The Gifts That Bind Us

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caroline o'donoghue's all our hidden gifts series has swiftly become one of my favorite young adult fantasy series. there is so much this series is doing well, from the diversity and queerness of the characters, the fascinating magic system, and the nuanced explorations of society, feminism, religion, and power, all threaded together with beautiful prose and lovely illustrations.

So gripping, so intriguing, so layered – All Our Hidden Gifts feels like a book that should have always existed." – Kiran Millwood Hargrave But with strange things happening at school, and old enemies appearing in new places, it soon becomes clear their powers are attracting all the wrong attention. It’s not long before Maeve’s gift start to wane, drained by someone – or something – that’s hiding even from her second sight... I suppose I'll always remember this as the summer that Roe learned to drive and I learned to read minds I play the notes, push the keys, roll my finers, the same tune repeating again and again. In this house that is mine, as long as I'm alive to keep it

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.

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. 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. Where the first book centers around Maeve learning her way around tarot cards and her sensitivity (moreso a contemporary coming of age than fantasy), the second book fully embraces the extents of the group's magic.

Customer reviews

I appreciated that the author went with a 3 book series, I can't imagine squishing all of this content into a duology. The end of this book got me really excited for book 3 so the setup was certainly there. There are certainly enough reveals in this second book that I don't feel it was too stretched out. 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.

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 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. I loved the first book in the series, but I LOVED "The Gifts That Bind Us". This book definitely doesn't fall into the "second book = total disappointment" category at all. 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. Trigger warnings (TW) & content warnings (CW): Bullying, hate crime, homophobia, suicide, self harm 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.

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! A brilliant follow-up to the first book and it was enjoyable following the friends on their new journeys, especially the self-discoveries they all had.

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A group of Irish teens contend with their newly acquired magical powers while also navigating shifting relationships in this follow-up to All Our Hidden Gifts (2021).