Customer Reviews

Thrice Bound

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Despite the horrible cover, "Thrice Bound" is a highly rewarding novel. Roberta Gellis creates a richly textured world in her reinterpretation of Greek Mythology.

Hekate, Mother / Maiden / Crow, has to flee from her powerfully evil father. Before he drains her of her power and completely binds her to his will, like he did her mother. She flees to the Caves of the Dead, where her father's power is null, and there meets Kabeiros, a shape shifter who has been cursed to be in the shape of a dog when outside the Caves.

Together, Hekate who bound herself to Dionysis when he was an infant, bound herself to an oath of destroying her father, and bound herself to finding a way to cure Kabeiros leave the caves in search of knowledge.

"Thrice Bound" is a great read if you like your plot lines complex and are interested in Greek mythology. The only major problem that I had with the book was that Chapter 23 and Chapter 24 speak of the first `homecoming' of Dionysis to Olympis twice and in conflicting matters. Something was not edited correctly. Other than that, the book was great.

Mrs. Gellis has created another wonderful tale based upon Greek mythology. This time the female protagonist is Hekate (you may remember her from Shakespeare's Macbeth), traditionally a mysterious goddes from the East who was the patron of witches and worshiped at crossroad. We enter an alternate world were people are "gifted" with magical abilities that allow them to appear like gods to the native humans. Hekate was the daughter of one such person, Perses. A great sorceror, Perses drained Hekate's mother of her magical powers and is slowly draining Hekate as well. Once Hekate realizes her father plans to use a spell to make her a mindless drone to help him gain the throne of Biblos, she escapes with help from her mother. In her escape she travels to the caves of the dead where she meets a young man, Kabeiros who is bespelled so that if he leaves the caves he will change into a black dog. The two quickly become friends and Hekate vows to help set him free. This vow along with her earlier vows to protect the boy, Dionysos, and to gain revenge against her father is the meaning behind the title Thrice Bound. In her quest to fulfill her vows she and Kabeiros travels the length and breadth of the ancient near east and along the way her power grows. When she finally arrives in Olympus even Zeus is in awe of her power. Hekate introduces the power of spells and sets Olympus on a new era of greater magical abilities. Meanwhile her love for Kabeiros grows but is frustrated by the obvious fact that he is stuck in the body of a dog. Readers of the series will get reacquinted with old favorites as well as have some of the loose ends from earlier novels tied up. Overall this book fits nicely to cement the series together and lets us get to know this rather mysterious "goddess".

Roberta Gellis' Thrice Bound was a wonderful book. I love myth so I enjoyed the story. If you are the type of person who likes to take flights of fancy then you will enjoy this book. If you want realism and facts then don't read it. I love how Ms. Gellis worked in the legends assoicated with Hecate and and traits assoiated with the other gods and twined them into her story. Very interesting story. 5 stars!

The thing about Roberta Gellis's fantasy featuring Hecate and the dog/man she is bound to save is that realistic settings, true emotions,natural conversations, pull the reader into a totally fantasic adventure. Into this mix come the mythological characters you maybe learned about in school, but with the difference that these characters are alive and doing the most interesting things. Hecate is some girl. A great read.

Fabulous book! Compelling characters and plot. Heartily recommend this book if you like sci-fi, fantasy, romance or historical fiction.

Boring, boring, boring...and silly. What more can I say?