The Ties That Bind Us

5⭐️1🌶

I finished The Ties That Bind Us by Deidra Duncan at about 4:30 this morning.  It was amazing but if I'm honest, I feel scandalized by that ending.  I knew it was the first in a series; I think it's going to be a duology, so I figured it would end on a cliffhanger but holy Hannah, I was not expecting that.  The book is very heavy with fantasy lore, the magic system is also downright trippy.  It's essentially a portal fantasy.  David and Sean are raised in Viterra, the mortal realm, our realm.  They live in a tiny town in California.  But they are both important.  There is a prophesy, they are both components of this prophesy along with a couple other people.  It gets really complicated, really fast.  I will admit, this first bit of this book dragged a bit for me, but there was so much that needed to be established.  Sean and David get pulled into Luxoria separately but they both wind up there.  Sean is the purported Savior and when he finds out his whole life was a lie he doesn't take it well.  When David get there he immediately gets the cold shoulder because he's the Shadow, thought to be Sean's potential downfall.  David has a very sad and complex backstory so takes his news a bit better but is justifiably angry when he finds out the family who raised him wasn't his family and he endured their abuse because of his real mother's actions.  There is also a whole genetic memory of ancestors thing going on.  So they each have memories, have had memories from these people coming to the surface.  When I say this is complicated, it is, but not in a bad way.  There is alot going on in this book.  The marketing isn't 100% accurate but its hard to describe why.  Its tauted as a love circle not a triangle, which it basically is.  But there are really four people involved so its more like a love quadrangle.  There is also another bond that is forced upon two characters which is vital to the plot but I don't want to spoil it too much.  It makes the already complicated situation so so much more complicated.  This certainly gave off Vampire Diary vibes.  David is Damon and Sean is Stefan.  Now what I disagree with is this is getting pushed off as a why choose, which it had potential to become and quite possibly will become in the next book.  But, it didn't dive into that here.  Anna and Sean start feeling things for eachother but they both stay firmly in the denial stage, the "we're just friends" stage.  So that's it, my only criticism of the marketing specifically.  Overall it was immersive and rich with world building, magic, found family, finding real family, and getting hurled down a path none of them chose or wanted.  The memories of ancestors and the whole prophesy aspect was very intriguing.  I'm invested and I can not wait for the next book!