Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.. I have many words but they may not be enough. Another wonderful time I could spend with Laura Thalassa's stories. After the Four Horsemen, I jumped to Bewitched and Bespelled, and now this installment was amazing. Her writing has improved and was amazing at the beginning. The story was full of energy and electric. No info dumps, no dragging.
Not a word more, not a word less...

The Curse that Binds by Laura Thalassa, published by Sourcebooks, Bloom Books, is book three in the Bewitched Series.
A prequel that I greatly enjoyed reading.
2000 years before Selene there was Roxilana. She hears Menin's voice in her head and soon her power awakens.
A complex, complicated third book with timeline set before the first story, an unputdownable read that gives all the feels, derserves all the stars.

If only I could give it more stars! Rarely do I find books that make me drop everything to devour it. This book is perfection. I loved Bewitched and Bespelled and it was a visceral treat to read Memnon and Roxilana’s origin story and how their fate came to be. Knowing how it all ends, their friendship, their intimacy, the world building, the side characters - it all had me gripped with a sense of foreboding. I love it when stories are this immersive. This is fast becoming one of my all time favorites series!

I’m glad the author decided to make this a full-length novel. I would have gladly read a 1000 more pages set in this world. I’m so grateful to Bloom and Netgalley for giving me an opportunity to read this early. And I’m now a bit sad - I can’t wait for the next in the series!

I absolutely adore Laura Thalassa and everything she writes. I was so privileged to receive the ARC for the Bewitched series! The book is absolute master pieces that is amazingly action but will still punch you right in the feels!

I see Laura Thalassa’s name and I read! No questions asked, so yeah sign me up!

I received a free copy of The Curse that Binds by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

NO SPOILERS!

I read and loved Bewitched and I was in the middle of the second book Bespelled when I got this ARC. It’s a prequel to this story so I dropped everything to read it.

No you don’t need to read Bewitched and Bespelled to understand this book.

Roxilana is hearing voices and thinks she’s going mad but the voice is real and it’s a young boy named Memnon. He tells her they are soul mates with magic abilities. He arrives on her doorstep claiming she’s his wife and takes her to his homeland.

This book definitely has War by Laura Thalassa vibes. There’s tribes, camps, warriors and battles. I loved War so this book was right up my alley. The ending was the perfect bookend to Bewitched and made me want to read that book all over again. I enjoyed seeing Roxi and Memnon’s past life and how everything unfolded in more detail.

The story was a bit too long in places and some scenes could have been cut, but I’m okay with it.

Laura Thalassa weaves beauty and magic in all her books. Her characters are fleshed out and her world building is insane. I can’t praise this book enough.

It was enlightening to learn more about why everyone is as damaged as they are, especially Memnon's brutality, but after a while it felt a bit repetitive. I really wanted to love this but wound up skimming from about 40% to the end. I think I would have enjoyed it more as a novella. Still a recommended read for fans of the series, and I will happily pre-order the next when it's available.

What an absolutely beautiful, tragic love story. While it’s true that if you’ve read Bewitched and Bespelled, you know how this chapter in their story ends, you don’t REALLY know until you get through The Curse That Binds. (And I see you there, Laura, at the very end 👀)
Getting to experience Roxi and Memnon from young friends to eventually lovers helped add so much depth to their characters and story and created a visceral understanding of why Memnon is the way he is.
Whether you read this first or third, it more than deserves its place in the series and the level of detail and research Laura put into this book really shines through and will delight any fellow history lovers.

If I could give this book 10 stars, I would. The Curse that Binds was absolute perfection. It's tragic and bittersweet and so so beautiful. I seriously can't recommend it enough, whether you've read the Bewitched series or not. This prequel story is viscerally moving and heartbreaking and the most beautiful and tragic love story I've read in a long time. I'm so very glad it isn't the end of Memnon & Roxilana, more like their beginning, still my heart hurts and I'm going to go reread Bewitched and Bespelled now. And when I tell you the research that went into this book is insane, it really is. You can tell Laura poured her entire self into it. Anyway, please go read it when it releases. Even if you're new to the series. I promise, it's worth it.

What a joy it was to read Memnon & Roxilana’s story! We know about Selene in Bewitched & Bespelled, but we truly got to know the real her in this book. There is a certain villian in Bespelled that we caught a glimpse of, and it was interesting to learn this villains motives in The Curse That Binds.

I feel Laura really put in the effort of detailing the brutal ways of the Roman Empire. You learn more of the Samaritan culture as well.

Everything was detailed perfectly. And I really enjoyed the intimacy between Memnon & Roxilana.