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Magic Ties Together
Ira has one eye, a back-alley accuracy charm, and a policy of taking what he can get.
Lajos has a sword, a stoic façade that crumbles quickly under pressure, and a mysterious past.
When a routine monster attack leads to the men being magically bound together, unable to part without being violently ill, Ira is horrified. Worse, the link means they can sense each other's every emotion. And as time goes on, Ira starts to wonder which emotions are truly his, and which are just a result of the magic...
Lajos has a sword, a stoic façade that crumbles quickly under pressure, and a mysterious past.
When a routine monster attack leads to the men being magically bound together, unable to part without being violently ill, Ira is horrified. Worse, the link means they can sense each other's every emotion. And as time goes on, Ira starts to wonder which emotions are truly his, and which are just a result of the magic...
96 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 2, 2018
2 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 14, 2021
I received a galley from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
*** Oh, I was wondering why this felt more like a fetishization of a m/m couple than anything else & look!! It's from Less Than Three Press!! Of course it is... ***
Okay, if you've read some fics before, you're familiar with the bond au. Basically, the two main characters are magically bonded for whatever reason & in whatever form, stuck together until they can figure out how to break the spell, usually also feeling each other's emotions. That's pretty much what this story is, just in a fantasy setting and with original characters.
One chapter in, I still thought it was good. The writing seemed nice enough, the whispers of world-building were interesting, it all clearly had potential. Now, keep in mind this story is 30k words long and has 10 chapters. Two chapters in our main characters were already having sex. Again, if you've ever read a bond au fic, you know the whole point of it is angst and unberable pining. It's the perfect setting for an enemies to lovers trope - two people who can't stand each other suddenly can't leave each other's side! And yet here we barely got hints of that. It's like the author had a vague idea of what this story should be like, but then got too caught up in the possibility of two guys and blowjobs.
The world-building was kind of interesting until the very end and we even got a bonus in the form of the Chosen One trope. But still, the characters felt rather flat & one-dimentional and the writing could definitely use more editing. A half decent atempt, and yet, it made me feel like I wasted some time.
*** Oh, I was wondering why this felt more like a fetishization of a m/m couple than anything else & look!! It's from Less Than Three Press!! Of course it is... ***
Okay, if you've read some fics before, you're familiar with the bond au. Basically, the two main characters are magically bonded for whatever reason & in whatever form, stuck together until they can figure out how to break the spell, usually also feeling each other's emotions. That's pretty much what this story is, just in a fantasy setting and with original characters.
One chapter in, I still thought it was good. The writing seemed nice enough, the whispers of world-building were interesting, it all clearly had potential. Now, keep in mind this story is 30k words long and has 10 chapters. Two chapters in our main characters were already having sex. Again, if you've ever read a bond au fic, you know the whole point of it is angst and unberable pining. It's the perfect setting for an enemies to lovers trope - two people who can't stand each other suddenly can't leave each other's side! And yet here we barely got hints of that. It's like the author had a vague idea of what this story should be like, but then got too caught up in the possibility of two guys and blowjobs.
The world-building was kind of interesting until the very end and we even got a bonus in the form of the Chosen One trope. But still, the characters felt rather flat & one-dimentional and the writing could definitely use more editing. A half decent atempt, and yet, it made me feel like I wasted some time.
May 16, 2018
This book was provided for free by the publisher and Love Bytes in exchange for an honest review.
This review was first posted to Love Bytes: LGBTQ Book Reviews. It has been slightly edited here for content.
The idea for this story was a fantastic seed that just wasn’t planted with enough nurturing.
First of all, I have no idea what the world within this story looks like. It seems like pretty straightforward action/adventure/fantasy, but I have no clue where they are, what Ira’s job really is, what they fought for in the oft-mentioned war, what the non-human characters look like, or what the rest of the world is up to. We’re given two main characters and a small set of minor characters who seem to be working and wandering aimlessly in a bunch of caves, and sometimes there are monsters. This is a half-formed setting that needed a whole novel in and of itself to explain.
Ira is a decent enough main character. We’ve seen his type before—a smooth-talking, take-no-crap war veteran who prefers a good meal and a quickie to any type of real emotional entanglement. He was pretty fun to spend a story with. But his attachment (magical and emotional) to Lajos seemed forced and flat, and their sexual chemistry was non-existent. And Lajos himself never gained a very distinct personality or voice. This read almost like a Fantasy AU of some popular fan-fiction ship—anachronistic voice and language ran rampant, almost like the fantasy setting was an afterthought rather than a major plot point.
A trope like this needs length and detail to work. It just doesn’t work within novella format. Ira and Lajos are magically bound together, but we know so little about the why and how of their unfortunate situation. I wanted more story about how they try to push each other away and how magic keeps pulling them back together. We needed to see them fall for each other within this trope, but instead, the magical bond seemed to be practically forgotten for the majority of the book. Ira and Lajos’ romance develops completely normally, which defeats the purpose of magic intervention. And when they were finally freed from magic, there was no real sense of relief, which is a bad sign.
While the idea for this story was nice and the main character was likable, I found the work as a whole to be confusing, muddled, and ultimately forgettable. I was drawn to it because of the “stuck together” trope, but if that is the deciding factor for you as well, better books are out there that showcase this device.
This review was first posted to Love Bytes: LGBTQ Book Reviews. It has been slightly edited here for content.
The idea for this story was a fantastic seed that just wasn’t planted with enough nurturing.
First of all, I have no idea what the world within this story looks like. It seems like pretty straightforward action/adventure/fantasy, but I have no clue where they are, what Ira’s job really is, what they fought for in the oft-mentioned war, what the non-human characters look like, or what the rest of the world is up to. We’re given two main characters and a small set of minor characters who seem to be working and wandering aimlessly in a bunch of caves, and sometimes there are monsters. This is a half-formed setting that needed a whole novel in and of itself to explain.
Ira is a decent enough main character. We’ve seen his type before—a smooth-talking, take-no-crap war veteran who prefers a good meal and a quickie to any type of real emotional entanglement. He was pretty fun to spend a story with. But his attachment (magical and emotional) to Lajos seemed forced and flat, and their sexual chemistry was non-existent. And Lajos himself never gained a very distinct personality or voice. This read almost like a Fantasy AU of some popular fan-fiction ship—anachronistic voice and language ran rampant, almost like the fantasy setting was an afterthought rather than a major plot point.
A trope like this needs length and detail to work. It just doesn’t work within novella format. Ira and Lajos are magically bound together, but we know so little about the why and how of their unfortunate situation. I wanted more story about how they try to push each other away and how magic keeps pulling them back together. We needed to see them fall for each other within this trope, but instead, the magical bond seemed to be practically forgotten for the majority of the book. Ira and Lajos’ romance develops completely normally, which defeats the purpose of magic intervention. And when they were finally freed from magic, there was no real sense of relief, which is a bad sign.
While the idea for this story was nice and the main character was likable, I found the work as a whole to be confusing, muddled, and ultimately forgettable. I was drawn to it because of the “stuck together” trope, but if that is the deciding factor for you as well, better books are out there that showcase this device.
April 8, 2018
Book – Magic Ties Together
Author – Nina Begonia
Star rating - ★★★☆☆
No. of Pages – 96
Cover – Nice!
POV – 3rd person, one character
Would I read it again – No
Genre – LGBT, Fantasy, Enemies-to-Lovers (sort of)
** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **
I have to admit that I'm disappointed. As soon as I read the blurb, I was intrigued. It reminded me of a fanfiction I read for Harry Potter, once, and I wanted to see it done with originality and new characters. Sadly, it just didn't come together very well, despite starting right in the thick of the action.
First off, the writing had a few issues. There were editing issues galore, with missing words, odd phrasing, and a mix of language that didn't blend well together. There was a mix of modern and old fashioned language that felt unnatural to the characters and the story. There was also a lack of world building that made it hard to follow the plotting. There was an attempt at a fantasy setting, but there were so many mentions of 'levels of Hell' that I wondered if that was metaphorical or literal, and there was no way to find out. The fact that some of the characters spoke in a broken-English style made it even more annoying, because it was so inconsistent and leaked into the actual text, making it nearly impossible to tell whether they were editing issues or actual common-speech attempts.
Overall, the whole thing didn't come together too well. However, I DID enjoy the plot. It was the execution that let it down. I did like the story and the characters, as well as the slow-forming chemistry. There was a bit too much insta-love, but it was overall a jumble of bad editing and not enough world building to make the world clear.
Author – Nina Begonia
Star rating - ★★★☆☆
No. of Pages – 96
Cover – Nice!
POV – 3rd person, one character
Would I read it again – No
Genre – LGBT, Fantasy, Enemies-to-Lovers (sort of)
** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **
I have to admit that I'm disappointed. As soon as I read the blurb, I was intrigued. It reminded me of a fanfiction I read for Harry Potter, once, and I wanted to see it done with originality and new characters. Sadly, it just didn't come together very well, despite starting right in the thick of the action.
First off, the writing had a few issues. There were editing issues galore, with missing words, odd phrasing, and a mix of language that didn't blend well together. There was a mix of modern and old fashioned language that felt unnatural to the characters and the story. There was also a lack of world building that made it hard to follow the plotting. There was an attempt at a fantasy setting, but there were so many mentions of 'levels of Hell' that I wondered if that was metaphorical or literal, and there was no way to find out. The fact that some of the characters spoke in a broken-English style made it even more annoying, because it was so inconsistent and leaked into the actual text, making it nearly impossible to tell whether they were editing issues or actual common-speech attempts.
Overall, the whole thing didn't come together too well. However, I DID enjoy the plot. It was the execution that let it down. I did like the story and the characters, as well as the slow-forming chemistry. There was a bit too much insta-love, but it was overall a jumble of bad editing and not enough world building to make the world clear.
May 1, 2018
I bought this because the blurb sounded interesting... I was having major doubts in the first two chapters, mainly because I didn't know where the story was going or much about the world the characters lived in. However, the story grew on me, and I really liked it. It's a nice dystopian read about some kind of underground world(?). The only thing that was strange was the belief in magic, between the bracelets and the bad guy (kinda pulled a Voldemort/Quirrell thing)...
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews