Shadow Bound by Rachel Vincent

Shadow bound by Rachel Vincent

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Kori Daniels is a shadow-walker, able to travel instantly from one shadow to another. After weeks of confinement for betraying her boss, she's ready to break free of the Tower syndicate for good. But Jake Tower has one final job for Kori, one chance to secure freedom for herself and her sister, Kenley, even if it means taking it from someone else....

The job? Recruit Ian Holt-or kill him.

Ian's ability to manipulate the dark has drawn interest from every syndicate in the world, most notably an invitation from Jake Tower. Though he has no interest in organized crime, Ian accepts the invite, because he's on a mission of his own. Ian has come to kill Tower's top Binder: Kori's little sister.

Amid the tangle of lies, an unexpected thread of truth connecting Ian and Kori comes to light. But with opposing goals, they'll have to choose between love and liberty....

Cam and Liv were successful in their mission, but it wasn’t without consequences. Poor Kori was  tricked into helping them and her boss had her pay the high price, locking her up and torturing her for weeks. An opportunity for freedom presents itself in the form of a sexy man with particular talents, but he has his own agenda. Kori and Ian will have to face-off on a battleground made of oaths, treason and blood. Which one of them will make it out alive?

I’ll start by saying that Rachel Vincent is simply genius and oh-so-amazing and also, how good looking is that cover? The Unbound series is just too amazing for words and I’m glad I didn’t have time to read the second instalment until now because the next book is just a couple of weeks from releasing hehe. I LOVED Blood Bound (you can read me praising here) and I’m often scared of second books because they so often don’t live up to the first book, but it wasn’t the case here. Shadow Bound was Awesome – yes with a capital A.

The Unbound series is like nothing you’ve read before and a bit of backstory is needed here. Vincent’s characters live in a world where some people are born Skilled. Some can track people by their name or their blood (both of which hold great power), some can read the truth from your words, some (like Kori) can walk into a shadow to get out of another one miles away, others (like Kori’s little sister) can bind you to hold a promise and if you fail to do so, you will suffer terrible pain – until death. More talents are out there, but you get the picture.

Where there’s power, there’s corruption. The city is split in two main territory, each led by a mafia-like boss with many skilled people bound to them. Kori is bound to one of them, Tower, and she must recruit Ian or die suffering upon failure.

I love, I mean LOVE, this world Vincent created because it’s so original and the atmosphere is so dark, yet there’s a little tiny bit of hope and the characters hang on to it for dear life. I like how each character have to play the loopholes to try and maintain some semblance of freedom and how strong they need to appear even though they each have a fragility. The relationship between Kori and Ian was so engrossing and somewhat twisted because of the taint Tower put on them from the start, ordering Kori to do whatever he asked for – even sex.

Kori is a very colorful character, to say the least. We met her in Blood Bound and her bold language really set her appart. Here’s a quote from Shadow Bound for demonstration :)

I’m pretty good with knives. I’m so good, in fact, that I could sever your testicles with one hand and slice open your throat with the other, and you’d go into shock so fast you’d die without ever knowing you’d spilled a fucking drop of blood.

Many thought she didn’t come off as very likeable, even though she cracked me up, but getting to know her in SB changes that. She is strong and very loyal to her sister, on top of being very funny. I really liked her. Ian was also amazing and I like how mesmerized by Kori he was and how he didn’t push her and respected her. I really gentleman even though he came to Tower to kill her sister.

I think the best part from this series, is how complex and intricate the plot is. It’s hard to figure out the truth in this thick tangle of lies and with everyone keeping their own secret agenda, it’s impossible to see clearly. All you can do is dive in with the characters and go with the flow. The end of Shadow Bound reveal stuff you never expected, hitting you like a truck, and even after I’ve finished reading it for two days now, I’m still trying to put all the details together. I have the strong urge to go back and read the book again now that I have all the unveiled information, that’s just how good it was.

Even though Shadow Bound is a long book (almost 450 pages), Rachel Vincent’s amazing writing kept me right on track. The build-up to action might seem a little slow to some, but it didn’t bother me at all, as I rejoiced every word she penned.

The Unbound series is a MUST READ. Urban Fantasy fan or not, you must get out there and get your hands on those books, like… yesterday! I really can’t wait for those novels to be translated in French so I can have my mom and brother-in-law to read them. Action-packed, full of twist and turns, this heart-pounding series has an amazing story wrapped in a mafia-like atmosphere, topped with a bloody bow. I loved every pages and I’m sure you will too!

Read an Excerpt

Posted by Tynga at 06:38

 Harlequin, mafia, rachel vincent, Review  6 People left their mark

Tynga is a 32 years old mom of two, from Montreal, working as a lab technician in an hospital specialized in heart disease. In her free time, she enjoys reading all things Paranormal and photography.

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