The Collarbound, Rebecca Zahabi
The Collarbound, Rebecca Zahabi
List: $27.99 | Sale: $19.59
Club: $13.99

The Collarbound

Author: Rebecca Zahabi

Narrator: Lara Sawalha, Peter Kenny

Unabridged: 10 hr 54 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Gollancz

Published: 05/12/2022

Categories: Fiction, Fantasy, Epic


Synopsis

'Beautifully wrought dark fantasy' NetGalley Reviewer

A MAN MARKED BY MAGIC. A WOMAN MARKED BY HER PAST.

On the other side of the Shadowpass, rebellion is brewing and refugees have begun to trickle into the city at the edge of the world. Looming high on the cliff is The Nest, a fortress full of mages who offer protection, but also embody everything the rebellion is fighting against: a strict hierarchy based on magic abilities.

When Isha arrives as a refugee, she attempts to fit in amongst the other mages, but her Kher tattoo brands her as an outcast. She can't remember her past or why she has the tattoo. All she knows is that she survived. She doesn't intend to give up now.

Tatters, who wears the golden collar of a slave, knows that this rebellion is different from past skirmishes. He was once one of the rebels, and technically, they still own him. He plans to stay in the shadows, until Isha appears in his tavern. He's never seen a human with a tattoo, and the markings look eerily familiar . . .

As the rebellion carves a path of destruction towards the city, an unlikely friendship forms between a man trying to escape his past and a woman trying to uncover hers, until their secrets threaten to tear them apart.

The Collarbound hooks from the opening page and will appeal to fans of magical, brink-of-war settings, like that of The Poppy War and The City of Brass.

'Zahabi deftly creates a fully-realized and richly described world, providing a quiet yet striking exploration of the way inequality and injustice often serve as the bedrock of systems of power' M. J. Kuhn, author of Among Thieves

About Rebecca Zahabi

Rebecca Zahabi is a mixed-heritage writer (a third British, a third French and a third Iranian, if the mix is of interest to you). She started writing in her home village in France at age 12 - a massive epic which set out to revolutionise feminism. Since then, she has slightly re-jigged her expectations of what she can achieve with a keyboard and a blank page. After honing her craft in a variety of genres - playwriting, short stories, interactive novels - she hopes to write books that can make a difference. Her first YA book was shortlisted for the Northern Writers' Award in 2019. Her adult debut, The Collarbound, was longlisted for The Future Bookshelf program at Hachette UK before being acquired by Gollancz.

About Peter Kenny

As both actor and singer, PETER KENNY has worked widely in theatre and broadcasting, appearing with, amongst others, the Royal Shakespeare Company, A&BC, Coventry Belgrade, and the BBC Radio Repertory Company. He is a prolific audiobook reader and his titles include The Wasp Factory and Look To Windward by Iain Banks, and The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Becca

Rebecca Zahabi has created a compelling setting for the backdrop of this high fantasy trilogy with an unjust society of Mage overlords and oppressed citizens. Our main characters are a man named Tatters, with an interesting back story and a collar that marks him as a slave, although he doesn't seem t......more

4.5 stars “If this was where she belonged, in the space in-between, then this was where she would hold her ground. This was where she would fight.” The Collarbound by Rebecca Zahabi is a wonderfully imaginative novel which revels in mystery, intrigue and dazzling magic, set against the backdrop of a w......more

What did I just read? I knew I had to read this book as soon as Gollancz revealed the cover for The Collarbound. I am a HUGE sucker for white covers, and I love the art style! Moreover, the synopsis: “Bound by magic, marked by war, ready to fight”, fills you with many questions! How can magic bind yo......more

EVERYONE STEP BACK, NEW FAVOURITE BOOK COMING THROUGH! I believe it was the cover of this book that caught my attention first, then the description and the comps (The Poppy War and The City of Brass), I just knew I had to read it. I do see a tiny bit of the first comp in it, but instead of the second......more

Goodreads review by Cassidy

This story completely shocked me and blew me away. I knew nothing about this story going into it. What I loved about this story the world building, it's done very naturally and you can tell it's been well thought out. It's an enriched world and I could spent 900 pages just learning about all of it.......more