How Is The Ending Of Fury Bound Explained?

So, that was Fury Bound. I finished it with this weird sense of exhaustion, but also of satisfaction. The ending doesn’t tie up every loose end, because there are far too many plot threads for that to be possible. Instead, we get to see a few of them resolved in meaningful ways. For example, Saela, Meryn’s sister, has been altered into a Siphon and is being held. This is obviously intensely personal and emotional for Meryn and her allies. And on a larger scale, Killian has used a thrall bracelet to spread a pack of lies around the kingdom, turning friends against each other in the space of a single day. It’s all a bit intense, and the ways in which these two storylines intersect in Astreona are also quite tragic. The Siphons have been the subject of a load of awful doctrine, dating back to a time of great fear. But in fact, the supposed ‘enemy’ kingdom contains relics known as the Goddess Tears, which grant incredible and terrifying power. What I loved about the book, as with the others, was that it alternated between very broad, revealing scenes that expanded upon the world at large, and intimate, character-orientated POVs. By far the biggest thing for me, though, was that after all this time, we finally got to see Stark in a few chapters. We found out why he acts the way he does, and his loyalty to Meryn is perfectly earned. The shattering of the Dire Blade, and the sight (in a dream) of a shadowy voice, have completely shifted my perception of the world, and the conflicts to come. It’s all very heavy and very, very bittersweet, but there’s lots to look forward to in the next book. Not least the big moral questions that are going to have to be faced.

Oh wow, the end of Fury Bound is a tough but amazing read. I won’t give too much away, but a lot of what I expected was turned on its head in shocking ways. The biggest surprise was the depth of the betrayals. Many of them were planned long before the characters even knew who they were dealing with, and how everything fell into place was wonderful to read. The biggest reveal is that Killian is so much more than a power-hungry noble, he’s been infected with an older Siphon consciousness and his blood magic is slowly corrupting the entire kingdom. This corruption is shown in many ways throughout the book, but most noticeably in the shattering of the Dire Blade in the middle of battle. Not only does this have a huge impact on Meryn, but it also severes the link between many people and their direwolves. After the action-packed conclusion, Meryn is forced to learn a rather dark form of magic known as shadebending, which has the potential to consume her. She is also forced to run to collect the legendary Goddess Tears before Killian can get to them all and use them to ascend to a living god-like state. The book also reveals a lot of long-hidden truths about the Siphons and their history, and shows that the areas they were thought to be conquering were not just wastelands, but rather complex places full of their own secrets and histories. The end also includes a rather creepy and foreboding dream sequence where Meryn is told by a voice that she has opened a door that she cannot close. This has set up a war on three levels: magic, blood, and narrative truth, and I have no idea how this will all play out, but I’m both heartbroken and excited to find out in the next book. The authors have done a wonderful job of setting up a new and darker axis for the rest of the trilogy, and I’m both saddened and relieved that we are not getting a cozy, feel-good conclusion to this story. Rather, we are getting a messy and complex one that will require Meryn to grow up in dangerous ways, and that will have very real and political consequences. I’m both excited and nervous to see where this will all go.

‘Fury Bound’ ended so suddenly, it jolted me. It completely flipped the board and left so many pieces in motion. We find out that Killian is more than just the story’s antagonist. He is working through an older Siphon consciousness to try to twist the magic of the kingdom and the minds of its inhabitants. The story of the Dire Blade is also brought to a close when it is destroyed, breaking a centuries-old bond and changing the dynamic between humans and direwolves forever. Meryn is forced to learn the dark art of shadebending and to go on a hunt for the seven Goddess Tears before her enemies can unite them to become godlike. The most shocking revelation of all was a haunting dream sequence that made me realize there is something even darker awake and watching Meryn now because of her actions. These revelations make the end of ‘Fury Bound’ feel less like an ending and more like the pivotal point of the entire series.