Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Forced Bonds

Talk about some WTH moments! In this one, we start to unravel some significant things about the magic/bond system in this world. But it's one of those series that has to be read in order, and the further along things get, the harder it is to explain what happened without spoiling things. But I still like where things are going for this story.

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bangiebangs's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional fast-paced

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

3.75

I liked the story progression here - there is lots going on, and we finally learn more about the Resistance (except... what exactly they are resisting against? Still not clear to me).
The rest of the bonds get completed here, though one is with... very very questionable consent (on both sides). Consent is kind of implied, but bonding also happens under pressure for one of the participants. I'm not a fan of this... even if it works out in the end. But part of the story is that this coupling is messed up for reasons that predate the events in the books.

The small comments about body size are happening again (in all the books, and I dislike them a lot), and the more we learn about bonds the more they are all hetero somehow? Like... where are the central bonds that are bonded to people of different genders? Why is this all so straight? I feel like that's wasted potential in this universe.

Am already reading the next one and will finish the series, but these basic problems run throughout (occasional fuzzy consent, heteronormativity (even if yes, there is a token gay character), body image). The plot itself is interesting and I'm enjoying the twists, though. Also, the spice is pretty good, would give a 4/5 (esp recommend if you like multiple participants, I just wish they would also interact with each other, not just the MFC, because again, wasted potential...)

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koistyfishy's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

3 "Bonded" Stars ⭐️
Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️/5

When I started the series, my liking for it was measured in the number of fucks that appeared in the text. The first book had 466 fucks in it. The second book was a little less, the third EVEN less and , unfortunately, in this book we only had 194 fucks.

In correlation to the fucks my liking for this book exponentially decreased. Something else is, I have grown an increased annoyance of the word bond in any FORM. It appears in this book 862 times! There are only 532 pages, which means that we almost have the word bond mentioned at least twice per page.

It's like, okay, we get it! They're bonded! They have a bond! You don't have to refer to them that way. It's like by book four, we get the fucking point that there are bonds! It's like they are all Rhys and suddenly the word mate needs to be uttered 50 thousand times to make sure the universe knows. I almost DNF'ed this book. Not because it's bad, it's like this is trash TV.

The problem is that because it's trash TV, it is almost recycling plot elements. There is the same feeling, the same story. There is a resistance attack, Oli bonds with her bonded and bonds (both in the "bonded sense "and just a "general" sense of bonding with a person). The smut is not as awesome as I expected it to be. Basically the story is not really giving me anything new and the story is boring.

This is just plain old boring and the character of Oli is just starting to get irritating. As much as I could deal with her irritation previously because the angst and drama drew me into the book, I didn't mind then. NOW I CAN'T HANDLE IT!!! I just wanted the book to end. It was a major chore to actually finish this!

I will read the other two because I am still interested to know how the series is going to end. But I'm going to need a break. A couple of books in between should be good to just dilute the story in my mind so it doesn't feel like I'm reading the "same shit on a different day".

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justagrlandherdog's review

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I put this down a while ago and today tired to pick it back up so that I finish it and move on. Well I remember why I put it down. Oli makes me irate. I literally hate her. Her stupid over protectiveness is infuriating! She gets mad at the tactical trainer for 1 doing his job and training her bonds but 2 for beating them because they weren’t very good yet. She gets mad at so many people for either doing their damn jobs or accidents simply bc her bonds are hurt. It’s irrational. I’m sure she gets mad at the other football team any time Gabe plays a fucking game. Like it makes me so mad I can’t finish this book or the series.

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