Magebound by Katica Locke
Even if I know, from previous experiences with this same publisher, that usually their novels are pretty tamed, I really didn’t expect for Katica Locke’s book to be “almost” a Young Adult story.
It’s a fantasy novel, but that type of fantasy that I don’t mind, since it’s not too heavy in setting details and so, difficult to follow. On the contrary, Magebound is a quick novel, not very long and easy to read in one session.
Lark is a slave and he has no chance to be something else; he lost his hope to be free sometime in the future, and when his last tentative to run away ended with him again on the slave’s market, he probably thought that it was time to renounce and let it go. When he is bought by a mage, he doesn’t know what it better, and he has some suicidal thoughts. But the experience of living with Lord Sactaren, Naeven, is completely different from what he was expecting.
When Lark starts his new life as salesman for the mage’s potion, in a shop inside the mage’s castle, the novel takes almost a “domestic” turn; all right, there is a cat shifter who can speak even when he is in his feline form, there is a spidersmith, that is a spider very skilled in the smith work, there are strange animals who can talk with their hands, and so on and so far. But basically, what Lark does is being a salesman, and people come to him asking for both human than animal potion, to cure practically everything.
Also Lark’s relationship with Naeven is strange; from the first moment, Naeven treats Lark more like a friend, or at least someone at his same level, and not as a slave. There are some hints that Naeven is homosexual, but he is also married, with a woman that lives inside the castle but not “with” his husband; she is a wife by contract, her task is to produce an heir, but I’m wondering how that could happen, since Naeven apparently hardly speaks with her, let alone sleep.
Lark is a mix of innocence and mistrust; other hints let the reader understand that he was raped by his previous owners, and so he links sex with pain; when he starts to feel something for Naeven, he is not able to link it to sexual desire, since for him there is nothing good in sex. Plus it’s not that Naeven is clear in his intention, and so most of the book is spent with the two of them who are not able to find a common starting point.
I see in Lark a possible point of connection between the mage and the village; even if Naeven has done anything in this story to justify the village’s attitude, he is not considered a “good” master; people fear him, and I didn’t understand if it was a totally misunderstanding, or if indeed Naeven did something in the past. In the end, I had the feeling that this was only the starting of a more complex story, I think Katica Locke is not yet finished with these characters and I hope she will consider to write more about Khas, I’d really like for him to coming back.
http://www.pdpublishing.com/mageboundendpage.html
Amazon: Magebound
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