The Gifts That Bind Us (All Our Hidden Gifts)

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The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.

Maeve; her nonbinary first love, Roe, who uses both he/his and they/them pronouns; and their friends, Fiona and Lily, have spent the summer honing their paranormal talents on the grounds of St. Bernadette’s, the private all-girls school where Maeve, Fiona, and Lily are soon returning for their final year. Maeve feels anxious both about Roe’s departure for college and his impending European band tour as well as about Fiona and Lily’s deepening friendship and plans to leave their small city of Kilbeg. She’s further plagued by encounters and strange dreams involving Aaron, the creepy, hateful leader of conservative Christian youth group the Children of Brigid. This smart, poignant drama is spot-on in its portrayal of a realistically pivotal time in these deeply likable characters’ lives as it winds its way slowly into the mystery around what supernatural forces are at play below the surface. The lengthy building of tension eventually gives way to unexpected twists, and the novel’s resolution is satisfying while also clearly laying the groundwork for a sequel. Main characters are White; the previous entry established that Fiona is Filipina and White, and there is realistic diversity in race and sexuality among supporting characters. I will admit to being a little sceptical about whether All Our Hidden Gifts really needed a sequel but The Gifts That Bind Us definitely sold me on it. There weren’t that many loose ends from the first book, I thought, but I really liked how this one took those and ran with them. THE MAGIC IS HYPED UP JUST TO THEN…DISAPPEAR – When I finished the first novel, I was really excited to know that going into the rest of the series, we would start seeing some bigger magical moments. Maeve could read minds, Roe had telekinesis, Lily had electricity, and Fiona had healing powers. It was super cool! And it was fun to explore that in the beginning of the second novel. But then, it all just disappears. We’re given some explanation about the well being drained, but for me, the magic had been a sign that bigger more fantastical elements of the storyline would develop. Instead, it all just disappeared, which continued the slow underwhelming tone of the book. Magic gained, magic gone. Ob ich Band 3 lesen werde, weiß ich noch nicht, nicht weil mir Band 2 nicht gefallen hat, sondern weil ich keine Lust auf den angedeuten Kampf in Band 3 habe.

Fiona is struggling, everyone has these high expectations of her and it's too much when she still has trauma to process. She's started self harming and why does it matter? She can heal herself with her new gift. She's not "one of those girls with a problem". Nearing the end maybe she realises she does have a problem, when her powers are fading she still self harms even though she can't heal. It's become a routine of hers. I hope she can find the help she needs in the next book.

This book in the series is very "dark forest" where our characters are not okay after the events from the first book and are trying to piece themselves together. Note that there is mention and descriptions of self harm.

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I'd wholeheartedly recommend this series to anyone who loves reading about stories that aren't centered around the US, witchy stories, stories that deal with so many important issues that we need to talk about more. It's educative and so very entertaining! Now I liked Maeve don't get me wrong, she's kinda relatable but I was just so much more interested in everyone else. Lily was actually my favourite character, she was relearning to be human and her emotions weren't quite the same as they once were, she doesn't understand that there are things she shouldn't do. She electrocuted a magpie and didn't understand why it was wrong. She was unafraid of others because why should she, if she can just electrocute anyone she wants. She had the Children of Brigid shaking. I did enjoy them having a sort of morally grey/gray friend in their group but it was also nice her warming up to Maeve and expressing more human emotions. This spellbinding sequel to All Our Hidden Gifts is a riveting return to the lives of Maeve, Roe, Fiona, and Lily as they navigate their relationships as well as their newfound powers.

In general, I think it was a more introspective book than the first, less about doing something and more about the feelings that everything in book one had dredged up. Yes, they still had to fight bad guys, but that felt less of a focus for the most part. And that was great, to me. Books that look at consequences of saving x, y and z are the most interesting of books, and that was the case here. I've always had a love for books surrounding tarot cards and witches, so I was compelled enough to buy the second book (which had just come out as well, thank you for your spectacular timing past me). This series is what I wished the Raven Cycle to be. Magic-sensitive Maeve and her friends face off against an insidious threat to their school and their city in this spellbinding sequel to All Our Hidden Gifts. The first and the last sentence is just so amazing, I never would've guessed I would love this book so much. This book in my opinion was WAY better than the first one. Maybe this is just better suited to my tastes as I liked that it was "more magical" since they had their gifts. Review: Another fast paced, plot filled book that I’ll be recommending until the end of time. The Gifts That Binds Us enriches the story of the first book and provides a much deeper exploration of the friendship group and the struggles they individually face.The book was certainly enjoyable and I loved watching the teenagers practice using their new skills, although many a time they went too far such as Fiona purposely cutting herself so she could heal herself again. In a time of typewriters and steam engines, Iris Winnow awaits word from her older brother, who has enlisted on the side of Enva the Skyward goddess. Alcohol abuse led to her mother’s losing her job, and Iris has dropped out of school and found work utilizing her writing skills at the Oath Gazette. Hiding the stress of her home issues behind a brave face, Iris competes for valuable assignments that may one day earn her the coveted columnist position. Her rival for the job is handsome and wealthy Roman Kitt, whose prose entrances her so much she avoids reading his articles. At home, she writes cathartic letters to her brother, never posting them but instead placing them in her wardrobe, where they vanish overnight. One day Iris receives a reply, which, along with other events, pushes her to make dramatic life decisions. Magic plays a quiet role in this story, and readers may for a time forget there is anything supernatural going on. This is more of a wartime tale of broken families, inspired youths, and higher powers using people as pawns. It flirts with clichéd tropes but also takes some startling turns. Main characters are assumed White; same-sex marriages and gender equality at the warfront appear to be the norm in this world.

The brilliant second installment in the Hidden Gifts series, with further titles to come. About This Edition ISBN: With the same deft narrative style that made the previous book shine, O’Donoghue now offers an introspective take on what privileges and responsibilities come with magic, and a more nuanced exploration of the ways in which the characters are bound, involuntarily and by choice, to one another. . . . Fans of paranormal reads will be on the edge of their seats. all our hidden gifts was one of my favorite young adult novels of last year and i somehow managed to love the gifts that bind us even more. it's a masterclass in sequel writing that suffered none of the failings i was worried it might. it took everything i loved from the first book and made it deeper, richer, and even more compelling than it already was. to say i'm excited for the third book is a massive understatement. Synopsis: Maeve and her friends explore and develop their individual gifts. As word gets out about their magical abilities strange things start happening in town and the group become extremely vulnerable in the place they call home. Who can they trust? What is changing with their abilities? Decided to read this one because I wanted something to pull me in and the first book had no problem doing that. Despite this one mostly focusing on the Children of Brigid slowly taking over the town, I found it was not as tough a read as I was expecting. Yes there are scenes of homophobia, gender policing, and slut shaming, but there is also a big problem the characters are trying to solve while they try to avoid the "scary" cultists. There are scenes where they have to interact with the cultists, but the reader is not subjected to unnecessary awful descriptions just for the sake of it.Trigger warnings (TW) & content warnings (CW): Bullying, hate crime, homophobia, suicide, self harm