REVIEW : Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead

REVIEW : Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead

   12:05 PM       Elisa

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Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy #5)

Author      : Richelle Mead
Publisher   : Razorbill
Source      : Bought
Pages        : 489 (Paperback)

Summary from Goodreads :

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.

Cover Glimpse :
The entire covers of this series are not my favorite. Somehow they're too raw and not really well-touched. The cover gives both exact and false assumption about what this book about. Maybe you think this book is a lot about romance but I have to tell you, yeah it's some love-making scenes but they only get around 1/7 of entire book, but the rest are all about mind-blowing action and ashtonisments.
Personally I prefer Indonesia version's covers to this. It's more gorgeous and dark =3

2cents :

WARNING 1 : SOFT RANTS, BEWARE OF CAPS-LOCK ABUSING

SCREW YOU, 'CERTAIN-LOCAL-PUBLISHER'!!! (better not mention it publicly, or you might trace it yourself from my tags =p)

HOW COULD YOU STOP PUBLISHING SUCH SUPERULTRAFRIGGINAWESOMELICIOS (okay, I try too hard to make it sounds mouthful) SERIES LIKE VAMPIRE ACADEMY??? HUH??? HUUUUUHH???
YOU'LL BE DAMNED BY OUR SORROW WAITING FOR THIS BOOK FOR LIKE ALMOST 2 YEARS STRAIGHT WITHOUT ANY FRIGGIN' EXPLANATION.

*sigh*

Probably I'm egoistically judging the publisher that way based on what I've heard from several people about what had happened to this publisher without knowing the true internal reason. And I don't really care *pissed*
Thankfully by any coincidence I found the English version on the sale shelf at certain bookstore and decided to buy it along with Last Sacrifice *with freaking cheap price,yay!*. Despite of my remorse because the whole series won't have even book form, I'm soooooo glad I bought them, because I could meet Rose and the gang and being totally captivated by the story again! Richelle Mead is such an awesome story-teller, she can make us addicted to her kick-ass, heartpounding storyline and love like all of her awesome characters, with their own qualities.

WARNING 2 : MAY CONTAIN SPOILER FROM BLOOD PROMISE, AND PROBABLY I'LL BABBLE A LOT. I already warn you.

It's really nice to see Rose back to be around her friends in St. Vladimir again although for a short time because finally she gets the official 'Guardian' title. But of course no peaceful days happen if it related to Rose. Soon after her graduation, with Lissa who commits to help her in her 'secret mission', go through complicated and dangerous journey to proof something sounds impossible like a way to restore Strigoi, or in her case, Dimitri, back to their normal identity, while Dimitri also hunts her down once she outs from St.Vladimir's and Court's gates and eager to kill her. The story goes more complicated and at this book we learn more about Spirit user Moroi which surprisingly has the greater role on shaking believes they used to live since long ago.

This book distinctly improves and has a packed of complicated scenes, none of them failed to warm my heart and pump my adrenalin from the start until the end. I couldn't put this book down (except when I had to work, I brought this along with me anyway) and totally absorbed into it. Mead masterfully gives plenty problems which only can be solved by chronological extreme actions with surprising yet dramatic result. What I also like that Rose is not the center of universe here. Her friends like Lissa, Eddie, Adrian, and the new one, Mikhail, get important roles helping her action and you would realized that this story simply impossible to move if they are not around. I really adore the friendship, love and loyalty among them, how they trust each other's ability.

Rose is a solid model of the most strong, sarcastic, take-action-first-think-later, better-die-trying-than-live-waiting, notorious, reckless, determined, stubborn main character I've ever read. Especially in this installment, what she does on most entire book is absolutely, completely out of my mind and I almost forget that she's just a girl. How come a girl magically still survive after break in the most secure Vampire prison in the world (with Lissa's help) and jump into the Strigoi (blood thirst, bad vampire, maybe this is the closest form of vampire we all were afraid of in our chilhood =p) nest even manage to kill plenty of them. Crazy right? Still with those flaws I can't help but love and admire her. She's an interesting character, knows very well about her power and ability and doesn't even think twice to safe people she loves. Also she learn to trust her Moroi friends more since they have privilege to use magic.

Lissa is also being maturer and more responsible, more credit for her. She doesn't act spoiled and fully depend on Rose, instead she initiatives to learn more about her spirit power and takes an action almost as reckless as Rose, and also the best part, manages to repair her relationship with Christian =D. Oh man, so happy Christian gets more part here and I really love his witty and sarcastic lines!

Talking about problem choosing between Dimitri or Adrian, I have to say, regretfully I still put my heart on Dimitri. I really like them, both of them are so different yet charming, in this case I really understand Rose's feeling about this (although I don't like her seems two-timing between this two). But Adrian has some issues I specifically don't like (okay he's funny, but he's a little spoiled and loves cigarette and liquor. No offense =p) while Dimitri, despite of already being a Strigoi and has less sense of humor, holds a lot of good virtues I admire from a man. So yeah, at VA series, I'm a total team Dimitri, and a fan of Adrian and Christian. Lol guys in this series are irresistible for a weak-heart like me *sigh*.

Spirit Bound is , I can say, a major turning point for the whole story. I ranted a lot at Shadow Kissed and Blood Promise because Richelle Mead totally broke my heart into pieces because of what she did on Dimitri. I knew there's a probability to get Dimitri back because no, he couldn't be damned, but then suddenly with a surprising way he's back, and bring another discoveries and problems, especially for Rose's (and my) heart, to deal with (ooooh poor Adrian!!! T^T). Then this book is closed with a shocking, major cliffhanger which made me so dizzy, thankfully I already had Last Sacrifice to devour next. I think there's no other series as mentally-draining as Vampire Academy, well maybe I just exaggerate.

See, I was babbling.
So I can't say enough, you need to read this book if you got your heart broken at Blood Promise. It probably would ease you a little or even add your anxiety. And for those who never read any, start to read this series soon, because it's BEYOND AMAZING.

Happy reading! =)