Crimson Bound

This was fine – what really sticks with me is the imagery of the forest and feral magic. A dark little red riding hood with a powerful female protagonist was a nice twist on a faerie tale retelling. I also really like books that have characters that are morally ambiguous and grow and work through that. But despite that, the characterization is a little shallow and inconsistent. Also, love triangles are Not My Thing.

Well, Rosamund Hodge has done it again. I think this one was actually better than Cruel Beauty, and about on par with Bright Smoke, Cold Fire. Crimson Bound is billed as Cruel Beauty #2, but it doesn't actually seem to take place in the same world. They're only connected in that they're both dark fantasy retellings of fairy tales. Crimson Bound is loosely (VERY loosely!) based on Little Red Riding Hood. It's amazing.

In Rachelle's world, The Forest is the dominating theme - it encroaches on villages and towns, sending “woodspawn” to attack people, and Forestborn to turn more humans into bloodbound and ultimately Forestborn. Humans are sheep to The Forest; prey to the Forestborn. Once a Forestborn has marked a human, they have three days to kill someone or they will die. If they kill someone, they become bloodbound - an intermediary step before they become completely Forestborn. Bloodbound have increased strength, resilience, and fighting skills, so the King has extended an offer to Bloodbound - even though they are known murderers, since they had to have killed someone to gain their powers - he will grant them clemency in exchange for their service to the realm. Guard the people from the woodspawn, the mindless monsters the Forest sends to attack people, and he'll let you live.

So Rachelle is a Bloodbound, bound to the King. Unlike most, though, she still believes in some of the old pagan stories about The Forest and the Devourer - the ancient evil driving the Forest's predatory ways. The book is about her quest to stop it from coming through into their world and destroying everything. There are twists and reveals that I cannot mention here, but it is an AMAZING piece of world-building and myth and I LOVED IT.

I also discovered she has several short stories post on her website so I'll be binge-reading those for a while!

This book - and anything by Rosamund Hodge - is pure magic. If you like dark fairy tales, you can't do better than this.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

I'm astounded by the author's unique imagination, this book has an amazing construction and a vicious heroine that you can't help but to root for, it's the kind of book that i knew i loved it from the first 20 pages. the haunting atmosphere, the amazing writing and the intriguing plot made this book everything i want and more.
i think the author excels at writing strong minded and morally grey heroines, and of course, charming, wicked, villains.

When Rachelle was fifteen, she was good. So good, in fact, that she was willing to risk her soul to save the world.

This story begins with endless night and infinite forest; with two orphaned children, and two swords made of broken bone.
It has not yet ended.

This book was interesting, fun, frustrating and confusing at times. Rachelle has it in her head that she's going to save the world. It's kind of nice, actually, to come across a girl that would literally give up everything to save the world. I don't often come across those type of heroines in YA books. But Rachelle has a problem, she's got a martyr complex. She has to save the world.

Honestly, most of the problems I had with this book are Rachelle's fault. I felt like I never really got to know her because she was always putting on a front. Even by herself, it was as though she kept trying to be this tough girl - and it never really worked for me. While her character started off well enough (and it was even a mistake she made that kicked off the plot) eventually she turned into ‘the only one that can save us'. sigh There was also the problem that with so many decisions she made, I not only disagreed with them, I couldn't even understand why she made them.

I liked several of the other characters. Armand is a very interesting guy but, while I do like him and find him entertaining, I wanted more information on him. It was almost as though he suddenly sprung into being six months ago because it seems like he's only got one trait from before then.

Amelie is...well, I'm not sure how to describe her. I love that girl and think her and Rachelle's friendship should have been the relationship focus of the book instead of the romance. Because these two girls are beautiful together. They're so different and complement each other perfectly.

But this is completely Rachelle's story. While it's told in the third person, except for the occasional piece of legend interspersed between the chapters, everything is narrated by Rachelle. While I'm usually a fan of third person, I think this book would have been served at least as well in first. (Because I would have given almost anything to get a few chapters from Armand and/or Amelie.)

The world is fascinating. It's very French but the mythology (what with the whole ‘devourer of the sun and moon' bit) sounds Egyptian to me. I don't mind. (Seriously, I'd love Rosamund Hodge to get write a fairytale retelling with straight-up Egyptian mythology.) I wish we'd spent a little less time in the court and château and with people that were colorless. (Literally, just one spot of color with their flawlessly pale skin. shrugs What can I say? It's French.) But the setting itself is actually kind of cool what with the legend of the Devourer and the historical aspect and the forest.

One thing that I did love was the history/legend. Though this is where the confusing part comes in because, while I understood a good portion of it, some of it still left me scratching my head.

All in all, I did like the book and it would have gotten a slightly higher rating if not for my distance from Rachelle.

I would also like to mention the retelling aspect of this book. While it is marketed as a Little Red Riding Hood retelling, there is very little aspect to that in the book. (Most of it is in the prologue.) There is also a smidgen of The Girl Without Hands and Hansel and Gretel blended into the story.

(Originally posted on my blog: http://pagesofstarlight.blogspot.com/)