The Ties That Bind Us Review

The Ties That Bind Us (The Bonds of Fate, #1) by Deidra Duncan
Series: The Bonds of Fate #1
on July 21, 2026
Genres: Dark Fantasy
Format: eARC
Source: Provided as part of book tour
Goodreads

Two enemies.
One prophecy.
A woman between them who could change everything.

Sean Archer has spent his life trapped in a small California town, forbidden to leave without knowing why. David Berkeley is destined for a life of crime, his strange gift of emotional coercion twisted into a weapon. They’ve hated each other for as long as they can remember.

But when a hidden realm drags them both across its borders, Sean learns he is heir to a kingdom on the brink of ruin while David is bound to the bloodline that once destroyed it. Now, their feud explodes into a prophesied war.

Caught in the middle is Anna Ainslan, a fiery warrior harboring a dangerous secret. She’s the teacher who can help David understand his treacherous magic, the muse who can inspire Sean to become the leader Luxoria demands in the face of looming war—but she’s also stealing her way into both of their hearts.

As conflict rises and fate tightens its grip, Sean, David, and Anna must decide if the ties that bind them are chains…or the only hope of saving two worlds. Because in a land where destiny rules, love might be the most dangerous rebellion of all.

The Ties That Bind Us is the first book in a sweeping dark fantasy romance series of enemies and allies, forbidden magic, and love that dares to defy prophecy. Perfect for fans of A Forbidden Alchemy and Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter series!

Get The Ties That Bind Us on Amazon

 

 In a realm of fading magic, a hidden power awakens inside Anna, drawing two dangerous men into her orbit-

-one prophesied to save the realm… and one destined to ruin it.

 

 Julie’s Review of The Ties That Bind Us: A Dark Fantasy Romance (The Bonds of Fate Book 1)  :

The Ties That Bind Us is a dark portal fantasy romance with some interesting ideas and plot directions, but struggled with pacing and keeping my interest until the halfway point. I want to say it took me almost two weeks to get to 50%, and then finally it started clicking for me, and in a few days I devoured the rest.

The book is very character-driven, so let’s talk about all the characters. We have two main male characters, one the “savior” and one destined to be the plague. Sean the Savior is an orphan, “because what her would be complete without a tragic past?” as he says, living with his “Aunt” and “Cousin” in a very small town and not allowed to leave to go to college or anything. David, the one destined to be the villain, is similarly raised in the town with a mother who doesn’t care and an abusive father who makes him do terrible things, or else. But they’re not from this world, and a pull to get out brings them into their real world through the mist. Sean, he’s kind of a flat character to me. He is a very, very reluctant chosen one, always saying he isn’t who they think he is. Then there’s David; and he’s just got the depth of a bottomless canyon. Forced to use his voice magic to make people do unthinkable things since a tender childhood age, he has built walls of ice around his heart to hide from the guilt. These boys grew up enemies, and Sean never could understand why his aunt wanted them to be friends. These boys are heirs of a pair of brothers and have the magic and memories of their bloodlines. Why is one the savior and one the shadow? Because someone saw it with Sight and it was written down as prophecy.

Then we have the two main female characters. Isobel is descended from the woman who came between those two brothers, and her sole purpose is to die for the savior. What a life, huh? She also has a magic kiss to heal all wounds. She inherited the blood debt, and also some crazy bitch energy. She and Sean have instalust because of their ancestors, but this love feels forced and oily. Despite that, they can’t keep their hands off each other. Then there’s Anna, who doesn’t know who her family is, and hides secrets of her magic which could get her into some hot water. But she’s a genuine caring person, feeling that David has goodness in him beneath the layers of ice, and she puts her trust in him and ends up falling. David, believing he is bad news, is self-destructive of his own happiness, and the pain and longing between them is palpable. There’s more to Anna’s story than we get in this book. There are some hints dropped in the epilogue which made me squirm but I really want to know who is the voice that keeps tormenting her and if she’s so important what was up with that scene in the temple?

Once Sean trudged past David’s icy exterior, he discovered a dynamic, complicated, pleasant person”

The plot? David and Anna are the plot for me. Their relationship and character arcs are the only thing fully developed in the book. The rest is 80% training sequences for the war that is coming, and strategizing, and a few battles. The worldbuilding could have been spaced out a little better. It felt like an info dump via conversation, and I’ll be honest, I almost DNF’d this book about a quarter through. I had the hardest time caring about anyone and getting into it. It was sort of like the situation with me reading Elemental Awakening (where if I had eyeball read it I would definitely have DNF’d and the audio saved it). I still didn’t like Sean at the end. But the plot device that turned these enemies into allies was interesting, though despicable. But David, I think he can still be redeemed. And I would be interested in seeing where this story takes him if I could get an abridged version. The ending was beautifully tragic, and there is no HFN.

This set of quotes is basically the plot:

“I’m not a plague”

“And I’m not a savoir”

But David had so many salty flirty lines that I ended up highlighting quite a few.

I don’t make mistakes. I make… plot twists”

and

“I like this version of Davis. He weaponizes flirting”

“I call it flirtillery”

OMG I am so using these terms from now on! How fun! So the banter and fun interactions are there, but only for one set of characters. The rest was a bit of a slog for the first half or maybe more. But it got interesting at the end. And with the tiny crumb of hints we got in the epilogue I am itching to know what comes next.

 

Tropes:

• portal fantasy,
• chosen one with a twist,
• love triangle,
• forbidden love,
• enemies to brothers,
• multi-POV

Thanks to IRIS Influencer Society for the chance to ARC read this book.

 

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