The adult fantasy romance novel, “Dire Bound” by Sable Sorensen, the first in an ongoing series titled “The Wolves of Ruin”, was released Feb. 26, 2025. The book was written by two people, Eliza Phillips and Annie Paige-Stone, who used a joint pen name when the book was released. The second book “Fury Bound” was released on May 5, 2026.
The book focuses on a girl named Meryn Copper. After her sister was kidnapped, she was determined to find her. Meryn joins the army in hopes of getting to the front lines of the battle where she believes her sister is being held. During the process of enlistment, Meryn must go through a series of bonding trials to continue. As Meryn tries to navigate the new way she must live, she must also learn how to navigate her grumpy instructor, Stark Therion.
This book is advertised as a romantic fantasy but leans more towards fantasy than anything. The writing puts heavy emphasis on learning the magic system of the world the author puts the reader in, while there are only occasional moments where a romantic interest is implied. Many readers described this book as a mix of “The Hunger Games” and “Fourth Wing”, which are two other dystopian/fantasy novels. With the amount of detail this book has, the plot progression is slower than most other books.
Before reading this book, it is good to know that the romance aspect is very small. Many readers hope for romance to be more prominent in the second book. The target audience for “Dire Bound” is people who enjoy diving into a new magic system and enjoy extremely detailed fantasy books.
