Greek mythology has been a hyper fixation of mine since 6th grade, so when Threads That Bind came across my feed, I knew I had to read it.

Set in a world where god-descended people, in possession of special powers, exist as second class citizens, our main character is a much-maligned "cutter", descended from the Fates of Greek myth and capable of cutting the threads that bind a person to their life, their fate, and everything that they love. Io is just one of dozens of unique god-descended people in the novel, with unique skills that call upon myths from Ancient Egypt, Russia, and more. The world building and the way various mythologies are woven into a single, cohesive magic system make this book particularly impressive.

The best part of the book, in my opinion, was Io's relationships with her Fated mate -who encapsulated the sweetness and strength I particularly loved about Peeta Mellark in The Hunger Games - and her relationship with her sisters. Sibling relationships are complex things, and I think this book did a good job of depicting a realistic bond between three very different siblings.

This book takes a lot of the good things about early 00s YA fantasy/dystopia - haunted heroines with brains in their heads and the weight of the world on their shoulders, swoonworthy love interests, settings alive with the spark of revolution - and adds all of the elements modern readers have come to want and expect from their fantasy worlds- diversity of race and culture, meaningful LGBTQ representation, and romantic rivals who are more than misogynistic stereotypes. All of these elements combined to make a book that I could really enjoy, despite not being the target audience.

This book is a duology, and while I have a TBR pile about as tall as the tallest tower in Alante, I look forward to reading the sequel very soon.