My review of Otherbound

Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis
Release Date: June 17, 2014
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Amara is never alone. Not when she's protecting the cursed princess she unwillingly serves. Not when they're fleeing across dunes and islands and seas to stay alive. Not when she's punished, ordered around, or neglected.

She can't be alone, because a boy from another world experiences all that alongside her, looking through her eyes.

Nolan longs for a life uninterrupted. Every time he blinks, he's yanked from his Arizona town into Amara's mind, a world away, which makes even simple things like hobbies and homework impossible. He's spent years as a powerless observer of Amara's life. Amara has no idea . . . until he learns to control her, and they communicate for the first time. Amara is terrified. Then, she's furious.

All Amara and Nolan want is to be free of each other. But Nolan's breakthrough has dangerous consequences. Now, they'll have to work together to survive--and discover the truth about their connection.

A riveting and brilliantly mixed contemporary and fantasy novel that has a fantastically unique concept told from an equally unique cast of characters. Otherbound is told as a dual point of view and we get explore the thoughts of both of our main characters who live in very,VERY different worlds. 

When Nolan closes his eyes - or even blinks -  he is transported into the mind of Amara; a self-healing and magic-using girl with duties to protect a cursed princess. Having this almost second life doesn't make it easy for Nolan to do every day activities or live a normal life in general. While he looks through Amara's eyes he can't do anything: only watch. Until one day, he learns to control her and Amara finally realises that there is someone else inside her, and neither Nolan or Amara know why this is happening.

At first, the concept may be hard to wrap your head around, and once you're in Amara's world your mind may explode. It's a world of magic and curses and secrets! Amara has to look after the cursed princess Cilla who can be be hurt so easily and bleed to death; which is one of the curses that have been put on her. 

I liked Nolan and I found that he was an interesting to read about and I really enjoyed his relationship with his sister Pat. You can easily see that he wishes he could help her and pay her more attention, but not being mentally present all of the time makes it quite hard to be a good big brother. I also really liked Maart who is a servant who travels with Amara and Cilla. He was just very easy to get on with because of his adventurous personality and easy-going humor. I know that a lot of other people also enjoyed his character.

On the other hand, I found it extremely hard to like Cilla. She just didn't radiate any qualities or traits that drew me in. The relationship with Amara, which occurs later in the novel with plenty of build up, didn't really feel authentic. The switching of POVs didn't give enough time to get to know the characters a bit better, and it didn't seem like Amara and Cilla had moments where they bonded at all so I didn't understand how they made a connection.

Throughout the story we learn more and more about Amara's world and the magic that is used and how they use it. There are so many secrets and crazy fantasy elements that will keep you reading until you can find out more; I loved the suspense and buildup! And there was plenty of action and thrilling battle scenes along the way.

Otherbound offers an open-ending, however it is a standalone novel and therefore anything beyond that is up to your imagination. I loved the concept, main characters and the mixture of contemporary and fantasy! Get ready for your mind to be blown and transported into a fantasy world filled with danger and limitless possibilities. This debut author is talented and, I'm sure, has much more to give in the future!

Rating

A review copy was provided by the publisher