Crimson Bound Book Review

Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge

Rating: 2.5/5

Goodreads Summary:

When Rachelle was fifteen she was good—apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But she was also reckless— straying from the forest path in search of a way to free her world from the threat of eternal darkness. After an illicit meeting goes dreadfully wrong, Rachelle is forced to make a terrible choice that binds her to the very evil she had hoped to defeat.

Three years later, Rachelle has given her life to serving the realm, fighting deadly creatures in an effort to atone. When the king orders her to guard his son Armand—the man she hates most—Rachelle forces Armand to help her find the legendary sword that might save their world. As the two become unexpected allies, they uncover far-reaching conspiracies, hidden magic, and a love that may be their undoing. In a palace built on unbelievable wealth and dangerous secrets, can Rachelle discover the truth and stop the fall of endless night?

Thoughts and Opinions

          I had high hopes for this book. I read Rosamund Hodge's Cruel Beauty, and I loved it. I enjoyed it very much and I thought I would feel the same way about this book. Sadly, I didn't. It felt like I've been reading this book for forever.

         This book is about a girl who was training to become a woodwife, a person who has been trained to make charms and protect the village from woodspawns, and forestborns. Woodspawns are animals that have become beasts in a way, and forestborns are creatures who come from the Devourer. Forestborns mark humans to become forestborns too. Once the humans are marked, they have 3 days to choose whether they kill someone in order to live and become bloodbounds, or not kill and die after 3 days. Bloodbounds are like fledglings. They still have their human personalities, but once they give in, they become forestborns. And that's what happens to the MC. She gets marked by a forestborn and she turns into a bloodbound, then the rest of the story happens. 

         I love retellings, the way the characters came from different tales and they have their own spins to it. This was a retelling of Red Riding Hood. Although half of the time, I didn't really see the Red Riding Hood part, there were times where there were similarities and parallels. There's a cottage in the woods, a path, and the forest-theme. 
         I'm not really sure what I feel about the book. There were good times and frustrating parts, but the concept itself is unique and different. I liked how there was action, the plot, and the consistency of the forest-theme. Other than that, reading the words "woodspawn, forestborn, bloodbound, The Devourer, the Forest" over and over again kind of got tiring. I get the importance of repetition to prove a point, but it was one too many. I have a love-hate feeling towards love triangle and this book is one of the reasons why. There's 2 guys and 1 girl, who does she end up with? She works well with both and it was frustrating cause she would have this connection with Armand, and then the next she feels some sort of feelings with Erec. It was just too much and even though it explains it at the end, it was frustrating for me having to go through it. I understand how it helps add more to the book and intrigue the readers, but it ended up ruining the character for me because I got annoyed. It was also hard to understand what the characters were trying to say or what they're trying to get at. It got confusing and I just wished the author got to the point without other hidden messages. 

         It's been a while since I got annoyed with the MCs in the book, but I did. Rachelle had so many mixed feelings I just wanted her to make up her mind. And Armand, what do you want? Just say it out loud already. Erec, even though he was sort of the antagonist, I liked him more than I Rachelle and Armand combined. 

         Overall, the writing style was good and so was the trope, but there were a lot of things I didn't particularly like. I would still recommend it for people who like retellings as well, but it just wasn't for me.