Spirit Bound, by Richelle Mead

Format: ebook, 496 pages

Published: May 18, 2010

Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)

Back cover blurb:

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 at long last 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.

My review:

Best Vampire Academy book yet. I haven’t been all that fussed with the earlier books, annoyed by the whining and surly teenagers, but this one seemed much more grown-up, with an excellent twisting plot and intrigue all over the place.

Rose did spend quite a bit of time whining about Dimitri and his reaction to her once he came back into her life (I’m trying not to give away spoilers here!), but I forgave that because it seemed entirely plausible for her given the efforts she had gone to. His reaction upset me, though, but I guess the course of true love isn’t meant to run smooth if you want to stretch a franchise out to six books! Adrian grew on me a lot in this book, especially upon seeing his appalling family, and I really like Abe, too. Even Lissa didn’t irritate me all that much this time, maybe because she wasn’t in it so much.

The plotline to do with Lissa’s family was ridiculously obvious long before the end, but all bets are off regarding what will happen next. I really hope the last book maintains the momentum of this one.

My rating: 4.5/5