The Buried and the Bound by Rochelle Hassan is a contemporary young-adult fantasy novel about a trio of teens caught up in something greater than themselves. Aziza El-Amin is a hedgewitch responsible for maintaining the magical boundary between her home, Blackthorn, and the fae realm. Leo Merritt walks his life with the cursed knowledge that he’s forgotten his true love. But where the head forgot, the heart remembers—always. Tristan’s a necromancer bound to an evil hag who longs for only power and destruction, and he wants nothing more than to stop her and go home—if home will remember him. 

I don’t usually read YA novels anymore as they’ve gotten pretty predictable in my old jaded age (Note: I am not even 20), but what I adored most about this novel are the character dynamics between our main trio. Aziza is pragmatic and sensible, and Tristan is like that too but multiplied with a bit of edge (understandable as the world is wholly unkind to him). Leo is a sweetheart. They’re all trying to do the right thing, no matter what. What’s that song to describe this? Oh, yes! The soldier (Tristan), the poet (Leo), and the king (Aziza).

More than halfway through this novel, I didn’t realize this was a trilogy, but I’m definitely up for reading more from this world and especially witnessing how the trio’s friendship develops. 

The only reason why this received a 4 stars from me is because it’s still quite predictable, and it didn’t entirely leave me swooped off my feet with incredible prose or plot-twist plot points. But I still find this to be a lovely read.