Threads That Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou

In a world where the children of the gods inherit their powers, a descendant of the Greek Fates must solve a series of impossible murders to save her sisters, her soulmate, and her city. Descendants of the Fates are always born in threes: one to weave, one to draw, and one to cut the threads that connect people to the things they love and to life itself. The Ora sisters are no exception. Io, the youngest, uses her Fate-born abilities as a private investigator in the half-sunken city of Alante. But her latest job leads her to a horrific discovery: somebody is abducting women, maiming their life-threads, and setting the resulting wraiths loose in the city to kill. To find the culprit, she must work alongside Edei Rhuna, the right hand of the infamous Mob Queen—and the boy with whom she shares a rare fate-thread linking them as soul mates before they’ve even met. But the investigation turns personal when Io's estranged oldest sister turns up on the arm of her best suspect. Amid unveiled secrets from her past and her growing feelings for Edei, Io must follow clues through the city’s darkest corners and unearth a conspiracy that involves some of the city’s most powerful players—before destruction comes to her own doorstep.

I really like the concept of this book but the execution wasn't my favorite in terms of plot, I love the magic system & the whole idea of the gods but I didn't care much about the actual story

Maybe I'll like the second book better since it's about finding the gods which i'm more interested in rather than the murder mystery that went on in this book

I received this book from NetGalley and Penguin Teen in exchange for an honest review.

This book is one of the most interesting stories I've read in a while.

Io was a complex and interesting character I really enjoyed reading about. She felt like a real person who had complicated emotions and relationships. All the other characters as well had enough depth and info in the books that I was invested in their stories and wanted to see more of them. I really liked the main pairing especially for “ships” but I'm also interested in some side pairings and am intrigued to see where things go from here.

I've never read anything like this before. The idea of gods, threads, politics, relationships, everything all together just made for an incredibly interesting and exciting plot that kept my attention the entire time. The way the setting was described worked really well for me and I could always vividly see in my mind where they were. The worldbuilding was also great as I felt like we got information spread out throughout the book and I never felt like I was just drowning in info dumping.

It did a good job of really setting the vibe. Like I said before, I could always vividly picture what was going on and there were multiple moments where there were quotes that really hit hard. I liked the POV. I liked being in Io's head and see things from her perspective and what her thought processes were. It might've been cool to get a second POV but I'm not bothered that I didn't. I thought it did a good job of keeping the pacing interesting? I didn't feel like we were going super fast the whole time but also didn't have many moment where I felt like things were slow. It had a good balance.

The conflict always held my attention and I constantly just wanted to know what was going to happen next. It kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the whole thing. The main conflict at the end was also very exciting and I was holding my breath trying to read as fast as I could to see what was going to happen.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this one to anyone who likes stories about gods, mythologic “powers” and political intrigue. This was a super fun read.

Threads That Bind is a fantasy that marries mythology, mystery and romance with a noir vibe.

I quite liked the world of this book, I thought it was a good twist on mythology and loved the general premise. It's set in a kind of post-apocalyptic world where descendents of Gods inherit some of their powers. The MC, Io, and her two sisters are descendents of the Fates, and she can see and cut threads of fate. I also liked that the world didn't just have Greek Gods, it was more regional, but this one definitely had a Greek mythology focus. I'm very familiar with and absolutely love Greek mythology so I enjoyed all the references.

I really enjoyed this book. It's a bit repetitive in how it gives you information which got a little tiring, but overall, I found the mystery to be intriguing, and I was very invested in the romance. Especially after a certain point I really couldn't put this book down.

The romance was quite interesting to me, because they're fated and because the MC can see threads of fate, she can see the thread connecting them. But the two don't just jump into it. It's not even clear if they'll actually end up together. This fated-ness causes dilemmas for the MC between fate, predetermination and free will. Do they give into fate, does that make their connection weaker or stronger or do they go with free will, would they even actually choose each other without fate? I really was rooting for them throughout though.

One of the other big relationships in the book is the one between Io and her sisters. Their connection is very strained and complicated especially because one of them is emotionally abusive and has abandoned the family. But at the same time because of their powers they're “three bodies, one soul”. This abuse and the complexity of the situation caused by their supernatural ties is handled quite well.

I didn't always agree with Io, thought she made many terrible decisions and abused her powers, which made it a bit annoying to read at times.

I hadn't realized this was a series when I started, but I'll likely be reading the next book.

Rating: 4 ⭐

Thank you to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for the eARC!