Angelbound

Free audiobook received in exchange for an honest review.

So when I started listening to this, I thought I would DNF... The audiobook has been narrated by the author herself and it seemed horribly overacted.

Well, surprise surprise! Somewhere along the way, I got used to it and then I started loving it. What seemed annoying at first was just different and gave off such positive vibes. Let's just say that this overacted voice just fits the main character so well. She is spitfire; she is snarky, and she is generally up to no good.

The characters in this book are quite well built. Not super original, but they have that certain something to them. Maybe it's the audiobook voice that really brought them to life.

I quite enjoyed the show more world-building too. There was an interesting fresh look at world of angels and demons and the half-blooded. Not an urban fantasy that is set (at least partially) in our world as usual, but a new fantasy setting instead. We visit the Purgatory where the souls are being judged and our MC fights evil souls that requested judgment by combat. Yes, she also attends a school, so there is that setting, although the school is not your typical institution either.

There are certainly some clichés, but similar to the narration somewhere along the way, I just didn't care anymore. I was hooked.

This book was just a perfect guilty pleasure read. The kind of book that might be a bit silly, but in such a way that you are in for the ride rather than rolling your eyes. (Although, as I said, it might take time for it to grow on you.) It’s a great palate cleanser before you start reading something more serious. I am certainly going to continue with the series. show less

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I really enjoyed it! Bauer does a great job of getting immersing readers in the world without bogging the story down. We learn as we read, which is fantastic. The pacing is steady and the characters fun.

Myla is a great protagonist, full of spark, energy, and of course, wrath. Being a quasi demon whose sin is wrath (and lust), she drives the story forward with relentless passion. What truly sets Myla apart from the stereotypical, and often one-dimensional, kick butt warrior, is that she isn’t just that. She is sensitive and introspective, especially when it comes to her background, her family, and the injustices she observes. Yes, she enjoys the fight, and though it seems like her life is about the fight, it isn’t. show more That’s what it has been because that’s all she has had to escape from the realities of the current construct of Purgatory. It’s her only escape, and that she’s good at it – only make it better.

To say everything changes when she meets a boy would be cliche, but also a partial lie. Everything changes for Myla when Purgatory itself shifts away from the current norm. That Bauer manages to conflate the workings of the world with the meeting of a boy is fantastic, keeping Myla true to herself and strong, while still letting her be young and “in love.” Also, Lincoln is amazing and a breath of fresh air compared to all of these other YA love interests. He backs Myla up instead of overshadowing her or going above her. He cares for her and does what she needs instead of what he thinks she needs or is best.

Angelbound by Christina Bauer is a great YA fantasy novel that has some of the healthiest depictions of young romance I’ve seen in a while. The pacing is spot on, characters are refreshing, and there are seedlings of a vast and solid world beyond what we see.

// I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this title. // show less

Angelbound, oh Angelbound. You know I've been trying to write this one for two days now. How do you put into words how a really good book makes you feel? A book that not only was a lot of fun but also helped to get me out of my reading funk I've been in since becoming so sick. After dozens of tries I finally just decided to and be as honest as I can and just write it, don't think, just do it and I can say in all honesty that this was an exceptional book.

The story centers around Myla who is a Quasi-Demon living in Purgatory. There are five major realms in this universe, well six if you include the humans but the major realms we're dealing with are: Heaven which is ruled by the Angels, Hell run by the demons, Ghouls in the Darklands, the show more Half-Angel: demon hunting Thrax in Antrum and finally the Quasi-Demon's in Purgatory. After a revolt about 18 years ago the ghouls with the help of an invading army of demons took over Purgatory and now the Quasi's are basically slaves to their Ghoul Overlords although the Ghouls refuse to use that term and they make sure to keep their slaves super happy as Myla would put it.

From the very first page it was apparent that Myla has a strong voice and I was immediately sucked into her world. She is a great heroine. She's strong, sassy, sometimes over-confident but not in a bad way but she's also kind, caring and has a conscience. She's also a lot of trouble and likes to make trouble which was quite fun at times. She enjoys three things in life: kicking ass, kicking ass and kicking ass. She's been a gladiator in the Purgatory arena for years now and it is her job to fight those souls who choose a trial by combat. When people or other creatures die they end up in Purgatory and are judged in one of two ways. They can receive a trial by jury or a trial by combat. Most of the good souls after their trial by jury go straight to heaven, moved by the immensely powerful but really old Scala who's job is to move souls from Purgatory to either Heaven or Hell. Evil souls know they will never be able to go to Heaven if they receive a trial by jury so most of them opt for a trial by combat and that's where Myla and the other warriors come in.

Myla lives for fighting in the arena and is a self-taught warrior. Most of the other kids at school find her odd and thinks she's weird although none would ever dare say so to her face out of fear of getting their butt's kicked. All Myla thinks about is fighting in the arena, how to kill any given demon and the best way to beat her opponents and yes I said school. That's part of what makes this book so much fun is the fact that Myla also has to attend school and deal with normal life or what passes for normal in Purgatory. Unfortunately her school is quite the sham and causes some of the more hilarious moments in the book. Basically instead of being taught normal stuff like Math or English, they're taught how to best serve and please their Ghoul Overlords. Ghouls dig coffee and are fond of worm soufflette. Myla's rebellious nature and snarky attitude towards her people's oppressors are just too much fun and I love how she nickname's all of the ghouls.

But everything is not quite so peachy in Purgatory these days. Things are changing and the demons led by their leader Armageddon have been exerting their authority more and more. There is fear that Armageddon is not happy with a puppet rule in his stead and plans to invade the realm even while the ghouls continue to insist that Armageddon and the demons are their benevolent friends. This also creates some hilarious scenes such as when the ghouls create the defense league and basically instead of teaching the students how to defend themselves against demons they instead tell them that in the case of an invasion they are all to run around with their arms in the air screaming, "Take me! Take me!" while the ghouls teleport themselves to safety. Hehehe.

Ahh, I so enjoyed this story. I loved the strong characters and the whole cast was great. Myla's best friend Cissy was awesome except of course when here inner "envy" demon was rearing it's ugly head. I love the way Myla's tail has a mind of it's own, actually all the races with tales are like that. For instance in the beginning of the story Myla gets a letter in the mail and her tail keeps trying to destroy it so she's having to smack it away so she can open the letter. I really enjoyed Myla's love interest too with the Thrax Prince Lincoln and found it quite refreshing that this was no love at first sight. In fact Myla hated Lincoln when she first met him and disliked him immensely for a good portion of the story. Mylas mom was a great character too and it was fun getting to watch her transform from a scared and over-protective mom to a strong woman as the story progressed. There are plenty of reasons for her fear and over-protectiveness and the story does such a nice job with that. There's a lot going on and a lot of backstory that you get in bits here and there. Angelbound has some pretty heavy moments but the humor and lighter parts of the story really help to keep it grounded and fun.

This was just such a great book and I'd recommend it to anyone, especially if they're a fan of the genre or like anything to do with Angels. I seriously cannot wait for the next book to come out. The world building was extremely rich and I enjoyed every single moment I spent in Myla's world. The book had me laughing out loud so many times for instance after graduation all of the students have to pick a service to perform for their Ghoul Overlords. Myla's mom is a seamstress while others get crappy jobs like Ghoul Proctologist. Yeah there's some crazy stuff in this book which helps to push it well over the top and puts Angelbound a leap above the rest of the books in it's genre. The author has a wonderful imagination and seems to just let it run wild in this book. So do yourself a favor and read this book! It is so good and was just so much fun. I just can't say enough good things about it. I will always be grateful that this story got me out of my bad phase and helped me to remember why I love reading so much. This is why I read. To feel like this. There's just no other feeling quite like it in the world for me. show less

What I loved about it:

Characters you make friends with: Myla kicks ass and takes no prisoners, she’s a genuine strong female character and I love her for it. There aren’t any cardboard cut-outs in this story, all the characters who take feature roles are complex individuals (except for those highborn Thrax bitches). Although not a character per se, I adore the fact that Myla’s tail has a will of its own.

High thread count plots: linen is made by weaving many strands together to create sheets of fabric, the more tightly woven the strands are, the smoother the end product is. Rough sheets aren’t nice to sleep on, nor are loose plots fun to read. While I found some elements a tad predictable, the means the author uses to work them show more out certainly isn’t.

Well handled tropes: The ‘girl and boy dislike each other then fall in love’ story line tends to be clichéd and unrealistic, but not in this case. For a start, Myla doesn’t simper over Lincoln. She’s attracted to him, but he acts like a jerk so she locks her feelings down. No ‘he’s a stupid bigot but I so, so, wish he liked me *sob*’ moments here, and even though he saves her life, its not because there was a fight and she was sniveling in a corner.

Myla coming into her full power walked a thin tightrope for a while, mainly because I didn’t quite buy Armageddon’s analysis of her, but it still works.

A new world mixed with old ideas: Angels and Demons coming together to watch gladiator style battles could’ve been a huge fail, but the central premise glues it together nicely. It makes sense that both sides take interest in which souls pass into their realms, and I like the concept that each soul can choose between trial by jury, or trial by combat. I also liked the political structure of these realms, and the manner in which this information is passed to the reader.

What I didn’t like:

Repetitive descriptions: Armageddon is the main transgressor here. At least half of his appearances include a description, these are so alike that one wonders if they were copy and pasted throughout.

Typos: There were very few of these, but those that did creep in were quite confusing, such as using Walker’s name when the author clearly meant Tim.

Confusing fight scenes: At times, it was hard to tell exactly what was happening. Myla appears to defy Physics in the first battle, propelling herself away from her opponent yet somehow using her momentum to land by his head. A body in motion cannot change direction unless force is applied to effect this change.

Overall, this isn’t a book that startles you with its originality, but rather a story that navigates classic plot ideas in a unique manner. It didn’t make my heart race, or blow my mind, but I was reluctant to put it down and finished it in two days. This book is written with sass and awesomeness, and although it needs a bit of polish, it still rocks. I’m keen to see what happens in the other books and will definitely return to this series once I’ve caught up on my reading show less

I don’t know what it is about me and tail fascination. I’ve just always wanted one. So naturally the reason Angelbound caught my eye is the main character has a tail. (The author actually uses her tail to show emotion and humor too.)

Angelbound is told in a fun voice with plenty of humor and I liked the strong sassy heroine, Myla. It might just be me, (because I couldn’t pry the book out of my fingers to go to bed.) but this book was a quick read. I think Angelbound will appeal to fans of the Mortal Instruments.

Myla is a quasi demon (meaning part human) living in purgatory. Around twenty years ago demons invaded purgatory and left ghouls running things. Myla’s mom is super over-protective and won’t say anything about her life show more before the war with the demons or even about Myla’s father.

Myla spends most of her time at school, but every so often she’s called to duty. When a soul enters purgatory they can choose trial by combat. Since she was twelve Myla’s been required to fight to the death in the arena against theses souls. As the best fighter they save the nastiest ones for her, but she’s not your typical almost eighteen year-old. She enjoys her battles in the arena, particularly when it’s against a demon and she keeps extensive notebooks on how to beat the various demon races.

Myla’s best friend Cissy (who has the tail of a golden retriever, yes it does wag when she’s happy. Okay, enough about tails…) has a huge crush on a boy at school, so when said boy invites Myla and a guest to his party she can’t say no. At the party, abandoned by her friend, Myla meets the frustrating prince Lincoln. He’s a demon hunter who thinks all quasis are evil, but Myla can’t stop thinking about him and not just about punching him. Well, that too.

Romance is a strong part of this book and it’s well done. (I only wish we’d gotten to see all of their conversation in the maze instead of hearing about it afterwards…) There’s really only one make-out session that makes this an older YA book, but other than that it’s pretty light.

Angelbound has interesting characters and good world building. The plot is a bit predictable, but that isn’t always a bad thing. There are a few slow spots towards the beginning, but I’m glad I kept reading, because it quickly picks up. I did notice several errors, but I’m very nit picky about that sort of thing and often find such in books.

I give Angelbound 7/10 stars and would definitely recommend this book. (I can’t wait until the sequel comes out next month!)

~Molly Mortensen show less

Rating: 3.5
The cover looks stunning and made me stop scrolling and request an ARC. I received this audiobook from NetGalley, and I was excited to listen to it because I knew the author narrated it. Who knows better than the author how to portray the characters?

For the most part, she did a fantastic job. My only objection is Myla's mother. I understand the author tries to give each character a unique voice, but she tries too hard. I cringed every time I heard Myla's mother speak. The author was not trying to mock the mother, but it came across that way and was a bit irksome.

The story
Myla is a half-demon, half-human hybrid. Wrath is her deadly sin, making her an excellent fighter. Myla is a resident of Purgatory. Despite being a demon, show more her mother is terrified of her own shadow and acts more like a skittish kid. She attends school and battles in the Arena. She damns souls to hell (while her mother cowers flinchingly with her hands clasped to her ears).

Quasi-demons have traits inspired by biblical sins. Myla’s is Wrath (with a secret side of Lust), and her best friend Cissy is Envy, for example (and that shows throughout the novel).

Purgatory High's classes are...fascinating and focused on best serving their ghoul masters, and I had a lot of fun reading about their curriculum.

The characters

Most of them are well-rounded and thoughtfully crafted. Myla is a tough kickass character, but she’s a little too perfect. I love her strong, but I wanted her to be vulnerable too. As perfect and as unbreakable as she is, it’s hard to relate to her.

The love story

Since everyone hates demons, the relationship between Myla and Lincoln, the self-righteous Thrax prince, is scandalous at best. So it was fun to watch it happen, even though they went from hate to love pretty fast.

Read more on: https://www.summonfantasy.com/reviews/angelbound-audiobook-review show less

This is the first book in this series and also the first from this author that I've read. What took me so long?! I am always seeking books with female badassery. I can never get enough snark in my life. Loved this so much that I already have the second book on my nightstand and geared up.