Title: Runebinder
Author: Alex R. Kahler
Series Name: The Runebinder Chronicles
Genre: YA Diverse Fantasy
Publication Date: Nov 20th, 2017
Pages: 400 (Hardcover)
Publishers: Harlequin (Australia) TEEN
Rating:
Magic is risen.
When magic returned to the world, it could have saved humanity, but greed and thirst for power caused mankind’s downfall instead. Now once-human monsters called Howls prowl abandoned streets, their hunger guided by corrupt necromancers and the all-powerful Kin. Only Hunters have the power to fight back in the unending war, using the same magic that ended civilization in the first place.
But they are losing.
Tenn is a Hunter, resigned to fight even though hope is nearly lost. When he is singled out by a seductive Kin named Tomas and the enigmatic Hunter Jarrett, Tenn realizes he’s become a pawn in a bigger game. One that could turn the tides of war. But if his mutinous magic and wayward heart get in the way, his power might not be used in favor of mankind.
If Tenn fails to play his part, it could cost him his friends, his life…and the entire world.
Well, I don’t love it. As I have said many times before, I don’t like covers with people on them and that is still the case with this one. But it’s not horrible, at least the character is how he is described in the book! Well as much as we can see of him anyway.
The writing took some getting used to. I prefer 1st person POV is most cases but this book was 3rd person POV and it was a little hard to follow at times. Also, there wasn’t a huge amount of explanation in this book which annoyed me and I will talk about that a bit more in the plot section of the review.
Okay, so it wasn’t the best. It felt very tropey (I’m making that a word, okay?!) and it also felt similar to other books I have read! At the time I was also listening to the audiobook of Half Lost by Sally Green and I felt like they were similar. I don’t know if it was that they are both following the Chosen One trope to some degree, magic and both had GLBT main characters. I don’t know exactly, but it was a weird similarity.
Also, on the topic of the Choose One Trope, it was never explained as to why exactly he was chosen. Maybe this will be explained further is book 2 but after finishing this one I am none the wiser which is annoying! I would have liked even a little bit of explanation or a theory as to why like is done in most Chosen One books!
I also found the book a bit predictable! As soon as a certain thing happened I thought ‘I bet ……. will happen’ and then a hundred pages or so later it did and I guess you could call it one of the big plot twists. There were also a fair few other things I guessed too! It doesn’t make for an extremely exciting book if I’m guessing most things that happen.
So this will be the smallest characters section I have ever written! Because of the 3rd person POV I feel like I still don’t know the characters and I definitely didn’t connect with any of them!
So this is the small opinion of I have of each of the major characters
Tenn was okay, a little annoying at times
Jarrett was okay but felt like the kinda typical charming, attractive love interest
Tomàs was just creepy and they way he spoke was infuriating
Dreya was pretty cool, she was a bit of a badass I guess
Devon was also the typical badass but shy/quiet character
Leanna was simply the typical bad guy character
Yes, I am using the word typical a lot.
Overall, there wasn’t too much that impressed me about this book. I didn’t hate anything but it was just a little ‘meh’ for me. The writing wasn’t my favourite. The plot was predictable and felt like the same thing I have already read 10 times. The characters were unimpressive and there was only one charactre that I actually really liked which was Dreya.
I was provided with an eGalley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you very much to Harlequin (Australia) TEEN & NetGalley for this opportunity.
Checkout the Harlequin Australia Website for details on the book!
You can purchase the book here:
QBD
Paperback
Dymocks:
Paperback
Amazon Aus (Hardcover is on special for $14.23 AUD!!!!)
Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook, Audio CD & Kindle (eBook)
I am sorry for the possible errors and the design of this blog post! Also why half my post is centred and the other is on the left side. I was half way through writing my review and the internet stopped working! Ever since they started putting the NBN lines done in my area in Aus, the normal network has been playing up something shocking! Extremely slow and not even working half the time! NBN won’t be fully connected in my area till May or something next year! So there is a large possibility that I will have to put up with the shit for a few months yet! So as I was half way through writing my review and it was failing to save a draft I had to copy and paste it to a pages document and send it to my phone. Luckily that went through! I then had to finish it off on my phone. Hopefully all the links will be working and everything will be fine but I just don’t know. I also don’t know how it’s going to go uploading this review to my NetGalley account now! Thank goodness for Copy & Paste!!
**Internet is working now and I have fixed the errors**
HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK? WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON IT?!
IF YOU ARE GOING TO SHARE SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS THEN PLEASE WARN IT SO OTHERS DON’T GET SPOILED!
Dusk Angel Reads 
Ah, internet problems… they’re basically the worst. I’m pretty sure hell is a place where the wifi is spotty and the connection constantly drops.
Haven’t read this book, but I probably won’t–we’ll see. Too many books out there to pick up one that doesn’t impress!
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