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 pu...