Reviews with content warning for Death - Spell Bound

F.T. Lukens has done it again! After falling in love with the author's previous works, I knew I would love Spell Bound and I was right. The characters were great, the humor was on point, and the setting was so much fun. Lukens is really a master of creating these almost silly plots and set-ups, with interweaving seriousness that creates this lovely balance of tones.

The beginning was a little rough, but I find that's a bit of a habit for Lukens. They like to establish most of the lore and setting within the first couple of pages, which can get overwhelming and be a bit awkward to read, but once you're past that it's smooth sailing from there into a fantastic story. I will say, this is partially why this isn't a 5-star for me. The other half is that I think had I not picked up the book knowing I would enjoy it and ignored the summary for the most part, I would've found the inside flap misleading. Most of the book consists of building the characters' relationships, which I really enjoyed. But that means that the main conflict isn't addressed until about the last 4th of the novel, which is not how I understood it from the summary. So to anyone interested, I would just keep that in mind.

As for the relationships, they were FANTASTIC. I really loved exploring not just the dynamic between the two apprentices, Rook and Sun, but also Rook and his mentor Antonia, Sun and their mentor Fable, and even the strange rivalry/camaraderie between Antonia and Fable. The interactions were interesting and funny, and really are the shining gem of this book.

To end this, while So This is Ever After is still my favorite, Spell Bound and In Deeper Waters get to fight for second place. And if you like one of Lukens' books, I guarantee you will like the others.

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jenn_chem's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

I can do angsty dark drama, but I really truly love “we can figure out how to be together,” “we can’t change the whole world but we can change our world,” cozy, hopeful love stories. I’m so glad stories like these exist, and F. T. Lukens does it so damn well.

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britand's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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emily_mh's review against another edition

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lighthearted slow-paced

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

3.0

I’m upset having to write a less-than-positive review for this book, as I loved Lukens’ previous two releases, but this fell so flat for me! I really pushed myself to finish - at first I thought that was because I was moving (and thus was stressed out), but I came to realise that it’s because the whole book felt half-baked.

Firstly, what is mentioned as the inciting incident in the synopsis actually happens around 56% of the way through the book. Up until then it is a monotonous series of events where the MCs, Rook and Sun, go on outings with their mentors and interact a few times. Even after the inciting incident happens, all that occurs is the MCs go to one house, then another, and then there is the final scene (which had a too convenient resolution). Then the book is over. I was just never excited or intrigued.

As this was a romance-focussed book I wasn’t looking for detailed, quality world-building but I did expect to be interested by the places involved and have a grasp on the rules of the alternate reality. Unfortunately I found the settings here to be super mundane; like, a dingy building here, apartment block there, central city over there, etc. There’s not really any description of how magic makes these places fantastically different. I also never understood how the non-magic vs. magic thing worked. Do non-magics know about magics? To what extent can they interact with magic - this seemed to vary? How does the Consortium fit into non-magical governance? Etc. I will say that the leylines element was cool, though! It was a really great explanation of the foundation of magic and tied into the story effortlessly.

In terms of MCs, I thought Rook was a pretty good one. His story honestly felt like an allegory for disability, because the way he was capable of magic but not in the “approved way” and so was excluded was really reminiscent of the disabled, particularly the neurodivergent, experience. In this way the Spell Binder was like his mobility aid,

which is why I wished he had regained it at the end of the book

. I found Sun to be less developed as a character, maybe as a result of their lesser page time in comparison to Rook. There’s kind of two threads with them, one being confronting the fact that the Consortium is bad, the other being them finding their sense of belonging. However, I found the former to be rushed and I was unconvinced of their development in relation to the latter.

The romance between these MCs was just fine. Nothing to write home about, but nothing wrong with it either. Rook and Sun were well-suited to one another and had black cat/golden retriever energy, which will always go down well with me. I think the tension in their relationship could have been done a little better, as well as some dialogue they shared. But it was cute!

Finally, the writing style came across as juvenile. There were a couple of textual motifs (e.g. “You” “Me”) that I didn’t like. But even though I found quite a few negatives in this book, I did decide to give it three stars on the basis of the positives I mentioned, as well as the fact that it was light-hearted and entertaining enough.

Rep: Achillean MC, Achillean nonbinary neurodivergent Korean MC, NB SC

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purplepenning's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

Funny and sweet contemporary YA fantasy that isn't covering a lot of new ground with the plot but is an excellent found family story with heartwarmingly kind and conscientious characters. I'd read a half dozen more of these.

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shector1's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

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

4.25

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daniellestarredpages's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

When reading Spell Bound, you get more character work than anything else. Spell Bound isn't really heavy on working out the Magic System. There are straightforward explanations and few additions as the story goes on. This isn't necessarily as negative, but if you're looking for a witchy story that is heavy on the Magical work then maybe try leaving Spell Bound for another time.

In this story, we follow Rook and Sun through their POVs but we also get to know Antonia and Fable, their mentors. The characterisation was done extremely well.

My favourite part f this book was the friendship and romantic development between Sun and Rook. Their personalities blended so well, their interactions were amusing and the development of their relationship was well-written.

Another relationship I enjoyed in this bools was the dynamic between Antonia and Rook. Throughout the book, Antonia becomes the only adult that really cares about Rook and that found family aspect was really great.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley, Simon and Schuster as well as Coloured Pages Book Tours for an ARC of this wonderful book.

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trips's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

5.0

I am so grateful to have received an ARC of Spell Bound, I had a fantastic time reading this and I am not sure I would have found it otherwise!

Lukens lets us into such an intriguing and fascinating magical world and weaves in these adorable, loveable 2 main characters Rook and Sun! And their teachers are great too! Their prose balances between being lighthearted and witty to heartfelt and sweet, and I fell in love with it the more I read.
The representation is executed excellently, and Lukens discusses things like the problems of gatekeeping with nuance.

If nothing else, Rook and Sun's relationship was incredibly an cute grumpy/sunshine mix. I loved that their relationship was slow to form into a true friendship and that we really got to see the two gradually start to fall for each other. I love them *cry*. I especially loved how their relationship showcased how intimacy can happen and develop without the traditional, or expected, trajectory. There is more than just jumping to kissing! This is my opinion talking, but I truly appreciated that Rook and Sun felt like teenagers, sometimes this gets lost in YA. They're incredibly capable and intelligent teens, but teens with thoughts like "I'm the motherfucking gingerbread man', lol.

This a refreshing and fun LGBT+ friendly read, I wholly recommend it to anyone who loves magic with some romance and tons of found family vibes.

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