The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: Wildbound

Series: Forestborn #2

Author: Elayne Audrey Becker

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

The thrilling follow-up to Elayne Audrey Becker’s debut YA epic fantasy, Forestborn, full of forest magic and a kingdom on the brink of war.

With the assassination of Telyan’s king, the time for peace has passed.

Determined to make up for his failure to procure the stardust, Helos finds work as a healer at Fendolyn’s Keep, the military garrison to which Telyan’s exiled royals–and half its civilians–have fled. Racing against the Fallow Throes’ ticking clock, he endeavors to repair his relationship with Prince Finley and fight off the gathering shadows in his head, as the base around him prepares for war.

Half a continent away, his sister Rora is doing everything she can to reawaken the land and end Eradain’s slaughter of magical beings. Still reeling from the revelation that Eradain’s violent monarch is her half-brother, she journeys to the kingdom determined to infiltrate his court in disguise–and finds the seeds of rebellion are already stirring.

With a magical illness running rampant and the continent arming for battle, the three realms’ long-feared destruction seems inevitable. But the two shifters they believed would bring about Alemara’s ruin may in fact hold the key to its survival.- summary from Goodreads

Oh my goodness! This book was so amazing I don’t think I will ever get over it! This entire duology really came out of nowhere and swept me away.

Okay there was so, so much that went right with this book for me, but I am going to start with the tiniest thing I noticed that needed a little work. There were a few times where something big was happening and it just moved too fast and then was done. It just felt the tiniest bit unrealistic in these parts, but it didn’t take away from the story at all.

Now on to the good, parts, which were all of them!

Anybody who has been following me for a while knows I love finding strong family/sibling relationships in media, which is something you don’t find too often. This whole series had some of the best sibling relationships, especially for older readers. I loved seeing all the different facets to these relationships, including outside perspectives. There were also two different sibling groups, which I loved more than I care to admit. So one of the great things about these sibling relationships was it felt equal to the romance. Too often in YA books, it starts off with noble intentions of helping the sibling, but as soon as the love interest enters, the sibling is all but nonexistent. The sibling relationships had just as much as a presence as the romance, which I really appreciated. The second aspect that I absolutely adored, was the realistic, healthy sibling interactions. These siblings actually cared for each other and protected each other, as well as made decisions with the other in mind. There was also the fact that the characters wanted to see their siblings just as much as their love interest, which doesn’t happen in media. The characters also took a great amount of comfort from their siblings. What I’m trying to say without spoiling everything, is this book showed healthy, realistic sibling relationships and dynamics, and it was a breathe of fresh air!

We did get to see more of Violet and Finley, along with Weslyn, which I adored. I loved these characters so much, and the way they all interacted with each other was amazing!

While I loved the siblings, I also adored the romances! We had two romances this book: Finley and Helos, and Rora and Weslyn. Rora and Weslyn are so sweet and respectful and just perfect together. The only downside was that they were separated for the first four hundred pages. We only get to see them together for just over one hundred pages and it was not enough! On the bright side the longing they had for each other made their reunion that much better! Finley and Helos on the other hand had been in a relationship for years, but had broken up the month prior. This book follows them reconciling and dealing with past trauma. I have to say, I loved them so much. They were adorable together!

There was also talks about consent in this book, which I don’t see too often! This is a clean romance book, that mainly alluded to what was happening, but I still enjoyed how there was consent conversation happening.

Another thing I really enjoyed was the difference in how Rora and Helos think of each other. In the first book, Rora thinks of Helos as this selfless, loyal person who can do no wrong. In this book, you learn that Helos views Rora as this serious, brave person. Both of them don’t see themselves this way, and they look up to the other so much. It was actually kind of cute!

There were some good conversations on being sick this book, which was somewhat shocking, but in a good way. Finley is still sick throughout the book, and he has this really great moment where he explains that he is not brave for continuing to live his life even though he is sick. It really moved me. Then there was the exploration of PTSD, which I enjoyed. Elayne does a really good job at subtly hinting at things for most of the book, and then masterfully revealing what was being hinted at.

There were some dramatic moments, but it felt so realistic. It wasn’t cheesy at all, which I really appreciated. With that being said, this book also felt more mature at times with how problems were dealt with. Violence wasn’t always the first thing turned to and conversations happened in rational manners.

One thing Elayne did wonderfully well was have these emotional, heartfelt scenes that were written beautifully and placed in the exact right moment. She also did a wonderful job continuing the story after these moments, but still carried the weight.

This was a dual POV book, which really strengthened it from the first book. I loved seeing both Helos and Rora’s POV.

The storyline itself was also interesting. We got a little more political drama, which was enjoyable. I also liked seeing more of how the common people of this world lived and thought. I really loved this unique magic system and how it was used.

The ending was nice, but I kind of wanted just a little more. Though I love the characters were doing what they loved in their relationships, and nobody was being held back. I hope there will be future books in this world- maybe from Weslyn and Finley’s POV as they bring trade to Alemara? I think that would be amazing!

Wildbound by Elayne Audrey Becker was an amazing, heartfelt conclusion to the Forestborn duology. With a dual POV, realistic sibling relationships, sweet romances, and an epic story, this book isn’t one I will soon forget!