Soulbound by Heather Brewer Review

Soulbound by Heather Brewer
(Legacy of Tril #1)
Release Date: June 19, 2012
Publisher: DIAL; 394 pages

Tril is a world where Barrons and Healers are Bound to each other: Barrons fight and Healers cure their Barrons' wounds in the ongoing war with the evil Graplar King.

Seventeen-year-old Kaya was born a Healer, but she wants to fight. In Tril, and at Shadow Academy, where she is sent to learn to heal, it is against Protocol for Healers to fight. So Kaya must learn in secret.

Enter two young men: One charming, rule-following Barron who becomes Bound to Kaya and whose life she must protect at all costs. And one with a mysterious past who seems bent on making Kaya's life as difficult as possible. Kaya asks both to train her, but only one will, and the consequences will change their lives forever.

I had the pleasure of meeting Heather Brewer at San Diego Comic Con this summer.  Penguin was nice enough to give away copies of this book along with have Heather sign them.  Not gonna lie, the cover is really what intrigued me.  But they usually say, don't judge a book by it's cover.  I expected Soulbound to be a very action and adventure book.  And yes there was definitely action in it, there was also a story about growing up.

Soulbound centers around Kaya.  A teenage girl whose parents ran away from their home of Tril so they could be together.  After a tragic event occurs, Kaya is forced to leave her parents and is sent to Shadow Academy.  The Shadow Academy is a school in Tril that teaches barrons and healers.  Barrons are fighters.  Healers are curers are who heal barrons.  Kaya is a healer.  Her parents are both barrons.  By the law of Tril 2 barrons are forbidden to date one another.  One barron is assigned to one healer.

I really enjoyed the premise of this book.  I actually was hooked from the very first page.  There was never a time where I was bored, and I didn't feel like the story dragged at all.  However there were times in which I felt certain chapters were a little unnecessary and didn't really add to the plot at all.  They sort of felt to me like filler.  An example being one particular chapter where Kaya is in school that was only about 3 pages long.  In my opinion, this chapter didn't add much to the plot.

I like Kaya.  I love how she stands up for what she believes in and does what she wants to do.  She is incredibly loyal and will do anything for her family.  I love books with a strong female lead.  Kaya is such a positive character for young girls.  Kaya really goes out and takes what she wants even when she is told no.  She is living in a world where she doesn't believe in the rules, and she is set out to try to change them because she know they are wrong.

The characters in this book are really a great draw.  I adored all the main and supporting characters.  Trayton, Darius, and Maddox were both a joy to read about.  I enjoyed reading Kaya's relationships with the three of them.  With each character you saw a different side of Kaya.  Trayton is Kaya's barron.  His devotion to her is very genuine and kind.  Darius on the other hand is the complete opposite.  He's the type of guy that leaves you with more questions than answers.  And Maddox is just an overall great friend, she provides such great humor to the story.

But as much as I loved the relationships, I wanted more.  I wanted to know more about the war that was being fought, more about their enemy.  I'm hoping that the next book will go into more background about the world of Tril.