Review: Great idea, but not a good read.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 12 30, 2011
Reviewed by Isabel PerryThe book does have some good points. I like the idea of voodoo, especially since it is unusual in teen fiction. It makes the novel original, and makes it sound interesting. The descriptions of the settings and people were detailed, and the book has some very funny moments, like when, after her bath, Arelia accidentally walks into Lucus' room, wearing only a towel. The cover of the book is beautiful, and I feel that it is perfect.The first problem I found in the book was the grammar. In places where there should have been nothing, there were commas. In spaces where there should have been semicolons, there were commas. And in places where there should have been commas, there were none! There were also multiple other things, such as quotation marks, periods, and other punctuation errors, that were either missing or misplaced. This could have been easily fixed to an acceptable degree with a Spelling and Grammar checker, such as the one in Microsoft Word. However, the grammar was not the only problem I found.The relationships in the novel were confusing. I just couldn't understand why Arelia would even put up with her bratty friend Sabrina for all those years, and how Lucus could be in love when he barely knows Arelia. Maybe Ms. Saito could set Lucus' falling in love with Arelia at a later part in the book, because it seems to me that the author is getting ahead of herself with the romance.Rude people are not very interesting, so a large portion of the book was boring. I also couldn't understand why Lucus was still attracted to Arelia. She was rude to him, and then nice to him, and then rude to him again. Rudeness can be excused when people are extremely stressed or surprised, like when they discover magic, or realize that big secrets have been kept from them, but Arelia is rude to most of the people in the story throughout the entire book.She should also be more decisive. All the way through the novel, she cannot decide whether or not magic is real - even with extensive proof that she is a voodoo queen. It just makes no sense for her to believe in her powers one day, and then not believe in them the following morning.Another problem was the length or the novel. The book seemed more like a teaser for an actual novel, because it was just too short. I can understand that the author may be trying to create an ending that will make readers come back for more, but this made the book seem like it was just a quarter of a novel, and the author was just trying to test it out on us to see if it was worth pursuing. This novel should definitely be lengthened.If more was added to the story, and the spelling and grammar were corrected, this book would be much better off. Although there were some good things about Bound, it was not an interesting or engaging read.