Review: Wildbound by Elayne Audrey Becker

Wildbound by Elayne Audrey Becker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This is the second book in the Forestborn duology, and I would highly recommend reading Forestborn first. This is a follow on to the first book, and really wouldn't make sense if you read it as a standalone. This book follows Rora and Helos directly after the events of the first book as they both take different paths to save the kingdom and the people they love. Rora has a plan to awaken magic througout the land and hopefully save those afflicted by a lethal magical illness called the throes. Humans are being infected with magic because magic has no where to go in a world where magic is being irraticated, so it latches on to humans who aren't compatible. Rora find out in the first book that bringing the magic back to the land may just be the cure to the illness that is plaguing the humans and one of her best friends. Helos chooses to join the fight as a healer. He isn't a fighter and action taker like Rora, but he still has some big decisions ahead of him.

I thought the character development was great in this book. The world building was a big part of the first book, where as this installment focuses more on Helos' development as I expected it would. Rora's character does still see development and we do get to know Wes and Fin a bit better, but Helos is really the star of the show here. Again there is a bit of romance, but it isn't the main focus of the plot.

I do feel like parts of this book were repetitive especially as we switch between points of view between the two siblings. Often times things that are happening in Rora's chapters are recapped in the next chapter with Helos and vice versa. I often found myself thinking "Didn't I just read that" and I would go back a few pages to make sure I hadn't lost my place and it turns out it was the same thing from the other sibling's POV. The additional perspective and detail was good in some situations, but it felt repetitive in others.

This duology has some great and inventive elements, that I really enjoyed. I thought the plot was interesting and I enjoyed going on this journey with the characters. If you are looking for a creative YA fantasy, check this duology out.

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