The Magic That Binds
Haelan, Book 1
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The Magic That Binds
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Narrated by:
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Eric London
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Jamal Roque
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Philip Alces
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Written by:
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AJ Sherwood
About this listen
All Dag Gates wants is a place to call home. (And to practice magic freely.)
All Stefan Bjorne wants is peace in his adoptive country. (And less paperwork.)
All Mikkel Vinters wants is both of them. (No, really, he could do wedding bells.)
So why, pray tell, is half the magical community set on denying them all their wishes?
©2023 AJ Sherwood (P)2024 Podium AudioWhat listeners say about The Magic That Binds
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jessica Hickey
- 2025-03-06
Great start to a series
There are absolutely not enough books out there that feature polyamourous couples, which is largely what attracted me to this book in the first place, and it did not disappoint.
As the first book in a fantasy series, the author does a good job establishing the basic rules, history, and main players of the world without completely dragging down the plot, and leaving plenty of room to expand on the information in future books. It’s the same with our three characters, we get a good understanding of their personalities and some of their backgrounds but also the knowledge that there’s so much left to learn.
The plot itself is fairly light, with just enough drama and tension to keep things moving, and the characters are overall fun and interesting (especially the way our main three interact) so it’s a good choice if you’re not in the mood for anything overly heavy and serious.
I am so looking forward to seeing more of these characters and this world, and I’d definitely recommend this series to anyone looking for a fun romantic fantasy.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- T-in-a-dash
- 2024-10-16
Disappointing
This book was ok but still VERY disappointing and could have been so much better.
The first thing that should have been changed and caused a one star in the performance, is the voice actor for Stefan. He was atrocious. I thought he would get better as the story progressed but listening to him was like listening to someone almost smack you with each word. There was such heavy emphasis on nearly every sentence and he could not alter his voice to do other voices, so you had to really listen in order to figure out who was speaking in his chapters and it almost felt like one long soliloquy rather than a chapter of different characters communicating and interacting with each other.
Second, the character development was seriously lacking. The author failed in making these characters stand out and memorable to the point where you’re completely engaged and when something happens you’re emotionally carried along with the story. I’m saddened by how many authors I found lately that fail in description. I live in Canada, I know what Nova Scotia looks like, but this Nova Scotia in the book, I have no idea what it looks like. I know that Stefan is short and black with a bald head, I believe ?? and some different coloured eyes but I can’t describe Dag or Mikkel to save my life, except to say that Dag is taller than Stefan and Mikkel is even taller than Dag. Is Mikal supposed to be French? I don’t know where in the book this is mentioned, but I found that the voice actor read his part with a French accent. Other than this, I can’t describe anyone or anything else. I found it funny how Dag is supposed to have been born and raised in the south until 16yo, but the voice actor had no southern accent.
Third, this book is, I’m assuming, supposed to carry on in a series with the same characters, this is all assumption based on the fact that the story ends flat. And the Big showdown was nothing more than a car accident and a tantrum. It was like hoping for a spectacular firework show and instead getting a little hand held fizzler. 13 hours, all this build up and it came down to one accident, one mini trial that was thrown out and one little tantrum. By the end I was glad that I was listening to the book rather than reading it, but I was furious that I wasted a credit on this and it didn’t live up to any sort of expectations.
There was no depth to the characters and there was no character growth. I know this is supposed to be a slow burn where the relationship gradually comes together but I don’t see anything. There was attraction because the book said there was attraction, “Why does he have to be so cute”, “he was seriously attracted to him…”. If not for the book saying these words there was nothing in the development of the relationships between the characters that gave any inclination of this attraction or this slow burn. It was almost like OK we’re gonna be friends, oh, now we’re bonded, I have a husband now, I love you. When did this develop? This wasn’t a slow burn it was an invisible burn. It was more like the author hinted to a physical attraction with Mikel’s over the top mentions of threesomes constantly and then boom they have to bind each other together and all of a sudden there’s love...what the fudge???
I have to look through my reading journal but I could’ve sworn I’ve read one or two other books by this author and enjoyed them, I could seriously be wrong because this book was disappointing. Additionally, I found that even with Stefan’s apparent power and knowledge,that all this time no one has heard of the type of healer Dag is...and surprisingly, there was nothing in the book of thoughts or actions to dig into the past to find out who Dag’s parents were or how many other different types of healers or magic users there are.
This book didn’t adequately explain anything. the characters are not memorable, so much so that I don’t even remember the position, the name or where he’s located, of the -for lack of better word- king. What are the dynamics behind his rule? if it was mentioned in the book it was fleeting and obviously a part that I didn’t hear.
Definitely not reading book 2.
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