Bound by Shadows

A Dark M/M Fantasy Enemies-to-Lovers Romance

By: Vera Winters

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Captured by the enemy. Bound to a cruel prince. Tempted by forbidden power.

Aric Solarian, battlemage and wielder of outlawed magic, falls into the clutches of the notorious demon prince Malekith. Now a prisoner in a deadly game, Aric finds his resolve tested and his darkest hungers awakened.

Malekith is as captivating as he is ruthless, drawing Aric into a web of sinister plots and forbidden magic. Even as Aric plots his escape, he is inexorably enticed by the demon's magnetic pull.

As shadowy schemes unfold and the lines between enemies and allies blur, Aric must decide how far he's willing to go to uncover the secrets of demon magic . . . and what he's willing to sacrifice for a dangerous obsession that could destroy everything he's ever fought for.

Bound by Shadows is the first book in a darkly seductive M/M fantasy romance brimming with court intrigue, moral ambiguity, and scorching chemistry between a defiant mage and his demon prince captor. Vera Winters spins a captivating tale of power, betrayal and desire that will keep you spellbound until the last page.

great story

this book was amazing up till the end but it dose leav off on a cliff hanger but absolutely amazing

Hated the AI

Loved the story and the pacing of the book, but absolutely hate the AI narrator. There’s just no emotion in the reading. No differences between the characters.

new writing style

A NICE LITSEN. good development of charaters and environment. the book ends well enough a intermate break like in theater to lead to next book.

virtual voice ruined it

very interesting story, but the virtual voice is monotone and often mispronouncing words to the point I had to pause and relisten to make sense of what was said. the virtual voice also gets jumpy if you listen to anything but 1x speed. not to mention there is zero inflection and no way to differentiate characters as they speak
getting a physical copy of the book instead of listening to it because the robot voice ruins the story for me.

Great story

Great slow burn romance. AI narrator wasn’t terrible but a real human would have been much better. Need more emotion with the reading.

Almost there?

Conceptually, this book is delightful, and as a whole I don’t regret reading it, but it has some pretty glaring flaws.

The pace is all over the place. Rushed where you’d want more time for world building, or moments where you’d like time to feel attached to an introduced character, but then slow and repetitive on menial scenes.

Another review mentioned a thesaurus, and I have to agree. It got to the point that I could mouth along with the exact same phrasing used over and over. “Rictus grin/smile”. “Lips brushing his ear”. It literally goes on, and it was brutal. I found myself mentally editing the phrasing just to get through scenes without feeling like I had just read the same chapter again. It’s heartbreaking because there are moments where it does feel like the author could be capable of more, but just chooses not to be. A part of me fully wonders if pieces were tossed into Chat GPT, and maybe that’s how the repetition got so egregious? I write as well, so I understand falling into a pattern or verbal rut, but this was just hard to make excuses for when you’re 20+ chapters in and considering if a drinking game for specific phrases might hospitalize you.

It’s definitely more noticeable due to the auto-voice. There’s inflections at the wrong points, sentences or things characters say are said completely wrong. Battlemages are “Battlemudges”. A character stutters on please (a staple of any erotica or horror scene if we’re honest) and the whole severity goes out the window because the voice just said Pee monotonously and full stopped a serious moment where they’re meant to be begging for their life. I can imagine this would be a lot more enjoyable if you just read the book yourself, or if someone actually took the time to voice it properly.

There were a few things I enjoyed. The fantasy elements were intriguing, and I wish there had been more world building. A deeper involvement in the actual relationships and dynamics between the demon realm and the human realm could’ve gone a long way, as well as an exploration of just how magic operated in the universe. It made me want more, it’s just unfortunate there wasn’t that. I also appreciated the slow burn of the romance, and the story did entertain me enough that I stuck around for it.

Overall, it just feels like a novel that’s almost there, but not quite satisfying. It’s difficult to find gay fantasy romance that really makes a mark, and this one just fell a little short.

Definitely AI generated

Extremely weird character behavior and reactions, and stilted, difficult to follow conversations.... It's hard to even tell who exactly is going to be the villain this chapter..... If you just need something on in the background that is moderately interesting, go for it, but look elsewhere if you want a story you can make sense of or characters you care about.

Has potential…

The concept and overarching storyline definitely has potential but I fear the execution of it wasn’t carried out well. Granted I will say some of this may be due to the absolute atrocity that is virtual voice narration. Nothing is better than reading spicy scenes in the most monotone voice imaginable /s. Regardless, I did find the plot and characters intriguing… at first, but the story soon becomes as tiresome as the voice reading it. Feels like you could skip a good chunk of the middle of the book and you miss nothing as the MC is still going through the same back and forth internal conflict that he was at the beginning of the book. Overall it felt like the bones of a good story were there, it just lacked fleshing out that could lead to something actually enjoyable.

Just bad!

Pros:
-The premise has potential.
- Great background noise.
Cons:
-The writing is just so bad. The author needs desperately to invest in a Thesaurus. You could turn the number of times she used "predatory" into a drinking game. There had to be some kind of nepotism or bribery to get this published.
-There was no indication as to how much time passed; was he captured a week ago, a month ago, or years ago?
-The characters have the same conversations over and over again. Who was the editor because they failed on so may levels. This could have been much shorter.
-If you are using virtual voice to read the book why not have different voices for every character? Female voices for female character, gravely voices for demons, etc.? It's not like you are paying actors. Turn it into a production.