Review: Bound to the Fate of Kings by Jamie Jackson

Review: Bound to the Fate of Kings by Jamie Jackson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m going to start this review with something of a disclaimer:

I am not intimately familiar with Shakespeare. Because of this, I can’t speak confidently on how well Jamie Jackson’s Bound to the Fate of Kings stands up to its Shakespearean inspiration. So, instead, I will be approaching this story solely on its own merits. I can speak more confidently on how this story holds up on its own and as its own thing. 

With that out of the way, let’s move on to the summary!

Summary

The story opens with witches Aisa, Moira, and Nona looking to find and crown a future king. When they accidentally stumble upon the current king, they find themselves roped into the war his army is fighting against another kingdom and they are separated to help fight. As this happens, Aisa learns that one of the king’s brothers, Malcolm, seeks the crown for himself.

Meanwhile, Malcolm’s brother Beolin finds himself struggling with growing feelings for Aisa. As the two get to know each other, Beolin finds himself harboring a strong desire to be with her. When he and Aisa find themselves confronted with the consequences of Malcolm’s dark aspirations, however, they realize that they must work to stop him before he takes the throne for good. 

Thoughts 

I have always enjoyed the idea of a story being told from the villain’s perspective. To me, it turns things around and forces the reader to consider different questions. This allows for interesting narratives, intriguing conflicts, and sometimes even for said villain to become sympathetic. With this story, I like that the narrative goes in two distinct directions: Aisa’s struggle with fate and Beolin’s involvement in the wider military conflict. I’ll discuss both of their characters in more detail in a bit!

The other thing I want to discuss is the setup of this story. I feel like the main Shakespearean component of this story is subtle enough to create mystery and tension, but also ties into the plot beautifully. For me, this subtlety helped build suspense because I had an idea of some things that could happen, but I wasn’t entirely sure what would happen. This made it so I was excited to see what would unfold as the plot progressed. 

Now that I’ve covered my general thoughts, let’s talk about the characters!

Characters 

Aisa 

So, I admit that I didn’t know what to expect from Aisa when I learned the premise of this story. However, as it went on, I grew to like her a lot. Her connection with her sisters Moira and Nona is touching and her personal character arc is captivating! This is because her story considers interesting questions that kept me invested. While it is obvious that she is not entirely good, she is sympathetic. She has feelings, desires, and is unsure about the role she plays in the conflict. This makes her compelling as a character. 

Her actions not being entirely good made her particularly intriguing, as she feels her place is to crown a king at whatever cost. What motivates her to do so is interesting as well, as she treats this goal like a predestined task that she hesitates to leave incomplete. Seeing the consequences her goals have made me want to know more and how her actions would further affect others. 

That said, she is not the only interesting character in this story. Let’s discuss the soldier Beolin next! 

Beolin

I find this character fascinating! I like that, similarly to Aisa, he is also not entirely good. However, the negative aspects of his character are presented differently, and this allows his character to appear mostly good because his actions do not entirely match up with his story. This makes the reader aware of his more complex nature while uncovering the role he will play in the narrative bit by bit. And once said role is uncovered, the conflict driving him is gripping and the reasons for his actions are easy to get behind. 

I also love how he is not afraid to express genuine emotion. Quite a few soldiers in this story fail to think about the implications of the wider conflict, but he shows obvious concern for the people affected in a way that moved me. Seeing him become more emotionally invested in the conflict ended up being captivating!

Well, I think that’s all I have on the characters. Let’s move on to the structure. 

Structure 

I found the structure of this story interesting. I like that the main events driving the story to occur more in the background. This made me aware of what was happening and anxiously waiting to see how it would affect the characters’ lives. The dramatic irony involved in this left me on the edge of my seat even in the seemingly normal moments. 

However, I admit that it wasn’t perfect. I honestly wish this story had been separated into two parts. I say this because the opening conflict of the story feels very different from where it ends at the conclusion. There is something of a shift once the story gets toward the end and splitting it into different parts could have acknowledged that change. 

Now that I’ve covered the structure, let’s move on to the writing!

Writing 

Despite the fascinating premise, I do see issues with the prose. While Jackson does a great job building the world and the suspense the story will follow, the sentence structure is too flowery. Run-on sentences are prevalent throughout the novel. There are blocks of text that looked like paragraphs at first glance, only for me to realize while reading them that sometimes they could be one sentence. While this wasn’t enough to take me out of the story, it was too big of an issue for me to entirely dismiss. 

I also must admit that there were certain words in the prose that felt out of place when I first came across them in Aisa’s sections. The prose does sound rather formal when she speaks, but she will occasionally swear. At first, whenever she would speak like that, it felt jarring to me because the rest of her language came across as refined. As the story went on, it didn’t bother me as much, but I wanted to acknowledge that it took some getting used to in the beginning. Once I adjusted to it, it wasn’t as much of an issue. 

With all that laid out, I think I’ve covered everything I wanted to talk about. Let’s wrap this review up. 

Conclusion 

I had a lot of fun with this! The characters are intriguing, the story is suspenseful, and the scale of the narrative is epic! Aisa and Beolin are compelling characters that were a joy to follow, and I loved seeing where their journeys would go. 

While I did see some issues with the execution of the narrative, I don’t think they detract from the overall impact it had on me. I can’t deny how much I enjoyed this and for that reason I will be giving it four stars.