A review by kaladry
Aetherbound by E.K. Johnston

3.0

I really wanted to like this book because the premise was fun, but it was so lackluster. The world has so much going for it with futuristic humans in space with magic tied to the aether. We only really learn about the gene magic of the main character not much else of any other magic though something with electricity is mentioned a lot as well as star sense (I think it’s called that?)

Reading other reviews I now realize there was a trans character which wasn’t obvious until other people mentioned it and then some small comments at the end made sense. I really think the author danced around this subject and yet so gallantly plunged into willing teenage pregnancy??

I thought there was going to be some big epic battle or something and nope, we just fake Romeo and Juliet it and everyone walks away leaving any real confrontation for a future book, if there even is one, and these character get their happy ending.


TLDR: The world building and writing were great but there was barely any plot.