I received this book for free from the publisher.
This did not affect my opinion or the content of this review.
Summary
Naira and Tarquin have found a new home on Seventh Cradle. But the peace they’ve built is short-lived as mysterious assailants ambush the settlement and Naira is haunted by visions of a monstrous future. Catastrophe strikes when Tarquin uncovers a plot to bring about the end of the universe. As humanity races against the clock to prevent their extinction, old secrets come to light and loyalties fracture, and Naira realizes she may be the key to saving the world—or ending it.
My thoughts
“when all else has failed, call out for Naira Sharp. She will not let the worlds fall.”
Megan O’Keefe has long been established as a favorite author of mine, ever since I’ve read Velocity Weapon and had my mind blown with my most favorite plot twist ever still to this day. There’s no doubt in me that when I pick up a new book of hers, I’ll come back out with a new favorite. O’Keefe is the Queen of plot twists, and despite very well knowing this, every new book STILL surprises me with its levels of mind fuckery and twists.
So yeah, Bound Worlds was no different. I went in expecting something epic, the usual mind-boggling twists and still was absolutely shocked, left speechless, a jumbled mess of emotions. Maybe I’ll have to distance myself a bit from what I only just went through, but at this point I might call Bounds Worlds my favorite of all of O’Keefe’s books, and I already love all the ones that came before to pieces.
The opening alone is an absolute masterpiece. Not only do you get thrown into cold water, the characters right back into high-stakes action, but the first of many shocking twists isn’t long in coming either. With just a couple pages, I was back in full amazement mode of O’Keefe skills and sucked in good in this banger of a story. It never lets up either. It’s just non-stop fucking with your head and making you expect the worst. Never slowing down, no time to cool down, neither for you or the characters. I was getting the feeling each book in the trilogy became more intense than the previous one and this one turned it all the way up to the max.
“What a bastard of a fungus”
The series continues and ends with my most favorite aspects still intact: amazing queer + disability rep, to die for friendships (oh my, do I LOVE the friendships in this series, and you really need the occasional banter to survive this), healthy relationships and those that aren’t properly tackled, power inmbalances discussed and dissected. The whole body printing thing still being both amazing and absolutely terrifying to me. It’s amazing how many times I was made to laugh/chuckle in between all the “oh fuck, everyone’s gonna die, aren’t they” but it was needed because I came to love these characters so damn much and they have to go through SO MUCH.
“I’m your monster. Wield me.”
I don’t want to say much more other than that The Bound Worlds was all around epic, everything I wanted for the series conclusion, and so much more. This book is a non-stop edge of your seat kind of ride, with the fear of possible endings hinted at turning your fears up to the max.
It’s rare that I actually sit down to read these days (as opposed to listening to audiobooks), but just like previous years with the earlier books, O’Keefe manages to get me out of that forever reading slump and has me read a 500-pages book in just a couple of days (almost a single day, even).
