TL;DR- Mesmerizing, well-plotted, and I NEED MORE PLEASE.
Much like the title and theme of fate-weavers, this book is incredibly well woven. Hatzopoulou skillfully takes several different angles and brings them together in a tale that includes acknowledging the ways our attempts to help can hurt ("'There is violence in kindness, and kindness in violence.'"), how acceptance of harm causes more pain ("'... tolerating wickedness seems to me just a slow kind of death.'"), and how sometimes we can't love the ones we knew in the same way anymore. Even though there are heavy undertones as mentioned, there are light moments between Io and her best friend Rosa, the local coffee owner Amos, and Io's counterpart in the investigation Edei.
Pros: Riveting, beautiful prose. LGBT+ rep!! Several semi-predictable moments but never in a disappointing way, instead more of a "YES THAT'S WHAT I WAS HOPING FOR" way. Also, the TWIST on p. 252!! WHAT.
Best Quote: the above kindness/violence line.
Cons: Io is described as wearing spectacles but only halfway through the book did I notice the first mention of them. Up till that point, I do not remember them being talked about, and as a glasses human, I wish more emphasis had been given to her sight. Additionally there are some structural errors that seem to contradict the story but are really simply missed edits.
Rating: 4.8/5
Summary: "Threads That Bind" is a captivating novel about a partial dystopian society built after a collapse that restructured the entire world. Descendants of gods are viewed as generally untrustworthy and shunted to the sidelines, while the Muses are given idolization as they are patrons of the arts and deemed less a threat. Io is a descendant of the Fates, and is the sister who can cut threads, be it threads to things people love or even their very life. While acting as a private investigator, Io is witness to a brutal murder by a being who's life thread is severed, but is somehow still alive. The local mafia boss, styling herself as Queen of the Silts, hires Io to solve the mystery; but as Io begins to realize the murders are tied to the event that brought the Queen to power, threats to Io's life, that of her sisters, and even the stability of the Silts become the stakes in which she races against to stop the next death.
Much like the title and theme of fate-weavers, this book is incredibly well woven. Hatzopoulou skillfully takes several different angles and brings them together in a tale that includes acknowledging the ways our attempts to help can hurt ("'There is violence in kindness, and kindness in violence.'"), how acceptance of harm causes more pain ("'... tolerating wickedness seems to me just a slow kind of death.'"), and how sometimes we can't love the ones we knew in the same way anymore. Even though there are heavy undertones as mentioned, there are light moments between Io and her best friend Rosa, the local coffee owner Amos, and Io's counterpart in the investigation Edei.
Pros: Riveting, beautiful prose. LGBT+ rep!! Several semi-predictable moments but never in a disappointing way, instead more of a "YES THAT'S WHAT I WAS HOPING FOR" way. Also, the TWIST on p. 252!! WHAT.
Best Quote: the above kindness/violence line.
Cons: Io is described as wearing spectacles but only halfway through the book did I notice the first mention of them. Up till that point, I do not remember them being talked about, and as a glasses human, I wish more emphasis had been given to her sight. Additionally there are some structural errors that seem to contradict the story but are really simply missed edits.
Rating: 4.8/5
Summary: "Threads That Bind" is a captivating novel about a partial dystopian society built after a collapse that restructured the entire world. Descendants of gods are viewed as generally untrustworthy and shunted to the sidelines, while the Muses are given idolization as they are patrons of the arts and deemed less a threat. Io is a descendant of the Fates, and is the sister who can cut threads, be it threads to things people love or even their very life. While acting as a private investigator, Io is witness to a brutal murder by a being who's life thread is severed, but is somehow still alive. The local mafia boss, styling herself as Queen of the Silts, hires Io to solve the mystery; but as Io begins to realize the murders are tied to the event that brought the Queen to power, threats to Io's life, that of her sisters, and even the stability of the Silts become the stakes in which she races against to stop the next death.