Heather Brewer
Soulbound (Legacy of Tril, Book 1)
Penguin (US & CA: 19th June 2012; AU: 2nd July 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Think I added this to my wishlist before I knew what it was about. I’m not much for traditional/high/epic fantasy. Still, I gave this a crack.
Soulbound is an easy read, a page-turner, but my word it gets on one’s nerves. We meet the two potential love-interests early. Kaya Oshiro is Bound to Trayton, a good-looking, nice, friendly bloke with a smile. But then there’s Darius, a good-looking guy who picks on Kaya, always angry at/with her. We’ve read enough fiction to know that of course the heroine will pick the douchebag over the nice guy. “Brian, do women like it when you treat them like crap?” asks Stewie Griffin in an episode of Family Guy. Well, Stewie, FICTIONAL women like it when you treat them like crap, but who knows about real-life chicks…
The summary blatantly says that one guy plays by the rules, and the other doesn’t, and that one will train Kaya to fight, but there’s no secret as to which one. Soulbound lacks subtlety and mystery. In the world of Tril, mean girls are just mean girls, though at least the story’s big antag has some shades of grey. But mean girls aren’t allowed to be complex in fiction. Authors tend to avoid fleshing them out.
In its favour, though, Soulbound is a breezy read, if you switch off your thoughts. Don’t think about it, and you’ll have a good time.
