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misspippireads's review
2.0
Are you familiar with the classic fairytale Swan Maidens? If not, I would recommend reading the short story before (or after) reading Feather Bound. Author Sarah Raughley gives the classic story a new modern twist.
I liked that Raughley weaved swans into the history of the book. Swan information is available in classes, on the internet, and printed in brochures. That was interesting and edgy. She also kept the story very modern with the language and references to pop culture and trends.
I prefer my fractured fairytales less edgy. The language was genuine for the characters and settings, but I would rather not read books with foul language and "totes." I was taken aback by "totes." I appreciate the dynamic reading of "totes" from the Sprint commercial, but beyond that I would prefer not to read it in books.
Sections of the Swan Maidens story was included but it felt a little out of place. I'm not sure it was needed. Or maybe it just needed different formatting. I would have liked to see story selections or quotes as chapter headings rather than having them as mini "chapters" throughout the book.
Some of the themes in the book include abuse, human trafficking, understanding yourself, and justice. Evil is overcome in the end and life can slowly be rebuilt. The story wraps up well and can standalone. I give this book two swans out of five. If you're interested in modern fairytales, I would recommend reading some Alix Flinn books.
Reviewed from a NetGalley copy. Thank you, Angry Robot Ltd!
I liked that Raughley weaved swans into the history of the book. Swan information is available in classes, on the internet, and printed in brochures. That was interesting and edgy. She also kept the story very modern with the language and references to pop culture and trends.
I prefer my fractured fairytales less edgy. The language was genuine for the characters and settings, but I would rather not read books with foul language and "totes." I was taken aback by "totes." I appreciate the dynamic reading of "totes" from the Sprint commercial, but beyond that I would prefer not to read it in books.
Sections of the Swan Maidens story was included but it felt a little out of place. I'm not sure it was needed. Or maybe it just needed different formatting. I would have liked to see story selections or quotes as chapter headings rather than having them as mini "chapters" throughout the book.
Some of the themes in the book include abuse, human trafficking, understanding yourself, and justice. Evil is overcome in the end and life can slowly be rebuilt. The story wraps up well and can standalone. I give this book two swans out of five. If you're interested in modern fairytales, I would recommend reading some Alix Flinn books.
Reviewed from a NetGalley copy. Thank you, Angry Robot Ltd!
bookmarkedbysally's review
3.0
3.5 It's very different and I really liked that ! Check it out when its out !
machelriller's review against another edition
3.0
This review was first posted on Giant Squid Books.
Urban fantasy isn’t really my genre, but Feather Bound takes it on in a really fascinating and dark way I’ve never seen before. Sarah Raughley sends us to a sort-of modern day New York, with new myths and cultural norms woven in. It’s a world where we see egregiously wealthy teenagers wielding abnormal social and political power–it’s like Cruel Intentions–and I mean that only in the best way–with a bit of an urban fantasy element thrown in.
In the world of Feather Bound there are mythological creatures that live among humans–swans. In fact, they are humans, except for the fact that there are massive wings concealed beneath their skin. Nothing else distinguishes them–but they can be bound in psychological slavery to any person who takes their wings. And sometimes the swans themselves don’t know they are swans, until an experience of emotional intensity or pain causes their wings to burst out, and puts them in danger of being so taken advantage of.
The novel starts when Deanna’s supposedly long-dead childhood friend appears at his father’s funeral–with no indication of where he’s been for the last ten years. Hyde Headley takes over his father’s prestigious publishing company, causing a political backlash amongst the elite society he moves through. As he and Deanna begin dating, she gets wrapped up in the dark world of high society–where swans suffer silently among the rich. And that’s all I say about that, to avoid giving too much away about the story!
Feather Bound does a couple of things REALLY well.
First, Raughley builds an alternate universe mythology into the plot by incorporating it into the narrative with brief (and beautifully written!) mythological stories. The combination of those chapters and the assumptions that Deanna begins with around swans create do a great job to fill in the reader while maintaining a sense of mystery. And the dark reimagining of New York is so palpably gothic and creepy.
On the realism side of the story, Raughley does a remarkable job building some of the supporting characters. The conversations between Deanna and her sister Adrianna are so on point–Adrianna’s dialogue is so solidly written, and she, like a real person, straddles the line between being truly admirable and incredibly obnoxious. I think the same is true of Shannon, a protester for swan rights, who just comes alive off the page with really strong dialogue. On the flip side of that, I did wish for a little bit more humanization of some of the villains–they’re just so wholly reprehensible!
Thematically, Feather Bound does not mess around. In deploying the swan metaphor, Feather Bound confronts issues of human trafficking, modern day slavery, poverty and class war. Generally, the metaphor worked really well for this book, especially when it comes to some of the more visceral and emotional moments about swan slavery. But despite (or maybe because of) the ambitiousness of the themes, this is where the book starts to fall. The issues needed a bit of a more delicate hand being woven into the plot–they felt a little too obvious at times. This was especially true regarding the class issues. For example, Deanna has a deep-seated hatred toward rich socialites, but the reader is never clued in completely to where her anger comes from. Without a fuller backstory to enliven her anger to the readers, it’s hard to sympathize with her completely–she just seems bitter.
And this I supposed is the biggest problem with the book. In many places I loved Deanna’s snarky and sometimes mean narrative voice–it made her a realistic character. But too much of the narrative is spent with Deanna’s thoughts, rather than her deeper impressions–she tells the reader what she feels, rather than letting the reader experience the feelings of alienation, otherness, and disconnect that she experiences. Despite being from the first person voice, the reader is kept at a distance.
Overally, I really enjoyed Feather Bound–it’s definitely a page turner! And I always love a novel with a good social justice throughline that can also balance being a genuinely fun read. I definitely look forward to seeing what Sarah Raughley does next.
3/5 for characters–I loved the way Raughley wrote dialogue, but I wanted a little more humanization of the villains–and even of some of the main characters, like Hyde Headley and Deanna’s father, neither of whom we get very close to.
3/5 for consistently solid prose that was often beautiful. But so many of Deanna’s sarcastic asides pulled away from the story and sometimes were even confusing.
4/5 for world building– I can’t say enough how much I loved the chapters that tell the swan myth. They do such a great job contrasting with the regular narrative.
4/5 for themes, which were ambitious and serious. Though sometimes a little heavy-handed, the political undertones of the plot ended up moving the story forward in an effective way.
Feather Bound by Sarah Raughley – 3.5/5 stars
Urban fantasy isn’t really my genre, but Feather Bound takes it on in a really fascinating and dark way I’ve never seen before. Sarah Raughley sends us to a sort-of modern day New York, with new myths and cultural norms woven in. It’s a world where we see egregiously wealthy teenagers wielding abnormal social and political power–it’s like Cruel Intentions–and I mean that only in the best way–with a bit of an urban fantasy element thrown in.
In the world of Feather Bound there are mythological creatures that live among humans–swans. In fact, they are humans, except for the fact that there are massive wings concealed beneath their skin. Nothing else distinguishes them–but they can be bound in psychological slavery to any person who takes their wings. And sometimes the swans themselves don’t know they are swans, until an experience of emotional intensity or pain causes their wings to burst out, and puts them in danger of being so taken advantage of.
The novel starts when Deanna’s supposedly long-dead childhood friend appears at his father’s funeral–with no indication of where he’s been for the last ten years. Hyde Headley takes over his father’s prestigious publishing company, causing a political backlash amongst the elite society he moves through. As he and Deanna begin dating, she gets wrapped up in the dark world of high society–where swans suffer silently among the rich. And that’s all I say about that, to avoid giving too much away about the story!
Feather Bound does a couple of things REALLY well.
First, Raughley builds an alternate universe mythology into the plot by incorporating it into the narrative with brief (and beautifully written!) mythological stories. The combination of those chapters and the assumptions that Deanna begins with around swans create do a great job to fill in the reader while maintaining a sense of mystery. And the dark reimagining of New York is so palpably gothic and creepy.
On the realism side of the story, Raughley does a remarkable job building some of the supporting characters. The conversations between Deanna and her sister Adrianna are so on point–Adrianna’s dialogue is so solidly written, and she, like a real person, straddles the line between being truly admirable and incredibly obnoxious. I think the same is true of Shannon, a protester for swan rights, who just comes alive off the page with really strong dialogue. On the flip side of that, I did wish for a little bit more humanization of some of the villains–they’re just so wholly reprehensible!
Thematically, Feather Bound does not mess around. In deploying the swan metaphor, Feather Bound confronts issues of human trafficking, modern day slavery, poverty and class war. Generally, the metaphor worked really well for this book, especially when it comes to some of the more visceral and emotional moments about swan slavery. But despite (or maybe because of) the ambitiousness of the themes, this is where the book starts to fall. The issues needed a bit of a more delicate hand being woven into the plot–they felt a little too obvious at times. This was especially true regarding the class issues. For example, Deanna has a deep-seated hatred toward rich socialites, but the reader is never clued in completely to where her anger comes from. Without a fuller backstory to enliven her anger to the readers, it’s hard to sympathize with her completely–she just seems bitter.
And this I supposed is the biggest problem with the book. In many places I loved Deanna’s snarky and sometimes mean narrative voice–it made her a realistic character. But too much of the narrative is spent with Deanna’s thoughts, rather than her deeper impressions–she tells the reader what she feels, rather than letting the reader experience the feelings of alienation, otherness, and disconnect that she experiences. Despite being from the first person voice, the reader is kept at a distance.
Overally, I really enjoyed Feather Bound–it’s definitely a page turner! And I always love a novel with a good social justice throughline that can also balance being a genuinely fun read. I definitely look forward to seeing what Sarah Raughley does next.
3/5 for characters–I loved the way Raughley wrote dialogue, but I wanted a little more humanization of the villains–and even of some of the main characters, like Hyde Headley and Deanna’s father, neither of whom we get very close to.
3/5 for consistently solid prose that was often beautiful. But so many of Deanna’s sarcastic asides pulled away from the story and sometimes were even confusing.
4/5 for world building– I can’t say enough how much I loved the chapters that tell the swan myth. They do such a great job contrasting with the regular narrative.
4/5 for themes, which were ambitious and serious. Though sometimes a little heavy-handed, the political undertones of the plot ended up moving the story forward in an effective way.
Feather Bound by Sarah Raughley – 3.5/5 stars
moirwyn's review
3.0
This review was originally published on my blog, Books Without Any Pictures:
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2014/07/10/feather-bound-sarah-raughley/
True story: I picked up this book because the protagonist shares the same name as my sister.
When Deanna attends the funeral of a family friend, she discovers a ghost from her past. She thought that her childhood crush/friend Hyde was dead, but now he’s mysteriously reappeared and is fighting to reclaim his stepfather’s company. Deanna had already mourned his loss and is now trying to sort out her feelings. Of course, she’s got bigger problems, like trying to keep her broken family afloat because her alcoholic father can’t hold down a job. And Deanna’s problems are about to get bigger…
You see, there are human swans. They reminded me a bit of the swans in Summer and Bird, but without the benefits. People can find out that they’re a swan at any age. The transformation is often triggered by extreme stress, trauma, or otherwise emotional situations. If someone steals your feathers, you are forced to submit entirely to their will. You can see where this is going. Obviously there are going to be people with swan fetishes, and when it’s that easy to control someone, consent isn’t happening. If someone knows you are a swan, the threat of what they could do to you if given the chance is enough that you’ll do anything in your power to keep it from happening. I’d have been much happier with Feather Bound if there was some sort of benefit to being a swan. The ability to fly, for instance, or some other kind of magical power that helps tip the scales in favor of surviving with one’s freedom intact. But in the world of Feather Bound, there’s nothing redeeming about being a swan. You’re pretty much screwed.
And then there’s the love interest. Hyde is what you’d get if you mix Edward Cullen’s stalker tendencies with Christian Grey’s money, with some angst and insecurity thrown in for good measure. He’s not at all my type.
Feather Bound wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read, but it was an entertaining diversion. It was a quick read, and I did enjoy it, but I felt that it could have benefited from a bit more world building and another pass from the editor to make it less cliche. There was plenty of girl power to subvert the typical Cinderella story, and the idea of human swans was creative, just not well executed.
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2014/07/10/feather-bound-sarah-raughley/
True story: I picked up this book because the protagonist shares the same name as my sister.
When Deanna attends the funeral of a family friend, she discovers a ghost from her past. She thought that her childhood crush/friend Hyde was dead, but now he’s mysteriously reappeared and is fighting to reclaim his stepfather’s company. Deanna had already mourned his loss and is now trying to sort out her feelings. Of course, she’s got bigger problems, like trying to keep her broken family afloat because her alcoholic father can’t hold down a job. And Deanna’s problems are about to get bigger…
You see, there are human swans. They reminded me a bit of the swans in Summer and Bird, but without the benefits. People can find out that they’re a swan at any age. The transformation is often triggered by extreme stress, trauma, or otherwise emotional situations. If someone steals your feathers, you are forced to submit entirely to their will. You can see where this is going. Obviously there are going to be people with swan fetishes, and when it’s that easy to control someone, consent isn’t happening. If someone knows you are a swan, the threat of what they could do to you if given the chance is enough that you’ll do anything in your power to keep it from happening. I’d have been much happier with Feather Bound if there was some sort of benefit to being a swan. The ability to fly, for instance, or some other kind of magical power that helps tip the scales in favor of surviving with one’s freedom intact. But in the world of Feather Bound, there’s nothing redeeming about being a swan. You’re pretty much screwed.
And then there’s the love interest. Hyde is what you’d get if you mix Edward Cullen’s stalker tendencies with Christian Grey’s money, with some angst and insecurity thrown in for good measure. He’s not at all my type.
Feather Bound wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read, but it was an entertaining diversion. It was a quick read, and I did enjoy it, but I felt that it could have benefited from a bit more world building and another pass from the editor to make it less cliche. There was plenty of girl power to subvert the typical Cinderella story, and the idea of human swans was creative, just not well executed.
leontiy's review
5.0
Sometimes a book surprises me; mostly it’s always in a bad way. But Feather Bound, by Sarah Raughley, surprised the hell out of me by being not only a brave novel in so many ways, but also by being utterly stunning and completely honest to life. It’s rare that I read something as truly dark and honest as Feather Bound and the five-star rating is so well-deserved I can’t help but ramble on about this book to anyone who will listen—and anyone who won’t, for that matter!
Beneath the glittery façade that Feather Bound might present, lurks a darker undertone that nobody talks about. It is at once like homosexuality and the “don’t ask, don’t tell” mentality, the prejudice and the frosty reception it can receive, all coupled with the shocking truth of both rape, abuse and sexual threat.
That sounds heavy. Honestly, if that were the cover copy, I might not have read it. I don’t read books that strive to convey a social or mental truth or insight into the human condition; I just don’t. But what I do read are fantasy and urban fantasy novels that wrap issues in layers of story and character, cushioning whatever point is being examined with a tapestry of prose that invites the reader into an almost-the-same world and delivers an engaging story before revealing, bit-by-by, casually and softly, the darkness that lurks beneath. That, I happen to love. It doesn’t shoe-horn anything; it doesn’t trigger or shock or point its finger.
But what it does do it create an expertly crafted tale that reads almost like a modern fairy tale that’s been taken and turned on its head, giving it a different purpose that subverts the expected but still dazzles and glitters in the light. That is Feather Bound. Raughley has written a modern, urban fairy tale that plays on so many of the small details expected from fairy tales and fables, and transformed them into something completely different.
It’s difficult to pour my heart into this review without extreme spoilers—so I won’t. I’ll hold back, somehow. (Honest: this is me holding back.)
When Deanna’s childhood friend returns from being dead—you know, something that happens every day—Dee isn’t sure she wants to reconnect with him. The son of a magazine mogul, Hyde has always been rich, famous and privileged. But now he’s very much alive and for years she missed him; she mourned him when she was just a kid. Coupled with the effects of the death of her mother, Dee is a little sensitive. There’s little chance that Hyde, however close they were as children, will find a way to break through her impenetrable armour. It’s not easy being the youngest of three sisters, when she’s neither the one who married rich nor the one who doesn’t give a shit.
But Dee does give a shit: maybe too much. She’s the one who has a job to try to help cover rent, the one who tries to take care of their drunk father, whose life has been on almost-shutdown since his wife died. Plus there’s no help coming from Erika’s rich husband, who controls the money like a miser counting pennies, always knowing what goes where. And none of it goes to help the Davis’ cover rent.
Yet Hyde always was oddly persistent and he might not give Dee a choice but to forgive him. When he talks about being away, something about him seems off—but what can Dee do when she’s still so mad and she never knows what’s true or not with Hyde? He always was a trickster, after all.
But one day, everything changes. It starts with pain and then fear. The denial comes next—but there’s no denying the feathers and what they mean. There is no denying that she is a swan. But with this sudden transformation comes a world of dangers that Dee hasn’t even entertained before. Suddenly she is something to be bought and sold, something to be coveted and owned, abused and hurt. Nobody ever reveals that they’re a swan, so how can Dee tell her family, or even Hyde?
But someone has found out and now Dee must do all she can to avoid both what she’s being blackmailed to do, and failing at the set task. If she does, she’ll be sold into swan slavery—and having seen first-hand just what a swan can be made to do, Dee will do anything to avoid being plunged into that sordid black market of rape and abuse.
Is it possible to do all this alone? And if not, who can she turn to after years of sealing herself away behind all the walls that she used to think kept her safe? Dee now finds herself alone and in need of help. With her world in tatters around her and a more tangled web of deception and darkness than she could ever imagine just out of reach, Dee will need to keep her feathers save, lest the same fate befalls her. Swans are for sale in this world, and Dee doesn’t want to end up as one of them.
This is a gorgeous, beautiful story that ticked so many of the boxes that I usually don’t even bother thinking about, because nobody ever even comes close to checking them off. Raughley is a dream in that she recognises that abuse isn’t something that happens exclusively to girls; that rape isn’t a solely-female problem. Both sexes can become swans and Raughley never lets the reader forget it. This is probably a more feminist book than any I’ve read in the past few years: this book recognises true equality. The kind that says boys get hurt and abused too. And I adored it.
Feather Bound is a shockingly twisted, delightfully dark story that wowed me from the start. The casual delivery of every issue is perfect and skilful. This story is about who you are and what the world makes you. It explores family and familial love. It subverts the image of the nuclear family and paints a fairly sad picture of real life, yet it is not as depressing as it should be, populated by rich and deep characters whose lives are spread bare on the page, under full scrutiny. This book demonstrates perfectly that nobody in your life is perfect—yet it also shows the sides of them you never see.
The darker undertone of this book is what got me: the raw truth and honesty of the approach sealed the deal, making Feather Bound so clever and delicious a novel that I want to hug it and squeeze it a little. I wasn’t expecting so…good a book. I was expecting a decent YA urban fantasy, a decent story. I was not expecting something so poignant.
But that’s precisely what I got. And damn is that a good deal.
If you don’t read Feather Bound for the gorgeously different notion of human swans and the glitz and glamour of the Upper East Side pitted against the honest grime of the poorer streets of Brooklyn, read it for the brave and deliriously tangled, twisted, tumultuous plotline threaded within and beneath the lines. This is how fairy tales should be written in the twenty-first century. And I’m all over them.
Beneath the glittery façade that Feather Bound might present, lurks a darker undertone that nobody talks about. It is at once like homosexuality and the “don’t ask, don’t tell” mentality, the prejudice and the frosty reception it can receive, all coupled with the shocking truth of both rape, abuse and sexual threat.
That sounds heavy. Honestly, if that were the cover copy, I might not have read it. I don’t read books that strive to convey a social or mental truth or insight into the human condition; I just don’t. But what I do read are fantasy and urban fantasy novels that wrap issues in layers of story and character, cushioning whatever point is being examined with a tapestry of prose that invites the reader into an almost-the-same world and delivers an engaging story before revealing, bit-by-by, casually and softly, the darkness that lurks beneath. That, I happen to love. It doesn’t shoe-horn anything; it doesn’t trigger or shock or point its finger.
But what it does do it create an expertly crafted tale that reads almost like a modern fairy tale that’s been taken and turned on its head, giving it a different purpose that subverts the expected but still dazzles and glitters in the light. That is Feather Bound. Raughley has written a modern, urban fairy tale that plays on so many of the small details expected from fairy tales and fables, and transformed them into something completely different.
It’s difficult to pour my heart into this review without extreme spoilers—so I won’t. I’ll hold back, somehow. (Honest: this is me holding back.)
When Deanna’s childhood friend returns from being dead—you know, something that happens every day—Dee isn’t sure she wants to reconnect with him. The son of a magazine mogul, Hyde has always been rich, famous and privileged. But now he’s very much alive and for years she missed him; she mourned him when she was just a kid. Coupled with the effects of the death of her mother, Dee is a little sensitive. There’s little chance that Hyde, however close they were as children, will find a way to break through her impenetrable armour. It’s not easy being the youngest of three sisters, when she’s neither the one who married rich nor the one who doesn’t give a shit.
But Dee does give a shit: maybe too much. She’s the one who has a job to try to help cover rent, the one who tries to take care of their drunk father, whose life has been on almost-shutdown since his wife died. Plus there’s no help coming from Erika’s rich husband, who controls the money like a miser counting pennies, always knowing what goes where. And none of it goes to help the Davis’ cover rent.
Yet Hyde always was oddly persistent and he might not give Dee a choice but to forgive him. When he talks about being away, something about him seems off—but what can Dee do when she’s still so mad and she never knows what’s true or not with Hyde? He always was a trickster, after all.
But one day, everything changes. It starts with pain and then fear. The denial comes next—but there’s no denying the feathers and what they mean. There is no denying that she is a swan. But with this sudden transformation comes a world of dangers that Dee hasn’t even entertained before. Suddenly she is something to be bought and sold, something to be coveted and owned, abused and hurt. Nobody ever reveals that they’re a swan, so how can Dee tell her family, or even Hyde?
But someone has found out and now Dee must do all she can to avoid both what she’s being blackmailed to do, and failing at the set task. If she does, she’ll be sold into swan slavery—and having seen first-hand just what a swan can be made to do, Dee will do anything to avoid being plunged into that sordid black market of rape and abuse.
Is it possible to do all this alone? And if not, who can she turn to after years of sealing herself away behind all the walls that she used to think kept her safe? Dee now finds herself alone and in need of help. With her world in tatters around her and a more tangled web of deception and darkness than she could ever imagine just out of reach, Dee will need to keep her feathers save, lest the same fate befalls her. Swans are for sale in this world, and Dee doesn’t want to end up as one of them.
This is a gorgeous, beautiful story that ticked so many of the boxes that I usually don’t even bother thinking about, because nobody ever even comes close to checking them off. Raughley is a dream in that she recognises that abuse isn’t something that happens exclusively to girls; that rape isn’t a solely-female problem. Both sexes can become swans and Raughley never lets the reader forget it. This is probably a more feminist book than any I’ve read in the past few years: this book recognises true equality. The kind that says boys get hurt and abused too. And I adored it.
Feather Bound is a shockingly twisted, delightfully dark story that wowed me from the start. The casual delivery of every issue is perfect and skilful. This story is about who you are and what the world makes you. It explores family and familial love. It subverts the image of the nuclear family and paints a fairly sad picture of real life, yet it is not as depressing as it should be, populated by rich and deep characters whose lives are spread bare on the page, under full scrutiny. This book demonstrates perfectly that nobody in your life is perfect—yet it also shows the sides of them you never see.
The darker undertone of this book is what got me: the raw truth and honesty of the approach sealed the deal, making Feather Bound so clever and delicious a novel that I want to hug it and squeeze it a little. I wasn’t expecting so…good a book. I was expecting a decent YA urban fantasy, a decent story. I was not expecting something so poignant.
But that’s precisely what I got. And damn is that a good deal.
If you don’t read Feather Bound for the gorgeously different notion of human swans and the glitz and glamour of the Upper East Side pitted against the honest grime of the poorer streets of Brooklyn, read it for the brave and deliriously tangled, twisted, tumultuous plotline threaded within and beneath the lines. This is how fairy tales should be written in the twenty-first century. And I’m all over them.
bookfessional's review against another edition
1.0
This is the second time I've tried to finish this book. The first was several weeks ago, and I made it to 12% before needing a break. The time I made it to 28% and. I. Am. Done.
There is no world-building.
The book begins with Deanna's family getting ready to go to the funeral of an old family friend. A family friend who sounds a lot like any number of men you'd find on the Forbes' Richest People in America list. A family friend whose dead son was Deanna's best childhood friend (except he came across as more of an over-eager puppy who was indulged). A family friend who enslaved his wife.
Enslaved his wife? What do you mean?!
Well, apparently, roughly 3% of the world's population are really swans, and if you steal their feathers, you can control them.
*gasp*
But where did these swans come from?
That's an excellent question. It's also a question I have no answer to.
Why not?
NO WORLD-BUILDING.
Deanna and family are at the funeral when a girl shows up in a trench coat, takes advantage of the paparazzi to soapbox, and then further demonstrates her flare for the dramatic by flinging open her coat, baring her feathers (and breasts) to the world.
That is all the introduction to the existence of swans that you get.
But wait--it gets worse . . .
Deanna is wandering around the graveyard on the way to the reception when she sees a lone boy (about her age--she can tell this at quite a distance from the view of his back) standing in front of Enslaving Family Friend's tombstone. Curious, she wanders closer, only to discover *gasps again* it's Hyde!
Hyde her not-so-dead-after-all childhood best friend.
And not just any old Hyde. A new and improved Hyde. A Hyde who is mischievously good-looking. A Hyde who dresses like a hipster (b/c all the girls LOVE hipsters). A Hyde who, despite his obvious confidence (from the whole minute and a half of their interaction), is clearly nervous about her reaction to him.
Oh, for the love of god.
This is especially annoying, b/c if you read the blurb, you know that this book is described as, "a dark debut reminiscent of Gabriel García Márquez's A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings, and the twisted truth behind the fairy tale of Cinderella."
And it is dark in places, I'll give it that. But Gabriel García Márquez dark? Not hardly. Neither did it have anything to do with, "the twisted truth behind the fairy tale of Cinderella."
Ladies and gents, if you somehow don't already know, fairy tales are kind of my thing. I was raised on them. Spent my first paycheck when I was 16 y.o. on a massive collection of the original Grimm's Fairy Tales. The original German versions that I've been familiar with since I was 10.
Anyway, the point is that the dark and nasty part of the original Cinderella didn't really have anything to do with enslavement. Ashenputtl was overworked and under appreciated by her stepmother, who was definitely a hateful woman, but she wasn't an owned individual who could lawfully be executed should she displease her Mistress.
If there was anything particularly dark about the story, it would have had to do with the step-sisters cutting off large portions of their feet in an attempt to force a shoe to fit.
When a book is described as being part specific fairy tale, I expect it to share fantastical elements with the fairy tale it's being compared to. This does not. If you're going to use "slavery" as a generic umbrella term, It would be more honest to compare it to Uncle Tom's Cabin, but that probably wouldn't sell as many books to the target demographic, so somebody decided to be disingenuous instead.
Then again, I quit at 28%. Who knows? Maybe a fairy godmother shows up further down the road.
But I doubt it.
There is no world-building.
The book begins with Deanna's family getting ready to go to the funeral of an old family friend. A family friend who sounds a lot like any number of men you'd find on the Forbes' Richest People in America list. A family friend whose dead son was Deanna's best childhood friend (except he came across as more of an over-eager puppy who was indulged). A family friend who enslaved his wife.
Enslaved his wife? What do you mean?!
Well, apparently, roughly 3% of the world's population are really swans, and if you steal their feathers, you can control them.
*gasp*
But where did these swans come from?
That's an excellent question. It's also a question I have no answer to.
Why not?
NO WORLD-BUILDING.
Deanna and family are at the funeral when a girl shows up in a trench coat, takes advantage of the paparazzi to soapbox, and then further demonstrates her flare for the dramatic by flinging open her coat, baring her feathers (and breasts) to the world.
That is all the introduction to the existence of swans that you get.
But wait--it gets worse . . .
Deanna is wandering around the graveyard on the way to the reception when she sees a lone boy (about her age--she can tell this at quite a distance from the view of his back) standing in front of Enslaving Family Friend's tombstone. Curious, she wanders closer, only to discover *gasps again* it's Hyde!
Hyde her not-so-dead-after-all childhood best friend.
And not just any old Hyde. A new and improved Hyde. A Hyde who is mischievously good-looking. A Hyde who dresses like a hipster (b/c all the girls LOVE hipsters). A Hyde who, despite his obvious confidence (from the whole minute and a half of their interaction), is clearly nervous about her reaction to him.
Oh, for the love of god.
This is especially annoying, b/c if you read the blurb, you know that this book is described as, "a dark debut reminiscent of Gabriel García Márquez's A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings, and the twisted truth behind the fairy tale of Cinderella."
And it is dark in places, I'll give it that. But Gabriel García Márquez dark? Not hardly. Neither did it have anything to do with, "the twisted truth behind the fairy tale of Cinderella."
Ladies and gents, if you somehow don't already know, fairy tales are kind of my thing. I was raised on them. Spent my first paycheck when I was 16 y.o. on a massive collection of the original Grimm's Fairy Tales. The original German versions that I've been familiar with since I was 10.
Anyway, the point is that the dark and nasty part of the original Cinderella didn't really have anything to do with enslavement. Ashenputtl was overworked and under appreciated by her stepmother, who was definitely a hateful woman, but she wasn't an owned individual who could lawfully be executed should she displease her Mistress.
If there was anything particularly dark about the story, it would have had to do with the step-sisters cutting off large portions of their feet in an attempt to force a shoe to fit.
When a book is described as being part specific fairy tale, I expect it to share fantastical elements with the fairy tale it's being compared to. This does not. If you're going to use "slavery" as a generic umbrella term, It would be more honest to compare it to Uncle Tom's Cabin, but that probably wouldn't sell as many books to the target demographic, so somebody decided to be disingenuous instead.
Then again, I quit at 28%. Who knows? Maybe a fairy godmother shows up further down the road.
But I doubt it.
ambientmagic's review
4.0
This book is not for the faint of heart. Trigger warnings for discussions of sexual abuse and slavery—consent is a major theme in this book. Feel free to message me if you need more details and stay safe everyone!
cheyenneb's review against another edition
3.0
Feather Bound, the book that intrigued me. I won this book in a giveaway on Goodreads and it will be coming out on May 6th. It is a YA fantasy book about people who are part swan. I gave this book a 3.5 star rating.
When I was told I won this book, I wasn't sure what to expect when I read it. The synopsis definitely intrigued me and I was very excited to read something new and unique. I began it the day I got it in the mail and finished it in two days. It was a very simple book and easy to read in one or two settings. This book does have some more mature themes so I would recommend this for 15+ readers.
I did have a few problems with the book. I felt like I wasn't connecting very well with the main character, Dee. I don't know whether it was my fault or the authors but I found that often, I didn't have a lot of empathy for what Dee was going through. There were a couple grammar errors and a few scattered cliches throughout the book but these were only mildly irksome but did not take away from the book significantly. The plot was a little bit predictable but enjoyable nonetheless.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. For a debut novel, I think it was written very well and had an interesting and unique plot. It kept my interest through the entire book and I found that I could not put it down until I had finished it. I do think that Sarah Raughley's book set a great tone and I felt like her writing gave a mood for the book. I think that having a bit more world-building to help me understand more about what was up with the swan people would have been helpful but she did give the book enough for me to go on.
I would definitely recommend this book to people who enjoy modern fairytale stories or just love a good fast-paced read.
When I was told I won this book, I wasn't sure what to expect when I read it. The synopsis definitely intrigued me and I was very excited to read something new and unique. I began it the day I got it in the mail and finished it in two days. It was a very simple book and easy to read in one or two settings. This book does have some more mature themes so I would recommend this for 15+ readers.
I did have a few problems with the book. I felt like I wasn't connecting very well with the main character, Dee. I don't know whether it was my fault or the authors but I found that often, I didn't have a lot of empathy for what Dee was going through. There were a couple grammar errors and a few scattered cliches throughout the book but these were only mildly irksome but did not take away from the book significantly. The plot was a little bit predictable but enjoyable nonetheless.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. For a debut novel, I think it was written very well and had an interesting and unique plot. It kept my interest through the entire book and I found that I could not put it down until I had finished it. I do think that Sarah Raughley's book set a great tone and I felt like her writing gave a mood for the book. I think that having a bit more world-building to help me understand more about what was up with the swan people would have been helpful but she did give the book enough for me to go on.
I would definitely recommend this book to people who enjoy modern fairytale stories or just love a good fast-paced read.
tsana's review against another edition
4.0
Feather Bound by Sarah Raughley is the author's début novel. I went into it with no expectations beyond title and cover thumbnail (if I ever read the blurb before writing this review, I have no memory of it) and I was pleasantly surprised. By the end of the first chapter, Feather Bound had me hooked with its surprising revelation of the premise (which, OK, not surprising if you read the blurb, but it was still well-executed).
In this story, some people are swans. It's not genetic, but it is something that usually becomes apparent roughly during puberty. They don't turn into birds or anything, they just grow a cloak of feathers on their backs. And if a swan's feathers are stolen, the thief gets complete control over the swan, making them a slave in the most literal sense.
We learn very early on that Deanna sympathises with swans and is against swan slavery (and, alarmingly, that not everyone is). It seems almost inevitable when, early on, Deanna finds herself sprouting feathers for the first time. But that's only the start of her problems. Not only does her freedom depend on keeping her secret, but she very quickly has to contend with threats because of it. I don't want to go into too much detail because spoilers, but suffice to say the existence of swans makes for a lucrative and prevalent human trafficking market. I did like the way in which Raughley used swans to highlight the horrors of human trafficking and sex-slavery.
I also liked how the worldbuilding was more than just a surface layer. Every now and then there are historical references which mention how swans have been treated and societal attitudes towards them through the ages. It was nice to see that the author had given this some thought and hadn't, for example, just made it a modern phenomenon.
Finally, I liked that there were lots of female characters. The main characters were overwhelmingly Deanna and Hyde, but Deanna's sisters, especially Ade who witnesses her first swan transformation, plays and important role as well. The only other male character's are Hyde's cousin, who's a terrible person, and Deanna's father who is an alcoholic that doesn't do much more (story-wise) than exist. Even the miscellaneous swan activists were all female. It was nice to see.
The only thing I didn't like, really, was that Deanna was a bit slow at working out certain plot twists which I'd guessed much earlier. But even this wasn't as bad as it could have been. She figured it out only a chapter later than I had wanted her too, so my frustration was relatively short-lived.
Although Feather Bound is a YA book and Deanna is 17, it doesn't deal with a lot of common YA issues, at least not the sort that tend to pop up in paranormal YA. There's no school for example (I think because it takes place over summer) and Deanna and her family are relatively poor, living in Brooklyn and with the daughters having to work to pay the bills. That is strongly juxtaposed against the wealth of the other characters (particularly Hyde and the oldest sister's husband) and the society parties that Deanna keeps finding herself at.
Feather Bound was a surprising and good read. I was impressed with the way it dealt with it's issues and I'm glad I picked it up. I recommend it to all fans of paranormal YA and, for that matter, contemporary YA (since the feather thing can easily be taken as a metaphor). I highly recommend it to all fans of YA and contemporary stories with fairytale roots.
4 / 5 stars
You can read more of my reviews on my blog.
In this story, some people are swans. It's not genetic, but it is something that usually becomes apparent roughly during puberty. They don't turn into birds or anything, they just grow a cloak of feathers on their backs. And if a swan's feathers are stolen, the thief gets complete control over the swan, making them a slave in the most literal sense.
We learn very early on that Deanna sympathises with swans and is against swan slavery (and, alarmingly, that not everyone is). It seems almost inevitable when, early on, Deanna finds herself sprouting feathers for the first time. But that's only the start of her problems. Not only does her freedom depend on keeping her secret, but she very quickly has to contend with threats because of it. I don't want to go into too much detail because spoilers, but suffice to say the existence of swans makes for a lucrative and prevalent human trafficking market. I did like the way in which Raughley used swans to highlight the horrors of human trafficking and sex-slavery.
I also liked how the worldbuilding was more than just a surface layer. Every now and then there are historical references which mention how swans have been treated and societal attitudes towards them through the ages. It was nice to see that the author had given this some thought and hadn't, for example, just made it a modern phenomenon.
Finally, I liked that there were lots of female characters. The main characters were overwhelmingly Deanna and Hyde, but Deanna's sisters, especially Ade who witnesses her first swan transformation, plays and important role as well. The only other male character's are Hyde's cousin, who's a terrible person, and Deanna's father who is an alcoholic that doesn't do much more (story-wise) than exist. Even the miscellaneous swan activists were all female. It was nice to see.
The only thing I didn't like, really, was that Deanna was a bit slow at working out certain plot twists which I'd guessed much earlier. But even this wasn't as bad as it could have been. She figured it out only a chapter later than I had wanted her too, so my frustration was relatively short-lived.
Although Feather Bound is a YA book and Deanna is 17, it doesn't deal with a lot of common YA issues, at least not the sort that tend to pop up in paranormal YA. There's no school for example (I think because it takes place over summer) and Deanna and her family are relatively poor, living in Brooklyn and with the daughters having to work to pay the bills. That is strongly juxtaposed against the wealth of the other characters (particularly Hyde and the oldest sister's husband) and the society parties that Deanna keeps finding herself at.
Feather Bound was a surprising and good read. I was impressed with the way it dealt with it's issues and I'm glad I picked it up. I recommend it to all fans of paranormal YA and, for that matter, contemporary YA (since the feather thing can easily be taken as a metaphor). I highly recommend it to all fans of YA and contemporary stories with fairytale roots.
4 / 5 stars
You can read more of my reviews on my blog.
isalavinia's review against another edition
1.0
ARC provided by Strange Chemistry through Netgalley
TW: sexual abuse, torture, forced prostitution, human trafficking, mentions of rape
I absolutely hate to write bad reviews, but this one... ugh, it was infuriating!
First of all, false advertising can do nothing but harm a book.
In this case the blurb tells us this story is "reminiscent of Gabriel García Márquez's A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings"... If you are going to compare something to Gabriel García Márquez's writing be aware you are setting VERY high expectations.
If your book is a YA retelling of the Swan Maiden with a bit of Cinderella thrown in the mix, with a poor virginal Mary-Sue protagonist who meets a rich hot guy, comparing it in any way to Gabriel García Márquez's work is absurd and will make any readers drawn to the book by the blurb actually feel cheated and angry.
But even if I hadn't gone in with such high expectations the rating I gave this book wouldn't have changed.
The protagonist's life in her own words: "dead mother, deadbeat but well-meaning father, lazy middle sister, trophy-wife eldest sister."
First of all, the book starts off in the midst of chaotic preparations to attend the funeral of Ralph Hedley, who used to be Deanna's father's friend, and was a rich asshole who enslaved his wife (more on that later).
The author does a perfect mess of introducing the characters. There are three sisters and it's never clear who is exactly who until the second chapter. They are all addressed by their first names and nicknames, never settling for one. Throw in an avalanche of fake celebrities whose names are mentioned, plus the names of fake socialites, and it made the whole thing very confusing, even while taking notes!
So we have:
˙ Deanna/Dee: Mary-Sue, youngest sister, pretty, hard-working, is the responsible one and main contributor to household finances.
˙ Ericka: the trophy-wife eldest sister, who has a baby, and a lawyer husband who refuses to let her help (not that it's ever clear she really insists) her family because hand-outs only make them lazier.
˙ Adrianna/Ade: works on the weekends as a telemarketer, but doesn't help with house expenses because she spends her money on clothes and designer bags instead of food.
˙ Dad: Alcoholic gambler, just to make things more tragic.
˙ Hyde Hedley: Deanna's friend from when they were children who was presumed dead, but was in fact alive and now has come to take control of adoptive father's company.
The first mention we get of the whole swan thing is during Ralph Hedley's funeral, when a woman strips naked and shows her swan feathers, reveals Hedley's wife was a swan, and calls for swan rights.
The swan aspect of the book was extremely frustrating. We know very little about it.
We're told some things, how "almost three percent of the world’s population are or will become swans during their lifetimes", how between "the age of ten" and "the age of eighteen" you get a backache then excruciating pain and then voilà! you have a cape of swan feathers hanging limply from your back.
Whomever steals your feathers (it's never really clear whether it's the whole feather cape which needs to be torn out, or loose feathers, or what) has absolute control over the "swan".
So there are a lot of forced labourers and sexual slaves who are, in fact, swans.
Are swans the only fairy tale creatures around? How were they first discovered? Where is this book's world building?!
The writing is mediocre. Admittedly, I went in expecting something of Gabriel García Márquez's calibre, but even setting those expectations aside, there are many odd syntactic choices and the writing is often awkward.
Some examples:
"Hers had been a winter funeral; her casket lowered under metric tons of snow. Today was way nicer."
"A better liar and a worse liar all at the same time."
"They came out all at once, the feathers. It was messy, slow."
It doesn't help that, besides being boring, the plot is very unevenly paced and bogged down with useless fake celebrity gossip.
But on to the plot.
Deanna/Dee, the Mary-Sue, turns into a swan. Hyde, her childhood bff is back from the supposedly dead and is now a millionaire. Anton, Hyde's cousin, blackmails Deanne/Dee into destroying Hyde.
How? Did he steal her swan feathers? No. He threatened to"out her" making her a target for human traffickers.
What guarantees does she have that he won't do just that once she's outlived her usefulness to him? None, thus branding her as tstl.
Hyde, by his own admission, is "more of a stalker than friend-material" - but he's the love interest, regardless.
To borrow the book's style: it's too much (drama, tstl moments, absurd events), and too little (world building, character development, an interesting plot).
I think that this line from the book sums up the whole thing perfectly:
"None of it makes sense because none of it is supposed to."
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