Soulbound

May 21, 2012
A young woman dares to defy the status quo in this first book in the Legacy of Tril trilogy from Brewer (the Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series). In Tril, Healers and Barrons fight a secret war against King Darrek and his army of monstrous Graplars. Bound together by magic, Barrons act as warriors, and Healers keep them alive. When Kaya, a 17-year-old Healer, is summoned against her will to train at the Shadow Academy, she is determined to learn how to defend herself. She trains in secret with an enigmatic instructor, Darius, hiding her skills from Trayton, the Barron to whom she has been bonded. Part adventure, part romance, this tale introduces a feisty, admirable heroine, though a stream of almost-profanities (“fak,” “dek”) distracts, as does the characters’ oddly contemporary language given the quasi-medieval setting (instantly smitten with Trayton, Kaya says she’ll “demand a recount” if he isn’t her intended Barron). The light plot is boosted by a cliffhanger revelation with clear consequences for the Kaya-Trayton-Darius love triangle, which is this story’s main draw. Ages 12–up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

June 15, 2012
Seventeen-year-old Kaya is the daughter of two Barrons who were forbidden to marry; they are all in hiding when she's discovered by her country's leaders and forced into training at Shadow Academy, an isolated boarding school. To her great frustration, Kaya isn't of the respected warrior class, like her parents. Instead, she's a Healer, able to lay her hands on the Barron she's Bound to and heal his wounds, but not good for much else--a secondary role she's not willing to accept. Since the Barron she was Soulbound to at birth is dead, the academy binds her to a wealthy Barron, Trayton, whose Soulbound Healer is also dead. Although Trayton is handsome and friendly, he's not a rule breaker like the attractive, moody Barron Darius, a young instructor at the school with a mysterious background. Both Barrons will be needed to fight off the Graplars--the dinosaurlike monsters that keep attacking the students and that Kaya's determined to learn how to destroy. Kaya's rigidly class-structured, relentlessly embattled world is vividly sketched, and while the stock characters never fully spring to life, the slice-'em-dice-'em, gore-infused action keeps the pace brisk. A fictional swear word, "fak," obviously substituted for another expletive, peppers the text, an annoying contrivance. Readers will be swept along as Kaya determinedly takes control of her own future in this predictable if spirited series opener. (Fantasy. 11 & up)

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March 1, 2013

Gr 7 Up-Raised in the tiny village of Kessler, Kaya knows nothing of the outside world her parents fled in order to be together, a world in which Barrons and Healers are bound to one another-Barrons fight the evil Graplar King and Healers cure their wounds. After her best friend is killed by a Graplar, a fearsome beast with a ravenous hunger for human flesh, the Zettai Council of the Shadow Academy tracks down Kaya and her parents. Unknown to her, her Barron parents have been living outside the law in a relationship anathema to their society. By threatening the lives of her parents, the Council forces Kaya to leave home and enter the Shadow Academy, where she begins training as a Healer. But Kaya wants more out of life than to just heal her assigned Barron. She wants to learn to fight. However, finding an instructor who will train her violates Protocol and may result not only in her expulsion from the academy but also jeopardize the safety of her family and home. This first novel in the series is an action-packed fantasy with terrific complex characters, bloody battle scenes, and a cliff-hanger ending that will leave readers waiting anxiously for the sequel. This will appeal primarily to girls who like the strong female characters of Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games (Scholastic, 2008), Alison Goodman's Eon (Viking, 2008), and Malinda Lo's Huntress (Little, Brown, 2011).-Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AK

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2012
Grades 7-10 Brewer, author of the popular Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series, picks up a sword and takes on Graplars, vicious beasts that plague the world of Tril, in this start to a new fantasy series. Kaya is summoned to the walled campus of Shadow Academy to learn the intricacies of being a healer. The job includes being at the ready to save the lives of the Barrons, who do the fighting. Told that her soulbound Barron is dead, she becomes formally bound to another Barron, Trayton, and a romance kindles. But Kaya is not satisfied with just healing; she wants to train to fight the Graplars. Enter Darius, the third side of the romantic triangle. On one hand, Kaya is a strong, independent character who would be at home in a Tamora Pierce novel; on the other, she is swooning over Trayton's kisses, afraid to look at the bloody carnage, and clueless over her effect on Darius. Fantasy fans who stick with the drawn-out, slightly uneven story will be eager for book two when they reach the cliff-hanger ending. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Brewer's many fans will be eagerly anticipating this new series starter, but a top-level marketing campaign will put it on the radar of an even wider audience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)