Bound (Kria, #2) in Q&A with Megan Derr

Dec 25, 2010 T.T. Kove rated it it was amazing

Shelves: genre-fantasy

This is set several generations after Prisoner, though both Beraht and Dieter are still extremely well known. And I loved that fact, because those two are the best. This book was so good, so intense and exciting and I could not put it down.

Aden and Reinoehl were my favorites, but I also liked the little love story of two minor characters (view spoiler). Erich and Ingolf ... I liked them, I did. (view spoiler) ...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Emanuela ~plastic duck~ rated it really liked it

Shelves: rainbow-gay, romance, glbt, fantasy

4.5 stars.

Like the first book in the series, Prisoner, the world building is very well done and fascinating. It takes place a few generations after the events of the first book.

The magic-addict Salharans have invaded the warrior kingdom of Kria. Ingolf, who finds himself the only survivor of the Royal family, is the bastard son of the king, brought up to lead an army. He knows that the sword of the Betrayer can resist Salharan magic and he steals it. Erich, the crown prince of the neutral Illuss 4.5 stars.

Like the first book in the series, Prisoner, the world building is very well done and fascinating. It takes place a few generations after the events of the first book.

The magic-addict Salharans have invaded the warrior kingdom of Kria. Ingolf, who finds himself the only survivor of the Royal family, is the bastard son of the king, brought up to lead an army. He knows that the sword of the Betrayer can resist Salharan magic and he steals it. Erich, the crown prince of the neutral Illussor, tries to retrieve it. His abduction turns into a willing cooperation with Ingolf when Erich overhears a traitorous plan of one of Ingolf's bodyguards. In Kria, Reinoehl, the son of the Cobalt General, is imprisoned and the Illussor spy Aden saves him to gain a safe conduct out of Krian, and Aden promises Reinhoel the help of Illussor.

I must admit I preferred the first book in the series. Beraht and Dieter were rounder characters and their relationship developed slowly and it was livelier and more compelling. In this book I liked very much the two protagonists from Illussor, but I was left cold by the Krians.

Erich is a widower and he's not able to overcome his grief for the loss of his husband, Hahn. Meeting Ingolf he finds a new mission and a man who makes him feel things he had forgotten. When they are later separated, and Ingolf has to make decisions that set them further apart, Erich is torn between his fear of losing a new chance at life and his duty as supporter of his Queen and leader of an army.

When compared to Erich, Ingolf's figure was too dull. I think it depends on the fact that he had to stay far from the action, confined in the royal palace to deal with political matters. It seemed he was not really the maker of his destiny, but only a tool of it.

Aden is a spy, a man who has to use deception to live. I think he was my favorite character. He was charming, proud and strong. He also had a certain melancholy, it was as if he was always aware of how precarious his life was. At the beginning the sparks with Reinhoel fly, but he is always the one who finds the way to mend the arguments with his lover. Reinhoel, like all Krians, is a bit too stubborn and unrelenting. At the beginning he doubts his new station as Lord General, but he (too) soon overcomes it. I wish this doubtful trait had been developed a bit more, because I found his insecurities an interesting match to Aden's more assertive personality.

The most interesting character, even if there's never his point-of-view, is Pancraz. He is the one who has the broader story arc. I can't tell more without spoiling the book, but I liked that he thought his life was set on a certain path and then events steered that course to another direction. Unlike Ingolf, though, I had the impression Pancraz was more a maker of his destiny, that's why I liked him so much.

I think the book was unputdownable until the 90% circa of it, then the resolution came to easily and in very few pages, while the rest was one big epilogue who wasn't on the same level with the rest of the book. Instead of fading out or sizzling out, I thought the story deflated. It was still interesting, don't get me wrong, but I felt it dealt with things that I like puzzling out as a reader after a book has ended, without having to actually read it.

I appreciated the way the author brought the story forward, changing and weaving the point-of-views one chapter after another. Since one of my pet peeves is random POV shifting, I thought more than once: this is how it's done.

If you like fantasy and books where you lose yourself in the story, this is one of them. ...more

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