Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy #5) – Richelle Mead

Title: Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy #5) by Richelle Mead
Publishing Info: May 18, 2010 by Penguin
Genres: Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Young Adult
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: November 17, 2012
Related Posts: Frostbite (Vampire Academy #2), Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy #3), Blood Promise (Vampire Academy #4), Bloodlines (Bloodlines #1), The Golden Lily (Bloodlines #2), The Indigo Spell (Bloodlines #3), Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy #6), Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X #1), The Glittering Court (The Glittering Court #1)

    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. And this time he won't rest until Rose joins him... forever.

Okay, friends. Turn back now if you want to avoid any spoilers because the deeper I get into this series, the more virtually impossible it becomes for me not to say anything spoiler-y! Mostly for the books that have come before this one, but I need to talk about other things that happened in SPIRIT BOUND too!

Okay, so first off, I definitely enjoyed this one more than I enjoyed BLOOD PROMISE, but still not as much as the first three books of the series. I think in BLOOD PROMISE, I had my second book syndrome except two books late. Usually in trilogies, I have second book syndrome and I just get so disappointed because too many things change all at once and I get lost in the story. I think that was what happened with BLOOD PROMISE. We were far away in Siberia, away from too many of our favorite characters and introduced to too many new ones. Now that Rose is back from Russia and reunited with her old classmates, I totally got on board again.

What I just realized (since I’m writing the review after literally just finishing the book) is wait a second! What happened to Victor? I just realized in all the commotion from the finale of this book that we lose Victor and Robert in the plot. Hm. Anyway, we did gain Dimitri back and in a whole new way! Wow, the interactions between Rose and Dimitri in SPIRIT BOUND were entirely different from BLOOD PROMISE. I went from being afraid for the both of them to being hopeful to being heartbroken all over again. It’s just a roller coaster ride – Granted, I did lose a lot of momentum in their relationship and the love I had for this relationship since the first couple of books, but I still have a lot of hope for them yet. I can’t wait to see how this evolves in the last book.

Yet another surprise ending from Mead! I’m always amazed each time the plot twists that she throws into our characters paths. I can’t wait to see how the series wraps up!

Dimitri: Ahhh, Dimitri! What a roller coaster you have gone on as far as characters go – probably the most changes I’ve seen from a character in a series. I can’t wait to see what his fate (or Mead’s crazy ideas) hold for him in the last book! And everything that happens in this book is perfectly logical and totally appropriate for the way his character would act.
Lissa: I’m loving the development with Lissa’s character. We’re slowly but surely seeing some awesome progress in her character, both emotionally and physically as well as magically. I love how Mead has had her character evolve so slowly throughout the books. I feel like it’s been really believable and much more enjoyable that way.
Adrian: Frankly I feel bad for Adrian! I know he likes Rose but poor guy, you just know Rose and Dimitri are supposed to be together. Even seeing her and Adrian together just seemed so wrong. I guess that’s great writing on Mead’s part — I was definitely following the story line that was clearly laid out to us.

Read it

I enjoyed SPIRIT BOUND! Still not my favorite but UGH these books. They just keep me going and going. I can’t wait to see what happens in the final book!

BOOKS LIKE SPIRIT BOUND