“Bound by the Blood” Cuts Straight to the Heart

Cecilia Tan

Cecilia Tan—author, publisher, editor, activist, educator, and baseball fan and analyst—is probably best known for founding Circlet Press. This groundbreaking small press was home to not only her erotica and erotic speculative fiction but that of many other well-known authors, including Francesca Lia Block, Laura Antoniou, and the late M. Christian. You can feel the influence of her work and the press in the recent emergence of romantasy, but before that, of course, it was felt in the sexy urban fantasy novels from the mid to late ’90s through … well, many are still being published.

A number of years ago, Tan wrote an urban fantasy series. Originally it was to be published by Tor, but through a series of unfortunate events, she got the rights back, and now she’s releasing it herself. Bound by the Blood is the first book in the Vanished Chronicles, and the author describes it as “my ‘BDSM is magic and everyone is bi’ paranormal romance/urban fantasy thriller.” It has the best of all of those subgenres—sex, kink, danger, fire, meditations on the nature of consent, and magic.

The book starts the night that our narrator, Mira, meets Clive at a BDSM party. She’s in a corset and black boots, carrying a bag of whips, and even just the first couple paragraphs of the first chapter stamp onto the story a setting and tone that are unmistakable. Mira and Clive have an amazing encounter at the party; she gives him her number, but he never calls. Fast-forward a couple of months, and Mira finds herself at another party—not to play, but to warn people about a friend of hers who was attacked. However, who should she run into there but Clive, who is tied to a St. Andrew’s Ccoss when all hell breaks loose. She saves him, and from there she’s drawn into the Circle of Light—a “secret sex Mafia,” as Mira describes it—and their fight with the Partisans of Fire.

The book is, as Tan says, a thriller, complete with danger at every turn. Car chases (in New York City, even), explosions, all of it. I’m not sure anyone gets a full night of sleep until the end. Its backbone, however, is a love story, the beginnings of a very intense romance between Mira and Clive. If one likes their characters to fall fast and hard, where a single meeting is life-changing and a week is an entirely new world, one will love the romance in Bound by the Blood.

Consent—sexual or kink-related and otherwise—is a strong theme from the very beginning. It’s a lot more complicated than a simple “Yes, I consent” can make it sound, and Tan, through her characters, handles the ethical considerations well. Events happen in the story to challenge the consent of the characters, and the twists and turns of the plot encourage the reader to think more deeply about the concept. I enjoyed that part, and I do like a little philosophy with my romance.

The ensemble cast is a delight—I don’t want to give away too much about the characters, but I loved every single one Tan introduces. (Well, not that one.) The inner workings of both the BDSM scene and the Circle of Light reminded me of my own experiences with volunteer-run organizations, and the author’s background as an activist in the BDSM and leather communities undoubtedly lent authenticity to this. The setting is well grounded in New York City, as well, including a joke about an exile to New Jersey and late-night Korean fried chicken. (Note: You can get Korean fried chicken until at least 11:00 p.m. in the Twin Cities. I checked. It’s pretty common.) I do love authors exploring little-known parts of big cities, especially ones with older sections, and Bound by the Blood definitely has that, as well as some experiences outside of the city for contrast.

The ending is incredibly satisfying—I laughed as I typed this, based on the events on the book, but it really is. However, a number of threads are in no way tied up, and even if there were fewer of them, the worldbuilding would allow so many more stories in the setting. Secret sex Mafias deserve several more books, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing more of Mira and Clive and all their friends.

Bound by the Blood is available now everywhere, after previously having been serialized on Tan’s Patreon (of which I am a member). Content notes are available on her website.