The Silence That Binds

by Paul Jessup

The world is cursed. A monstrous fog consumes and remakes all things infected with the black fog. A community of Seers push back against the curse. These seers are all women who have been orphaned. They live and train together in an ancient temple past the bone labyrinth. They perform elaborate and beautiful rituals to appease the ghosts of the world, and hold back the tide of the curse.

Their leader, Naomi, is missing.

Mazi, her adopted daughter, and her friend, Talia, embark on a dangerous quest to the center of an infected city, seeking out their lost mother. Without knowing it, they enact a deadly drama as old as time, where ghost hearts, curses, wicked prophets, and seers, all wrestle with the fabric of reality, itself.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Adult Fiction, Fiction

268 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2021

About the author

Paul Jessup does not exist.

Reviews

[Sarah Shah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mix of absolutely heartbreaking, and heartwarming. This story shows how sometimes we do everything for blood, and it turns cold, and how a total stranger proves to be everything we never thought we needed to save us. Story of courage, story of support, where two people come together to save what you loves, and what matters to you. What we save saves us too. Mazi remembering what Lens did to Naomi, yet still remembering and focusing on the good times. Remembering, that he stole the ghost heart to save his brother, & rather he ended in misery. Remembering, her feelings. Remembering the little beautiful moments, instead. Is how you become bigger. Every person plays a role, sometimes for the same cause, everyone is trying to save something, someone, and themselves, is what this story teaches you. How you lose things on your way and you still go on keeping all of that in your heart. Mazi, Talia, Naomi, and Lens kept their commitments till the end, or, their ends. Shows, it is not about how old you are, after all.

[Kat Dugger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a fascinating book, from beginning to end. I'm not a "women can be heroes, too" person, but this was so nice to see not just the main character, but most of the strong characters being women. Badass women at that. Every emotion these characters felt, jumped off the page, and I reacted in kind. I couldn't stop turning pages (even if it was on a tablet). At one point, I mentioned to Jessup that a character reminded me of Polonius from Hamlet. That was just from how the character spoke. However, he definitely had the feel throughout his part in the book. You really need to read this book.

[Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

surreal, fascinating

[Stef · Rating 3 out of 5]

won on goodreads giveaway

I am not sure what to think. This was interesting and odd.