The Legacy of Tril: Soulbound [Hardcover]

This honestly has a great plot. Kaya, an 18 year old who was raised outside the rules of a strict mythical society, is suddenly forced to live in the heart of that society to save her parents. She can't help but rebel against rules that make no sense. There are also two possible love interests she's attracted to, one is encouraged by society, the other, forbidden.

The part of the book that was in the free sample was engaging, however, once I bought the book and got just a few paragraphs futher into the story, it felt like the author and editor became lazy and suddenly Kaya had the inner voice of a spoiled California Middle-Schooler. I found it hard to believe the rest of the book was written by the same person, the difference was so dramatic. The problems with this story are numerous.

First, was the lack of consistency. Such as - Soul mates are described as being born in the same moment, and Kaya is introduced as being 'eight and ten', yet later we're told her Soul Mate is seventeen. Not only are the ages different, but also the wording of the term. Should it not have been 'seven and ten?' A grapler's teeth dig deeply into Kaya's thigh, but a few paragraphs later we're told the grapler only nipped her. The first two grapler attacks happen during the day, then we're told graplers are nocturnal. When Kaya first enters the school, we're told healers are placed on pedestals, then later we're told they are treated like second class citizens. We never see Kaya write to her parents, but later we're told she wrote every week.

Second, the setting of the story seems somewhat medieval. There's no power sources, everything seems primitive, and yet Kaya speaks with very modern, very American expressions such as 'whatever!', 'night life', 'fights like a machine' and 'gross.' I never could get really immersed in the story as the physical world described conflicted with the speech of the characters, yanking me out of the story.

Third, Kaya's thought processes and a few of the plot points had little base in logic. She is being attacked, and her rescuer tells her to run, but Kaya instead chooses to stay and confront her rescuer on his rude behavior. Healers are to be protected because there are not enough of them and the graplers target them when they attack, but they are assigned Barron bodyguards who have never been taught how to fight. Another time when the entire school is being attacked, Kaya takes the time in the middle of a huge battle to demand an apology from Darius, which is apparently more important than the fact that other students are being killed around her. And I never understood why Kaya wanted the apology in the first place as the sentences that describe her reasoning made no sense.

Finally, I am very tired of heroines who claim to be able to take care of themselves who trip and fall down, drop their swords (twice), stand frozen in horror instead of defending themselves, frequently have to be rescued and whose principles are expressed not in passionate debate, but in blatant disrespect. It is one thing to disagree and debate with a teacher, it is another to be downright rude for no purpose other than to laugh about it later. By the end of the story, that's precisely what Kaya was doing. A role model for teen girls Kaya is not!

This could have been a great story and a promising series. I hope that the author and her editor will do a better job on the sequel, because when people spend $11 on a kindle book, they expect a far better quality of writing than this.

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!

In the world of Tril, on the continent of Kokoro, there is a hidden academy. Away from the eyes of the Unskilled, Barrons and Healers are trained to be ready for battle with the evil overlord Darrek. Every Healer is Soulbound to a Barron. If one of them dies, the other can still be Bound to another partner.
Kaya is a Healer forced to join the academy to save her parents, who are both Barrons (as this is illegal). Her Soulbound Barron died without her ever knowing him, but at the academy, she is bound to a heartbroken good-looking boy, Trayton.
Once they are bound, Kaya can't help but fall for him, and he is completely devoted to her. But is it love, or is she just pretending because she knows she can't ever break free of this ridiculous system?

Trayton learns how to fight, while Kaya kind of learns to heal, and Kaya is certain that she needs to learn how to defend herself. She finds someone willing to break Protocol and teach a Healer: the fighting instructor, Darius, an Unskilled who seems to have a grudge against Kaya. Also he is of course her own age and drop-dead gorgeous. (But then so is Trayton.)

All the while they've got to deal with attacks by Graplars, large monsters sent by Darrek to destroy Healers in specific. Kaya doesn't know her feelings, she doesn't know if she'll see her parents again, she's not sure if she can make it through the boring history class, and she doesn't know if she'll even make it to continue the struggle next week.

So it's a teen-drama romance fantasy. But the problem is that the fantasy is interesting, and the romance is not. I would like to read more about the world set-up. If I have to read any more about Kaya... I couldn't stand it. She is really, really irritating. Not to say she isn't realistic -- she is the most realistic character in the whole book (maybe the only realistic character), but she is annoying.
Several times she declares (either to herself or to others) that she can take care of herself. Obviously, she can't. She always has to be rescued. She has even admitted that she can't take care of herself -- and a few pages later goes on to wonder why Trayton needs to protect her, as she can take care of herself.
And that's a good question -- why isn't Trayton there to protect her? The Graplars are somehow getting into the school. Kaya is attacked, Darius saves her. Kaya is attacked again (boy does she get into trouble), and again Trayton isn't there. But they have an argument where he objects to her wanting to learn to fight, she says she has a right to protect herself, and he says he's supposed to protect her, and for some reason she doesn't pull up the fact that he wasn't there to protect her before. She just keeps insisting she should be able to defend herself.

And she does learn. In fact she learns surprisingly quick. I wonder if this is explained in a sequel because it wasn't here. (But you do get to figure out how the Graplars are getting into the school, and why Darius behaves the way he does towards Kaya.)

Most of the story -- that is, the situations -- were contrived. Trayton's childhood friend Melanie has a party, just so Kaya can once again see Melanie flirt with Trayton. Characters overhear each other and stumble across each other at the right moments, masks that stay on during battle get pulled off by someone, etc., and the ending was ridiculous.

It's a fantasy world, but the characters don't act very different, the food terms are the same, it was a lot like reading a high-school drama. (Cutting out Melanie actually would have made it a lot better.) The swearwords were different... but not different enough. The book is littered with phrases such as 'what the fak' and 'he's a dek' and it's not like anyone can't tell what she means. Cutting these down significantly would have improved my mood toward the book.

SOULBOUND was like a shojo manga/anime. That's what it reminded me of. One of those that isn't very good but you read anyway because you want to see what happens next. The book really irritated me, but I did read it all the way through, which says something.

If the sequel would develop the world more, and have better dialog, I may be interested enough to read it.