Spellbound

I liked this book, it is almost as good as the first one, although the most interesting aspects of the world were already presented in the previous one. What follows is a general rant and the reason why this book doesn't at least deserve a 4 stars for me.

So, I REALLY don't like the whole X-MEN/Avengers vs Government theme. You have people with super powers. Some are good, some are bad. You decide to kill them all. That's about as stupid as it is a shallow plot.

You can use that as a background for your story. Mercy Thompson books does that. The whole werewolves and magical beings coming out into the open, the mass protests and persecuting of harmless people just because their different is briefly mentioned as Mercy goes on about her life.

You can use it as a device for interesting situations, where the protagonists cleverly manipulate the conflict. You can show that by killing the ‘heroes', you ushered an age of darkness for mankind. Or maybe just that criminality has risen. But DO SOMETHING. As an excuse for drama just brings the story closer to and ordinary one. If I want reality, I live it. That's why I read fiction.

Also:

- You have the second and fourth most powerful super human beings on your side. They destroyed the first and third most powerful ones because they were the ‘baddies'. They are as superior in power to a regular super as a human is to an ant. So, the two currently most powerful supers in the world say that they have a greater understanding of the power that fuels all the magic in the world then the rest of the people does. Then, they say that a great evil is coming to destroy the world, something which the formerly number one super also agreed. What do you do? Well, obviously you distrust them, and think they are the ones that are trying to destroy the world.

- All the while the government is trying and succeeding in killing all of your kind. You could try to come out into the open and proclaim how you just saved the world, maybe engage in a crusade to educate the population. But you decide to stay in the shadows, accepting your losses and behaving like the untrustworthy beings everyone else thinks you are, because of your secretive operations that aims to benefit the people that are trying to kill you.

- These point doesn't make necessarily a bad plot. But again, they should be used as a platform for greater things, not just as a cliche. You risk your life to save people, they try to kill you as a reward, you just take it on the chin and move on?

To be fair, in the end the story does present some consequence to attacking the ones that are trying to protect you. But it was mostly about what happens when you let megalomaniac people to be in charge.

Spellbound ups the stakes in a big way without going overboard. I think I like the Grimnoir Chronicles even more than Monster Hunter International. MHI is fun, but Grimnoir has more world building, which I love, and I feel like the cast of characters is more well rounded and developed. I'm looking forward to the last book in the series.