Saturday 19 May 2012

Review: Bound by C.K Bryant (The Crystor Series #1)

Title:  Bound
Author: C.K Bryant
Publication date: October 8th 2011
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Cover rating: 3/5
Content rating: 3/5
Buy: Amazon


Description via Goodreads:
When a photo shoot ends in tragedy, Kira discovers her best friend, Lydia, has been keeping a secret. Knowing the truth, and accepting it, will change Kira’s life forever and thrust her into a world of ancient curses, magical objects, and savage enemies. What happens next will challenge everything Kira knows about her world, herself and the shape-shifting warrior she’s falling in love with. No longer the timid mouse her mother accused her of being, but a woman who finds the mental and physical strength to endure and survive.
My thoughts:
Bound has been on my to-read list for quite a while now and so I was very excited to sit down and finally get the chance to check it out! While it won't be making my favourites list, I still genuinely enjoyed it and it had my attention from the very first page. Bound certainly gets full marks for originality. I thought everything in this book had a very different feel to it which is awesome because for a while there, lots of the YA paranormal books I was coming across just seemed like copies of each other or lacked some extra spark to actually make them stand out!

Our protagonist is Kira and this novel follows her life as things get, well, really weird. Her home life practically falls apart (seriously- her mother ups and leaves!) and she learns some shocking secrets about her best friend. I loved Kira and enjoyed getting to know her. I think she's a very independent character and I loved that she was never afraid to speak her mind or tell somebody to quit doing something that was getting on her nerves or upsetting her. While I wouldn't say she takes everything in her stride, she does handle all the events with grace and bravery which I had to admire her for.

What I loved most about Bound was how intelligent it all was. This was definitely wasn't a light or quick read for me. The plot really has a lot of depth and is well thought out. There are a lot of back stories and every aspect of the story had a history to it which I loved learning about. Bryant has created many interesting characters and I loved finding out more about them. Kira's friend Lydia- and her 'kindred spirit'' Altaria- are simply fascinating to read about. I went back and forth on how I felt about Octavion! I thought he was an interesting guy but not really a great love interest.

This book made me think a lot about what I would do if I had to make some of the decisions Kira was faced with making. The story did drag for me at parts and my interest began to wane for a while but mostly, I really did like it and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to fellow paranormal fans! Bound has many interesting concepts, characters, events and creatures. The second book in the series, Broken, is coming out in the next few weeks and I will probably check it out when I have the time!

12 comments:

  1. I love a book that makes you think a bit about yourself! I'd never even noticed this one before, but it definitiely sounds like something I'd enjoy.
    Oh, and I've always been oddly fascinated by mothers who just abandon their children - it's incomprehensible to me.
    Fantastic review, Nicola!

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  2. The plot sounds intriguing and I liked that it had depth. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, despite it not being a favorite, it does sound like a worthwhile read.

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  3. If I don't read you review, I might would never check out this book, Nicola! This book sounds totally amazing. I enjoy books with clever plots because I love to be surprised! I also like learning about history, so I think this book really worth a shot someday! :)

    Awesome review, Nicola! <3

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  4. Great review, Nicola =) I actually hadn't heard of this one before, so thanks for bringing it to my attention. I think I would enjoy the in-depth storyline & all the back stories. I think I will have to give this one a go in the future. :)

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  5. I am not familiar with this series, but from your review it sounds promising. I do like books with depth and multi layered plots so that is something that appeals to me. Thanks for the heads up on this one Nicola :)

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  6. Great review! I never heard about this book but it sounds pretty interesting! I agree with you how many YA books in this type of genre try to 'copy cat' each other! So it's nice to read about a book which is different than the others;)! You convinced me to put this on my TBR list :)

    Thanks!

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  7. Thanks for a great review, Nicola. I was pleasantly surprised to come across it this morning. BROKEN should be out in June. I hope you'll choose to read the sequel. Octavion really IS a good guy. :-)

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    1. Thanks for stopping by! I'm definitely interested in learning more about Octavion. ;)

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  8. This certainly sounds intriguing.
    I haven't heard of it before, but I'll be adding it to my to-read list.
    It's great that the book is well thought-out. It just makes the reading experience even more enjoyable.
    Great review, Nicola. :)

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  9. This is the first I've heard of this one Nicola. Awesome review. I'll be adding it to the TBR....

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  10. Thanks for reviewing a book I never heard of before Nicola! It sounds like a very promising book.

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  11. I just finished reading Bound and I can hardly wait for Broken to be released. I was so disappointed to find out at the end of the first book that there was a sequel and I would have to wait for it to be released. I stayed up half the night finishing the first one and I'm sure I will be doing the same when I can get my hands on Broken.

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So sorry about the word verification, it's the only way to stop the huge amounts of spam!

Thanks SO much for taking the time to comment, I really appreciate it.

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