Runebinder (The Runebinder Chronicles, #1) by Alex R. Kahler Published by Harlequin Teen on November 14th 2017
Pages: 400
Goodreads
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 Tomás 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.
3 Nuts
I admit, I totally judged this book by the cover. It reminded me of the Summoner series by Taran Matharu so I was thinking full on high fantasy when I started reading. Nope. Dystopian fantasy. Cool, something a little different. Except….I feel like I’ve read this before… Oh its a less good version of Mercedes Lackey’s Hunter trilogy.
World goes to shit when magic arrives? Check.
Main character with unexplainably cooler powers than everyone else? Check.
Bad guy creature who might not actually be a bad guy? Check.
Yep, I’ve read this before. Only in this case the beginning is so. Damn. Slow. I wanted the pace to pick up a lot faster than it did. Too much talking (with not a lot said), not a lot of solid world building or action right off. But it did eventually pick up.
All of that being said, this was a generally enjoyable book to read. The LGBT elements are fantastically done. It seems like a majority of the characters are LGBT in some form, which is a nice change from similar stories.
The main character himself is a little boring to me. He’s kind of dull, not a whole lot of spark, and the way he talks as he describes things tends to be a little confusing. Especially at the beginning. There were several passages that I had to read a couple of times to understand what in the world he was talking about or where the character/author contradicts themselves. That tends to take me out of the story if I have to go back and sleuth out what an author is trying to tell me.
Overall while the story is fairly enjoyable, there’s so much similarity to other things that I found it distracting. It’s hard not to compare them, especially when the other is written better. This book struggles at the beginning in particular and needed some more editing. That is a complaint I’ve heard several times about Harlequin Teen’s books.
My feelings on this book are incredibly mixed and kind of all over the place so I suppose I’ll just leave it here. I can’t really recommend it as functionally there are several major problems, even if the story is alright.
Maybe just go read Hunter by Mercedes Lackey instead.
How do you feel about Runebinder? Share your thoughts in the comments.
From my shelf to yours,
Erin
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