From the Bookshelf of Nothing But Reading Challenges…

Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy, #5)

Richelle Mead

Start date: January 1, 2011

Finish date: March 31, 2011

Why we're reading this: Part of first group series read. Group voted and this is what they picked.
[close] Part of first group series read. Group voted and this is what they picked.

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What Members Thought

Oct 03, 2009 Sonya rated it did not like it

Shelves: urban-fantasy, 2010

• This was pretty much awful.

• I was bored for the first half to ¾ of the way through the book.

• Perhaps I should stop reading YA books, the teenage angst and outbursts were too much for me to handle.

• The plot was straightforward, but somehow the story managed to ramble all over the place. And the plot was resolved pretty early…so the book wandered about even more. Near the end of the book, an unrelated MAJOR issue was introduced...OOOOKKKKK, Whateeeeverrrr.

• This new twist was not resolved, an ...more

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Dec 30, 2010 Bonnie rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, 2010-books

Oh dear. This series was so good. It was romantic and enthralling and action-packed. And now it's like Mead ran out of steam and is just killing time until she can wrap it all up.

Rose was maturing (slowly) in earlier books. In this book, Rose turned into an idiot. She has always been impulsive and reckless but she went about just about everything in the dumbest way possible.

I'm Team Dmitri all the way, have been since the beginning. But Adrian is a fun character and a great guy and Rose is bein ...more

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

Shelves: 4-star, teen-ya-paranormal, read-in-2013

Rose has been outrunning death since she swore to protect her best friend Lissa and has now returned to St. Vladimir's after failing in her quest in Russia. Refocused on placing Lissa first no matter what, Rose is now distracted by taunts from her former love as he hunts her down. Dimitri wants Rose to join him or die, but when the possibility of a cure arises Rose is soon questioning what cost she is willing to pay.

This is the fifth book in the Vampire Academy series (after Vampire Academy, Fro Rose has been outrunning death since she swore to protect her best friend Lissa and has now returned to St. Vladimir's after failing in her quest in Russia. Refocused on placing Lissa first no matter what, Rose is now distracted by taunts from her former love as he hunts her down. Dimitri wants Rose to join him or die, but when the possibility of a cure arises Rose is soon questioning what cost she is willing to pay.

This is the fifth book in the Vampire Academy series (after Vampire Academy, Frostbite, Shadow Kiss and Blood Promise) which is a series I really recommend reading in order. After the twist at the end of the previous book, I jumped straight into this to see what would happen next. The storyline is well written and cleverly plotted, building the tension to a dramatic ending although at times this did feel like it was setting up the finale of the series rather than being a story in it's own right. Several storylines are left unconcluded which is disappointing, particularly in Eddie's case.

The book starts off at St. Vladimir's as Rose completes her final trials in her guardianship training, and then moves to the Court which gives a nice change of pace. Vampire politics take an even larger role as defense tactics are argued, including moroi learning to fight and dhampir rights being questioned. I was unexpectedly fascinated by this, particularly when arguments were made to force all dhampirs to serve as guardians regardless of their choices and even their age.

Rose and Lissa have been reunited but their bond has been tested by their time apart, most easily shown by Lissa's new habit of keeping secrets from Rose which is a total reversal from their roles at the start of the series. Together they are trying to find a way to save Dimitri and Rose is soon put in the position of having to decide what she is willing to risk losing in order to save him.

This is lower on romance than the previous installments which is a shame given that Rose has agreed to give a relationship with Adrian a go. Adrian is one of my favourite characters and I was hoping for more scenes between them rather than their romance taking a backseat to Rose and Dimitri's past. Rose puts their budding romance at risk as she takes more and more extreme action in hopes of finding a cure.

All in all, this was a fun read and I'm looking forward to Last Sacrifice.

Plot: 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Ending: 9/10
Enjoyment: 9/10
Cover: 7/10

Overall: 43/50 ...more

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Nov 13, 2009 Jessica B rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own, richelle-mead, 2010, released-in-2010, vampires, favourite-reads

I've been waiting for this book since January when I read the other four parts of this series. It was a very long 5 months. This particular installment did not disappoint! It was everythign I was expecting and more. I think there was a lot of prep for the final book in this one, but it was done right. It was interesting and kept at a good pace.

Rose was in her normal "Rose" fashion. Pulling crazy stunts and coming out relatively unscathed! There was enough Dimitri, Adrian, Lissa and Christian to ...more

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