What do you think?
Rate this book
Honor Bound #1
Honor Bound: Book 1
The war against the syndicates is over. Anyone who remains knows to keep their heads down and stay out of the way. Those who don't risk torture and death.
Isaac grew up training to fight. He has spent the past six years of his life doing everything he can to strike back at the cruel syndicate families that destroyed his life. He and his friends have all been broken by the syndicates, one way or another. The group travels the country sabotaging the vicious Stormbecks, the syndicate that controls the region with an iron fist.
When Sam, the group's youngest member, is kidnapped and tortured by the Stormbecks' son, Isaac would do anything to get them back. The ragtag family launches a mission to rescue Sam, and Isaac makes a choice that will shatter all their lives forever.
Isaac grew up training to fight. He has spent the past six years of his life doing everything he can to strike back at the cruel syndicate families that destroyed his life. He and his friends have all been broken by the syndicates, one way or another. The group travels the country sabotaging the vicious Stormbecks, the syndicate that controls the region with an iron fist.
When Sam, the group's youngest member, is kidnapped and tortured by the Stormbecks' son, Isaac would do anything to get them back. The ragtag family launches a mission to rescue Sam, and Isaac makes a choice that will shatter all their lives forever.
387 pages, Paperback
First published April 9, 2020
8 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
Athena Ryals
9 books6 followersAthena Ryals is the award-winning, Illinois-based author of the Honor Bound series. Their short fiction and poetry have been featured in Erato, Z Publishing's Colorado's Emerging Writers and America's Emerging Poets, and Colorado School of Mines' High Grade.
Honor Bound: Book 1 is the winner of the Wishing Shelf's Red Ribbon Award and is a 5-star Reader's Favorite Awards book. It is also a Finalist for the Next Generation Indie Book Awards.
Honor Bound: Book 2 is the Silver Medalist for the LGBTQIA category of the Reader View's Literary Awards, and is a 5-star Reader's Favorite Awards book.
They are currently working on final book in the series, Honor Bound: Book 6, set to release in winter of 2025. Vera, a prequel/companion to the Honor Bound series, is currently in the works as well.
They graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a Bachelor's degree in Mining Engineering. While they were there, they took every writing elective available to them. When they were laid off of their engineering job in 2015, they had to start a new career, this time in EMS.
A writing challenge in September of 2019 threw them back into writing and they have not stopped since.
They work on an ambulance as a paramedic.
Honor Bound: Book 1 is the winner of the Wishing Shelf's Red Ribbon Award and is a 5-star Reader's Favorite Awards book. It is also a Finalist for the Next Generation Indie Book Awards.
Honor Bound: Book 2 is the Silver Medalist for the LGBTQIA category of the Reader View's Literary Awards, and is a 5-star Reader's Favorite Awards book.
They are currently working on final book in the series, Honor Bound: Book 6, set to release in winter of 2025. Vera, a prequel/companion to the Honor Bound series, is currently in the works as well.
They graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a Bachelor's degree in Mining Engineering. While they were there, they took every writing elective available to them. When they were laid off of their engineering job in 2015, they had to start a new career, this time in EMS.
A writing challenge in September of 2019 threw them back into writing and they have not stopped since.
They work on an ambulance as a paramedic.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 19, 2021
This book was entered in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. This is what our readers thought:
Title: Honor Bound, Book 1
Author: Athena Ryals
Star Rating: 4 Stars
Number of Readers: 17
Stats
Editing: 8/10
Writing Style: 8/10
Content: 7/10
Cover: 7/10
Of the 17 readers:
13 would read another book by this author.
12 thought the cover was good or excellent.
16 felt it was easy to follow.
14 would recommend this story to another reader to try.
Of all the readers, 3 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘plotting a story’.
Of all the readers, 7 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘developing the characters’.
Of all the readers, 7 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘writing style’.
13 felt the pacing was good or excellent.
13 thought the author understood the readership and what they wanted.
Readers’ Comments
“Exciting story. The author has created an interesting world for the reader to delve into. Elements of torture and violence, but generally handled well by the author. I suspect fans of adventure and dystopian type novels will find this of interest.” Male reader, age 42
“Strong antagonists and protagonists, this is a character-led story with a strong dystopian feel to it. The writing is generally pacey with a good balance of descriptive prose and speech. It felt a bit slow and padded out in the middle, but I think it's a strong start to a set of books.” Female reader, aged 39
“There's tons of potential here with this book. The author's done a wonderful job of creating her world and the strong set of characters for readers to follow. In many ways, this is like an adult version of The Maze Runner with an evil Corporation (in this case, syndicate) controlling the world. I very much enjoyed it and look forward to reading the next.” Male reader, age 52
“Plenty of twists, plenty of turns, plenty of showing, and not too much telling. This author is a talented writer, and I expect she'll go far.” Female reader, age 24
To Sum It Up:
‘A dark, gritty tale with strong characterisation. A RED RIBBON WINNER and highly recommended.’ The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
Title: Honor Bound, Book 1
Author: Athena Ryals
Star Rating: 4 Stars
Number of Readers: 17
Stats
Editing: 8/10
Writing Style: 8/10
Content: 7/10
Cover: 7/10
Of the 17 readers:
13 would read another book by this author.
12 thought the cover was good or excellent.
16 felt it was easy to follow.
14 would recommend this story to another reader to try.
Of all the readers, 3 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘plotting a story’.
Of all the readers, 7 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘developing the characters’.
Of all the readers, 7 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘writing style’.
13 felt the pacing was good or excellent.
13 thought the author understood the readership and what they wanted.
Readers’ Comments
“Exciting story. The author has created an interesting world for the reader to delve into. Elements of torture and violence, but generally handled well by the author. I suspect fans of adventure and dystopian type novels will find this of interest.” Male reader, age 42
“Strong antagonists and protagonists, this is a character-led story with a strong dystopian feel to it. The writing is generally pacey with a good balance of descriptive prose and speech. It felt a bit slow and padded out in the middle, but I think it's a strong start to a set of books.” Female reader, aged 39
“There's tons of potential here with this book. The author's done a wonderful job of creating her world and the strong set of characters for readers to follow. In many ways, this is like an adult version of The Maze Runner with an evil Corporation (in this case, syndicate) controlling the world. I very much enjoyed it and look forward to reading the next.” Male reader, age 52
“Plenty of twists, plenty of turns, plenty of showing, and not too much telling. This author is a talented writer, and I expect she'll go far.” Female reader, age 24
To Sum It Up:
‘A dark, gritty tale with strong characterisation. A RED RIBBON WINNER and highly recommended.’ The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
featured
January 20, 2025Gray Uriah from Honor Bound is asexual!
https://www.tumblr.com/aspeccharacter...
https://www.tumblr.com/aspeccharacter...
October 19, 2020
“Honor Bound” by Athena Ryals is an action novel following a family going up against a crime syndicate who has kidnapped one of their own. It takes place after the United States has collapsed into anarchy and most people live at the mercy of these syndicates. In addition to being the first book in a new series, “Honor Bound” is also the author’s debut novel.
Ryals puts her background as a paramedic to great use, creating vivid and realistic scenarios that make her novel that much more gripping. In a setting where society has fallen into disarray and most hospitals are controlled by the vicious and violent syndicates that terrorize the country, medics are highly valued. Ryals makes it clear that she knows what she’s talking about. She isn’t afraid to impart a few pieces of her own knowledge on the reader!
“Honor Bound” is a novel that, while mainly focused on action, is incredibly inclusive to the LGBTQ+ community. One of the pivotal relationships of the story is between Vera, one of the main characters, and a woman named Tori. Well-written female romances, while starting to become more common, are not something readers get to frequently read in action stories. Several other characters are also referred to through gender neutral pronouns.
Ryals also explores the different dynamics of the “found family” trope. While none of the characters in the family this novel centers around are related to each other, they all share strong familial bonds that help them survive the hellscape their world has become. Each individual relationship is carefully explored, as well as the overall group dynamic.
This is not a novel for a squeamish audience. It contains a lot of violence, much of which comes across as excessive and unnecessary. Large portions of the story are taken up by scenes of various characters being tortured. The scenes do nothing to move the plot forward, and often times the author cuts away from the action in order to show them. It’s hard to read and doesn’t add to novel. It actually drags the pace down and slows the plot. These scenes also become very repetitive after a while.
The main antagonist is a man named Gavin, a high-ranking member of one of the crime syndicates. At various points throughout “Honor Bound,” Gavin has captured different main characters and taken them back to his dungeons to torture. There doesn’t seem to be any reasoning behind his decisions to do this, beyond him being sadistic. He’s a somewhat one-dimensional villain. He lacks a motive and seems to do cruel things out of boredom and pettiness. The same is true of the syndicates. It seems like they’re in the story just to fill the role of antagonist. They don’t have any goals to accomplish, beyond hurting the main characters. The main characters are very likable, and the audience doesn’t want them to be hurt, but that isn’t enough to keep the tension high throughout the novel or to move the plot forward.
“Honor Bound” is a novel that leaves me conflicted. Parts of it were very enjoyable, and parts of it were not. It’s a good book for a reader who would like to find a story about a close-knit family in a setting where all law and order has collapsed. On the other hand, the plot is often dragged down by unnecessary scenes and the length of the novel could easily be cut in half by removing those scenes. Despite this, it is a book with a lot of promise. With two more books in the series, there is plenty of time to turn it into a trilogy to remember!
Ryals puts her background as a paramedic to great use, creating vivid and realistic scenarios that make her novel that much more gripping. In a setting where society has fallen into disarray and most hospitals are controlled by the vicious and violent syndicates that terrorize the country, medics are highly valued. Ryals makes it clear that she knows what she’s talking about. She isn’t afraid to impart a few pieces of her own knowledge on the reader!
“Honor Bound” is a novel that, while mainly focused on action, is incredibly inclusive to the LGBTQ+ community. One of the pivotal relationships of the story is between Vera, one of the main characters, and a woman named Tori. Well-written female romances, while starting to become more common, are not something readers get to frequently read in action stories. Several other characters are also referred to through gender neutral pronouns.
Ryals also explores the different dynamics of the “found family” trope. While none of the characters in the family this novel centers around are related to each other, they all share strong familial bonds that help them survive the hellscape their world has become. Each individual relationship is carefully explored, as well as the overall group dynamic.
This is not a novel for a squeamish audience. It contains a lot of violence, much of which comes across as excessive and unnecessary. Large portions of the story are taken up by scenes of various characters being tortured. The scenes do nothing to move the plot forward, and often times the author cuts away from the action in order to show them. It’s hard to read and doesn’t add to novel. It actually drags the pace down and slows the plot. These scenes also become very repetitive after a while.
The main antagonist is a man named Gavin, a high-ranking member of one of the crime syndicates. At various points throughout “Honor Bound,” Gavin has captured different main characters and taken them back to his dungeons to torture. There doesn’t seem to be any reasoning behind his decisions to do this, beyond him being sadistic. He’s a somewhat one-dimensional villain. He lacks a motive and seems to do cruel things out of boredom and pettiness. The same is true of the syndicates. It seems like they’re in the story just to fill the role of antagonist. They don’t have any goals to accomplish, beyond hurting the main characters. The main characters are very likable, and the audience doesn’t want them to be hurt, but that isn’t enough to keep the tension high throughout the novel or to move the plot forward.
“Honor Bound” is a novel that leaves me conflicted. Parts of it were very enjoyable, and parts of it were not. It’s a good book for a reader who would like to find a story about a close-knit family in a setting where all law and order has collapsed. On the other hand, the plot is often dragged down by unnecessary scenes and the length of the novel could easily be cut in half by removing those scenes. Despite this, it is a book with a lot of promise. With two more books in the series, there is plenty of time to turn it into a trilogy to remember!
June 17, 2021
Paperback Copy for Review
Life is always a struggle.
This is a world of learning to survive and keeping a low profile. We meet Isaac who has learn to fight back at the cruel syndicate families who has destroyed his family. He and his friends set to destroy the syndicate as they travelled across the country.
His world will be shaken when the youngest member Sam he and his friends will do anything to get him back as they seek to rescue him. How far will they go to save Sam?
A compelling read that will keep you glue to the pages.
Life is always a struggle.
This is a world of learning to survive and keeping a low profile. We meet Isaac who has learn to fight back at the cruel syndicate families who has destroyed his family. He and his friends set to destroy the syndicate as they travelled across the country.
His world will be shaken when the youngest member Sam he and his friends will do anything to get him back as they seek to rescue him. How far will they go to save Sam?
A compelling read that will keep you glue to the pages.
September 4, 2020
Hands down this is one of my favorite books. I continuously go back and reread it because how can I not??? The representation is amazing and the characters are so fully developed with different layers and backgrounds aspects to their personalities; I love love love them. The storyline is super complex and it just keeps getting better! I was so happy when I got the physical copy in my hands. This book is amazing and I can’t wait for the next one!
September 5, 2020
This is a phenomenal work of art, filled with compelling and believable characters who struggle through their challenges. We are able to see their growth through the book. This book has a fun and expressive villain, horrific backstories and one of the best found families that I have found in fiction. All I can say is this book is worth the read and has been worth the wait.
May 18, 2020
I am so in love with everything about this book! It is such a phenomenal read from page 1. I will say please be warned this book deals with some rather dark topics including torture so please be aware of that going in. But this book truly is one of my best reads of 2020 so far and it quickly made its way into my list of all time favorites!
Yes I went back and reread this one super quickly, because I got my physical copy, and I wanted too, and it was just that good!
Yes I went back and reread this one super quickly, because I got my physical copy, and I wanted too, and it was just that good!
February 26, 2022
Where this book really shines is with its characters. Every single one of them is fascinating, with their own unique backstory and personality. I would have liked it if there had a bit more worldbuilding, but I'm sure that Ryals will expand the world in future books. Overall, if you like dark, gritty, violent, dystopian reads, give this book a shot!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews