Blood Bound (Unbound, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Sep 16, 2011 Kalynn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is the best book Rachel Vincent has written so far. I like her Soul Screamers books, and I liked her werecats series, but compared to this one, those books seem immature and not just because some of them are young adult. I started reading Blood Bound this this morning, and I couldn't put it down. I read through any spare minute I had all day to finish it. It's a fast read with great world building, some surprises and a fair amount of action. I read a lot of paranormal romance and urban fant This is the best book Rachel Vincent has written so far. I like her Soul Screamers books, and I liked her werecats series, but compared to this one, those books seem immature and not just because some of them are young adult. I started reading Blood Bound this this morning, and I couldn't put it down. I read through any spare minute I had all day to finish it. It's a fast read with great world building, some surprises and a fair amount of action. I read a lot of paranormal romance and urban fantasy, and this one stands among the best.

So, with all the raves why did I not give it five stars? Well, that's because the first hundred pages hit my current pet peeve, the "big secret." Liv, one of the narrators thinks about the time when she her boyfriend quite a bit, and she's clearly thinking about the events surrounding it, but the author dances around and teases to build "drama". The problem is that there isn't a good reason for Liv not to rehash it in her own head, and the book has better secrets and twists than this one. This "big secret" gets teased to death, and it's clunky. Yes, secrets are a part of these books, and I like well done surprises. The problem is that when you have a first person point of view and you deliberately dance around something the main character is thinking about and has no reason not to say to herself, you, as an author are deliberately inserting yourself into the story to try to build tension. This is not to say that you can't have unreliable narrators or keep secrets that the characters wouldn't have in surface thoughts, but keeping secrets for no reason is cheap. The fun of secrets in these books is that you get to discover them with the characters and share the surprise of discovery. There is a lot of this discovery to be had in the book, so the "big secret" isn't needed, and it takes away a little from an otherwise awesome book.

Okay, yeah, this one hit a big pet peeve, but it's a really great book otherwise. I'd say if you like urban fantasy and liked any of Rachel Vincent's other books even a little, you'll love Blood Bound 4.5 Stars ...more

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Dec 21, 2011 Nairabell rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy, 4-star, read-in-2012

When Liv was a child she signed a contract swearing to help her friends if they ever needed her but what she didn't realise at the time was how binding that contract would be. So when Liv's old friend Anne shows up and asks for her help, Liv has no choice but to help her or die. Helping Anne means working with Cam, the guy Liv loved and left when she discovered a prophecy that they would one day be the death of each other. But there are more forces at work than Liv thinks and the danger is great When Liv was a child she signed a contract swearing to help her friends if they ever needed her but what she didn't realise at the time was how binding that contract would be. So when Liv's old friend Anne shows up and asks for her help, Liv has no choice but to help her or die. Helping Anne means working with Cam, the guy Liv loved and left when she discovered a prophecy that they would one day be the death of each other. But there are more forces at work than Liv thinks and the danger is greater than any she has faced before.

The unique premise really makes this stand out from other urban fantasies. There are no supernatural races, just humans with extraordinary talents. Blood trackers can track you with a sample of your blood while name trackers do the same but with your full name. Binders can bind any contract so the signatory has to fulfill their duties or die a slow, painful death and travelers can step into a shadow and back out of any shadow they choose. Readers are human truth detectors and seers can tell the future.

The world is developed through the characters and their journeys which means there is no info-dumping. The main character Liv is a blood tracker, Cam is a name tracker and Anne is a reader. Liv is connected to a mob-boss called Cavazos which helps the investigation progress through the underworld. The government refuses to recognize skills, despite their obvious appearance 30 years previously which means most of their world is kept somewhat separate.

One strong part of the book is how tightly plotted the consequences of the contract signed between the girls were. The intricacy of the storytelling really left me stunned, and there were several really shocking twists. A large part of the plot seems to revolve around consequences of choices and it is incredibly tell written how the most minor decisions can snowball into something massive.

There were a couple of things that dented my enjoyment of the book. First of all I'm not a huge fan of the "I'm leaving you for your own good but you can't know why" storylines, and this one is a doozy. My problem with them is perfectly illustrated by this book - they create tension for a while and then *poof* they are resolved. The other problem is that the chapters switch between narrators with no indication of who has what. This caused me issues because Cam and Liv's voices weren't distinct enough for me to distinguish so I ended up reading until Cam or Liv was mentioned so I could tell the other was narrating.

All in all this was a fun read and I'm looking forward to Shadow Bound.

Plot: 8/10
Characters: 8/10
Ending: 10/10
Enjoyment: 8/10
Cover: 8/10

Overall: 42/50 ...more

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Aug 17, 2011 Lara rated it liked it · review of another edition

Ehhhh.....trying to think about something to write, but really can't muster up anything - it wasn't good, but it wasn't bad either so I'll stick with a simple ok. I felt the story's ideas were a bit refreshing from the norm, it just never grabbed me and the spark between the main characters was a bit on the plllllltttt side. I'll wait on the reviews for the next one to see if this is one I'll consider continuing. ...more

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Apr 28, 2011 Jamie ~ Bad Boy Inspector rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-urban-fantasy, subject-assassins, read-2011, favs-2011, favs

WOW I Loved it!!! This book was packed full of action and "OMG" twists. It also had romance which added to the perfect combination IMO!! I was on the edge of my seat through out the whole book and couldn't put it down because I just HAD to know what was going to happen next. And even though the ending is a cliff hanger (I HATE CLIFFHANGERS) I actually felt fulfilled at the end of the book and was very happy with the way it turned out. I really can't wait to read the next one for the adventures t ...more

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Aug 26, 2011 DarkHeart "Vehngeance" rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy, a-rachel_vincent, 2012

A strong start to a new series by Vincent. I am a huge fan of her Shifters books, so I was really looking forward to this new world, and I wasn't disappointed. I like the mythology she's created with the different powers and think she has set up an interesting story line. As with most first books, a lot of it was set-up and character introduction, but the story moved along at a good pace and I never felt it was obvious. I'm definitely looking forward to the next installment! ...more

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