Review of Spirit Bound

Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy #5) by Richelle Mead

Pages: 489

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pub. Date: May 18, 2010

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

*This review contains some small spoilers!

Goodreads says, "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 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's silenced her...forever.

Holy comrade!  This book was amazing.  I'm pretty sure I have an unhealthy addiction to this series and between you and me, a major crush on my literary boyfriend, Dimitri.   Spirit Bound starts us off back at St. Vladimir's and Rose is getting ready to take her test to become a guardian, which is, essentially, graduation to the real world.  It becomes quite apparent to the readers that she still thinks about Dimitri, her extremely dreamy ex-boyfriend/instructor/mentor who has become a Strigoi. (In case you don't know, a Strigoi is an undead and evil vampire).  Regretfully, Rose was unable to kill Dimitri, which is what he wanted if her to do if  ever "turned" into a Strigoi. Instead, Dimitri wants to turn Rose into one so she can spend eternity with him and is pretty much stalking her in order to kill her since she won't allow Dimitri to turn her.  The book starts off with Rose sharing one of Dimitri's love letters/threats, so right off the bat, you are hooked from page one.  


After all this craziness, Rose's heart is still with Dimitri even though she is dating the ultra-cool, Adrian.  Also, Lissa, her best friend and Royal Moroi (a.k.a. good vampire), is still an important person in her life and is moving onto college next year.  Rose is hoping to be assigned to her as a guardian.  This is all well and good until Rose and her friends start to ponder the idea of turning Strigoi back into their former selves.  They think they found a solution.  I don't want to give anymore away, but if you are a fan of this series, you must pick up this next installment. Richelle Mead doesn't disappoint; in fact, Spirit Bound is the best book in the series.


Mead's writing style is incredible. I am not sure how she does it, but she creates such suspense and cliffhangers.  At the end of every chapter, I am left questioning the situation and dying to know what's going on.  I'm sure I looked like a crazed maniac to my husband while I was reading this novel. I simply couldn't get enough; I needed to know what was going on!  When reading novels, there are times that certain passages inevitably bore me, whether it be the inane dialogue or lengthy descriptions, I can get bored or my mind will wander.  However, I can honestly say, this novel didn't bore me once and it's 489 pages!   On top of that, I was sad the book was over, because I felt personally invested in the characters and the situations. 


Dimitri. *sigh*  What can I say without sounding super weird/crazy obsessed? I adore this character almost as much as I adore Rose.  Dimitri is so complex, but as the series progressed, I enjoyed him more and more.  Even as a Strigoi, I found myself still captivated by him.  As I was reading this novel, I never once thought of Jace or Gale, which says a lot, because I think this series is just as addicting as some of my all-time favorites.  And anyone who is still pining over Edward from Twilight, needs to read this series, because Edward is so 2008.


Speaking of favorites..... Rose is one of my favorite heroines.  She is a heroine to be proud of. She doesn't put up with people disrespecting her or her friends.  She's determined, works hard, is loyal, would do anything for her friends, and stands up for what's right.  In this novel, she has a bad case of verbal diarrhea again, but this is why I like her, because I tend to get in trouble every once in a while for saying what I think. Rose doesn't pretend and keeps things real by saying the things people are thinking, but lack the nerve to actually say.  It's obvious that I enjoy this character and she didn't let me down in Spirit Bound. 


I can't believe we have to wait until December 14, 2010 for the next installment, which is Last Sacrifice.  Seriously, December? That seems like cruel and unusual punishment, because the ending of Spirit Bound was extremely captivating and even more suspenseful than I thought it was going to be. I am dying to find out where Mead is going to go with this.  I'm pretty sure I haven't craved a sequel like this since Harry Potter!  And can someone please make this series into a TV show or movie? It would be incredible! With all that said, Vampire Academy is definitely one of my favorite young adult series and Spirit Bound is, hands down, one of the best books that I've read in 2010.   

*Read chapter one from Spirit Bound 

*Buy Spirit Bound

*Buy the Vampire Academy Collection

*Pre-order Last Sacrifice