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A review by amym84
Blood Bound by Rachel Vincent
5.0
This book completely surprised me. I'm not really talking about the plot (although there are a few surprises there too, but we'll get to that later). I'm talking about this book in general. I started reading Vincent's Shifter series earlier this year and I was about halfway through when I learned that she had a new series planned and coming out. I read the synopsis fo what the series was about, but I was a little hesitant. If you read the back of the book blurb it doesn't really explain a whole lot about the book. All I knew was that I was enjoying the Shifter series and I would give this new one a try too. Honestly, about five pages in (however long it took for Cam to show up) I was hooked.
This book takes place in an alernate-type modern-day America (I don't think they ever mentioned a specific state that this takes place in) where some people have "Skills". There are trackers, people who can walk through shadows, seers, readers, binders, blinders, etc. People who have abilities, but nothing like I've read before in a book. Vincent created a very new world with the Unbound series and she did a great job of it.
Our main characters Liv and Cam are both trackers. Liv can track people through samples of their blood, and Cam can track people by their names. I thought the whole naming thing that Vincent gets into is very interesting and you will start to notice that everyone has a nickname. Liv is tasked with finding the killer of her friend's husband. Cam is along for the ride as extra muscle. Of course there's history between the two it wouldn't be a Rachel Vincent novel if there wasn't some history. The task seems simple enough until they actuately find the killer. Then things start to get a little complicated with surprises and twists at every turn. I appreciated the different twists that Rachel Vincent put in this book. I would be going down one train of thought and then BAM! she would take a turn and go another direction. I will admit that I figured a lot of it out before it happened but that didn't make it any less enjoyable. I can see how some people would say that there were too many coincidences or things worked out a bit too perfectly, but I was willing to go along with it and when I put myself in the mind set I think I appreciated more seeing the characters come to the conclusions and figuring out the mystery and how it all fit together.
It's really a complicated little world that Vincent built. Very raw and gritty with crime syndicates and differing loyalties. The whole "house divided" notion. I liked that really there was not one completely good person in the story (adult person I will clarify). Every single person would do what they were told to do because they had to do it no matter the consequences or their personal feelings. It's very shades of gray. How can you judge a person's actions when you would do the same thing? When you ultimately chose the path you've taken? Brings up a lot of "what-ifs". I look forward to Vincent expanding on his notion in the next books.
The novel is very fast paced, I believe it takes place over just a couple of days, and so much happens. It is for this reason that the relationship that develops between Cam and Liv for me seemed a little rushed at times. True, they really known each other for years and Liv ran away from him with no explaination and he's mainly back to get her long overdue reason for leaving him. Part of me wishes that their finding and reconnecting with one another again (after six years) would have spanned a couple books. They've both changed a lot in the time apart and it would have been nice to see them rediscovering who the other is. That is not how things go, however, and I can appreciate the fact that since Vincent chose to bring them together in this book she did so early on in the book so we still got to see them finding out about their new lives throughout the remainder.
There are a few reviews that talk about the ending and the "cliffhanger". I put the word in quotes because I don't find it a cliffhanger at all. If we go back and read through the novel and read what we learn about Liv's character the ending is obvious. The next step is easy to see.
I've read that for this particular series Vincent has two new narrators each time. This time it was Cam and Liv. I liked going back and forth between the two. I think it was just as important to get Cam's POV as it was to have Olivia's. I think this goes back to the trust issue. With everyone's loyalties up in the air in question it would have been more difficult to trust Cam if we didn't know things from his point of view and vice versa with Liv.
The next book is entitled [b:Shadow Bound|11000229|Shadow Bound (Unbound, #2)|Rachel Vincent|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1314728171s/11000229.jpg|15918993]. I think we can deduce that this book will take place from Kori's POV and an as yet unnamed male. It's logical because there were a lot of questions about Kori left to answer at the end and this will give us answers. We will most assuredly see more Liv and Cam because that's the nature of these books. There's a central focus but the most important characters (the four friends and their significant others) are in the background. If this book will truly be a trilogy (as stated on the cover) then we can probably guess that the thrid book will have Anne as it's focus. I guess we'll see. This series has gone on to my auto-buy list. Can't wait until July. Until Then!
This book takes place in an alernate-type modern-day America (I don't think they ever mentioned a specific state that this takes place in) where some people have "Skills". There are trackers, people who can walk through shadows, seers, readers, binders, blinders, etc. People who have abilities, but nothing like I've read before in a book. Vincent created a very new world with the Unbound series and she did a great job of it.
Our main characters Liv and Cam are both trackers. Liv can track people through samples of their blood, and Cam can track people by their names. I thought the whole naming thing that Vincent gets into is very interesting and you will start to notice that everyone has a nickname. Liv is tasked with finding the killer of her friend's husband. Cam is along for the ride as extra muscle. Of course there's history between the two it wouldn't be a Rachel Vincent novel if there wasn't some history. The task seems simple enough until they actuately find the killer. Then things start to get a little complicated with surprises and twists at every turn. I appreciated the different twists that Rachel Vincent put in this book. I would be going down one train of thought and then BAM! she would take a turn and go another direction. I will admit that I figured a lot of it out before it happened but that didn't make it any less enjoyable. I can see how some people would say that there were too many coincidences or things worked out a bit too perfectly, but I was willing to go along with it and when I put myself in the mind set I think I appreciated more seeing the characters come to the conclusions and figuring out the mystery and how it all fit together.
It's really a complicated little world that Vincent built. Very raw and gritty with crime syndicates and differing loyalties. The whole "house divided" notion. I liked that really there was not one completely good person in the story (adult person I will clarify). Every single person would do what they were told to do because they had to do it no matter the consequences or their personal feelings. It's very shades of gray. How can you judge a person's actions when you would do the same thing? When you ultimately chose the path you've taken? Brings up a lot of "what-ifs". I look forward to Vincent expanding on his notion in the next books.
The novel is very fast paced, I believe it takes place over just a couple of days, and so much happens. It is for this reason that the relationship that develops between Cam and Liv for me seemed a little rushed at times. True, they really known each other for years and Liv ran away from him with no explaination and he's mainly back to get her long overdue reason for leaving him. Part of me wishes that their finding and reconnecting with one another again (after six years) would have spanned a couple books. They've both changed a lot in the time apart and it would have been nice to see them rediscovering who the other is. That is not how things go, however, and I can appreciate the fact that since Vincent chose to bring them together in this book she did so early on in the book so we still got to see them finding out about their new lives throughout the remainder.
There are a few reviews that talk about the ending and the "cliffhanger". I put the word in quotes because I don't find it a cliffhanger at all. If we go back and read through the novel and read what we learn about Liv's character the ending is obvious. The next step is easy to see.
Spoiler
I just hope that she can negotiate her contract a little to exclude certain things because being completely subservient to Cavazos would be bad for both of themI've read that for this particular series Vincent has two new narrators each time. This time it was Cam and Liv. I liked going back and forth between the two. I think it was just as important to get Cam's POV as it was to have Olivia's. I think this goes back to the trust issue. With everyone's loyalties up in the air in question it would have been more difficult to trust Cam if we didn't know things from his point of view and vice versa with Liv.
The next book is entitled [b:Shadow Bound|11000229|Shadow Bound (Unbound, #2)|Rachel Vincent|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1314728171s/11000229.jpg|15918993]. I think we can deduce that this book will take place from Kori's POV and an as yet unnamed male. It's logical because there were a lot of questions about Kori left to answer at the end