The Unwilling (Barrier Lands, #1)

by Kelly Braffet

[tweetybugshouse]

Four children two born to rule, one sold off to the highest bidder, and one bound forever to feel and endure what the other does and vice versa. Judah is bound to Gavin by an unquestionable bound that allows them to feel each other's emotions and pain. If Gavin goes on a drunken bender then Judah will also suffer the hangover. In the first part of the book we learn all about how the might Lord Elban had tested to see just how far this curious bond went. I almost stopped reading why would i want to read a story about someone who has to suffer so much abuse by those who have taken her in.
I continued on all the way to end cause eventually i had to know how things were not only going to play out for Judah and Gavin but for the others as well. Gavin is the eldest and at several moments in the first part of the book he is meant to kill his brother. Seconds sons command the armies. Though Theron is in now way suited to this task. He has a brilliant mind and i loved how even as things grew worse for him he still tried to communicate some of that brilliance. Gavin is bound to Judah and eventually they become so entangled that his farther constantly makes threats to end on or both there lives. Then we come to poor Eleanor who has been sold to marry Gavin and at one time Lord Elban.
This story weaves the tale of these four as they strive to survive and understand what the bond means. Their two story lines inter woven you have the political one of Lord Elban and him maintains a hold on his city and what transpires once he looses it. You also have the story of Judah and the magus Nate and what his mission is in regards to undoing the bond between Gavin and Judah.
This is a very long tale and i not sure i totally happy with the ending nor am sure I understand what exactly happened. It a different tale and i think it worth a read but maybe a second read or a third to really get all the details that are interwoven.