A review by dtaylorbooks
Soul Bound by Mari Mancusi
4.0
If one just cursorily glanced at one of Mari’s Blood Coven books they would probably think it another insipid human/vampire love story containing characters with horrible names, filled to the brim with clichés and has ultimately run on far longer than what it should have. They would probably think the plots absolutely ridiculous, the characters overtly emo and the books trying far too hard for their own good.
Those people, I’d say, couldn’t read their way out of a paper bag.
No, Mari’s Blood Coven series isn’t something more than what’s already out there. It isn’t better than all of its like-minded brethren. It’s a SATIRE. This series is ripping into the over-bloated anus of its vampire siblings that, unlike it, take themselves far too seriously. Mari has taken every popular element in YA vampire fiction (and beyond) and blown it so far out of control that it is incredibly ridiculous. You know it, she knows it, the characters know it. And that’s why it’s so incredibly phenomenal. It rips on itself from the names of the characters (Sunny and Rayne, really?) to the overtly emo, safe and PC vampires to the polar opposite siblings and so much more. It’s all there, exaggerated to the extreme and it makes this series all the better.
SOUL BOUND, book number seven in the Blood Coven vampires series, takes Sunny and Rayne on another cross-country trip because Sunny and her vampire boyfriend Magnus had to flee. Unfortunately for Rayne, she’s been contracted by Slayer, Inc. to lock down her sister and boyfriend-in-law and bring them in for a Big Bad hell-bent on world domination. Throw in massive amounts of emo-angsting from Depeche Mode wannabe, Jareth, and Rayne’s ultimate battle between side one and side two of the same cassette and you’re bound to get rocketed from one side of the book to the other.
Mari’s writing, from her too-cool-for-school enormously far-reaching lingo to her expertly placed references to old school pop culture meant to play into minds older than today’s teens (which further confirms my belief that these books are meant for an older, more nostalgic crowd that harkens to a love of all things Buffy and REAL vampires like The Lost Boys who grew up in times further past than the last ten years) had me squealing with delight as I read, hitching onto those subtle mentions or contrived lingo that knew it was over the top and totally played into it.
You have to read these books for what they are: silly nonsense. It’s not trying to be an epic love story filled with action and adventure that has everyone but it laughing. It knows its place and its built itself a nice home in the Silly Suburbs. And I love it.
Rayne, of course, is still my favorite walking contradiction, being both a slayer and a vampire. Her demeanor has softened over the course of the books thanks to emo Jareth but on the adverse side Sunny’s toughened out. She’s not the giggly little girl she used to be and, loathe as I am to say it, she’s absolutely grown on me. I’ve read this series heinously out of order and even skipped a few books (mainly the ones in Sunny’s POV) and I may now need to go back and fill in the gaps. I’m more tolerable of Sunny now and I’d like to see how she got here. Really I’ve only been reading the Blood Coven series from Rayne’s eyes except for BOYS THAT BITE and now, all this time later, I do feel like I’ve missed something; Sunny’s growth out being an insipid little pop tart. I think it’s high time I saw that.
SOUL BOUND is yet another awesome addition to a fantastic series that’s as silly as can get but still sates an appetite for fast-paced adventure and maybe a little romance thrown in. I think even if you’re a fan of the books Blood Coven is satirizing you’ll still like this series. Just go into it knowing it’s supposed to be exactly what you’re reading and you’ll be okay. I just don’t get people that read something like this and actually think it’s meant to be serious. Humorless people, I swear.
Those people, I’d say, couldn’t read their way out of a paper bag.
No, Mari’s Blood Coven series isn’t something more than what’s already out there. It isn’t better than all of its like-minded brethren. It’s a SATIRE. This series is ripping into the over-bloated anus of its vampire siblings that, unlike it, take themselves far too seriously. Mari has taken every popular element in YA vampire fiction (and beyond) and blown it so far out of control that it is incredibly ridiculous. You know it, she knows it, the characters know it. And that’s why it’s so incredibly phenomenal. It rips on itself from the names of the characters (Sunny and Rayne, really?) to the overtly emo, safe and PC vampires to the polar opposite siblings and so much more. It’s all there, exaggerated to the extreme and it makes this series all the better.
SOUL BOUND, book number seven in the Blood Coven vampires series, takes Sunny and Rayne on another cross-country trip because Sunny and her vampire boyfriend Magnus had to flee. Unfortunately for Rayne, she’s been contracted by Slayer, Inc. to lock down her sister and boyfriend-in-law and bring them in for a Big Bad hell-bent on world domination. Throw in massive amounts of emo-angsting from Depeche Mode wannabe, Jareth, and Rayne’s ultimate battle between side one and side two of the same cassette and you’re bound to get rocketed from one side of the book to the other.
Mari’s writing, from her too-cool-for-school enormously far-reaching lingo to her expertly placed references to old school pop culture meant to play into minds older than today’s teens (which further confirms my belief that these books are meant for an older, more nostalgic crowd that harkens to a love of all things Buffy and REAL vampires like The Lost Boys who grew up in times further past than the last ten years) had me squealing with delight as I read, hitching onto those subtle mentions or contrived lingo that knew it was over the top and totally played into it.
You have to read these books for what they are: silly nonsense. It’s not trying to be an epic love story filled with action and adventure that has everyone but it laughing. It knows its place and its built itself a nice home in the Silly Suburbs. And I love it.
Rayne, of course, is still my favorite walking contradiction, being both a slayer and a vampire. Her demeanor has softened over the course of the books thanks to emo Jareth but on the adverse side Sunny’s toughened out. She’s not the giggly little girl she used to be and, loathe as I am to say it, she’s absolutely grown on me. I’ve read this series heinously out of order and even skipped a few books (mainly the ones in Sunny’s POV) and I may now need to go back and fill in the gaps. I’m more tolerable of Sunny now and I’d like to see how she got here. Really I’ve only been reading the Blood Coven series from Rayne’s eyes except for BOYS THAT BITE and now, all this time later, I do feel like I’ve missed something; Sunny’s growth out being an insipid little pop tart. I think it’s high time I saw that.
SOUL BOUND is yet another awesome addition to a fantastic series that’s as silly as can get but still sates an appetite for fast-paced adventure and maybe a little romance thrown in. I think even if you’re a fan of the books Blood Coven is satirizing you’ll still like this series. Just go into it knowing it’s supposed to be exactly what you’re reading and you’ll be okay. I just don’t get people that read something like this and actually think it’s meant to be serious. Humorless people, I swear.