The Bound
J.M. Douglas
The Bound are important for the balance between rulers. The Bound without Masters are dangerous. It’s so important to have a Bound that people will kill for the right, without thought or purpose. When an important artifact is broken, it is unclear who the Bound are, and what impact they will have on the inequality in the country.
I didn’t like the cover, and the synopsis didn’t set me on fire. But I was promised some queer characters, and then I read the first page or so and I was hooked. I got attached to characters too quickly, and then they died! Talk about a masterwork by the author on hooking me in realistically with her character building then just easily killing off my heart.
Finian seems to have a background that we really aren’t aware of, and don’t get to know. He’s so tortured, and yet we don’t know why. Why is he this way? I think I was left with more questions than answers.
This novel explores how upbringing can overcome past history, but also that fairness and bravery play a large role in the development of young people. Yedda and Corliss basically swap spots. From being the trouble-maker and the follower, both become strong young women in their own rights. Both are expected to be Bound, but in fact it’s more complicated than that. I’d love to see what the future holds for them.
I can’t decide if it will get a sequel or not. It finished so nicely, and yet there’s more to be told in that world. The author has updated me that she’s thinking about writing a sequel, and perhaps a very very early prequel. I’d be on that pretty keenly.
The whole time, I was on Laura’s side. I couldn’t believe how shallow some people were. But at the same time, I couldn’t believe how stupid Laura was. As if you would let an unknown person unlimited access to your computer! And use the same password for everything. And not have backups!
For a novel which could have been quite dry as a translation, it spoke powerfully to me and I was thinking about it while I wasn’t reading it. It seemed like more of the straight forward questions I had were answered, yet at the same time, more questions were raised. Is this really possible? Can you be raised by dogs, or wolves as in The Jungle Book?
At times, I felt exactly as David did about his son. Ben couldn’t be dead. It was painfully clear that David’s self-deception as a character came through as an unreliable narrator. This was such powerful writing, and I could feel all of the characters leaping out of their pages like real people.
Romance. Romance, romance, romance. I forget that I generally don’t enjoy the ‘smoking’ sex scenes or powerful erections. I appreciated the differences between James and Joaquin’s love-making styles, but I wasn’t left asking for more. I read other great romances (Deep Blue) lately, and they just have an individual spark that makes them great. This novel attempted to keep me interested in Mexico, specifically Acapulco, but it just didn’t happen.
I could hardly put this novel down, which was surprising because its basically a memoir. I’ve never heard of her though, so it was all new to me. I did enjoy the ‘journey’ right from the beginning of her life.
Where can I start talking about this novel? It arrived, I spotted it, and next thing it was 2 hours later and I still couldn’t put it down. …yes I have problems with being attracted to new books. The pages grabbed me right from the beginning, pulled me in, and kept me reading because things could change at any moment. And of course, I love reading about the training of new and innovative skills.
As always, it can be dangerous reading a sequel of 
The blurb of the book suggests that “a letter. In Jenna’s handwriting. Along with a key.” is the most important driving force behind the novel. In fact though there is so much more to the story. The interactions of the characters and the flipping time periods do a much better job of exploring the story.
There are some interesting things going on in this novel. If you wait too long after reading something, you lose those things. It’s not that I’ve waited too long, its that I’ve read about 5 books in the mean time. Oops?