Spirit Bound

Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy Novel)
By Richelle Mead
2010
489 pages
Book 5

“one of them dies tonight. Lissa or Dimitri”

Summary: As much as Rose would like to move on and be happy with Adrian and Lissa now that she’s returned from Russia, she is struggling and Dimitri with his creepy letters is making it worse. If there is a chance she can bring him back she has to take it, regardless of the risk. Once again in a quest to save her love, Rose unleashes a string of unfortunate events that might be too much, even for her. Victor is on the loose, the queen’s life is threatened and Rose is a suspect. In a final show down Rose will have to choose between Lissa and Dimitri once and for all.

Review: Mead does the nearly impossible and keeps all the novels in the series as engaging and compelling as the first. While some of the storylines are beginning to get a little old (Dimitri), there are a lot of new developments to captivate the reader. Adrian is given more story time and there is more insight into court life which gives the audience the feeling of a larger subplot brewing. There is non-stop action, quite a few twists and turns, surprise cliff hangers and a few steamy scenes. Readers who enjoy vampire stories will be hard pressed to find a more exciting series. I cannot wait for the final book.

Other books in the series: Vampire Academy (2007), Frostbite (2008) Shadow Kiss (2008), Blood Promise (2009) and Last Sacrifice (Dec 2010)

If you liked Vampire Academy you might also enjoy: The Darkest Powers series by Kelley Armstrong, Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins, A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, Evernight by Claudia Grey and Blue Bloods by Melissa De la Cruz

Author website: http://www.richellemead.com/index.htm

Rating: W4/4 C4/4 P3/4 O3/4 PP3.5/4 CR3/4
Grade Level Interest: high J or S