Spirit Bound

I had forgotten what good writing was until I picked this book up last week. I'd gotten so used to reading fantastic stories hidden behind mediocre writing (read: Twilight or House of Night), that I'd convinced myself that mediocre writing was the norm.

Then I read Spirit Bound, the fifth installment of Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series, and the memories of great writing came flooding back to me.

Though the series is written for teens, I don't feel as if the writing or imagery has been dumbed down in any way. The narrative and the dialogue both are more realistic and less elementary than other series written for teens.

This installment picks up not too long after the ending of Blood Promise, when Rose returns to school after attempting (and failing) to kill the love of her life who has been turned into a Strigoi. Rose quickly catches up with her training to become a Guardian and graduates – with the highest scores in the Academy's history. Unfortunately, due to her rather unruly and rebellious past, those scores don't seem to be enough to keep her from being assigned to desk duty instead of protecting her best friend Lissa.

But Rose refuses to let anyone or anything stop her from getting what she wants – and what she wants more than anything is to turn Dimitry from a Strigoi back into a Dhampir. No one believes it can be done, but Rose is determined to save him and will do anything, including breaking her worst enemy out of maximum security prison, to accomplish her goals.

All in all, the book moved very quickly and the cliffhanger ending left me wanting more. I can't wait until the next volume is released, hopefully early next year.