Review: Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead

Title: Spirit Bound
Author: Richelle Mead
Genre: YA, supernatural, romance, action
Perfect for: fans of the Vampire Academy series

Normally, here I'd recap the story a bit, but in the case of 'Spirit Bound', it's complicated.  So many things that are important to this book were part of the original four books in the series.  My summery probably wouldn't make much sense to those who haven't read Vampire Academy from the beginning.  While I'll keep my review spoiler free, I'm hiding it under the cut, anyways, just in case you are still reading books 1-4.  CLICK READ MORE...



'Spirit Bound' was what I expected and a bit of what I didn't expect.  It was full of raw emotions/action that has become a staple of the series, yet had moments I truly didn't expect.  The fact that so many events went unpredicted by me is one of the reasons I couldn't put this book down.

The positives-- I have to say seeing ore of Adrian was great.  He is, after Christian, my favorite character and, again my opinion, the best suitor for Rose.  Adrian's role was expanded a bit and it was nice seeing this background and upbringing more clearly.  It helped me figure out where Adrian had been coming from this whole time.

Speaking of Christian, he and Abe had some great lines.  The writing in 'Spirit Bound' was just as spot on as the previous books.  I laughed at quite a bit during Abe's scenes.  And surprisingly, the scenes between Christian and Lissa were cute and (this is a first) quite welcoming.

Okay, the negatives...  Rose.  She's the main character, yes, but that doesn't mean I have to like her.  She bugged the heck out of me throughout the entire book.  People hated Bella Swan of the Twilight series because of her dependency issues, well, I say Rose was equally annoying throughout most of this book as she 'used' most every secondary character for her own needs.  Don't get me started on how unfair she was to Adrian.  Even Lissa, who albeit did her part willingly, did something I won't spoil that helped Rose.

The love triangle is the most lopsided love triangle I've ever read.  Jacob Black had more pull on Bella than poor Adrian seems to have. *sigh*  It's almost not even fair to Adrian.  The love triangle is turning out to be the most predictable thing in this series.

Dimitri, well, I have never liked him very much.  I will say he brings some interesting things into the story, however anticlimactic those bits may be.  I'm interested to see what happens with him.

Last, the story...  Although odds are it won't matter much to addicted readers, the story is a bit more laid back than others and lacks any sort of conclusion.  It's very much a part one of two story-- meaning it can't stand alone.  I can't think of any storyline in 'Spirit Bound' that actually got tied up, unlike the rest of the books in this series.

All I'll say is thank goodness the next book is coming out in December.