Binding Ecstasy Reviewed

a review of Binding Ecstasy by Chapparita

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book at NovelReviewers.com in exchange for an honest review.

I am officially a fan of this series, and Binding Ecstasy has only nurtured my growing interest in The Guardians of the Realms. There are so many things I enjoyed about this book. My biggest takeaway, however, was how much I learned about the Guardians' team dynamics. Moreso than the other Guardian books, I felt like Binding Ecstasy presented examples of revealing interactions between all of the Guardians and not just the Guardian upon whom the story focused. Usually, the books focus on the relationships of those directly involved with whoever is being mated in that particular story. Unless a guardian, human, or mageia is close to the mated pair, we don't see much of their interactions with others.

That was not the case with Binding Ecstasy, for which I was especially grateful. By reading Binding Ecstasy, I got a greater understanding of the Guardians' overall relationship dynamics. For example, we finally witness examples of Sander's infamous personality which had been mentioned in the other books, but only in passing. While others, such as Brianne, talked about Sander and how Guardian's like Sacha didn't like patrolling with him, this was the first occasion I remember reading about where anyone challenged Sander on his flippancy and abrasiveness. I never would have expected Bastian to engage Sander in a fight over their differences of opinion, but reading about their fight was revealing about both men's natures and about their relationship. Learning more about Bastian's familial relationship with his mom, Sacha, was also enlightening, especially considering the role Sacha played in Bastian's childhood. She greatly influenced the man he became and his standards of right and wrong, and shaped how he eventually related to others. She also repeatedly displayed affection and protectiveness towards him during his childhood captivity, and took great risk to do so, which was incredibly revealing of the depth of her love for him. The caretaker role Pothos took with Drake was also interestingly revealing, because he seemed to be Drake's self-appointed guardian, a role which nobody else volunteered. Such unspoken decisions reinforced Pothos as the 2nd most powerful Guardian, and likely the best suited Guardian to prevent Drake from doing irreparable harm during his mate's quarantine. I also wonder how much of Pothos' ability to handle Drake had to do with them being cousins. I definitely noticed a difference between how Drake interacted with Pothos in comparison to Sirena, another of his cousins, but one who is in the most likely position to assist his mate. I'm interested in seeing how his relationships with both cousins continue to develop. Seeing how Drake engages Sirena over the issue of saving his mate, Delia, revealed how stressed Drake was, and how important Delia is to him. As Drake struggle through his mating process, and watching him and Sirena under such strain revealed more about them individually and about their relationship with one another. I'm excited to see how their current conflicts are resolved. I'd wondered how Jay would show the evolution of Drake's and Delia's relationship, given their physical limitations of her quarantine and their different animals. As such, I actually thought it was endearing that Drake would check in on her via video, and that she could sense his presence and even telepathically responded to it. I thought those were creative ways for Jay to show the progression of their relationship, despite the handicaps of Delia's trauma and quarantine, and Drake's anger and perceived impotence. I also enjoyed reading about Natasha's relationship with her twin sister, Nastia. Learning about their history, shed light on Apollo's past goals and motivations, and his relationships with his siblings, as well as about the history of characters, such as Dacia, Ileana, and their families. This doesn't even scratch the surface of the relationships which were brought into clearer focus for me. Given enough time, I could also talk about how reading about Nastia and Sander, and Nastia and Sacha, for example, also improved my overall understanding of the Guardians, the Four Realms, and their friends and families. If I say anymore, there'll be no need for you to read the book, and we can't have that!

All of these insights increased my enjoyment because I better understood what was happening, and was less confused about the plot (which while engagingly addictive, is chock full of easy to miss and/or misunderstand details). In general, I don't mind a suspenseful or slow revealing plot, but when you're reading about alternate universes, it's easy to get confused and miss the relevance and importance of many details. The last 3 books have really helped resolve a lot of loose ends, and not just because of the plot's natural progression. I think Jay's writing- her clarity and her fluidity, to be specific, really improved in books 4, 5, and 6.

Even with my greater understanding of Jay's plot, I still have a list of unanswered questions to which I've almost given up hope to ever getting answers. How are demi-gods (whom I assume are products of a God mating with an Immortal, even though that hasn't been explicitly stated) different from other Immortals? At first, I thought demi-gods were more powerful than other Immortals, but it appears that other Immortals and even some Mageia have unique powers that set them apart from their own kind and even from those who are traditionally more powerful than them. What happens to demon possessed humans since the Guardians can't hurt them without doing harm to themselves? Can all hellhounds transport immortals to the Earth realm, or just Havoc? Is Havoc unique for a hellhound? Why not domesticate other hellhounds? If the Tria can unleash hell beasts in other realms, why don't the Tria unleash horrid attacks of hell beasts in the Earth realm, just to keep the Guardians occupied and misdirected?

In any case, what really through me for a loop, and what I enjoyed least about Binding Ecstasy was that Bastian, who was consistently described as a reserved and non-demonstrative person throughout the previous books, was almost unrecognizable to me. Instead of him being emotionally non-demonstrative, he was moved to fight with Sander over a comment that was likely characteristic of Sander's usual disposition and, therefore, almost to be expected. Granted, the issue over which they fought was a sensitive one, but Bastian's response still seemed uncharacteristically over the top. This was true, in my opinion, of his behavior in the rest of the book as well. He went from barely smiling, frowning, and emotionally and/ or physically reacting in the other books, to having regular outbursts of emotion in this book. When the other guardians went through the mating frenzy, they seemed to become more extreme versions of themselves, not totally different people. I was really looking forward to learning more about Bastian's nuances through his subtle behaviors and expressions, but that's not what I got, and since that was such a great part of my expectation of this book, I felt incredibly let down. However, I wouldn't want such a critique to sour anybody else's reading experience, since others may approach Binding Ecstasy with very different character development expectations.

What I did like and appreciate about Jay's approach to Bastian's character development was that, like Conn and Erik, Bastian was sympathetic of his mate's feelings and desires during their mating frenzy. He knew how close she was to her sister. He knew that the concept of mating was foreign to her. He knew of her fears and concerns about moving to Tetartos, and he responded in a way that acknowledged and prioritized her concerns. He didn't make the frenzy all about their sexual desire and compatibility, but took time to get to know her, and to understand her. He also understood the potential damage he was doing to their relationship by maintaining access to her thoughts without her knowing, and he recognized the need to confess and make amends for that decision. I appreciate when characters, especially alpha male characters acknowledge their mistakes and attempt to make amends for them. So often, alpha men are written as these incredibly uncomplicated characters who are omnipotent, omniscient, and unapologetic, and it really grates on my nerves because even when they're wrong, they're right. Even though I didn't recognize Bastian as the same Kairos Guardian from the previous five books, he was still an enjoyable guy to read and learn about.

As usual, Jay's writing was engaging, fluid, and creative. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to create such a complex fantasy world, and creatively reveal it to her readers while keeping it all straight in her own mind. All I can say is sign me up for Books #7 and #8! I'm ready!

Sign me up for Book #7!