PJ Review: Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead

Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy
Paranormal Element: Vampires
Series: Vampire Academy #5
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Audiobook Review copy bought at Audible.com

PJs QUICKIE POV:
These books turned me into one big Hot Mess. I've never been such a bipolar reader, in one instance I was begging Rose to just give up on her stupid quest and stick with a sure thing and on the other hand screaming at her to "do it!" Find Dmitri so this whole mess can be over with. Then I'm yelling again at her to stop being such a selfish wench...look what she is doing to Adrian! I'm completely befuddled. These books have turned me into a lunatic and I blame Richelle Mead. Yup. All your fault Ms. Mead, I won't send you my psychiatric bill, but a few well-meaning postcards from the looney bin might get my point across.  This is the fifth book and they are meant to be read in order. There are cliffhangers that have you pulling your hair out and emotionally charged scenes that will have you sobbing in your pillow. You will never love/hate main characters as much as you do in this series (oh wait --- yes you will, in Mead's adult series, Dark Swan). Go Now! Run! Grab Vampire Academy...and fall in love with the writing, the characters and the world that sprung from the genius that is Richelle Mead. Please don't read any further if you have not read the Vampire Academy series yet.


REVIEW:
I'll not bore you with casual details. Spirit Bound picks up where Blood Promise left off. Rose is a mess, but being Rose she gets back on her feet quickly. She knows Dmitri is out there, still strigoi and still obsessed with her and the only place she feels safe is back at St. Vladimir’s and with her friend Lissa. While her friends hold it against her that she left them, it quickly fades and they are back to their old tricks again...but this time Rose has a very far-fetched plan. 

She can not let Dmitri go and the rumor that their is a way to return a strigoi back to his former self eats away at her. If there is any way to save Dmitri, she has to find out.  Yet, the problem with Rose, and I have a big problem with this part of her personality, is that she will use other's to accomplish what she needs. She let Adrian finance her trip to Siberia and now because of this she basically begins dating him. I never thought how this could possibly work out for good...and I always thought Adrian was an idiot for letting Rose do this to him. But, the heart overpowers reason, right? This one sided view of the world - eyes on the prize that Rose has, makes me not like her a little bit. Love conquers all in her mind and she will do anything, to anyone, to get what she wants. It became glaringly obvious in this book what really lays underneath her intentions. Deep down inside I really thought it was best for her to give up. How many people does she need to hurt emotionally, hurt physically and damage their future, for her to be with Dmitri? Is it worth it?

POSSIBLE SPOILERS ****

Besides my moral indecisiveness concerning Rose's actions the novel was very compelling and emotionally trying. I found a few flaws with the construction of the book, thinking some of the things that Rose, Lissa and their band of merry men, did to "get information" was rather ridiculous and not very believable. It could have been constructed a bit better, than having a few teenagers break into a maximum security prison and being successful...really what was that?  And then these same geniuses that attempt this, later just "lose" the prisoners. What was that? All of Mead's other scenarios have been rightly believable - this just struck me as unbelievable and dropped the rating a bit. Let me know what you think!

RECOMMENDATIONS:
For mature teen audiences, there are sexual references, violence and questionable moral actions.