Blood Bound – Past Midnight Book Reviews & More

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Title: Blood Bound (Cursed Covenant, #1)

Author: Ellis Hunter

Pages: 485

Format: ebook (borrowed)

Publication Date: 4/28/26

Categories: Romantasy, Romance, Series

A debut high-stakes fantasy romance trilogy set against a once-in-a-generation duel to the death between rival witches and dragon riders as they battle to control the source of all magic in their kingdoms. Perfect for fans of Fourth Wing, Throne of Glass, and Quicksilver.

You duel or you die.

Astrid has always known she is destined to die. She is the last Nachstern witch and heir to the Queendom of Arturea, cursed by a centuries-old covenant to duel the heir to the Kingdom of Vatra for the source of all magic: the Heart. And now Astrid’s time is up. She is heading into enemy territory to face Prince Zryan, the most powerful dragon rider in eons, with only her familiar, her potions, and her wits to aid her. She is going to die, and any chance her queendom has of curing the Blight that’s ravaging the lands and killing her people will die with her.

Meanwhile, deep in dragon country, Skylar and her travelling troupe arrive in Vatra’s capital, ready to profit off the legions of spectators swarming to the city ahead of the duel. She despises the royals and all they stand for, especially as the King’s guard murdered her mother. But when her best friend disappears, suspected to have been taken in the conscription, her search takes her closer to the royals than she ever could have imagined.

As the duel looms over the kingdom, Skylar and Astrid’s fates intertwine. They must battle a growing rebellion, their inner demons, and ultimately, those they love most, to determine if together they will save—or doom—their world.

Content Warning: violence, death

World Building: A duel for possession of the Heart is about to take place between the witch princess, Astrid and the Vatra heir, Prince Zryan. Until plans change. This fantasy world is filled with magic, dragons, and familiars.

Characters: Princess Astrid has trouble casting her magic so she thinks she will die, because she can’t fight Zryan and his dragon. But when things change and Skylar (Zryan’s sister he never knew existed) becomes the one to beat well, the relationship between Astrid and Skylar is the main focus, which I enjoyed since they were opposites – destined to try and kill one another, but becoming friends instead. I did want more from Astrid though because she was training for this duel but she just seemed to be resigned to be the one to die. Zryan comes off like a heartless, cruel prince but there are layers to him too.

Romance: It’s an enemies to lovers and there is an instant attraction between Astrid and Zryan that they fight naturally since they are enemies. They can’t fight for long though and there is some spice between them. I did wish there was more build-up between them.

Story: This story is told with 2 POVs – Astrid gives us the insight into witches, their world, magic and familiars. Skylar gives us the POV of a citizen of Vatra who has been suffering in the kingdom, who hates the king, and wants better for the people. It’s got the usual romantasy factors like rebellion, and enemies to lovers. I enjoyed the familiars, Bastet, Astrid’s familiar was funny! But I do think the pacing was off for me, with some things being repetitive and it just made the story move slow. It took me a few days to read because I kept putting it down. It felt like a young adult book at times also, so that was throwing me off.

Final Thoughts:

It took me a little too long to finish this one because there were many times the story felt like it moved too slow, or felt like a young adult novel (but I was expecting adult). But I did enjoyed the second half much more than the first and I like the familiars. What I really loved was the friendship between Astrid and Skylar that grew even though they were supposed to kill each other. Despite the issues I had with it, I was still entertained but not sure if I would continue the series only because if felt to young adult when I was expecting adult.

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