Huge fan of Christina Bauer's writing, and this prequel doesn't disappoint.
Entertaining and insightful to the series.

Finally I have the opportunity to read Duty Bound the prequel to Angelbound. In some ways we all feel we know and love Lincoln. The one thing that stood out for me was the pressure he is under and how alone he feels. As we know in the later books, the trouble the house of Acca cause for our feisty heroine in future books in the Angelbound Series.
Also after reading this book, it explained his absolute devotion the Myla as she was made for him. The book is an eye opener as it was great to hear Lincoln voice, it’s a treat I wouldn’t have wanted to miss. More from Lincoln Please Ms Bauer. I’m just off to read Angelbound for Myla and Lincoln’s first meeting again.

This novella was a nice and quick read. I have not read the other books in the series, so I did not understand all what was happening in the novel. Prince Lincoln agrees to marry someone he barely knows to form an alliance. He fights demons on Earth, which he likes to do. Lincoln plans on doing his duty until his attention is drawn to another woman. This woman is a warrior and Lincoln cannot help but crave to know more about her.  Lincoln is determined and will risk his own life to protect others. He stands up for what he believes in, even if there are those who disagree with him.

After just recently reading Angelbound, hearing that there is a prequel novella setting up events from Prince Lincoln's POV had me hooked before I even started reading. As far as novellas go this one was great. It has all the elements that made Angelbound amazing to read. Its funny, has a great plot and, being a novella, is a quick read

First of all, I’d like to thank both Netgalley and Monster House Books for letting me read a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I started reading this series thanks to Netgalley, and it’s one that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed! So let’s take a look at what was great about this novella.

Lincoln. I didn’t want to like Lincoln straight from the start in the main series. I didn’t trust him at all, but then things started to make much more sense. Once that happened, I really started to like him more. He’s always so wise, and knows the right things to say. He’s wise beyond his years, and it was a really cool opportunity to be able to see the story from his perspective.

In fact–dare I say it?–I like Lincoln perhaps more than Myla! 😮

Downside? It was so short! I was kind of hoping to see Lincoln’s insight at the ball and the subsequent events. However, that was putting a lot of pressure on a 125 page prequel novella! It was a nice, quick, interesting read that was a fun addition to the series.

There wasn’t really anything I disliked about this. In fact, it was a really enjoyable read. Maybe I was just looking for more story perhaps? Still, I can’t wait to keep reading this story!

Prince Lincoln not only is a skilled demon hunter, but also will do whatever it takes as his role as prince that his duty calls. That includes marrying someone he has hardly even spoken to to form an alliance, though he has always known that he will not marry for love. In the midst of his own political scheme that risks his own life, but could potentially save many other demon hunters, he finds himself distracted by a half human half demon warrior girl.

The Story
Okay, I am going to be honest. I don’t remember requesting this book at all from Netgalley. I haven’t read the Angelbound books prior to this, so I probably have no place reviewing a novella. None the less, I still read this and enjoyed it enough. since it’s a novella it’s rather short so I was able to get through it in a single sitting. The only problem is that since I hadn’t read the other books I found myself a little lost on some elements within the world. That all aside, I could honestly say that if the rest of the books were written in the same manner as this one, I probably wouldn’t read them, even if the world is intriguing enough.

Why? Because it’s written in that first person point of view style where it’s read like someone is telling a story or you’re reading their thoughts. Lines such as:

“My heart lightens. Can it be?”
“It’s a mystery, but it’s one that’s proven unsolvable. It’s certainly nothing I’ll figure out right now. Besides, I have far better things to do…”
“After Walker leaves, I start doing….things. I believe reviewing paperwork and meeting some of the Earls is involved.”

I personally just don’t like this style of writing and find a lot of it to be just filler. In fact, I find that it takes away from the plot and world building, which in this case I found lacking.

The World Building
Honestly, it’s my fault I probably found this lacking. This is what I get for reading a novella for a book series that I haven’t read. Again, I didn’t realize I had even requested this, but what am I to do?? I can’t let the publisher down now! I am guessing this is supposed to be a urban paranormal fantasy?? There was mention of Twinkies and parks that close at dusk, so that was really my only guess to that. Aside from that, I was put into a world with ghouls, demons, thrax (whatever that is?) and quasi demons, etc. There wer some small little world building bits sort of thrown in as a side comment, like why guns don’t work on demons (another hint to the urban paranormal bit). Anyway, a little less personal thoughts in the writing and a little more scenery description could have gone a long way and been a lot more use of page space/word length in my opinion. But you all know how much I like to mentally escape in my fantasy novels.

The Characters
Lincoln seems like he is set up to be the ideal guy, and I guess that’s okay, but I personally like a guy with some flaws. Then again, maybe that comes into play in the rest of the series.

Lincoln's POV!!!  I've been waiting for this and let me tell you, I was not disappointed!  The only thing that could have made it better was the ENTIRE story from his POV. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!!

All his life Lincoln knows it has been his duty to fight demons and he lives for the times he gets to go to Earth to fight demons. Lincoln and his family have been spending time in Purgatory. Where he has a few disputes with his future father-in-law the Earl of Acca. The Earl of Acca is a very conniving and sneaky man.
 
It is also Lincoln’s duty to marry the Earl of Acca’s daughter something which Lincoln has never concerned himself with before until he sees a mysterious girl, a lady Thrax warrior or so he thinks. When Lincoln lays eyes on this mystery lady he is determined to find out who she is once she enters his dreams and he can’t get her off his mind.
 
Lincoln is a very strong man who stands up for what he thinks is right and will do whatever he deems necessary to see that other people do the right thing even if that means putting his own life in danger. Lincoln is what every woman wants in a man. He is what I would call a Harlequin kind of man. I have really enjoyed reading and seeing things through Lincoln’s eyes and hope to see more of this world and more through his eyes hopefully in the near future.
 
It would be so neat to see Lincoln and all the other characters in the Angelbound series on the big screen. I would love to see Lincoln in all his hotness and the dark, greyness of Purgatory. It would be so awesome to see all the characters come to life in 3D.
 
If you love reading about demons and angels and a strong warrior with hotness oozing off him in waves then Duty Bound is the book for you. Check out the rest of the Angelbound series as well.

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy of Duty Bound. All opinions are my own and do not represent the author or publisher.

I enjoyed this very short prequel novella featuring Prince Lincoln. It was easy to read, great world building and gives you a really great introduction into the world and Thrax. It was a quick read (only 125 pages) but I enjoyed it.

In this prequel book to the Angelbound series, we get to know Lincoln much better and from his own point of view.  Hopefully the author will continue to write more books from this very masculine side of the story.

Meh, okay. Not bad. Well-written. A view into their first meeting - talking to each other - would have been nice.

If you love this series as much as me then this is a must read. This is a small taste written from Lincon's POV, i really enjoyed this and seeing what he's thinking, This is all new and not a repeat of any part of book 1.

Even though it's been a while since I read the first book in this series and I forgot the minor details of what was happening on Myla's side of things. This was still a really enjoyable read. I want to re-read the series again. Partly also because when I first read the series, Acca and Thrax weren't out and Armageddon was the third book. So there's been changes made to the series, some gaps that I had previously thought needed to be filled that seemed have been.