It was completely back and white and I personally don't enjoy this in a romantic fantasy.
I've talked about all the things I didn't like so far, but let me touch on what I did for a second and why I'm giving this 2 stars. I enjoyed the CONCEPT of the book itself. I think it had a lot of potential and the direction of the plot had promise. That in itself is what kept me going for as long as it did. I was holding out for nearly 300 pages hoping that the pace of the plot would speed up, but that, like most of this book, fell short.
I think overall that this book felt very cliché and didn't live up to the hype I wanted it to. Maybe others will get more enjoyment out of this than I did, but if you're looking for a recommendation on this book, I will not be the one to give it to you. I think it is incredibly slow, boring, and repetitive. I think, no I know, there are better romantic fantasies out there compared to this book. If you do end up reading this, I hope you like it a lot more than I did. :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
𝓟𝓻𝓮-𝓡𝓮𝓪𝓭: ❤️🐉
I'm actually so excited to read this??
I need a good fantasy book like I need blood flowing through my veins 🙂↕️
I really hope this delivers like I want it to 😗
I really have not had the best luck with reads lately and this is no different. I wanted this to work so bad...so so bad. But I had quite a few personal issues with it which I'll go over. Now, I know I'm rating this 2 stars and it's still a DNF, but let me explain.
While I did DNF this book, I don't think it was bad enough to give it one star. I think that a lot of people would really enjoy this, but I did not. I don't think this book was a train wreck and deserves to be slandered, but I just could not bring myself to drag along with this book anymore. I really wasn't enjoying it.
The first thing I noticed was how much this book absolutely dragged on. There were so many words but felt like nothing of actual value was said. We kept going in circles over and over and over and it was exhausting. I'm known to be a very fast reader, right. The fact it took me 5 days to get to nearly 300 pages is unheard of for me. That's how much I really didn't wanna pick up the book. I had no desire, no inkling to want to continue this story. At the point where I decided to DNF is when it was slowly starting to pick up, but I didn't care enough to want to continue.
Another issue I had with this book was the characters. They felt shallow as all get-out. I couldn't find myself getting attached or liking just about any of them. You'd think that getting halfway would give you something....right?
Wrong.
There was no substance to them, no personality, no uniqueness that would make them standout from each other. It was disappointing. The chemistry between the characters, too? God, it was so bad. No build-up, no yearning, no wanting. It was completely back and white and I personally don't enjoy this in a romantic fantasy.
I've talked about all the things I didn't like so far, but let me touch on what I did for a second and why I'm giving this 2 stars. I enjoyed the CONCEPT of the book itself. I think it had a lot of potential and the direction of the plot had promise. That in itself is what kept me going for as long as it did. I was holding out for nearly 300 pages hoping that the pace of the plot would speed up, but that, like most of this book, fell short.
I think overall that this book felt very cliché and didn't live up to the hype I wanted it to. Maybe others will get more enjoyment out of this than I did, but if you're looking for a recommendation on this book, I will not be the one to give it to you. I think it is incredibly slow, boring, and repetitive. I think, no I know, there are better romantic fantasies out there compared to this book. If you do end up reading this, I hope you like it a lot more than I did. :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
𝓟𝓻𝓮-𝓡𝓮𝓪𝓭: ❤️🐉
I'm actually so excited to read this??
I need a good fantasy book like I need blood flowing through my veins 🙂↕️
I really hope this delivers like I want it to 😗
June 8, 2026
I had so much fun with this!! I can see why so many people adore this. That ending was crazy and I can’t wait for book two!
November 26, 2025
Hugeee thanks to NetGalley & the publishers for a chance to review this ARC!!
3.25✨
Blood bound is a very ambitious debut. The plot is intriguing and the series has potential.
This book incorporates a lot of interesting & unique elements. There are some structural, pacing & writing flow issues that could be fixed in editing. There were lots of elements thrown into this story and they sometimes didn’t flow with one another.
The action scenes were underwhelming and I think it could’ve been edited down. I wish we would’ve gotten more interactions with Baxter, he was a very nice addition to the story.
The set of characters is intriguing but not quite fleshed out. It was interesting to find some mental health representation with Astrid. I do believe more focus could’ve been included. She also had an intriguing element for me ; potions. Though they were mentioned a few times, I wish more parts would’ve included the preparation and making of. Zryan was a fickle character, Skylar was interesting and Axel was underdeveloped. The best character ARC was Skylar. Astrid’s mom is one character I didn’t quite grasp. The secondary characters could’ve been more fleshed out. They were on page when they were convenient to the storyline, which is why I felt indifferent towards them.
It’s very insta-lust/love between Astrid & Zryan and all of their first conversations were extremely sexual. It didn’t fit right with the slightly juvenile writing. The fact that he was so beautiful is mentioned a lot and it was repetitive.
I will admit I was a little thrown off by the nicknames (Lar Lar, little dragon, little witch, dimples…). The ending was also semi-predictable and some structural issues remain. I’m left with a lot of unanswered questions.
I did like how the climate changes were woven into the story. I think this series has a lot of potential.
3.25✨
Blood bound is a very ambitious debut. The plot is intriguing and the series has potential.
This book incorporates a lot of interesting & unique elements. There are some structural, pacing & writing flow issues that could be fixed in editing. There were lots of elements thrown into this story and they sometimes didn’t flow with one another.
The action scenes were underwhelming and I think it could’ve been edited down. I wish we would’ve gotten more interactions with Baxter, he was a very nice addition to the story.
The set of characters is intriguing but not quite fleshed out. It was interesting to find some mental health representation with Astrid. I do believe more focus could’ve been included. She also had an intriguing element for me ; potions. Though they were mentioned a few times, I wish more parts would’ve included the preparation and making of. Zryan was a fickle character, Skylar was interesting and Axel was underdeveloped. The best character ARC was Skylar. Astrid’s mom is one character I didn’t quite grasp. The secondary characters could’ve been more fleshed out. They were on page when they were convenient to the storyline, which is why I felt indifferent towards them.
It’s very insta-lust/love between Astrid & Zryan and all of their first conversations were extremely sexual. It didn’t fit right with the slightly juvenile writing. The fact that he was so beautiful is mentioned a lot and it was repetitive.
I will admit I was a little thrown off by the nicknames (Lar Lar, little dragon, little witch, dimples…). The ending was also semi-predictable and some structural issues remain. I’m left with a lot of unanswered questions.
I did like how the climate changes were woven into the story. I think this series has a lot of potential.
July 9, 2026
2 🌟 “𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐞.”
🖤⚔️ 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚜𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊 𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚋𝚙𝚕𝚘𝚝
🐉✨ 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚜 𝚡 𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚘𝚗 𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜
🧑🧑🧒🧒👩🏻🤝👩🏼 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚢 + 𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚍
🐈⬛💭 𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚕 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚛𝚜
let me start off by saying this is not a slow burn romance, this is more insta lust to love. it’s also not an epic romantasy, it’s more a YA vibe fantasy with a romance subplot. where this book really shines is its female and animal friendships which i did love 💖
we follow 3 characters in this:
𝙎𝙠𝙮𝙡𝙖𝙧 our performer
𝘼𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙙 our witch
𝙕𝙧𝙮𝙖𝙣 our dragon rider
this is dual pov between our fmcs but i think this would of been so much better with three povs to include the mmc
unfortunately i didn’t feel too connected to any of the characters. i did love the friendship between 𝙎𝙠𝙮𝙡𝙖𝙧 + 𝘼𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙙 and 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙖 + 𝘼𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙙 🫶🏻 and the animal bonds??? the sass?? LOVE LOVE!! (best part fr) but i just wasn’t obsessed by the end.
the magic system in this book is something i enjoyed while not unique it’s still really cool. the plot was okay, some of the twists were a bit too predictable. i also thought the writing and pacing was off and it dragged too much at times.
overall this book was a miss for me, but also i think i went in with too high of expectations + i was expecting way different tropes due to the marketing. plus the romance and the world building were such a let down. the ending was partly meh partly i’m intrigued 👀 also not sure how i felt about that take on that trope or how it was executed.
🖤⚔️ 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚜𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊 𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚋𝚙𝚕𝚘𝚝
🐉✨ 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚜 𝚡 𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚘𝚗 𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜
🧑🧑🧒🧒👩🏻🤝👩🏼 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚢 + 𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚍
🐈⬛💭 𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚕 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚛𝚜
let me start off by saying this is not a slow burn romance, this is more insta lust to love. it’s also not an epic romantasy, it’s more a YA vibe fantasy with a romance subplot. where this book really shines is its female and animal friendships which i did love 💖
we follow 3 characters in this:
𝙎𝙠𝙮𝙡𝙖𝙧 our performer
𝘼𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙙 our witch
𝙕𝙧𝙮𝙖𝙣 our dragon rider
this is dual pov between our fmcs but i think this would of been so much better with three povs to include the mmc
unfortunately i didn’t feel too connected to any of the characters. i did love the friendship between 𝙎𝙠𝙮𝙡𝙖𝙧 + 𝘼𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙙 and 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙖 + 𝘼𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙙 🫶🏻 and the animal bonds??? the sass?? LOVE LOVE!! (best part fr) but i just wasn’t obsessed by the end.
the magic system in this book is something i enjoyed while not unique it’s still really cool. the plot was okay, some of the twists were a bit too predictable. i also thought the writing and pacing was off and it dragged too much at times.
overall this book was a miss for me, but also i think i went in with too high of expectations + i was expecting way different tropes due to the marketing. plus the romance and the world building were such a let down. the ending was partly meh partly i’m intrigued 👀 also not sure how i felt about that take on that trope or how it was executed.
Did Not Finish
April 2, 2026despite having my arc for much too long, i have been inspired to read this because a bestie is reading it too.
Did Not Finish
April 11, 2026DNF 36%
I can see this book being very popular, but unfortunately it didn’t work for me. I was interested in the deadly duel premise, but ended up bored. It’s marketed as adult, but reads like your typical YA Romantasy, full of clichés and overused tropes.
The characters felt generic and the world-building is flimsy and has modern phrases like 'sports bras' and 'crop tops' which pulled me out of the story. The romance is insta-lust, with their very first conversation being sexual. There’s also plenty of juvenile nicknames and repetitive descriptions.
I think this book will find its audience, but it’s not me.
I can see this book being very popular, but unfortunately it didn’t work for me. I was interested in the deadly duel premise, but ended up bored. It’s marketed as adult, but reads like your typical YA Romantasy, full of clichés and overused tropes.
The characters felt generic and the world-building is flimsy and has modern phrases like 'sports bras' and 'crop tops' which pulled me out of the story. The romance is insta-lust, with their very first conversation being sexual. There’s also plenty of juvenile nicknames and repetitive descriptions.
I think this book will find its audience, but it’s not me.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
MARK MY WORDS, THIS WILL BE THE FANTASY BOOK OF THE YEAR AND IT'S GOING TO BE BIG.
You've got everything you could want in a perfect romance fantasy: dragons, fully fleshed out characters, a new hot book boyfriend with the best slowburn, destined enemies to friends, unique rich worldbuilding and the most adorable familiars. And did I already mention dragons??
If you liked Fourth Wing, read this because this is even better.
Blood Bound is an incredibly fresh debut within all the fantasy releases we've been getting. I know books can easily feel repetitive when they follow the same formula, but this one massively stands out.
The main reason being the friendship that forms between both main characters. Having a dual POV format only adds to it and you can't help but fall in love with Astrid and Skylar and root for them. Them and their familiars/dragons who have their own unique personalities and will quickly win you over.
The world building itself is rich and unique with a plot you can not look away from and a plot twist you won't see coming. And even though friendship is the core of the story, we've also got the best romance with fun banter and an insanely well written slowburn that will make you ache for more. (Zryan, the man you are...)
So yes, add this to your TBR, because this is going to be BIG. And I'm already in dire need of book 2.
You've got everything you could want in a perfect romance fantasy: dragons, fully fleshed out characters, a new hot book boyfriend with the best slowburn, destined enemies to friends, unique rich worldbuilding and the most adorable familiars. And did I already mention dragons??
If you liked Fourth Wing, read this because this is even better.
Blood Bound is an incredibly fresh debut within all the fantasy releases we've been getting. I know books can easily feel repetitive when they follow the same formula, but this one massively stands out.
The main reason being the friendship that forms between both main characters. Having a dual POV format only adds to it and you can't help but fall in love with Astrid and Skylar and root for them. Them and their familiars/dragons who have their own unique personalities and will quickly win you over.
The world building itself is rich and unique with a plot you can not look away from and a plot twist you won't see coming. And even though friendship is the core of the story, we've also got the best romance with fun banter and an insanely well written slowburn that will make you ache for more. (Zryan, the man you are...)
So yes, add this to your TBR, because this is going to be BIG. And I'm already in dire need of book 2.
March 30, 2026
Blood Bound was such a strong debut—and one that completely pulled me in, even with a few bumps along the way.
Right away, the worldbuilding stood out. The combination of witches, dragon riders, familiars, and a deadly, centuries-old covenant felt really unique, and the magic systems were thoughtfully woven into the story. There’s a lot going on—political tension, rebellion, history—but it all comes together in a way that feels immersive rather than overwhelming (for the most part).
Astrid and Skylar’s dual POVs worked really well for me. I loved how their stories slowly intertwined, especially given how different their backgrounds and motivations are. Their dynamic added a lot of emotional depth to the plot beyond just the central conflict.
And Zryan… omg did I love Zryan. He was easily one of the highlights of the book for me—complex, compelling, and way more layered than I expected going in.
That said, the writing can feel a bit clunky at times, which occasionally pulled me out of the story. It’s not constant, but it’s noticeable in certain sections, especially earlier on. The pacing also takes a bit to pick up, though once it does, it really does.
The ending is where things got a little messy for me. There were some genuinely unexpected turns that I didn’t see coming, which I appreciated, but it also felt like the story was trying to juggle too many competing plotlines at once. It made parts of the finale a bit confusing, even though the overall impact still landed.
Overall, this was an impressive debut with a rich world, compelling characters, and a lot of potential for what’s to come. I’m definitely excited to see where the series goes next.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Right away, the worldbuilding stood out. The combination of witches, dragon riders, familiars, and a deadly, centuries-old covenant felt really unique, and the magic systems were thoughtfully woven into the story. There’s a lot going on—political tension, rebellion, history—but it all comes together in a way that feels immersive rather than overwhelming (for the most part).
Astrid and Skylar’s dual POVs worked really well for me. I loved how their stories slowly intertwined, especially given how different their backgrounds and motivations are. Their dynamic added a lot of emotional depth to the plot beyond just the central conflict.
And Zryan… omg did I love Zryan. He was easily one of the highlights of the book for me—complex, compelling, and way more layered than I expected going in.
That said, the writing can feel a bit clunky at times, which occasionally pulled me out of the story. It’s not constant, but it’s noticeable in certain sections, especially earlier on. The pacing also takes a bit to pick up, though once it does, it really does.
The ending is where things got a little messy for me. There were some genuinely unexpected turns that I didn’t see coming, which I appreciated, but it also felt like the story was trying to juggle too many competing plotlines at once. It made parts of the finale a bit confusing, even though the overall impact still landed.
Overall, this was an impressive debut with a rich world, compelling characters, and a lot of potential for what’s to come. I’m definitely excited to see where the series goes next.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
May 26, 2026
There was a lot to love in this, but also a lot that felt messy and not 100% well done.
I enjoyed the female friendship when we got it, but it came a little too late in the story for me, i wish it had happened slowly from the start, it felt like it went 0-100 at around 50-60% i think it could have just been paced a little better.
I LOVED THE PRINCE! he carried this story for me.
I enjoyed the animal companions, however for a dragon story i wanted more dragon.
I wish some of the magic was a little better explained, took me awhile to realize witches had a power too not just spells. I assumed witches had spells and dragon-kin had powers.
I wish we had more scenes with other characters in the book, but did like the scenes we did get.
I also wish this read just a lil older to me, it's adult and it does have smut, but the two men read 17 and 18 to me, with the two females read 15 to 17 to me. And the story just had a YA tone to it to me.
I also loved one of the girls POVS way more than the other.
The ending was something, I havent yet decided if i'm going to continue. There was a lot of charm, i wanna say it was like 60/40 positives to negatives. I think it just depends how i feel when book two comes out.
I enjoyed the female friendship when we got it, but it came a little too late in the story for me, i wish it had happened slowly from the start, it felt like it went 0-100 at around 50-60% i think it could have just been paced a little better.
I LOVED THE PRINCE! he carried this story for me.
I enjoyed the animal companions, however for a dragon story i wanted more dragon.
I wish some of the magic was a little better explained, took me awhile to realize witches had a power too not just spells. I assumed witches had spells and dragon-kin had powers.
I wish we had more scenes with other characters in the book, but did like the scenes we did get.
I also wish this read just a lil older to me, it's adult and it does have smut, but the two men read 17 and 18 to me, with the two females read 15 to 17 to me. And the story just had a YA tone to it to me.
I also loved one of the girls POVS way more than the other.
The ending was something, I havent yet decided if i'm going to continue. There was a lot of charm, i wanna say it was like 60/40 positives to negatives. I think it just depends how i feel when book two comes out.
Review of advance copy received from Book of the Month
(3.25/5) Honestly, I think I went into this book with too high of expectations, and it hurt my reading experience.
Note for transparency: I was gifted a special edition from Allurial
❤️ Fantasy romance
❤️ 3rd person POV
❤️ Reluctant allies
❤️ Found family
Spice rating: 🌶️🌶️
The premise of this book is interesting and immediately had me dropping my TBR to read it. With so many people screaming that this is the next big romantasy, I was cautiously optimistic.
What this book does well: unique spins on certain popular romantasy tropes (fated mates, reluctant allies). Where I would've expected the authors to be a bit more cliche, they intentionally put a unique spin which I applaud them for. I also love that we really focused on Astrid and Skylar's POVs.
What I struggled with: the pacing and writing style. Specifically, the pacing of the beginning dragged on for me. I found it hard to settle into the world and magic system, and ultimately it impacted the rest of this book for me. I hit a point where I just struggled to remain invested in the story altogether. I know a book ultimately isn't for me when I'm looking to see how many pages I have left (in a bad way).
Unfortunately, I do not plan to continue this series.
Note for transparency: I was gifted a special edition from Allurial
❤️ Fantasy romance
❤️ 3rd person POV
❤️ Reluctant allies
❤️ Found family
Spice rating: 🌶️🌶️
The premise of this book is interesting and immediately had me dropping my TBR to read it. With so many people screaming that this is the next big romantasy, I was cautiously optimistic.
What this book does well: unique spins on certain popular romantasy tropes (fated mates, reluctant allies). Where I would've expected the authors to be a bit more cliche, they intentionally put a unique spin which I applaud them for. I also love that we really focused on Astrid and Skylar's POVs.
What I struggled with: the pacing and writing style. Specifically, the pacing of the beginning dragged on for me. I found it hard to settle into the world and magic system, and ultimately it impacted the rest of this book for me. I hit a point where I just struggled to remain invested in the story altogether. I know a book ultimately isn't for me when I'm looking to see how many pages I have left (in a bad way).
Unfortunately, I do not plan to continue this series.
December 15, 2025
Unfortunately could not get past the writing, this book was astronomically long and not interesting enough to retain my attention :( sorry!
June 14, 2026
This was such a fantastic debut! Definitely 4.5 stars for me. I appreciated how the authors were able to blend the things I love about romantasy (magic, dragons, loathe to love) and then put their own spin on it. I kept trying to figure out why the two main POVs were from two female characters versus the typical male and female. Well done ladies on that twist! I loved al of the characters and their dynamics. Astrid was so strong- headed to a battle she knew she wasn't going to win. Having to act one way in front of the public while knowing that she didn't have the magic she needed to defeat her enemies and save her country. Then there was Skylar who was just over the world and the class system and how she had been treated her whole life. And then of course we have Zyran who was the prince destined from basically birth to kill Astrid to save his people. His family ruled with the dragons. I honestly didn't know where this story was going but so appreciated the pace and way that these characters were immediately intertwined and then how they all started lowering their walls to let each other in. I loved how the past wove into the present and it became very clear that all was not as it seemed. I loved the immediate attraction between Astrid and Zyran and how HARD they tried to fight it knowing they would have to kill each other. Watching them become what they meant to each other in the end was wonderful- I do ALWAYS wish we had the guys perspective too, but that might just be me. I also loved the slow burning friendship that became SO much more between Skylar and Astrid.
Astrid has been training for this moment since birth. The problem is that since disaster struck years ago, she has not been able to access her magic. BUT no one knows that outside of her inner circle. So she will go the reckoning and meet her foe, the handsome dragon prince, and she will sacrifice herself for the greater good. Of course this plan gets shot almost immediately when not only does she meet the prince and feel an instant connection with him, but old bylaws are looked into. And it is determined that a woman from the streets, Skylar, will actually be who Astrid fights. Skylar who has no magic and is just learning of her heritage and relation to the tyrant king. Astrid can't believe this string of events. She might have a chance of winning this thing. But the more time she spends with Skylar and with Zyran, the harder this decision is becoming. She has never been pushed by or felt the way she does about Zyran before. She has never been looked after or understood the way he understands her. But how they could they ever become something with the strife of their countries sitting in between them? And then there is Skylar who though she doesn't have power persay, she has something. A power that has been hidden for centuries and is feared among many. All the while Astrid realizes that things are not as they seem in this city. People are missing and history seems to be aligning for something big to come. Something that will change everything. All Astrid knows is that she would rather die than kill Skylar, and she wants Zyran in her life always. Here goes nothing.
Skylar has been living her life just fine knowing her past and how her mother died to protect her all those years ago. She has stayed out of things. Not gotten in the middle of politics, but then her best friend goes missing. He becomes a name among many who no one seems to know anything about. That gets Skylar's attention. And then the reckoning is among them where the witches will come to fight the dragon prince. Somehow Skylar gets caught in the middle and finds out SO much more than she would have ever thought. She is a princess. She is the king's bastard child. SHE is the one who will be fighting the witch princess. HER. Skylar. Who has no powers and has not grown up in this world. And now she is surrounded by the rich, the people she hates. And yet she has no choice but to learn how to fight. She knows how to survive- she can be scrappy. But she will have to fight to the death. And the longer she is around Astrid, the more absurd this whole thing becomes. Now she is expected to go to the island and come back with a dragon. She is expected to care what happens to the people who took not only her mother away from her but her best friend. She can fight all they want, but her priorities are still the same. Save her friend. But now Astrid has become someone she wants to save not kill. And when they find out more about where all the missing people have gone and what is actually happening in the world, all bets are off.
I liked this one a lot. The pacing was great. It got my attention pretty quickly which as we all know is oh so important. I wanted to know how the story was going to untangle. How these people who had all gotten caught up in each other were going to actually fight to the death. I liked the magic system and the originality of that and other plot lines in the story. I always like when the MC is supposed to be all dark and broody but turns out to be a touch her and die kind of guy with a bit of rebel inside- that was Zyran! I can't for more of him and Astrid, and I can't wait for the continuation of the story and to see where everyone landed in book 2! That cliffhanger got me ladies!!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Astrid has been training for this moment since birth. The problem is that since disaster struck years ago, she has not been able to access her magic. BUT no one knows that outside of her inner circle. So she will go the reckoning and meet her foe, the handsome dragon prince, and she will sacrifice herself for the greater good. Of course this plan gets shot almost immediately when not only does she meet the prince and feel an instant connection with him, but old bylaws are looked into. And it is determined that a woman from the streets, Skylar, will actually be who Astrid fights. Skylar who has no magic and is just learning of her heritage and relation to the tyrant king. Astrid can't believe this string of events. She might have a chance of winning this thing. But the more time she spends with Skylar and with Zyran, the harder this decision is becoming. She has never been pushed by or felt the way she does about Zyran before. She has never been looked after or understood the way he understands her. But how they could they ever become something with the strife of their countries sitting in between them? And then there is Skylar who though she doesn't have power persay, she has something. A power that has been hidden for centuries and is feared among many. All the while Astrid realizes that things are not as they seem in this city. People are missing and history seems to be aligning for something big to come. Something that will change everything. All Astrid knows is that she would rather die than kill Skylar, and she wants Zyran in her life always. Here goes nothing.
Skylar has been living her life just fine knowing her past and how her mother died to protect her all those years ago. She has stayed out of things. Not gotten in the middle of politics, but then her best friend goes missing. He becomes a name among many who no one seems to know anything about. That gets Skylar's attention. And then the reckoning is among them where the witches will come to fight the dragon prince. Somehow Skylar gets caught in the middle and finds out SO much more than she would have ever thought. She is a princess. She is the king's bastard child. SHE is the one who will be fighting the witch princess. HER. Skylar. Who has no powers and has not grown up in this world. And now she is surrounded by the rich, the people she hates. And yet she has no choice but to learn how to fight. She knows how to survive- she can be scrappy. But she will have to fight to the death. And the longer she is around Astrid, the more absurd this whole thing becomes. Now she is expected to go to the island and come back with a dragon. She is expected to care what happens to the people who took not only her mother away from her but her best friend. She can fight all they want, but her priorities are still the same. Save her friend. But now Astrid has become someone she wants to save not kill. And when they find out more about where all the missing people have gone and what is actually happening in the world, all bets are off.
I liked this one a lot. The pacing was great. It got my attention pretty quickly which as we all know is oh so important. I wanted to know how the story was going to untangle. How these people who had all gotten caught up in each other were going to actually fight to the death. I liked the magic system and the originality of that and other plot lines in the story. I always like when the MC is supposed to be all dark and broody but turns out to be a touch her and die kind of guy with a bit of rebel inside- that was Zyran! I can't for more of him and Astrid, and I can't wait for the continuation of the story and to see where everyone landed in book 2! That cliffhanger got me ladies!!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
January 8, 2026
Blood Bound has several things going for it - dragons, familiars, enemies-to-lovers, witches, and an intriguing hook. It's executed similarly to Fourth Wing, with accessible language and straightforward worldbuilding. While admittedly not the most fleshed-out fantasy story I've read, I was initially extremely hooked. For the first 85% of this book, I could not put it down - and I'm a new mom! Finding free time to read is rare, but I devoured this in just a few days. I blasted through chapters and ignored some of the more blatantly ripped scenes (there are Game of Thrones and Fourth Wing moments here that feel way too similar) because I was having so much fun reading it. Unfortunately, the last 15% of the book threw me completely off course. I was very much not a fan of the ending AT ALL, and I don't even know if I'll want to read the future books in this series. I was very much anticipating this to be one of my favorite books of the year, but I am so disappointed.
The spoilers below are all of the strange things that really threw me because I need to get them off my chest.
The spoilers below are all of the strange things that really threw me because I need to get them off my chest.
June 8, 2026
I'm honestly not sure how to rate this one. There were some great aspects, so much so that I cried at two different times in the book because I felt for the characters so much. But there were also some really cheesy and clunky parts.
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
🌶️
Overall, this was a pretty good debut novel for these authors. I was entertained and invested in the story all the way through. The pacing with the continued action and adventure plotline, keeps you easily turning the pages. There were a lot of good twists and turns that added alot to the reading experience. All the characters had their own personalities and dynamics that added to the story so well. And the familiars and dragon bonds were so fun. Like come on, who doesn't love a talking bonded pet! 🥰
This definitely read super YA; however, I don't think it was necessarily a bad thing. The characters just acted a little young for how old they were supposed to be. The writing was a little staccato in parts, and there were definitely a few scenes where it was too similar to other movie or book scenes. I mean catching on fire and then the fire dying out with a baby dragon on your shoulder... 100% Game of Thrones moment. But who doesn't love Game of Thrones! My personal opinion, but I didn't really vibe with the ending. However, I do love the woman power portrayed in this book!
If you can keep a reader hooked for 400 pages, that's a huge win! I have had a lot of DNF's this year so kudos to these two. I'm super excited to see how these Authors grow. ❤️ Thank you to NetGalley and publishing for the ARC read opportunity!
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
🌶️
Overall, this was a pretty good debut novel for these authors. I was entertained and invested in the story all the way through. The pacing with the continued action and adventure plotline, keeps you easily turning the pages. There were a lot of good twists and turns that added alot to the reading experience. All the characters had their own personalities and dynamics that added to the story so well. And the familiars and dragon bonds were so fun. Like come on, who doesn't love a talking bonded pet! 🥰
This definitely read super YA; however, I don't think it was necessarily a bad thing. The characters just acted a little young for how old they were supposed to be. The writing was a little staccato in parts, and there were definitely a few scenes where it was too similar to other movie or book scenes. I mean catching on fire and then the fire dying out with a baby dragon on your shoulder... 100% Game of Thrones moment. But who doesn't love Game of Thrones! My personal opinion, but I didn't really vibe with the ending. However, I do love the woman power portrayed in this book!
If you can keep a reader hooked for 400 pages, that's a huge win! I have had a lot of DNF's this year so kudos to these two. I'm super excited to see how these Authors grow. ❤️ Thank you to NetGalley and publishing for the ARC read opportunity!
April 14, 2026
I enjoyed this very much, I am looking forward to the next book, I will not give too much away but I will say the characters and the story were very interesting and imaginative, I always enjoy a story with dragons and witches and this one didn’t disappoint.
April 2, 2026
While the first 30% was a little slow to get into. The last 100 pages had me in tears. The found family and female friendship in look had me hanging on each page!
April 28, 2026
Blood Bound
by Ellis Hunter
Cursed Covenant #1
Fantasy Romance
NetGalley eARC
Pub Date: Apr 28, 2026
Atria Books
Ages: 18+
Because of a centuries-old covenant, the firstborn heirs of the Queendom of Arturea and the Kingdom of Vatra must duel to the death to gain control of the Heart, the source of all magic, magic that seems to be failing, believed to be the cause of a blight in Arturea, because it has been centuries since the Heart was in the Queendom.
Astrid has trained all of her life for the duel, and as the last of her line, if she fails, Arturea will never get the Heart again. But she knows she is going to die because Prince Zryan is a powerful dragon rider, and her potions, cat familiar, and education are no match.
Performing as a knife juggler in a traveling troupe, already hating the king for the death of her mother, when Skylar's best friend disappears, rumored to have been taken by the King's Guard and conscripted into his army, she will do anything to discover his fate and make the King pay. But unknowingly to her, her fate and Astrid's are destined to meet.
This book started right off, pulling me into this world of magic. The world and character building are wonderful. My only issue was the lack of mention of Astrid's familiar; it was just suddenly there without much backstory of it and why. It just felt dropped in as an afterthought. The dragons were a little bit more explained, but they too felt like a last-minute add.
While reading, I could think of ways to end this story with just this book, but it is the first of the series, and there are so many ways of growing this world and its characters.
But.... yeah... I did not care for the ending/twist. It was a disappointment. No reasoning at all why it happened. Maybe a hint or two about it, but I don't remember a single one, so it was out of the blue.
And yes, it did lower my opinion of the story, as did the adult content, which makes it unsuitable for readers under 18. There is violence, but it's not that bad.
I was going to rate this higher... As for reading the next book, now I don't know.
3 Stars
by Ellis Hunter
Cursed Covenant #1
Fantasy Romance
NetGalley eARC
Pub Date: Apr 28, 2026
Atria Books
Ages: 18+
Because of a centuries-old covenant, the firstborn heirs of the Queendom of Arturea and the Kingdom of Vatra must duel to the death to gain control of the Heart, the source of all magic, magic that seems to be failing, believed to be the cause of a blight in Arturea, because it has been centuries since the Heart was in the Queendom.
Astrid has trained all of her life for the duel, and as the last of her line, if she fails, Arturea will never get the Heart again. But she knows she is going to die because Prince Zryan is a powerful dragon rider, and her potions, cat familiar, and education are no match.
Performing as a knife juggler in a traveling troupe, already hating the king for the death of her mother, when Skylar's best friend disappears, rumored to have been taken by the King's Guard and conscripted into his army, she will do anything to discover his fate and make the King pay. But unknowingly to her, her fate and Astrid's are destined to meet.
This book started right off, pulling me into this world of magic. The world and character building are wonderful. My only issue was the lack of mention of Astrid's familiar; it was just suddenly there without much backstory of it and why. It just felt dropped in as an afterthought. The dragons were a little bit more explained, but they too felt like a last-minute add.
While reading, I could think of ways to end this story with just this book, but it is the first of the series, and there are so many ways of growing this world and its characters.
But.... yeah... I did not care for the ending/twist. It was a disappointment. No reasoning at all why it happened. Maybe a hint or two about it, but I don't remember a single one, so it was out of the blue.
And yes, it did lower my opinion of the story, as did the adult content, which makes it unsuitable for readers under 18. There is violence, but it's not that bad.
I was going to rate this higher... As for reading the next book, now I don't know.
3 Stars
June 19, 2026
4.5 stars.
Ohhh boyyy, this was really good. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this and I'm so very ready for book 2. That ending was shocking mind. Can't believe we're stuck here now for the next year or so.
Ohhh boyyy, this was really good. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this and I'm so very ready for book 2. That ending was shocking mind. Can't believe we're stuck here now for the next year or so.
May 13, 2026
I really enjoyed the plot of this book. Like the magic system in it. This book leaves you on a total cliff hanger so I guess we wait for the next book.
June 5, 2026
4.5 stars
May 19, 2026
It’s been a long time since a book left me this conflicted. The parts I enjoyed, I really liked. But the parts that I didn’t enjoy, I absolutely loathed. That’s why the rating is ending up in the middle.
I think the concept of this book was amazing and there were times when it really shined. But when it came to the execution, it was really obvious that this was a debut.
One thing that didn’t work for me was that there were too many aspects added that left everything underdeveloped and muddled. We have witches, dragons, familiars, several types of powers and so on. This could’ve used a session of kill your darlings and slimming down. Better to focus on less things and make sure they are actually worked through.
I also couldn’t connect to the way these people talked. When you have a fantasy world that doesn’t have electricity or plumbing, it’s really jarring when the characters throw out things like “you like the kitty cat?”, “You got me a get-well card?” or “What do you think I’m doing, having a pick nick?”.
The relationships also felt flat and underdeveloped. And I mean this for every type of relationship, whether it’s romantical, friendship or family. People that didn’t know each other yesterday immediately start calling each other brother and sister because someone said that they were.
But my biggest problem was the main characters. I liked Astrid decently, but I loathed Skylar. She was constantly waving around her toothpick of a pin and hearing her missing friends voice in her head. Whoever approved of that stylistic choice needs to reevaluate their career choice. She was furiously stubborn to the point of being stupid and had the smallest hills to die on. She didn’t care how her actions affected other people and came across as selfish and unlikeable. I definitely didn’t enjoy when Skylar got ability after ability after ability and Astrid only got things that only fueled the character I disliked.
Also, the way the mate bond is handled was not to my liking and overall the ending felt… weird. Despite this, I will probably give the sequel a try.
I think the concept of this book was amazing and there were times when it really shined. But when it came to the execution, it was really obvious that this was a debut.
One thing that didn’t work for me was that there were too many aspects added that left everything underdeveloped and muddled. We have witches, dragons, familiars, several types of powers and so on. This could’ve used a session of kill your darlings and slimming down. Better to focus on less things and make sure they are actually worked through.
I also couldn’t connect to the way these people talked. When you have a fantasy world that doesn’t have electricity or plumbing, it’s really jarring when the characters throw out things like “you like the kitty cat?”, “You got me a get-well card?” or “What do you think I’m doing, having a pick nick?”.
The relationships also felt flat and underdeveloped. And I mean this for every type of relationship, whether it’s romantical, friendship or family. People that didn’t know each other yesterday immediately start calling each other brother and sister because someone said that they were.
But my biggest problem was the main characters. I liked Astrid decently, but I loathed Skylar. She was constantly waving around her toothpick of a pin and hearing her missing friends voice in her head. Whoever approved of that stylistic choice needs to reevaluate their career choice. She was furiously stubborn to the point of being stupid and had the smallest hills to die on. She didn’t care how her actions affected other people and came across as selfish and unlikeable. I definitely didn’t enjoy when Skylar got ability after ability after ability and Astrid only got things that only fueled the character I disliked.
Also, the way the mate bond is handled was not to my liking and overall the ending felt… weird. Despite this, I will probably give the sequel a try.
Did Not Finish
April 22, 2026DNF at 27%
I’m so sad this one isn’t working for me 😭 I was so excited for this ARC and unfortunately i can’t seem to get into the story. Somehow this isn’t YA but totally reads like one. The story doesn’t flow properly and I’ve just discovered this is two authors so maybe thats why? The familiars were my favourite part but not enough to continue this book. There was so much potential, oh well
Thank you Atria Books and NetGalley for the eARC!
I’m so sad this one isn’t working for me 😭 I was so excited for this ARC and unfortunately i can’t seem to get into the story. Somehow this isn’t YA but totally reads like one. The story doesn’t flow properly and I’ve just discovered this is two authors so maybe thats why? The familiars were my favourite part but not enough to continue this book. There was so much potential, oh well
Thank you Atria Books and NetGalley for the eARC!
April 11, 2026
Daaaaaaaaaaaang. Writing duo Ellis Hunter knocked their debut out of the park. High stakes, high energy, and high payoff is written into every single page. There’s an incredibly unique magic system, actually TWO systems that are linked to the two continents featured in the book. One centered around witchcraft and the other around wielding power through elemental dragons and Blooded gifts. There’s animal familiars, a whole ancient text mystery that needs solving, and some serious enemies to lovers action going on. All of which is based around a duel in which one of the main characters is not supposed to survive. It’s not “you duel or you die” for nothing.
I was rooted to my seat for the two days that I ripped through this book. I was mad I had to sleep, that’s how good it was. I was sunk in and that last page… they got me good. They got me forever. I adored the complex themes that were woven throughout the narrative, duty warring with tradition, breaking the molds between friendship and alliances, the push pull of wanting to rule a kingdom that is in dire need of saving along with some grade A bantering between couples. If I hadn’t read that this is a debut book for this writing team, I would not have known it. It was polished, fun, and the pacing was absolute perfection. I can’t wait for the next book in the Cursed Covenant series to come out!
Grab this one when it hits shelves April 28. You will be glad you did! (Bonus if you’re an Allurial or Book of the Month subscriber, since this book is a selection in both for this month!)
I am off to google how to give my cat wings.
Huge thank you to Atria Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I was rooted to my seat for the two days that I ripped through this book. I was mad I had to sleep, that’s how good it was. I was sunk in and that last page… they got me good. They got me forever. I adored the complex themes that were woven throughout the narrative, duty warring with tradition, breaking the molds between friendship and alliances, the push pull of wanting to rule a kingdom that is in dire need of saving along with some grade A bantering between couples. If I hadn’t read that this is a debut book for this writing team, I would not have known it. It was polished, fun, and the pacing was absolute perfection. I can’t wait for the next book in the Cursed Covenant series to come out!
Grab this one when it hits shelves April 28. You will be glad you did! (Bonus if you’re an Allurial or Book of the Month subscriber, since this book is a selection in both for this month!)
I am off to google how to give my cat wings.
Huge thank you to Atria Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
May 20, 2026
Probably more like 3.5
I did enjoy a lot about this book. The dragons and familiars incredible. The prince? Amazing. But I do wish we had a lot more depth to the world and the found family/female friendship. It at times felt a little forced and made the ending really throw me for a loop. I'm so curious now though, no lie, so I do plan to try book 2.
I did enjoy a lot about this book. The dragons and familiars incredible. The prince? Amazing. But I do wish we had a lot more depth to the world and the found family/female friendship. It at times felt a little forced and made the ending really throw me for a loop. I'm so curious now though, no lie, so I do plan to try book 2.
April 30, 2026
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.
1.5 stars rounded up. I only picked this up because it's an upcoming book box's monthly pick, it has mental health representation, and people kept heralding it as a fresh take on romantasy, and I have to say...those people are liars. Blood Bound is pitched as a love letter to (ro)mantasy but it's really all the tropes you've read regurgitated. It's derivative, nonsensical, and sorely lacking in all areas, and BOY, do I have a lot to criticize. Look away if you want to read the book yourself; this review will be very long, very nitpicky, and very spoilery because I am so mad I wasted my time on this.
First off, let's start with the worldbuilding. I will never, ever forgive books like Fourth Wing for popularizing the idea that romantasy worldbuilding can be softer than soft, "accessible" as some people call it, where it's just modern slang and concepts slapped into a high fantasy world with no deeper thought into *how* anything actually *works*. That's the case with Blood Bound, as I cannot fathom how I'm supposed to picture a world that has electricity, air-conditioning, cars (horseless carriages), hot plates, halter tops, tank tops, crop tops, sports bras, short shorts, pantsuits, bodysuits, and more while also being pseudo-medieval where people use torches and swords and daggers and wear armor and tunics. I don't care that the electricity is actually magic, *how* have these other technological advancements been created when everything else seems to be operating in the dark ages? There is no coherent aesthetic, it's just a mish-mash of modern and medieval in a way that fundamentally does not work. Let's not even get into the turns of phrases, like "navy blue" (what navy is this color originating from? Just call it dark blue!) or "I volunteer to be your guinea pig" or "cocktails", "superfan", "groupie", "playing on repeat", "vibes", "nerd", "a shot at the big leagues", "carbs", etcetera. Aside from the too modern aspects, I would also like to mention how the country of Arturea is ostensibly Nordic-inspired and yet the cat familiar of the FMC from that country is named...Bastet. After the Egyptian cat goddess. Now I don't need 100% consistency in naming conventions but they should at least follow a believable aesthetic, and this just stood out distractingly. You couldn't have named him after Freyja, the actual Norse goddess who is associated with cats??
Speaking of the FMC, let's dive into the characters. To put it bluntly, I hated Astrid, the aforementioned MC bonded to the cat familiar and also the witch princess of Arturea. She is just...so pathetic. Allegedly, she's been training all her life to fight the duel but it feels like she's entirely unprepared for combat. Every time she's attacked, her assassins manage to get the upper hand and Astrid has to be rescued by someone else, usually her love interest Zryan (how feminist). And oh my god, *Zyran*. It's pretty much insta-lust from the first time Astrid sees the enemy prince (the guy she thinks she's about to kill) and it's frankly unbelievable how much she salivates over him. She can't even stop thinking about him inappropriately while watching a fucking *execution* or when she briefly thinks he's a cold-blooded torturer! Their first conversation is incredibly cringey and very sexual, but in the way a teenager would think to write sexual innuendo, and if Zryan weren't hot, I'd be calling HR on him. Seriously, here's an excerpt: "You look chewy." "You've thought about how I'd taste, Princess?" "Chewy isn't a taste--it's a texture." "Regardless, you've thought about me in your mouth." Do you see? It's fucking juvenile. Their whole romance is juvenile. I at least understand why Astrid is drawn to Zyran once she learns he's not as ruthless as she thought but I can't fathom why Zyran likes her so much in the first place. I get that they both would do anything to save their respective kingdoms but that's fundamentally undermined by them later saying they'd sacrifice their kingdoms and their people for the other person. Like, I'm sorry, but that's not romantic. That just tells me they're willing to compromise their morals and the lives of other people for someone they JUST MET A FEW MONTHS AGO. Astrid is also repeatedly said to just be so *good* of a person, so caring and empathetic, that this just makes me think she has the moral backbone of a chocolate eclair. Huh, Arturea who? She's just sooo enamored by Zyran's sinfully glorious muscles. Give me a fucking break, this is not the slow burn the authors advertised.
Moving on to the *other* FMC of the book, I liked Skylar, the long-lost princess of Vatra and former street performer, way more in comparison; I thought she had a lot of potential but, like many things in this book, that potential was kinda wasted. She starts off pretty promising, as someone who holds no love for the kingdom she's now obligated to fight for and is entirely willing to call out the privilege of the royals and nobles around her. I really enjoyed her argument with her love interest Axel, where he tells her to stop being so arrogant and selfish and only thinking of herself as the one who will suffer if she loses the duel and she retorts that he of all people can't comment on the suffering she's seen on the streets from his noble position. It was one of the only moments in the book where I thought, "Huh...this is actually *good*." But after that, Skylar gains an immense amount of power and becomes the most special person to ever be special, and suddenly any qualms about using her power and privilege against those lower than her disappear. She doesn't even ever stop to think about how she's effectively throwing her weight around exactly like the people she hates (even if it is for a "good" reason) or think about the enormity of her destiny as a girl who came from nothing and is suddenly *everything* because we can't have interesting conversations about class and power in this romantasy book!
Before we touch on the love interests and side characters, I would like to dedicate a section to the bipolar representation, as I mentioned before that that was a big reason why I decided to read the book because I myself am bipolar, and unfortunately...I am disappointed once again. Astrid is the one who is explicitly bipolar but I ironically felt Skylar was the better representation. To elaborate, Astrid doesn't ever experience any kind of manic or depressive episode, even after highly stressful situations when they are much more likely to trigger. She takes a tonic/tincture that is supposed to manage her symptoms but the thing is...medication is not the end-all-be-all for bipolar disorder and there's even a moment where she mentions she hasn't been taking her tonic but we don't get to see her experience any symptoms *ever*. She never lashes out or gets tunnel vision or feels euphoric or deeply anxious, only worries that she should take her medicine before she has an episode. It's to the point where you could pretty much cut out all mention of her condition and Astrid would be the same character. Skylar, on the other hand, *does* experience these intense emotional highs and lows, and while reading the descriptions of her using her deadly powers on other people, how it felt euphoric and easy and powerful while also knowing deep inside that she was doing something bad, I felt *that* captured the experience of being bipolar way more than anything Astrid ever does or thinks. Astrid doesn't even discuss how the condition has affected her life, good or bad, with anyone, not even her love interest, her mother, her best friend, or the reader, and it's just deeply disappointing to see this book gloss over it when it had the opportunity to make more people aware of the condition with genuine, heartfelt exploration. As it is, I can see the majority of people reading this not even registering that Astrid was meant to be bipolar.
Anyways, love interests and side characters. I don't like Zryan for reasons I touched on above, he's the usual seemingly cold prince who actually is really horny and has a heart of gold. I don't buy him being a good guy who prioritizes saving imprisoned rebels when he says repeatedly he'd abandon them for Astrid. He's also not allowed to have any complex feelings over the girl he likes having to fight his sister to the death or over the fact that his parents are horrible people but still family. I liked Axel much more, even though he's ostensibly worse than Zryan in that he's loyal to the crown and a participant in their heinous acts, but the fact that he actually stuck to his own moral code instead of throwing it away for a girl he just met, no matter how much he ended up liking her, made me respect him a lot more. It also helped that his romance with Skylar was much more subtle and slow-burn, with Skylar constantly reminding herself that he was her enemy and actually keeping her distance while yearning for more, therefore making it even more compelling to me. For all the advertisement of sisterhood, I felt like Astrid's relationship with her actual best friend Jessa was underbaked and they could've used a lot more scenes together. This goes for Astrid's mother too, who Astrid should rightfully have complicated feelings for, considering her mom keeping information from her, Astrid's guilt over causing her father's death, and Astrid's own position as the heir, but no, we never get to dig into any of that. On Skylar's side, it was a missed opportunity for her not interacting with or developing any kind of meaningful relationship (positive or negative) with her newfound family. She never gets to bond with Zryan as actual siblings and they never get to discuss the fact that Skylar basically ousted him from everything he's ever been raised for or had. Like, she took his throne, his purpose, his DRAGON that he's bonded to?? That could've been interesting but nooo, we gotta make room for his romance with Astrid! They even gloss over the fact that Skylar almost killed him, they don't get to have any feelings about that, it's all cool. And Skylar doesn't get to have any kind of complicated relationship with her father, the evil king, who never seems to exert his complete power over her or try to blackmail her into cooperating or anything---or with her father's mate and wife, the queen, who seems to resent Skylar's existence as a bastard but never gets to say anything interesting about it to her, the girl that she's now supposedly reliant on for the future of her kingdom. There is just so much lost potential it's *aggravating*.
Moving on to the plot, I have...so many issues with how things are handled. The title of the book, Blood Bound, is for the blood bond that Astrid and Skylar are subjected to so that if one of them dies, so does the other. This is to prevent either kingdom from trying to assassinate the other heir before the actual duel and the rules of the blood bond and duel are upheld by a magical Covenant, so neither kingdom can go against it or else they forfeit the duel. The problem is...the Covenant is poorly worded. Astrid and Skylar are repeatedly almost assassinated and it's pretty much a no-brainer that it's the Vatrans but like, a good chunk of the book is them going, "But it can't be Vatra because the Covenant says the royal family can't slay the heirs! Who could it be??" Yeah...they can just send assassins so it isn't *personally* them doing the slaying. What makes it worse is that the perpetrator at the end of the book is basically like, "Well, maybe there wasn't actually a loophole in the Covenant but we never got to find out!" Why?? would you risk your kingdom for something you're not even certain of??? On the topic of the assassinations, it is utterly baffling to me why, when Astrid and Skylar are the precious princesses whose deaths determine the fates of their kingdoms, they are *constantly* left WITHOUT GUARDS. You'd think each kingdom would be guarding their heirs 24/7, especially given the increasing amount of assassins, but nope! The castle rooms are sound-proof so no one can hear Astrid scream for help! Astrid can freely sneak out of her room from under her guard's noses to break into the royal library that is also not guarded! No one's guarding Astrid's decoy so she gets immediately killed! Astrid's guards can go to bed instead of guarding her door in the castle of their enemy, and the enemy prince can teleport her away right in front of her guard without somehow causing an international incident. Honestly, it almost feels like satire the amount of times Astrid has the opportunity to get killed. It's ridiculous.
Astrid herself is said to be continuously training during her stay but we only get to see it like, once, and what's especially egregious is that her big problem as the duel approaches is that she hasn't been able to cast since her father died protecting her but we don't actually get to see her overcome that block! That big, seemingly pivotal part of her development is entirely glossed over! Skylar also only gets one or two training scenes which is baffling because compared to Zryan and (theoretically) Astrid, she's virtually a non-combatant, yet when the duel comes, she's able to hold her own in hand-to-hand-combat with Astrid who allegedly has been training her entire life. (Also they sent her into the arena with only a hairpin for a weapon, wtf?) On the topic of the actual duel...I'm not as mad about the resolution as other reviewers seem to be. Obviously neither of the women were going to die and I don't hate the idea of them being able to subvert the duel because "two souls became one" as a result of their mate bond. ...However. I really, really wish the authors had not established the concept in their book as "fated mates" and had just used "soulmates". It's just deeply weird hearing the two FMCs call each other their "mate" in a genre that has historically used the term romantically/sexually when Astrid and Skylar mean it platonically. Soulmates can be platonic already, it's right there! I also did not enjoy how a mating bond was once again being used as a lazy shortcut for an intense relationship, because before their mate bond appeared, Skylar and Astrid had a good basis as friends starting to realize they didn't have to be enemies but then they jump straight into saying they love each other (huh??) and how they'll do anything for their mate, which is just eye-rolling. It comes off as cheap and unearned sisterhood, and it would've been so easy to just let it develop naturally over the course of the series but nope, the authors wanted that instant gratification.
On the topic of things not being developed over time, the final twist that there's a whole other world where the Heart's been taken comes out of fucking nowhere. There was *zero* foreshadowing that even the possibility of another dimension could exist and it's just bizarre. All the information about it comes out at the end of the book because the villain is monologuing all the things the main characters didn't know about, and it's so incredibly *lazy*. Also, oh my god, how many dragons can Skylar be bonded to?? She's already special enough!! If there is one thing I liked about the ending, it's that a certain someone gets killed, not because I wanted him dead, but just because I thought it was the correct ending for him and the character who killed him.
Other things I didn't like, the names and nicknames, GOD, the nicknames. First of all, what in the Kaleighanne kind of a name is Zryan? How do you even pronounce that? And second, the nicknames are so fucking stupid, every single one of them. Dimples, Little Witch, Little Dragon, Lar-Lar (for SKYlar???), and also the constant use of titles like Vatran heir, Nachstern heir, dragon heir, Chosen Heir. Good god, just call them by their fucking names or even just PRINCESS Astrid/Skylar. It was so annoying!! I also did not enjoy the fact that every single Blooded power is named. Every single one of them. There's Blood/Water/Shadow/Bone Wielders, Metallurgists, Air Bringers, Flame Throwers, Acoustics, Botanists, Weavers, Nullifiers, Warders, Discerners, Teleporters, Levitators, Exhausters, Shifters, Physicks, Amplifiers, Sensors, Projectors, Readers, Curers, Kinetics, and more. It's honestly ridiculous to have a specific name for every power that crops up and it's especially ridiculous for everyone to be aware of all the specific names. I'd more easily buy if the powers were divided into broader categories like Elementalists instead of different names for each power but that would require more thought into the magic system.
I'll cut myself off there, but TL;DR the authors constantly took the easy way out when it came to worldbuilding, character development and relationships, and mental health representation. I will say I at least liked Kaida and maybe Bastet, but I'm *begging* romantasy authors to beat the "brain-off" allegations. This could've been something good if there had been a modicum of thought put into it, but as is, I won't be bothering to pick up the sequel.
1.5 stars rounded up. I only picked this up because it's an upcoming book box's monthly pick, it has mental health representation, and people kept heralding it as a fresh take on romantasy, and I have to say...those people are liars. Blood Bound is pitched as a love letter to (ro)mantasy but it's really all the tropes you've read regurgitated. It's derivative, nonsensical, and sorely lacking in all areas, and BOY, do I have a lot to criticize. Look away if you want to read the book yourself; this review will be very long, very nitpicky, and very spoilery because I am so mad I wasted my time on this.
First off, let's start with the worldbuilding. I will never, ever forgive books like Fourth Wing for popularizing the idea that romantasy worldbuilding can be softer than soft, "accessible" as some people call it, where it's just modern slang and concepts slapped into a high fantasy world with no deeper thought into *how* anything actually *works*. That's the case with Blood Bound, as I cannot fathom how I'm supposed to picture a world that has electricity, air-conditioning, cars (horseless carriages), hot plates, halter tops, tank tops, crop tops, sports bras, short shorts, pantsuits, bodysuits, and more while also being pseudo-medieval where people use torches and swords and daggers and wear armor and tunics. I don't care that the electricity is actually magic, *how* have these other technological advancements been created when everything else seems to be operating in the dark ages? There is no coherent aesthetic, it's just a mish-mash of modern and medieval in a way that fundamentally does not work. Let's not even get into the turns of phrases, like "navy blue" (what navy is this color originating from? Just call it dark blue!) or "I volunteer to be your guinea pig" or "cocktails", "superfan", "groupie", "playing on repeat", "vibes", "nerd", "a shot at the big leagues", "carbs", etcetera. Aside from the too modern aspects, I would also like to mention how the country of Arturea is ostensibly Nordic-inspired and yet the cat familiar of the FMC from that country is named...Bastet. After the Egyptian cat goddess. Now I don't need 100% consistency in naming conventions but they should at least follow a believable aesthetic, and this just stood out distractingly. You couldn't have named him after Freyja, the actual Norse goddess who is associated with cats??
Speaking of the FMC, let's dive into the characters. To put it bluntly, I hated Astrid, the aforementioned MC bonded to the cat familiar and also the witch princess of Arturea. She is just...so pathetic. Allegedly, she's been training all her life to fight the duel but it feels like she's entirely unprepared for combat. Every time she's attacked, her assassins manage to get the upper hand and Astrid has to be rescued by someone else, usually her love interest Zryan (how feminist). And oh my god, *Zyran*. It's pretty much insta-lust from the first time Astrid sees the enemy prince (the guy she thinks she's about to kill) and it's frankly unbelievable how much she salivates over him. She can't even stop thinking about him inappropriately while watching a fucking *execution* or when she briefly thinks he's a cold-blooded torturer! Their first conversation is incredibly cringey and very sexual, but in the way a teenager would think to write sexual innuendo, and if Zryan weren't hot, I'd be calling HR on him. Seriously, here's an excerpt: "You look chewy." "You've thought about how I'd taste, Princess?" "Chewy isn't a taste--it's a texture." "Regardless, you've thought about me in your mouth." Do you see? It's fucking juvenile. Their whole romance is juvenile. I at least understand why Astrid is drawn to Zyran once she learns he's not as ruthless as she thought but I can't fathom why Zyran likes her so much in the first place. I get that they both would do anything to save their respective kingdoms but that's fundamentally undermined by them later saying they'd sacrifice their kingdoms and their people for the other person. Like, I'm sorry, but that's not romantic. That just tells me they're willing to compromise their morals and the lives of other people for someone they JUST MET A FEW MONTHS AGO. Astrid is also repeatedly said to just be so *good* of a person, so caring and empathetic, that this just makes me think she has the moral backbone of a chocolate eclair. Huh, Arturea who? She's just sooo enamored by Zyran's sinfully glorious muscles. Give me a fucking break, this is not the slow burn the authors advertised.
Moving on to the *other* FMC of the book, I liked Skylar, the long-lost princess of Vatra and former street performer, way more in comparison; I thought she had a lot of potential but, like many things in this book, that potential was kinda wasted. She starts off pretty promising, as someone who holds no love for the kingdom she's now obligated to fight for and is entirely willing to call out the privilege of the royals and nobles around her. I really enjoyed her argument with her love interest Axel, where he tells her to stop being so arrogant and selfish and only thinking of herself as the one who will suffer if she loses the duel and she retorts that he of all people can't comment on the suffering she's seen on the streets from his noble position. It was one of the only moments in the book where I thought, "Huh...this is actually *good*." But after that, Skylar gains an immense amount of power and becomes the most special person to ever be special, and suddenly any qualms about using her power and privilege against those lower than her disappear. She doesn't even ever stop to think about how she's effectively throwing her weight around exactly like the people she hates (even if it is for a "good" reason) or think about the enormity of her destiny as a girl who came from nothing and is suddenly *everything* because we can't have interesting conversations about class and power in this romantasy book!
Before we touch on the love interests and side characters, I would like to dedicate a section to the bipolar representation, as I mentioned before that that was a big reason why I decided to read the book because I myself am bipolar, and unfortunately...I am disappointed once again. Astrid is the one who is explicitly bipolar but I ironically felt Skylar was the better representation. To elaborate, Astrid doesn't ever experience any kind of manic or depressive episode, even after highly stressful situations when they are much more likely to trigger. She takes a tonic/tincture that is supposed to manage her symptoms but the thing is...medication is not the end-all-be-all for bipolar disorder and there's even a moment where she mentions she hasn't been taking her tonic but we don't get to see her experience any symptoms *ever*. She never lashes out or gets tunnel vision or feels euphoric or deeply anxious, only worries that she should take her medicine before she has an episode. It's to the point where you could pretty much cut out all mention of her condition and Astrid would be the same character. Skylar, on the other hand, *does* experience these intense emotional highs and lows, and while reading the descriptions of her using her deadly powers on other people, how it felt euphoric and easy and powerful while also knowing deep inside that she was doing something bad, I felt *that* captured the experience of being bipolar way more than anything Astrid ever does or thinks. Astrid doesn't even discuss how the condition has affected her life, good or bad, with anyone, not even her love interest, her mother, her best friend, or the reader, and it's just deeply disappointing to see this book gloss over it when it had the opportunity to make more people aware of the condition with genuine, heartfelt exploration. As it is, I can see the majority of people reading this not even registering that Astrid was meant to be bipolar.
Anyways, love interests and side characters. I don't like Zryan for reasons I touched on above, he's the usual seemingly cold prince who actually is really horny and has a heart of gold. I don't buy him being a good guy who prioritizes saving imprisoned rebels when he says repeatedly he'd abandon them for Astrid. He's also not allowed to have any complex feelings over the girl he likes having to fight his sister to the death or over the fact that his parents are horrible people but still family. I liked Axel much more, even though he's ostensibly worse than Zryan in that he's loyal to the crown and a participant in their heinous acts, but the fact that he actually stuck to his own moral code instead of throwing it away for a girl he just met, no matter how much he ended up liking her, made me respect him a lot more. It also helped that his romance with Skylar was much more subtle and slow-burn, with Skylar constantly reminding herself that he was her enemy and actually keeping her distance while yearning for more, therefore making it even more compelling to me. For all the advertisement of sisterhood, I felt like Astrid's relationship with her actual best friend Jessa was underbaked and they could've used a lot more scenes together. This goes for Astrid's mother too, who Astrid should rightfully have complicated feelings for, considering her mom keeping information from her, Astrid's guilt over causing her father's death, and Astrid's own position as the heir, but no, we never get to dig into any of that. On Skylar's side, it was a missed opportunity for her not interacting with or developing any kind of meaningful relationship (positive or negative) with her newfound family. She never gets to bond with Zryan as actual siblings and they never get to discuss the fact that Skylar basically ousted him from everything he's ever been raised for or had. Like, she took his throne, his purpose, his DRAGON that he's bonded to?? That could've been interesting but nooo, we gotta make room for his romance with Astrid! They even gloss over the fact that Skylar almost killed him, they don't get to have any feelings about that, it's all cool. And Skylar doesn't get to have any kind of complicated relationship with her father, the evil king, who never seems to exert his complete power over her or try to blackmail her into cooperating or anything---or with her father's mate and wife, the queen, who seems to resent Skylar's existence as a bastard but never gets to say anything interesting about it to her, the girl that she's now supposedly reliant on for the future of her kingdom. There is just so much lost potential it's *aggravating*.
Moving on to the plot, I have...so many issues with how things are handled. The title of the book, Blood Bound, is for the blood bond that Astrid and Skylar are subjected to so that if one of them dies, so does the other. This is to prevent either kingdom from trying to assassinate the other heir before the actual duel and the rules of the blood bond and duel are upheld by a magical Covenant, so neither kingdom can go against it or else they forfeit the duel. The problem is...the Covenant is poorly worded. Astrid and Skylar are repeatedly almost assassinated and it's pretty much a no-brainer that it's the Vatrans but like, a good chunk of the book is them going, "But it can't be Vatra because the Covenant says the royal family can't slay the heirs! Who could it be??" Yeah...they can just send assassins so it isn't *personally* them doing the slaying. What makes it worse is that the perpetrator at the end of the book is basically like, "Well, maybe there wasn't actually a loophole in the Covenant but we never got to find out!" Why?? would you risk your kingdom for something you're not even certain of??? On the topic of the assassinations, it is utterly baffling to me why, when Astrid and Skylar are the precious princesses whose deaths determine the fates of their kingdoms, they are *constantly* left WITHOUT GUARDS. You'd think each kingdom would be guarding their heirs 24/7, especially given the increasing amount of assassins, but nope! The castle rooms are sound-proof so no one can hear Astrid scream for help! Astrid can freely sneak out of her room from under her guard's noses to break into the royal library that is also not guarded! No one's guarding Astrid's decoy so she gets immediately killed! Astrid's guards can go to bed instead of guarding her door in the castle of their enemy, and the enemy prince can teleport her away right in front of her guard without somehow causing an international incident. Honestly, it almost feels like satire the amount of times Astrid has the opportunity to get killed. It's ridiculous.
Astrid herself is said to be continuously training during her stay but we only get to see it like, once, and what's especially egregious is that her big problem as the duel approaches is that she hasn't been able to cast since her father died protecting her but we don't actually get to see her overcome that block! That big, seemingly pivotal part of her development is entirely glossed over! Skylar also only gets one or two training scenes which is baffling because compared to Zryan and (theoretically) Astrid, she's virtually a non-combatant, yet when the duel comes, she's able to hold her own in hand-to-hand-combat with Astrid who allegedly has been training her entire life. (Also they sent her into the arena with only a hairpin for a weapon, wtf?) On the topic of the actual duel...I'm not as mad about the resolution as other reviewers seem to be. Obviously neither of the women were going to die and I don't hate the idea of them being able to subvert the duel because "two souls became one" as a result of their mate bond. ...However. I really, really wish the authors had not established the concept in their book as "fated mates" and had just used "soulmates". It's just deeply weird hearing the two FMCs call each other their "mate" in a genre that has historically used the term romantically/sexually when Astrid and Skylar mean it platonically. Soulmates can be platonic already, it's right there! I also did not enjoy how a mating bond was once again being used as a lazy shortcut for an intense relationship, because before their mate bond appeared, Skylar and Astrid had a good basis as friends starting to realize they didn't have to be enemies but then they jump straight into saying they love each other (huh??) and how they'll do anything for their mate, which is just eye-rolling. It comes off as cheap and unearned sisterhood, and it would've been so easy to just let it develop naturally over the course of the series but nope, the authors wanted that instant gratification.
On the topic of things not being developed over time, the final twist that there's a whole other world where the Heart's been taken comes out of fucking nowhere. There was *zero* foreshadowing that even the possibility of another dimension could exist and it's just bizarre. All the information about it comes out at the end of the book because the villain is monologuing all the things the main characters didn't know about, and it's so incredibly *lazy*. Also, oh my god, how many dragons can Skylar be bonded to?? She's already special enough!! If there is one thing I liked about the ending, it's that a certain someone gets killed, not because I wanted him dead, but just because I thought it was the correct ending for him and the character who killed him.
Other things I didn't like, the names and nicknames, GOD, the nicknames. First of all, what in the Kaleighanne kind of a name is Zryan? How do you even pronounce that? And second, the nicknames are so fucking stupid, every single one of them. Dimples, Little Witch, Little Dragon, Lar-Lar (for SKYlar???), and also the constant use of titles like Vatran heir, Nachstern heir, dragon heir, Chosen Heir. Good god, just call them by their fucking names or even just PRINCESS Astrid/Skylar. It was so annoying!! I also did not enjoy the fact that every single Blooded power is named. Every single one of them. There's Blood/Water/Shadow/Bone Wielders, Metallurgists, Air Bringers, Flame Throwers, Acoustics, Botanists, Weavers, Nullifiers, Warders, Discerners, Teleporters, Levitators, Exhausters, Shifters, Physicks, Amplifiers, Sensors, Projectors, Readers, Curers, Kinetics, and more. It's honestly ridiculous to have a specific name for every power that crops up and it's especially ridiculous for everyone to be aware of all the specific names. I'd more easily buy if the powers were divided into broader categories like Elementalists instead of different names for each power but that would require more thought into the magic system.
I'll cut myself off there, but TL;DR the authors constantly took the easy way out when it came to worldbuilding, character development and relationships, and mental health representation. I will say I at least liked Kaida and maybe Bastet, but I'm *begging* romantasy authors to beat the "brain-off" allegations. This could've been something good if there had been a modicum of thought put into it, but as is, I won't be bothering to pick up the sequel.
July 16, 2026
5⭐
Суцільний екшн, екшн, екшн🥰🥰🥰🥰
І це буквально з першої сторінки і до кінця книги. І це легко, емоційно та неймовірно захопливо😍😍😍😍
Це точно одна з найкращих прочитаних мною книг цього року💯💯💯
Дракони та їх вершники, відьми та їх тварини-фамільяри, потужні кровні первородні елементалі та звичайні люди і це все поєднано в одному всесвіті🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 ШОК, проте я жодного разу не відчула себе розгубленою в цьому світі з безліччю різних форм магії, ось настільки все реально круто та гармонійно описано.
Головні героїні книги - Астрід та Скайлар, спадкоємиці двох вічно ворогуючих між собою королівств відьом та вершників драконів. Обидві із надсильними магічним здібностями, розумні, сміливі та емоційні, і обидві - приречені, приречені на бій, де виживе лише одна з них😔 Як це жити в очікуванні смерті? Чи, все-таки, перемоги? Далі - без спойлерів, але, оу, як мені подобається що витворяють ці дві сильні жінки😈😈😈 А плюс влучні саркастичні коментарі кішки-фамільяра Баскет - і все, хороший настрій забезпечено 😁.
Чоловіки в цій книжечці теж нічого так.
Принц Зріан - сильний, розумний, небезпечний і такий сексуальний... А той його погляд, напівусмішка, твердий прес... уммммм. Хоча, ні-ні, то точно дракон його таким робить, однозначно😈
Аксель весь такий чіткий, зібраний та вірний. Навіть кохання для нього не є вищим за обов'язок. Ну і добре, хай отримує по заслугах...
А хто ж той красунчик на місячному драконі? 😍😍😍 Нуууу, тут ще та інтрига...але я вже хочу знати про нього більше... він реально крутий...
А ці тіні.. хм...Ксейдена знає, ні?
Та й взагалі ці всі неочікувані повороти сюжету і абсолютно непередбачуваний кінець... та ще й кліфхенгер... 🤯🤯🤯
Де, де та друга книжка? Коли?!?
Я люблю фентезі і мене важко чимось здивувати в цьому жанрі, але ця книга - це просто вау, вона реально мені дуже сподобалась.
Рекомендую всім фанатам Академії Зодіак та Четвертого крила.
Суцільний екшн, екшн, екшн🥰🥰🥰🥰
І це буквально з першої сторінки і до кінця книги. І це легко, емоційно та неймовірно захопливо😍😍😍😍
Це точно одна з найкращих прочитаних мною книг цього року💯💯💯
Дракони та їх вершники, відьми та їх тварини-фамільяри, потужні кровні первородні елементалі та звичайні люди і це все поєднано в одному всесвіті🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 ШОК, проте я жодного разу не відчула себе розгубленою в цьому світі з безліччю різних форм магії, ось настільки все реально круто та гармонійно описано.
Головні героїні книги - Астрід та Скайлар, спадкоємиці двох вічно ворогуючих між собою королівств відьом та вершників драконів. Обидві із надсильними магічним здібностями, розумні, сміливі та емоційні, і обидві - приречені, приречені на бій, де виживе лише одна з них😔 Як це жити в очікуванні смерті? Чи, все-таки, перемоги? Далі - без спойлерів, але, оу, як мені подобається що витворяють ці дві сильні жінки😈😈😈 А плюс влучні саркастичні коментарі кішки-фамільяра Баскет - і все, хороший настрій забезпечено 😁.
Чоловіки в цій книжечці теж нічого так.
Принц Зріан - сильний, розумний, небезпечний і такий сексуальний... А той його погляд, напівусмішка, твердий прес... уммммм. Хоча, ні-ні, то точно дракон його таким робить, однозначно😈
Аксель весь такий чіткий, зібраний та вірний. Навіть кохання для нього не є вищим за обов'язок. Ну і добре, хай отримує по заслугах...
А хто ж той красунчик на місячному драконі? 😍😍😍 Нуууу, тут ще та інтрига...але я вже хочу знати про нього більше... він реально крутий...
А ці тіні.. хм...Ксейдена знає, ні?
Та й взагалі ці всі неочікувані повороти сюжету і абсолютно непередбачуваний кінець... та ще й кліфхенгер... 🤯🤯🤯
Де, де та друга книжка? Коли?!?
Я люблю фентезі і мене важко чимось здивувати в цьому жанрі, але ця книга - це просто вау, вона реально мені дуже сподобалась.
Рекомендую всім фанатам Академії Зодіак та Четвертого крила.
April 30, 2026
4/5
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!
Wow. What an amazing debut from this author duo! I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It distills a lot of great fantasy elements into a well thought out story.
Our two main characters, Skylar and Astrid, I liked equally. There is a certain strength that both of them have that makes them so easy to root for. If I had to choose, I’d probably say I do think Astrid’s storyline was more compelling. Her worries and doubts and fears bleed through the pages and are well developed. I feel like Skylar is more one note in a way with her rage. I wish we had gotten flashbacks of her past, because really her whole story revolves around choices she makes for the benefit of her best friend Cam. Unfortunately we never see Cam, and the lack of connection to him makes it hard to really see why Skylar is doing these things beyond the basics.
Our side character cast could be a bit larger I think k for a world of this scope, but I enjoyed all the ones we got. Jessa and Gwen were the highlights for me!
Astrid and Zy’s relationship is cute. I think it may be a bit too fast of a burn for my own personal taste, but they’re really cute together!
The plot itself is well paced and very engaging. There are several plot twists thrown into various spots in the book, which makes it super fun to theorize. The worldbuilding could be fleshed out a tad more (I feel we don’t really understand Astrid’s home country as we never really see it) but I loved the attention to history of the duel. It’s fascinating and the emphasis put on history that may not be true is something I ALWAYS adore in novels. The search for the truth is engaging and leads the plot in a direction I did not fully anticipate but fully love.
I did struggle with the writing style at the beginning. Third person present is a finicky POV to nail. I got used to it quickly enough but a few lines just seemed odd to have an objective narrator have.
The ending I think could have used maybe 20 more pages to really breathe with ALL of the reveals we get, but as I said, I’m all for the direction we’re going in.
If you’re a fan of fantasy romance, you’ll surely enjoy this book and probably be refreshed by its twists on certain classic tropes of the genre. I for one am so excited to read book 2!
Pre read comments haha:
This sounds so cool but I need to know….is it sapphic?? 🤞🏻🤞🏻
Edit: book 3 will have sapphic content!! ☺️☺️
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!
Wow. What an amazing debut from this author duo! I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It distills a lot of great fantasy elements into a well thought out story.
Our two main characters, Skylar and Astrid, I liked equally. There is a certain strength that both of them have that makes them so easy to root for. If I had to choose, I’d probably say I do think Astrid’s storyline was more compelling. Her worries and doubts and fears bleed through the pages and are well developed. I feel like Skylar is more one note in a way with her rage. I wish we had gotten flashbacks of her past, because really her whole story revolves around choices she makes for the benefit of her best friend Cam. Unfortunately we never see Cam, and the lack of connection to him makes it hard to really see why Skylar is doing these things beyond the basics.
Our side character cast could be a bit larger I think k for a world of this scope, but I enjoyed all the ones we got. Jessa and Gwen were the highlights for me!
Astrid and Zy’s relationship is cute. I think it may be a bit too fast of a burn for my own personal taste, but they’re really cute together!
The plot itself is well paced and very engaging. There are several plot twists thrown into various spots in the book, which makes it super fun to theorize. The worldbuilding could be fleshed out a tad more (I feel we don’t really understand Astrid’s home country as we never really see it) but I loved the attention to history of the duel. It’s fascinating and the emphasis put on history that may not be true is something I ALWAYS adore in novels. The search for the truth is engaging and leads the plot in a direction I did not fully anticipate but fully love.
I did struggle with the writing style at the beginning. Third person present is a finicky POV to nail. I got used to it quickly enough but a few lines just seemed odd to have an objective narrator have.
The ending I think could have used maybe 20 more pages to really breathe with ALL of the reveals we get, but as I said, I’m all for the direction we’re going in.
If you’re a fan of fantasy romance, you’ll surely enjoy this book and probably be refreshed by its twists on certain classic tropes of the genre. I for one am so excited to read book 2!
Pre read comments haha:
This sounds so cool but I need to know….is it sapphic?? 🤞🏻🤞🏻
Edit: book 3 will have sapphic content!! ☺️☺️
April 30, 2026
4.5 ⭐️
I really enjoyed this book. It hit so many of my favourite tropes and felt like a blend of Fourth Wing, His Dark Materials, and Throne of Glass. The pacing was fast, the friendships were enjoyable, and I loved that I was constantly forming theories (many of which actually turned out to be right — always a win).
I went into Blood Bound expecting the dual POV to be Astrid and the prince, so I was genuinely surprised (in a good way) that it was actually between two women. That alone felt refreshing and immediately pulled me in.
I loved the world-building and especially the visualisation - the dragons in particular were described so vividly.
The magic system and the world itself feel rich and immersive, and I absolutely adored Bastet’s sarcastic, sharp-tongued personality. He was such a standout for me.
That said, there were a few moments where the emotional beats didn’t quite land for me. Astrid’s familiar being a treated as this huge, shameful secret, something that would supposedly devastate her family, but when it’s revealed, it’s just a cat? And it’s brushed over surprisingly quickly which makes me think it’s not that big a deal for her to be worried about?
Similarly, the magic progression felt a little too smooth. The characters go from having no real grasp of their powers to using them with total confidence, and I found myself wishing for more struggle, mistakes, or training to make it feel earned. I know it’s fantasy, but that learning curve adds realism and depth for me.
The romance between Zryan and Astrid didn’t fully convince me either. I wanted more slow-burn tension, more vulnerability from Zryan that was reserved just for her, and more moments that made their connection feel earned rather than assumed. I also found it a bit jarring that Skylar and Astrid seemed shocked by Zryan being a rebel when it felt like that had already been pretty well established.
Overall, Blood Bound was a fun, addictive fantasy with strong world-building, compelling dynamics, and just enough mystery to keep me guessing. I’m definitely continuing the series and can’t wait to see where it all goes next!
I really enjoyed this book. It hit so many of my favourite tropes and felt like a blend of Fourth Wing, His Dark Materials, and Throne of Glass. The pacing was fast, the friendships were enjoyable, and I loved that I was constantly forming theories (many of which actually turned out to be right — always a win).
I went into Blood Bound expecting the dual POV to be Astrid and the prince, so I was genuinely surprised (in a good way) that it was actually between two women. That alone felt refreshing and immediately pulled me in.
I loved the world-building and especially the visualisation - the dragons in particular were described so vividly.
The magic system and the world itself feel rich and immersive, and I absolutely adored Bastet’s sarcastic, sharp-tongued personality. He was such a standout for me.
That said, there were a few moments where the emotional beats didn’t quite land for me. Astrid’s familiar being a treated as this huge, shameful secret, something that would supposedly devastate her family, but when it’s revealed, it’s just a cat? And it’s brushed over surprisingly quickly which makes me think it’s not that big a deal for her to be worried about?
Similarly, the magic progression felt a little too smooth. The characters go from having no real grasp of their powers to using them with total confidence, and I found myself wishing for more struggle, mistakes, or training to make it feel earned. I know it’s fantasy, but that learning curve adds realism and depth for me.
The romance between Zryan and Astrid didn’t fully convince me either. I wanted more slow-burn tension, more vulnerability from Zryan that was reserved just for her, and more moments that made their connection feel earned rather than assumed. I also found it a bit jarring that Skylar and Astrid seemed shocked by Zryan being a rebel when it felt like that had already been pretty well established.
Overall, Blood Bound was a fun, addictive fantasy with strong world-building, compelling dynamics, and just enough mystery to keep me guessing. I’m definitely continuing the series and can’t wait to see where it all goes next!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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