Title: Spirit BoundOriginal title: Spirit Bound
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Series: Vampire Academy #5
Publisher: Razorbill
Format: Paperback
Pages: 489
Finished: 03/02/2019
Summary: Spoiler alert! After a long and heartbreaking journey to Dimitri's birthplace in Siberia, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir's - and to her best friend, Lissa. It is at long last graduation, and the girls can't wait for their real lives beyond the Academy's iron gates to begin. But Rose's heart still aches for Dimitri, and she knows 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 now he is hunting her. And this time he won't rest until Rose joins him... forever.
My thoughts: Due to sickness, this took me a full week to finish. Trust me, it would’ve taken like four days otherwise, because this series just hook onto me and don’t let go until I’m done reading. The last book, “Blood Promise” didn’t impress me quite as much as the third, “Shadow Kiss”, and now it seems more like a filler novel to me. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t boring, and the character development of Rose was important, but it could’ve been shortened down by at least 100 pages. This book, “Spirit Bound”, was more reasonable in that aspect. At just under 500 pages, the story made decent progress and some characters, whom I now love, got more time in the spotlight, AND, of course, exciting stuff happened. However, I have a few burning spoiler thoughts on my mind that I need to share, so if you’ve NOT read the 5 first books in the Vampire Academy series, do not attempt to read what I’ve written next.
If you HAVE read the 5 first books, you can go ahead and mark this white text to read the spoiler section of this review: So, this book definitely has me conflicted on the sudden strong triangle drama. I was 100% team Dimitri up until the fourth book, which had me doubting (because of the whole Strigoi thing), but this just almost turned me around to being team Adrian. In fact, I am team Adrian right now. Admittedly, I’ll probably change my mind when Mead wants me to in the last book, but ADRIAN!!! Such a sweet little potato, the crispiest fry in the pile, the softest ball of them all. He deserves more than Rose though, seeing as all she can think about is Dimitri. About that, I can’t fault her for being super focused on Dimitri. Like, it’s her former lover turned death machine, turned back into a dhampir and then…?? He’s being a pitiful little meep about it, and NOT in a good way. He acts like Edward Cullen in New Moon. It’s that level of selfish pity and I’m not liking it. Instead, Dimitri is worshipping Lissa, which I also get, but why so intensely? Idk he seems fake all of a sudden. Or just boring. I hope he turns around in the next book and makes up for this, because he definitely has to if I’m gonna go over on his team again.
Rating: 4/5
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Author: Richelle Mead
Original title: Last Sacrifice
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Series: Vampire Academy #6
Publisher: Bonnier Carlsen
Format: Paperback
Pages: 647
Finished: 08/02/2019
Summary: Spoiler alert! The Queen is dead and the Moroi world will never be the same. Rose Hathaway is awaiting wrongful execution and there exists only one man who can stall this terrible fate. Rose must look to both Dimitri and Adrian, the two great loves of her life, to find him. With her best friend, Lissa, in a deadly struggle for the royal throne, the girls find themselves forced to rely upon enemies and questioning those they thought could trust... But what if true freedom means sacrificing the most important thing of all? Each other.
My thoughts: I did it! I finished the series! Woop!
Rating: 4/5
But was it good? I’m not certain. Like, sure, it was good, but it wasn’t really what I’d wished for. In my opinion, this series peaked with the third book, “Shadow Kissed”, and from then on… it got a bit bleak, didn’t it? Don’t get me wrong, the series still has a lot to offer in the last half; action, drama, some nice characters (*cough* Adrian *cough*) and stuff. It’s all swell, and I did enjoy it, but there turned out to be several things I was missing. I’ll get into that in the spoiler section of this review. All you spoiler free peeps need to know is that the series is definitely worth reading and that much of my displeasure was probably due to all the spoilers I’d gotten before I even started the series. Alright, let’s get on with the spoilers.
Mark the following white text in the SPOILER SECTION to get the juicy stuff: I ended up not really being on Team Dimitri? Like, I knew it was gonna be endgame with Dimitri and Rose, but with Dimitri not “doing his romantic part” for two and a half thick ass books, I lost interest in him. They went on with this New Moon style pretend one sided romance for so long that I just moved on. It didn’t help that Rose got a better boyfriend than Dimitri too. Adrian was such a babe, but then again I’m glad they weren’t endgame. Adrian deserves better than Rose’s Dimitri thirsty ass. I guess that’s one of the reasons that I wasn’t pleased with the ending; it sucked for Adrian. Poor boy. The rest was happy as fuck, too happy. Lissa became a fucking queen (I don’t like that? Feels fake? Tbh she’s 18, I wouldn’t put her in the position of so much power.), Rose got her Dimitri AND her freedom AND happy ending and all that jazz and I ain’t liking it to be completely honest. This series went from being kinda badass to ending with “love solves everything” crap and it was just… weak. Also, the Swedish translations aren’t good. I read book three and five in English, and those turned out to be my favourites in the series. Coincidence? I think not!
Ok so this has all sounded so negative, but in all honesty even though I’m displeased with the ending, this series was a lot of fun. Rose’s character development was good; she definitely changed a lot from the first book. The romance(s) became a bit wobbly at the end, but it is what it is. Like I said, it could depend on me being majorly spoiled at some important shit in this series (like Dimitri becoming strigoi and Lissa becoming queen). The best parts of this series was the third book, pre-strigoi Dimitri, and Adrian <3
Rating: 4/5
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Author: Maria V. Snyder
Original title: Fire Study
Genre: High fantasy, YA
Series: Poison Study #3
Publisher: Harlequin
Format: Paperback
Pages: 376
Finished: 13/02/2019
Summary: Spoiler alert! When word that Yelena is a Soulfinder—able to capture and release souls—spreads like wildfire, people grow uneasy. Already Yelena's unusual abilities and past have set her apart. As the Council debates Yelena's fate, she receives a disturbing message: a plot is rising against her homeland, led by a murderous sorcerer she has defeated before...
My thoughts: Another series finished; this time “Poison Study” by Maria V. Snyder. I enjoyed this series to an extent which I had never fathomed. These books could very well have been written as tailored for my tastes. Of course, that means I loved them. Like, really loved them. Everything about this series was good. Characters? Good, and on all parts of the good-evil spectrum. World building? Superb, cool, and easy to get to know. Plot? Fast paced and exciting. Narrative? Good af. Everything? Awesome. Super duper. Plz read.
Valek is my new fictional crush (as is Ambrose and Yelena, but not to the same extent). That's all.
(PS: There is a follow-up trilogy to this that is called "Soulfinders", which I really want to read now)
(PS: There is a follow-up trilogy to this that is called "Soulfinders", which I really want to read now)
Rating: 5/5
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