Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Gifts That Bind Us

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The Gifts That Bind Us by Caroline O'Donoghue

16 reviews

beckyyreadss'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? Yes

4.0

The first book was gifted to me from the book club that I am involved in, and this series have been on my TBR for ages, so I wanted to carry on with the series after the first book.

This book is still based on Maeve Chambers who we met in the last book, she and her friends have revealed their powers and banded together as a coven: Roe can pick locks, Lily sends sparks flying, Maeve can read minds and Fiona can heal any injuries. And even better than their newfound talents? Roe and Maeve are officially together. But with strange things happening at school, and old enemies appearing in new places, it soon becomes clear their powers are attracting all the wrong attention. It's not long before Maeve’s gift start to wane, drained by someone – or something – that's hiding even from her second sight.

The storyline was very strong, and it was an easy and interesting read. Maeve is such a badass even for how confused she can be during this book. I loved that Fiona was such a supportive best friend even when Maeve was ready to give up. The LGBT aspect of this book warms my heart with the love stories and how it was still a big part of this book and wasn’t just brushed under the carpet. I liked that Lily was becoming more of a character and was a complete badass. The conversation about mental health with Fiona and Lily was so important especially in a YA book. I loved the fact that Aaron had the change of character and hopefully he stays that way, though I still don’t trust him.

I missed the tarot cards aspect bit of it during this book because everyone had these powers, and it was all about the group dynamic. Also, who decides to gift a teenager a building that’s a school. That’s just messed up. The cliffhanger was mean, and the mystery of what is going to happen next and who is going to get rid of the Well, makes me want to read the next book in the series.

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veggiestrawenjoyer13's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

3.75

Personally, I liked this book more than the first one. All the new plot points tied in really well and didn’t feel randomly added in, they felt planned. The modern media references continued to throw me off, but there were less so it was easier to read. I really enjoyed the conflicts and personal struggles each character went through. They felt realistic and relatable. The plot twists towards the end of the book had my jaw dropped and I didn’t know who to trust. I would say the only thing that I disliked was (minor spoiler about a new character’s background)

Manon’s source of power. Gods were never mentioned before this, so it felt very random. It seemed like a way to give the group a super powerful ally (because they desperately needed one.)

Otherwise, I think the plot moved at a good pace and I enjoyed all the characters. It’s not a literary masterpiece, but it’s still a really good sequel and a nice casual read.

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meganpbell's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.75

This series is just so fantastic at capturing the feelings and growing pains and interpersonal challenges of the teen years, all while fighting religious fundamentalism with witchcraft, queer love, and the power of friendship. This installment especially excels with representations of queer, racial, neurodivergent, and disability marginalization—and with portraying the suffering so often behind the worst actions—and it’s just a fun ride!

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rinku's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

The beginning of The Gifts That Bind Us was so great that I was ready to give it five stars but sadly, the focus of the main plot shifts later to the aspects that didn’t interest me so much and it becomes a bit too irritating for my taste.

Lily is now back, and all our characters got some kind of magical power: Maeve can now read minds and emotions of other people, Fiona has healing powers, Roe can open doors, and Lily is able to control electricity. Weird things start to happen, and the friends have to find out what causes them before it’s too late. If I’m being honest, I was more invested in the coming-of-age-elements of the story since it’s the last year of school and Maeve is not totally sure what she wants to do after school and struggles with dealing with all the changes happening around her.

What I still love about this novel is how fantasy elements get combined with social justice issues, like queer rights or classism, though I wish the Children and their influence on the town would’ve been thematized more. I’ve said it before, but this plot point still really reminds me of the Engelsfors series. This is probably coincidental but when comparing the two series, Engelsfors is just better in showing how a cult can slowly take over a whole town and manipulate it. Another similarity of both novels is that

the school is some kind of magically important place

Towards the ending though, the story just got a bit weird, and I didn’t fully understand what was happening at the end. It was so obvious from the beginning that

Heather was evil. The story gets quite creepy towards the end which I liked but it’s so weird how Maeve suddenly owns the school

What I appreciate about the characters is that they are a realistic portrayal of teenagers and that there’s a big focus on the friendship between them. At first, there’s jealously between them since Lily is back and mixes everything up between Maeve and Fiona. This creates a kind of tense dynamic between them. In the course of the story,

we see how Lily and Maeve get closer to each other again which was great

. What I appreciate about Maeve is that her feelings are quite relatable and that she messes up because she isn’t hundred percent a good person. Aaron is still an interesting character but I’m not sure what I should think about

his redemption arc. He was a great villain before, and I don’t know about the new villains

. I furthermore have to admit that I totally forgot that Lily and Roe are siblings since we barely see them interact as such.

Besides some of the critique I had about The Gifts That Bind Us, I’m still curious how the story will end and if I will be happy about the ending.

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