Shadow Bound

NOTE: I received this book for review from Netgalley.

Gosh, what can I say??? No words are good enough to explain just how embarrassingly marvelous this book is!!! You'd ask why embarrassingly, I'm sure, and here's the answer: Because it puts to shame any other urban fantasy/paranormal novels I've ever read. Then again, Rachel Vincent is one of my most favorite authors out there, so yeah...

I just want to start off with saying that the world building was freaking awesome! And I mean that with no reserve. Even though book one - Blood Bound - already gave us a pretty good clue what things are like in the fictional world of events, it was sort of like one side of the story - Ruben Cavazos's side. Shadow Bound takes it west - to Jake Tower's show more empire. Seen through the eyes of Korinne Daniels and Ian Holt.

We learn of new Skills, new people involved in the whole business of binding, new life stories. And we learn just how ruthless a man can be. And that's a lot.

I hated chapter one, because as a woman, it made me cringe at every word, every freaking thought of pain. It simply got to me, and I can't deny how fresh and how realistic it all felt. Sure, the weight of the pages kept me on my side of the world, but Kori's side was also there. I could see it. I could feel it. And I hated it.

Until Ian showed with that shining armor of his, ready to conquer to world, just so he could rescue the princess. Who was no princess at all, but a broken thing with no future. Kori had suffered through so much that she couldn't trust even herself. She tried to be strong, and she was good at it, but at night, when darkness took over, the strength abandoned her. All she had left were nightmares that she couldn't escape, couldn't run away from.

Ian had no idea what he was getting when he requested a petite blonde to show him around Jake Tower's world. He'd bargained for one thing and gotten something completely different. But not for one second did he regret it. No, he played his game smartly as far as he could under the circumstances, given that he was slowly falling for the girl whose sister he was supposed to kill. And if that didn't complicate things enough, he was also being hunted down by the other syndicates, because his Skill was just that valuable.

The emotional roller coaster was the size of Hulk in this novel, and I wasn't sure at all how things would end until the last page was turned. And I love it when I can't predict a book's ending. It sort of makes it unique. Makes me think of it.

I also want to say that the characters never got out of their personality. Not even once. They followed their own traits throughout the novel, no matter how difficult it was. For example, Kori did not abandon her attitude, or her fighting spirit, even though she felt like she'd lost herself. Ian kept to his chivalry, even when threatened with death. Tower didn't waver from his ruthless self, despite all the problems that caused him. Nor did any of the minor characters. Rachel didn't even once compromise with their personal traits for the sake of the novel. No, she only described the way she saw them. The way they were. And that was what made Shadow Bound so intense, so incredible and entertaining. So much that I couldn't put it down. show less

There is no doubt that Rachel Vincent is among the best authors of paranormal novels on the market today. She has a more than proven track record. That said, I was somewhat disappointed with Shadow Bound. With the Unbound series, Vincent has created another amazing, horrifying world for her characters. It is a world where very few people have any kind of freedom especially if you happen to be one of the skilled. If you have an skills (Kori, our heroine is a traveler and Ian the hero is a Blinder) at all then you are wanted by one of the powerful syndicates (think the ultimate mob lords). Kori is bound to work for Jake Tower. After the events of the previous novel, Kori has been removed from Jake's elite security team and has been show more punished, tortured, and locked in the basement. Jake finally removes Kori because he has a job for her. A very talented blinder has emerged with extremely rare skills. Kori needs to woo Ian and get him to sign on with Jake's team or he will hurt Kori and her sister Kenley, a binder. What Kori doesn't know is that Ian has an agenda of his own. Ian wants to get to Kenley.

This world is truly horrifying. The consequences for disobedience are often fatal. Shadow Bound was interesting enough and I flew through the pages fairly quickly. The problem for me was that it felt like not a lot really happened. Kori and Ian meet and fall in instant love, much like it is in any romance novel. There are secrets between them. They talk a lot. They go out in public and get attacked every time. After awhile I wanted to yell at them for being dumb enough to go outside again. Then they come up with a plan to let everyone hopefully make it out of the book alive. I really liked the last part of this book. It was a great climax and the ending leaves the series in a very intriguing place. However, I just didn't think there was enough action along the way. This book ended up being just okay for me. show less

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy

Paranormal fiction by definition isn’t normal. It’s other, it’s different. But what makes paranormal fiction so good is how it plays with all sorts of supernatural things and makes them feel real and relatable. Even in cases like the Unbound series, where words and oaths are power, where Skilled people can travel through shadows or blot out the sun. There is no question that Rachel Vincent’s worldbuilding captures that perfect blend between paranormal and plausible, but unlike the previous book in this series, nothing else does.

I’m not used to having to be critical of anything Rachel Vincent writes, so bear with me.

If only the characters had been half as good as the worldbuilding, show more this would be a much more favorable review. But they weren’t. Kori was grating from the start. I didn’t believe anything about her. SHADOW BOUND begins with Kori being released from weeks of hellish torture where she was starved and brutalized in everyway possible. A couple weeks later she tops the scales at one hundred pounds and yet she knocks out massive skilled body guards and attackers left and right. Didn’t buy it. Nor did I buy how quickly she started having romantic/lust filled emotions for Ian hours after meeting him (considering her rape and torture only two weeks ago). Worse still was the complete lack of chemistry between these two. Kori was over the top hard with temper issues, endless clichéd gripes, and one stupid move after the next (every time they go outside they get attacked…the solution is to obviously keep going outside and act surprised when an attack happens). Ian wasn’t much brighter. He has an endgame that will 100% make Kori loathe him forever, but he wonders constantly about making sure her feelings for him are genuine.

Beyond Kori and Ian’s lack of intelligence, everything else felt ridiculously contrived. Why exactly is Kori picked for this crazy important assignment? Why is she allowed to stay on this assignment when she tries to sabotage it the first time she opens her mouth? Why do Kori and Ian conveniently forget that their loved ones will die if they don’t get the other to do something horrible and instead go on dates and share flirtatious backstories? Why does no one think to look for them at Kori’s house when they run off? I can’t count how many times I wondered why the easy, obvious action/answer wasn’t picked. I just didn’t get it.

I’m a huge Rachel Vincent fan. I gave the first book in the Unbound series a 5/5 rating so I was more than ready to love SHADOW BOUND just as much, but even though the worldbuilding is truly excellent and Rachel does write well, this time neither the characters nor the storyline lived up to it. Fortunately there will be two new characters leading the story in OATH BOUND when it comes out in 2013. I have to hope this installment was a fluke and that the next book will be just as killer as the first.

Sexual Content:
References to rape and torture. One sex scene. show less

Kori Daniels is facing the consequences of her inadvertent assistance in the activities of the first book in this trilogy when the story begins. Kori is being tortured, starved, and otherwise being abused in Jake Towers' basement having been ordered by Jake not to fight back. She is released only to serve as a lure for a Skilled man named Ian Holt who Jake wants in his syndicate.

Ian has his own reasons for bringing himself to Jake's attention. Ian brother Steven is dying from breaking an oath that was bound by Kori's sister Kenley. Ian wants to get close enough to Kenley to kill her in order to free his brother.

Once he meets Kori his plans undergo a revision. He falls for her because of her courage and strength. Unfortunately, Kori has show more been ordered to do whatever Ian wants so she can't trust his feelings or her own.

This was an amazingly difficult book to read because Kori had so many awful things happen to her. She is bound to Towers's service in order to protect her sister Kinley but she feels, and is, powerless against the bonds that have been imposed on her by Jake Towers. Ian also has a very difficult time because, for a while, it looks like he will be forced to choose between his brother and Kori. It doesn't look like there is a way to save both of them.

This is the middle book in a trilogy and has the same wonderful world building as the first book. People who have Skills are bound by oath into crime syndicates. They literally cannot break orders given to them by their masters. There is no way out for the most Skilled. As long as they have people the love, harm to those loved ones can be used as a threat to keep the Skilled one in line.

I can't wait to read the third book in this series to see how things are resolved. show less

The same odd spots as the first - where the human parts of the plot structure just seem weak. Ignore-able, especially since the fantastical portions are very well done. This series is almost like an example of the uncanny-valley problem (where an animation that looks too close to real while still clearly not being real is very creepy). The clearly not real parts work better than the places that are supposed to be closest to normal.

I always get really excited when a new Rachel Vincent book comes out. I was particularly thrilled by BLOOD BOUND, the first book in the series, so I had been waiting rather impatiently for SHADOW BOUND (making my slackness on this one rather embarrassing). I have high standards for her writing because she consistently delivers engaging plots, delightfully flawed characters, and layered worlds. [UPDATE: You can visit my post on the first book in the trilogy to see my take on the world building in the series.]

With SHADOW BOUND, I was a little unsure of what to expect from the romance because Kori starts out in such a dark place. And while I have my doubts that someone can go from being caged and raped to falling in love and having sex in show more a couple weeks, nothing about the romantic storyline felt terribly forced. I had a few moments of thinking, “Wow, she’s really bouncing back,” and wondering about how realistic that was but it never threw me out of the story. In fact, I spent most of the book wondering how the heck they were going to get out of this situation that seemed to be getting tighter and more less escapable with every turn of the page!

My favourite part of the book was probably Ian. He’s so noble and smart and sexy. He exposes himself to the world to try to save his twin brother, and is willing to do just about anything to do so until he meets Kori and falls for her. Watching their attraction and following their romance was really great because Kori’s about as far from a traditional romance leading lady as you can get. She swears, she’s a fighter, and she’s does terrible things, all for her sister.

After hearing all about Kenley in BLOOD BOUND, it’s neat to finally meet her and see what all the fuss is about. She’s an incredibly powerful Binder and it’s nice to put a face on the woman who bound Kori, Olivia, and company when she was a child. I won’t say too much so that you can enjoy it for yourselves. We also get to see more of Cam and Olivia, which is great, even if they do work for another Syndicate.

On the whole, I greatly enjoyed SHADOW BOUND. I have yet to meet a Rachel Vincent book I haven’t liked and hope that trend continues as I plan to dig into her YA Soul Screamers series this fall (having failed to complete the reading challenge in time).

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Read: January 2018
Rating: 4/5 stars

Shadow Bound was an excellent follow up to Blood Bound. Here we switch narrators to Kori - introduced in book one - and Ian who is a 'Blinder'; someone who can create shadows for travellers like Kori to pass through. I really enjoyed their story; the predicaments they were in, their loyalty to their families, and their romance; which was slow to build up and realistic considering everything Kori had gone through in the past.

I can't wait to read the final book in the trilogy Oath Bound.