Spell Bound by Kelley Armstrong

Spell Bound by Kelley Armstrong
Buy Spell Bound by Kelley Armstrong at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Fantasy
Reviewer: Jill Murphy
Summary: Enjoyable as ever, this latest in the Women of the Otherworld series builds an interesting ongoing plot arc, but perhaps ends with too few loose ends tied up.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 352	Date: August 2011
Publisher: Orbit
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 1841498076
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Wow. Gosh. Can it be true? We're on book 12 of Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series already. It seems like only yesterday that I became acquainted with her world of werewolves, witches, necromancers, demons and sorcerers, but Wikipedia tells me it was way back in 2001.

Spell Bound opens right after Waking the Witch left off, with Savannah Levine struggling to cope with her guilt in the wake of a disturbing murder case. She makes an almost Faustian pact with herself, offering to give up her powers if only an innocent woman could go free. But someone out there is listening and takes her up on the offer and Savannah is left with no spells and no demonic abilities at all.

With a witch-hunter out to assassinate her and a conspiracy threatening the whole of the supernatural world, Savannah is left as a normal human with none of her usual weapons. And if that weren't enough, she also manages to alienate Adam, the half-demon she's been in love with for years. War is looming, but is Savannah capable of stepping up to the plate?

I enjoyed the development of the new and overarching war-is-coming arc in Spell Bound - there's some real tension and interest there and I'm wondering exactly where Armstrong is going to take it. This does come with a disadvantage, however - the wrap-up of this particular story is not that satisfying, with a few too many loose ends left in terms of this individual episode. It's not quite a cliffhanger, but I did want better closure.

Savannah is growing on me, though. She's not my favourite character in this series - I love the werewolves, and Hope, and Jaime, and even Paige and Lucas more than I love the slightly spoiled and selfish Savannah. In Spell Bound, Armstrong requires her to do some timely growing up as she deals with the humbling disappearance of her powers. I shall like her the more for it and so, I'm sure, will Adam. Who is very nice. Indeed. I like him. I'd buy him if he were for sale.

I do love this series. Paranormal fantasy really isn't my bestest thing at all, but Armstrong's books have such great energy, good heart and engaging characters that I read them with gusto every time.

My thanks to the good people at Orbit for sending the book.

You might also enjoy the series about Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs. You could also look at Armstrong's own young adult series, Darkest Powers.

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