Book Review - Spirit Bound

Spirit Bound
Author: Richelle Mead
Series: Vampire Academy #5
Genres: Paranormal, Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 18th May 2010
Publishers: Razorbill (Penguin)
No. Pages: 481
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 
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Dimitri gave Rose the ultimate choice. But she chose wrong..

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 nearly 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. Only this time, he won’t rest until Rose joins him.. forever.

The following review may contain spoilers concerning earlier books in the series.
If you have not read the previous installments, please proceed with caution.

You and I, we both know that my relationship with Vampire Academy has been rocky. We need only take a look at my wonderful graph to see the rollercoaster I've been on and trust me, it hasn't been anywhere near as entertaining as that graph makes it look. Those dips, they were deep dives, and the highs in the first two novels, I've never experienced that level since. I can truly and honest see why so many love this series, it's clear as day, I can see it, written on the pages as honest as the words I read, but to me, those words have finally become numbing and boring, and lack any entertainment and enjoyment whatsoever. What was a challenge to complete is now something I don't have the faith nor inclination to ever finish, and I don't feel any loss in admitting that.

So what made Spirit Bound, as you say Amanda, so boring? Honestly, I couldn't tell you, because really, as I had noticed previously in other installment, not an awful lot happens in these novels, and that is the biggest and most frustrating thing about them. Where Vampire Academy suffered from the same issue, I was attached, attracted and amused by the character's, it was a character driven story and start to a series, but to me personally, these character's, some of which have developed beautifully, have become, stilted and 2D, and lack any form of personality at all, and with a plot as dry, slow and lacking in entertainment as Spirit Bound, is it any surprise I completely bypassed a good 30% of the middle? Probably not. Oh sorry, are you distressed at the fact I've reviewing a book having not read all of it? Tough, I had planned and seen this plot line coming since Frostbite, I knew and found out exactly what was going to happen and was relying on the plot to carry me through, but alas, I have been left with very little to impress me.

I refuse to go into detail on how and why the plot and pacing in this novel disappointed me, in fact, you could probably read my reviews for Shadow Kiss and Blood Promise and find out there, it's the exact same feature - no, what I do want to focus on is Rose and how she is both one of the best character's I've ever read about, and also the most frustrating. I admire and adore Rose's strength, her skill, her passion and even her personality, she has the charisma, she has the snark, and the has this wonderful ability to reek havoc with anyone and anywhere she likes, but she also has this highly frustrating feature in that seems to throw all logic out the window, for love. I've said it before and I will say it again, I appreciate love and the emotions that come with it, and I love myself a really lovely romance, but when it's obsessive form both angles, as Rose and Dimitri have become, when it's a game of cat and mouse, always resulting in one letting the other go, when it's as messed up, unromantic and weird as there's, I cannot- dealing with it is not an option. Rose is both a wonderful yet annoying character, she makes me want to throttle her for using Adrian and doing absolutely stupid things and making insane decisions, yet I can still see why, still see how her emotions affect her, and god that is annoying.

As it this wasn't enough, the cast of characters, little reveals and twists and even the actions scenes just didn't hit the spot whatsoever in this novel, lest not for me. I confess, the only characters I actually feel anything or any sort of connection with are Adrian and Christian and I really can't believe that these are the characters you're meant to feel less for. Rose strings Adrian along better than the English do washing lines, and Christian, oh you sweet little cherub, he is so dedicated, so passionate about his cause that it's infectious, it's beautiful and he's beautiful, these two characters are possibly the only two characters I really finished reading Spirit Bound for. The reveals and twists didn't impress me, even having the opportunity to sing 'ding dong the Queen is dead' didn't revel any sort of emotion out of me, and that is pretty darn disappointing, and please, don't get me started on the 'action scenes' which were really 'oh no, it's Dimitri AGAIN, come to kill me AGAIN, but he's not like that, he's just being bad bad Dimitri right now, I swear I will save him, so let me let him go AGAIN', honestly girl, you either need to let go and kill him, or kill yourself, because your woe and your sadness and your 'love', it's wicking me off. I didn't even feel any positivity when Dimitri was more Dimitri like, I genuinely lost near enough all emotions and feelings I had for anyone or anything in this series, and that's a really sad thing to admit.

Yet, the writing was still as strong as it once was, and Rose's narration was still fun and quirky, and even the actual emotions I do have characters were really positive, but they don't make up for how bad and how boring this installment was. I don't have any belief that I will finish this series - my patience is thin, I don't have the want or the connections to the character's to believe that I want to and there's absolutely nothing keeping me along for the ride other than Adrian and Christian really, and having a copy of Bloodlines in my possession makes the whole idea much more appealing and realistic. Does this make me a bad reader? Quite possibly, but do I care? Not really. I could have left this series at Shadow Kiss, I could have turned and never looked back, but I hoped and prayed and had faith, yet was let down once again. If you loved this series, I understand and will never stop you from singing it's praises, but please don't try to convince me what I feel or think is any less worthy. This series let me down, and it's as simple as that. Would I recommend it? To the right person, yes, but I definitely regret some of the time and effort I've spent on it.