Reviews

Threads That Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou

luisant19's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

daylajane's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

emilyyjjean's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I really enjoyed this book! I loved the story, especially the mythological ties. It was unique, but still familiar. I loved the characters, and I can't wait to read more about them. I'm really excited for the second book!

I'd recommend this to anyone interested in mythology, as well as mystery/fantasy fans. 

Thank you to Razorbill and NetGalley for the ARC!

tsunni's review

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I was hesitant going in when I saw this was YA, but this surprised me by how well written it was. I really enjoyed this after I allowed myself to get swept up by the expert worldbuilding. The concept of siblings born with powers of gods is really cool, and what the story does with that and all the different groups of gods is satisfying creative. The characters, the mystery, and the overarching plot are all well done, within the limits of the fast pacing; nothing ever felt too two dimensional or shallow, but the book keeps going fast enough that there isn't a ton of time to linger. The main character and her two sisters are especially standout, I grew up in a trio of siblings and the book's constant familial power dynamics felt very familiar and real. This is still YA with some focus on romance, but it never felt overdone. 

I rarely like YA, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this, its a standout in the genre.

hwerle's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

scribe391's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Set in the city of Alante, Io is the youngest of three sisters.
There are elements of mystery in the story that has an open ending.

dusktildawn's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

There is violence in kindness and kindness in violence.

By far the most fun I've had reading all year and I wish I had read this sooner. From beginning to end, this was an exciting, fast-paced adventure that glued my eyes to the page. I truly wasn't expecting to like this this much, mostly because the summary wasn't at all enticing. I even hesitated to pick it up, but I was glad to be proven so wrong.

Set in an interesting, unique (and possibly post-apocalyptic) world roamed by the descendants of Gods from various cultures - such as Greek and Egyptian - everything in this novel is so vivid that you can't help but conjure it instantly in your mind. The main setting of Alante is a half-sunken city where the tide comes in too high and the bells sound off a warning, and seeing how the characters navigated around it was fascinating. It was such a minuscule detail, this city, but it ended up being one of my favorite aspects of the story.

It felt real and lived in, bursting with colour, like a place you could believe genuinely existed with a rich culture and an imagined history. Every mention of some past, historical event I gobbled up because everything was just so fascinating.

The world-building comes at you fast and overwhelms you, leaving you with no choice but to catch up but due to how real it all felt, I had no struggles fully immersing myself with the other-born and their unique blend of abilities. Trying to solve the mystery and unravel the grand scheme as the situation became more dire was my favorite part. I won't say the answers weren't predictable because some of them were, but I genuinely didn't see a lot of them coming. And each time I thought we were all out of twists, another one would pop up to throw me off.

Each revelation was another piece in the puzzle and seeing it all come together was positively satisfying. I felt like a detective myself, just stomping around this dreary, rainy city as I tried to figure out all the answers. I felt the danger alongside the characters and I felt the desperation to escape it all unscathed. More mystery in fantasy may be something I didn't know I desperately needed.

The world had burned to ashes because of men's good intentions.

Unfortunately, I thought the characters were the weakest part. They weren't bland or one-dimensional but many of them were simply forgettable and cookie-cutter. I thought Edei - the romantic interest of our main character Io whose sudden appearance spurns much of the story - suffered the most from this. He was just perfect. He had no major flaws or faults, I can't think of a single one, except that he says something mean to Io like one time.

There's no conflict between them and the very little of it we get is solved almost immediately on the next page or in the next chapter. He's kind, sweet, and thoughtful but also dreadfully boring. He's a good person, an upstanding citizen and there's nothing wrong with that, indeed his "goodness" is meant to contrast Io's many wrongs but it did make him feel bland.

I liked the main relationship between Edei and Io and the exploration of fate and destiny and the inevitability of fighting against a path that has already been laid beneath your feet, along with their interactions which were cotton-candy sweet but it didn't make me feel much of anything. It was just there. And that sucks for a story that hinges so much on the relationship and the fate thread between them.

She could do this, she thought, because you couldn't lose what was never yours.

Io also felt like a typical YA protagonist but she was bolstered by her relationships with her sisters, and the tragedy of the guilt she carries due to the effect of her sister and her thread-cutting made her more interesting. And solving the mystery alongside her was very fun. She wasn't as bland as the other characters around her but she wasn't particularly memorable either. She fits right into that typical YA box.

The sisters - Thasis, Ava, and Io - were the heart of this story and I loved them. All three of them felt real and layered and I loved their interactions. Thasis and Io especially were a great exploration of sisterhood and how in poverty, sibling love can often become frayed and dangerous. Both of them were very flawed people who did and said some awful things to each other, eventually being the catalyst for this novel's very plot. But with very few exceptions, none of the other characters were much of anything and outside of the sisters, they felt very generic and shallow.

But this was just a genuine blast of a novel, fast-paced and adventurous with loads of suspense and mystery set in a rich, colourful world inhabited by people with a fascinating set of abilities that explores themes of fate, godhood, sisterhood, prejudice, and the corruption of those in authority. Oh, and a beautiful cover too. What's not to love? 

isaalmeidcard's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

heeeybereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It was a difficult read because English isn’t my first language. I didn’t fully get everything because it’s a lot of information with difficult words.

bibi_reads_writes's review against another edition

4.0

If she loved something, even for a minute, like the fish noodles at the market stall or the teacher who'd smiled at her last week, she held on to that love with tooth and claw. Most threads frayed over time and distance, but never Io's. Her love was evergreen.

I went in blind and enjoyed this short, fast-paced and action-packed first installment to the Threads That Bind duology.

❤️ Interesting worldbuilding and lore
❤️ Smooth combination of genres
❤️ Apocalyptic atmosphere
❤️ Trauma and mental health rep + diversity
❌ Overwhelming magic system
❌ Surface-level characters

Trigger Warnings: violence (including guns), blood and injury detail, emotional abuse, panic attacks, assault, non-graphic murder, animal death, classism, genocide, gaslighting and bullying, toxic family relationships, abandonment.

Plot:
Io is blessed with the powers of the gods, but she often feels like this blessing is nothing more than a curse. When a simple investigation goes wrong, she stumbles into the dangerous world of underground gangs and politics. Forced to partner up with Edei, a mob queen’s second and also Io’s fated mate, to solve a series of mysterious assaults, she will learn of a prophecy that could be her undoing… or bring about the end of the world.

Prophecies, lots of action and magic, twists and turns, mysterious murders, political intrigue, social criticism, underground gangs, soul mates… so many great themes and tropes! This short book was captivating from page 1, and I loved so many things about it. However, the magic system was needlessly complicated. In short: “Other-born” are humans who inherited magical abilities from gods or muses. They are designated by said god’s or muse’s name (e.g., moira-born), and they come in specific numbers, always from the same family. For example, the moira-born always come in three. AND each sibling has a very specific ability. Sooooooo you get dozens of confusing terms and dozens more powers and dynamics. Are you confused yet? If the category names had been descriptive, rather than proper nouns, maybe it could have worked. Maybe.

Seriously, I finished the series and I still don’t really understand what norn-born and sabazios-born and aesir-born and kurbantes-born people actually DO.

Characters:
It’s a good thing romance wasn’t front and centre because I just couldn’t find it in me to care about Io and Edei’s relationship. I didn’t dislike them, but I had much stronger emotions about other characters. While Edei never went beyond surface level, Io was simply not a believable investigator, given how many mistakes she made and how clueless she was about so many things.

Writing:
I enjoyed Hatzopoulou’s sharp and evocative writing style. Her depiction of internal conflicts was particularly on point.

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