Review by Hina Jaffery -- The Bonding by Imogen Keeper
Posted: 07 May 2017, 10:24
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Bonding" by Imogen Keeper.]
3 out of 4 stars
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The Bonding reveals emotional churning events of the sensational love story of Tam and Nissa, an Argenti warrior and a Trianni queen-designate who come across each other when Nissa is found by Tam in a pod where she is sleeping for a five centuries after the fatal invasion of her planet by the Vestige. In the subsequent turn of events, Tam has to mate with Nissa to save her from the blue tinge that would take her life otherwise, thus forming a sacred bond between them. Their erotic love story meets a twist of fate when Nissa’a father is found alive leaving her to decide between returning to her planet to marry a future king of her people’s choice or following the love of her life. The book unfolds a tale of love, lust, courage, and commitment which leaves the readers spell-bound to till the end.
The book is very well-written and was extremely intriguing to me as a reader. However, I believe that the prologue was a bit hasty towards the end. It should have been a little more elaborated as to how Nissa ends up in a pod with the responsibility of the waking the other 99 Trianni people. Secondly, at few of the places I felt that the vocabulary used was quite technical and could have been simplified, for example in chapter 1, page 9 the lines “It pulsed like a heartbeat, flashing and dimming to black. Red. Red. Red. Space was nature, chaos and disorder. Rhythm was a fabrication, something made. By someone, or something.” Break the rhythm of the reader as they go into a very technical description of space.
Also the last line on page 9 needs a bit rephrasing (“So Tribe warriors trained long and hard and brutal, and the result was that he, too, was long and hard and brutal”). Similarly on page 10 there is a grammatical error in the line “And if he was honest with himself, the single, selfish thought intruded. I want that.” It should be ‘her’ at the end not ‘that’ since we are talking about Nissa here. Further reading of the book once more could eliminate such minor problems.
On page 12 the author is describing Tam’s thoughts and feelings but the lines in between (“It meant terror. And a total lack of reasonable alternatives. She had essentially
crossed her fingers, said a prayer and killed herself, in the hope that someone,
somewhere, at some time would find her, open the pod and bring her back to life.
So many variables could have left her for lost. If I’d taken a different route. If I’d come by a
week later. She’d have already drifted off, out of sight. She may never have been found.”) get ambiguous as they are hinting at Nissa’a feelings more than Tams’. From page 21 onwards where Tam and Nissa make love for the first time, the focus has been on how Tam feels which is though engaging for female readers but for the male readers I think Nissa’s feelings should be described too, so that the encounter seems cozier than just a lust-driven moment.
Beyond these mistakes the book is excellently written and very aptly describes the emotions of lovers that would appeal to all readers alike. The most appealing part of the book is that it describes the emotions of the protagonists in such depth that the readers are compelled to feel the same and keep on reading till the end. I wish best of luck to the writer and would love to read the upcoming series. I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars as it was written in such a way that it appealed to me making me feel the same emotions that Tam and Nissa went through during their struggle to a happy ending.
******
The Bonding
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3 out of 4 stars
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The Bonding reveals emotional churning events of the sensational love story of Tam and Nissa, an Argenti warrior and a Trianni queen-designate who come across each other when Nissa is found by Tam in a pod where she is sleeping for a five centuries after the fatal invasion of her planet by the Vestige. In the subsequent turn of events, Tam has to mate with Nissa to save her from the blue tinge that would take her life otherwise, thus forming a sacred bond between them. Their erotic love story meets a twist of fate when Nissa’a father is found alive leaving her to decide between returning to her planet to marry a future king of her people’s choice or following the love of her life. The book unfolds a tale of love, lust, courage, and commitment which leaves the readers spell-bound to till the end.
The book is very well-written and was extremely intriguing to me as a reader. However, I believe that the prologue was a bit hasty towards the end. It should have been a little more elaborated as to how Nissa ends up in a pod with the responsibility of the waking the other 99 Trianni people. Secondly, at few of the places I felt that the vocabulary used was quite technical and could have been simplified, for example in chapter 1, page 9 the lines “It pulsed like a heartbeat, flashing and dimming to black. Red. Red. Red. Space was nature, chaos and disorder. Rhythm was a fabrication, something made. By someone, or something.” Break the rhythm of the reader as they go into a very technical description of space.
Also the last line on page 9 needs a bit rephrasing (“So Tribe warriors trained long and hard and brutal, and the result was that he, too, was long and hard and brutal”). Similarly on page 10 there is a grammatical error in the line “And if he was honest with himself, the single, selfish thought intruded. I want that.” It should be ‘her’ at the end not ‘that’ since we are talking about Nissa here. Further reading of the book once more could eliminate such minor problems.
On page 12 the author is describing Tam’s thoughts and feelings but the lines in between (“It meant terror. And a total lack of reasonable alternatives. She had essentially
crossed her fingers, said a prayer and killed herself, in the hope that someone,
somewhere, at some time would find her, open the pod and bring her back to life.
So many variables could have left her for lost. If I’d taken a different route. If I’d come by a
week later. She’d have already drifted off, out of sight. She may never have been found.”) get ambiguous as they are hinting at Nissa’a feelings more than Tams’. From page 21 onwards where Tam and Nissa make love for the first time, the focus has been on how Tam feels which is though engaging for female readers but for the male readers I think Nissa’s feelings should be described too, so that the encounter seems cozier than just a lust-driven moment.
Beyond these mistakes the book is excellently written and very aptly describes the emotions of lovers that would appeal to all readers alike. The most appealing part of the book is that it describes the emotions of the protagonists in such depth that the readers are compelled to feel the same and keep on reading till the end. I wish best of luck to the writer and would love to read the upcoming series. I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars as it was written in such a way that it appealed to me making me feel the same emotions that Tam and Nissa went through during their struggle to a happy ending.
******
The Bonding
View: on Bookshelves
Like Hina Jaffery's review? Post a comment saying so!