Review: Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead

Spirit Bound

Author: Richelle Mead

Publisher: Razorbill

Series: Vampire Academy #5

Pages: 489

Genre: Paranormal

Release Date: May 18, 2010

How Received: Library

Summary: After a long and heartbreaking journey to Siberia, Dimitri’s birthplace, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir’s—and to her best friend, Lissa Dragomir. It’s graduation, and the girls can’t wait for their real lives outside of the academy’s cold iron gates to finally begin. But even with the intrigue and excitement of court life looming, Rose’s heart still aches for Dimitri. He’s out there, somewhere.

She failed to kill him when she had the chance, and now her worst fears are about to come true. Dimitri has tasted her blood, and she knows in her heart that he is hunting her. And if Rose won’t join him, he won’t rest until he has silenced her... forever.

But Rose can’t forget what she learned on her journey—whispers of a magic too impossible and terrifying to comprehend. A magic inextricably tied to Lissa that could hold the answer to all of Rose’s prayers, but not without devastating consequences. Now Rose will have to decide what—and who—matters most to her. And in the end, is true love really worth the price? 

My Thoughts:

Spirit Bound definitely makes up for my disappointment in Blood Promise – it delivered. Rose returns to St. Vladmir’s Academy and resumes her normal (if you can call it that) life as a guardian-in-training. But once that two-month mark until her graduation passes, she’s determined to embark on a crazy adventure that will bring back her lost love.

Richelle has this way of drawing you so into the story that you’re tightly caught in this tale she weaves. This installment was intense, portraying so many emotions at the same times – jealousy, anger, determination, yearning, grief, despair, elation, fear. There’s a lot of action, as well. Rose has nothing but crazy ideas this time around, and she gets stuck in precarious situations that leave the readers breathless. From breaking into prison, to escaping Strigoi in Vegas, to a Strigoi hunt, to sneaking into parties and jails – Rose has no boundaries this time around, and Spirit Bound will definitely have you in for a crazy ride.

Rose is back to her usual self (sort of), trying to take everything that’s been going wrong in stride. She still annoyed the hell out of me, and I was still wondering where my strong, kick ass Rose was. But this time I didn’t condemn her weak moments, because I knew what she ultimately strove for. Lissa was... pretty annoying again. I dislike it when girls try to appear nonchalant when their boyfriends are with other girls, and then to make their bf’s jealous, they go after other boys. It’s ridiculous. I hated when Lissa did that. But I also had a new respect for her stepping up to the plate and wanting to achieve things that no other Moroi had before.

I knew what their crazy plan was. Did I think it was going to happen in this book? No. I assumed because the last book is called “Last Sacrifice”, that was when Rose and Lissa’s hard work would be paid off. When the scene actually happened, I didn’t believe it. I kept re-reading, wondering if there was a catch. Richelle hardly writes anything happy. I still think I’m a little shocked that it did happen, and I’ve found myself wondering what’ll happen in Last Sacrifice – because I’m dang near sure something is going to happen to one of them.

As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, I feel so sad for Adrian. It reached its peak in this book, though. Adrian is nothing but nice to Rose, and he’ll go through extreme measures and sacrifice whatever he can to make sure she’s safe. But once she has Dimitri, she can’t even give Adrian the time of day. I felt like it was Mason all over again, and Rose even admitted it in the book. That whole aspect of their “relationship” disappointed me.

I’ve also mentioned this before, but hot damn is Richelle the queen of plot twists. She gives you no warning whatsoever; everything’s all happy and nice and we’re all hand-holding friends, and then BAM! Tragedy strikes.

The ending is such a huge cliffhanger. It makes me glad that I waited so long to read this series – I would NOT have been able to handle a longer wait than this!

Cover Comments: I actually really love the cover (even though it isn’t the same model as the first three – I complain about random stuff). I love that they’ve stuck to the bottom portion of the cover on all 5 books. But I have to ask – who is the guy?! Is it Adrian? He has brown hair. Or Dimitri? Wish we had a larger shot of the guy! :/

Memorable Quotes:

You never really realize how many people care about you until they all turn out to support you. It made me feel humble and almost a little teary. I kept that to myself, though. I could hardly start crying at my own victory party. (pg. 40)

Christian seemed torn between smugness at my discomfort and his own unease at watching a woman he regarded as a mother get hit upon by a pirate mobster guy. (pg. 43-44)

"Adrian!" chastised Nathan, turning bright red. It occurred to me then that I could have based a drinking game around how many times he exclaimed his son’s name disapprovingly. (pg. 74-75)

"So you’re off with Lissa?" he asked when we reached my room.
"Yup, sorry. You know—girl stuff." And by girl stuff, I meant breaking and entering. (pg. 80)

It was like a bad game of Twister. The trunk was large enough for some luggage but not intended for three people. We were squeezed together, and personal space was nonexistent. We were all up close and personal. (pg. 106)

We came to a stop before a high, barbwire fence with an enormous PRIVATE PROPERTY—NO UNAUTHORIZED PERSONEL ALLOWED sign on it. The lettering was red, apparently to emphasize how serious they were. Personally, I would have added a skull and crossbones to really drive the message home. (pg. 112)

Oh, for the love of God. I would give them some lessons about fighting—starting with a punch to Christian’s face. (pg. 218)

Back in my room, I was totally aghast. Lissa was going to attempt to learn to stake a Strigoi—behind my back—and she was going to get Christian to help her. Those two had been snarling at each other since the breakup. I should have felt flattered that sneaking around me was bringing them together, but I wasn’t. I was pissed off. (pg. 219)

I’ve given up on you. Love fades. Mine has.
I backed up, the sting of those words hitting me as hard as if he’d slapped me. (pg. 431)

He was almost naked too, but I hadn’t quite gotten to his boxers yet. (They were silk because, honestly, what else would Adrian wear?). (pg. 439)

  

Overall Thoughts/Final Comments: Spirit Bound wasn’t as up-to-par as Richelle’s first three installments in this series. It sort of went downhill from Blood Promise, but it was definitely better than Blood Promise! I used to have so much respect for Rose, but that dwindled a bit, especially with the whole Dimitri/Adrian thing. There’s a lot of action and so many events that occur I can barely remember them all. And the ending will leave you wanting Last Sacrifice right now!

Rating: 5/5