Review: Soulbound

Title: Soulbound
Author: Heather Brewer
Series: Legacy of Tril #1
Publisher: Dial
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: ARC

Tril is a world where Barrons and Healers are Bound to each other: Barrons fight and Healers cure their Barrons' wounds in the ongoing war with the evil Graplar King. Seventeen-year-old Kaya was born a Healer, but she wants to fight. In Tril, and at Shadow Academy, where she is sent to learn to heal, it is against Protocol for Healers to fight. So Kaya must learn in secret. Enter two young men: One charming, rule-following Barron who becomes Bound to Kaya and whose life she must protect at all costs. And one with a mysterious past who seems bent on making Kaya's life as difficult as possible. Kaya asks both to train her, but only one will, and the consequences will change their lives forever.

My thoughts: 

I don’t think I can actually put into words how much I loved this book! I really think that as of late I’ve found a new love in fantasy novels! Heather Brewer is an amazing storyteller and I will read pretty much anything she writes. I was a little hesitant when I started Soulbound because of the length but after about a few chapters, I was so sucked in that the page count wasn’t an issue.

Kaya is a really great main character! Her parents raised her to have a good head on her shoulders and to think for herself. When she is ripped from her parents and forced to attend the Shadow Academy and be trained only as a healer, she goes with it, for a while. But after she learns that more Healers than Barrons are dying, she wants to learn to fight for herself. And then the story gets really awesome!

Even though I really liked the cute, innocent, let’s get to know each other relationship Kaya has with Treyton, I can’t help but loving the tension filled relationship that she has with Darius. It’s a very rare occurrence where I like both of the love interests almost equally.

The world-building was also really fantastic! In the world of Tril there are the Healers and the Barrons who are considered Skilled people and are therefore the elite of society. Then there are the Unskilled who are the farmer and shopkeepers who live in little towns and villages. The whole county of Tril is plagued by the grapplers who are monsters that wage war for their dark king who is trying to take over the country. It was all really fascinating and I found myself completely enthralled!

And then there was that ending! It was a HUGE cliffhanger! I like to consider myself a shallow reader so I don’t look for any kind of foreshadowing or anything fancy like that. If a book can keep my attention, I usually like it! So when this big revelation hit, I did not see it coming! I was SHOCKED! I give Soulbound 5 hearts because it was exciting, full of adventure and had just the right amount of romance!