Book #23: Spell Bound, by Rachel Hawkins
Mar. 23rd, 2012 11:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grav_ityI LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH.
That said, there are a lot more spoilers than usual in my review so consider yourself warned.
After reading page 225, I set the book down, looked out the window and thought "Crap. There is no possible resolution for this love triangle, except the ones that involves Cal's death." I kept reading anyway, of course, for all of the same reasons I read the first two books. Rachel is hilarious, and I love that every one of the characters has a slightly different sense of humour. I think that's quite a feat to pull off, personally, as I have trouble making my characters funny at ALL, let alone funny in different ways.
The other thing that really impressed me was that for a book which, theoretically, existed to tie up all the loose ends, there were still about a million new characters. And it wasn't rushed (though the end was a touch frantic, but with good reason).
SOPHIE, oh I loved her! I love that she just cannot stop making jokes. I love that she insists on a happy ending. I love that she offers to hyphenate her name and makes jokes about invented Latin. The addition of the Brannicks was not exactly a surprise, but it was still wonderfully executed, and I enjoyed that third aspect of Sophie very much.
AND JENNA! Oh, I love Jenna! Even though I did have slightly uncharitable thoughts like "DAMMIT, JENNA! Why must you be such an awesome lesbian? If you were straight, you could live happily ever after with Cal!" because I am an AWFUL PERSON when I am sad.
I'm also, for the record, quite glad that Rachel took the opportunity to make Grace about ten times more awesome than the awesome she already was.
I have only two real complaints. One of them is that Cal is the only (good) person who died. The other involves possession by ghost and a non-consensual kiss that made me hyperventilate for a while. Both of those things are probably story elements that only I would react to, and it absolutely KILLS me that those are the details which prevent me from being FULLY ON FANGIRL about this (because I really should be), but that's the way I'm wired.
With those two exceptions, though, I am quite pleased with how the book turned out. I absolutely adore happy endings, and this one had (almost) everything I could have asked for, with plenty of humour besides. I think what strikes me about this series is how accessible it is, but at the same time it's neither simple nor easy. I'm really glad I finally got my hands on it.
So 8.5/10 for being a fearlessly big book, for capping off the series, for so many awesome ladies, for a more or less happy ending, and for existing. :)
That said, there are a lot more spoilers than usual in my review so consider yourself warned.
After reading page 225, I set the book down, looked out the window and thought "Crap. There is no possible resolution for this love triangle, except the ones that involves Cal's death." I kept reading anyway, of course, for all of the same reasons I read the first two books. Rachel is hilarious, and I love that every one of the characters has a slightly different sense of humour. I think that's quite a feat to pull off, personally, as I have trouble making my characters funny at ALL, let alone funny in different ways.
The other thing that really impressed me was that for a book which, theoretically, existed to tie up all the loose ends, there were still about a million new characters. And it wasn't rushed (though the end was a touch frantic, but with good reason).
SOPHIE, oh I loved her! I love that she just cannot stop making jokes. I love that she insists on a happy ending. I love that she offers to hyphenate her name and makes jokes about invented Latin. The addition of the Brannicks was not exactly a surprise, but it was still wonderfully executed, and I enjoyed that third aspect of Sophie very much.
AND JENNA! Oh, I love Jenna! Even though I did have slightly uncharitable thoughts like "DAMMIT, JENNA! Why must you be such an awesome lesbian? If you were straight, you could live happily ever after with Cal!" because I am an AWFUL PERSON when I am sad.
I'm also, for the record, quite glad that Rachel took the opportunity to make Grace about ten times more awesome than the awesome she already was.
I have only two real complaints. One of them is that Cal is the only (good) person who died. The other involves possession by ghost and a non-consensual kiss that made me hyperventilate for a while. Both of those things are probably story elements that only I would react to, and it absolutely KILLS me that those are the details which prevent me from being FULLY ON FANGIRL about this (because I really should be), but that's the way I'm wired.
With those two exceptions, though, I am quite pleased with how the book turned out. I absolutely adore happy endings, and this one had (almost) everything I could have asked for, with plenty of humour besides. I think what strikes me about this series is how accessible it is, but at the same time it's neither simple nor easy. I'm really glad I finally got my hands on it.
So 8.5/10 for being a fearlessly big book, for capping off the series, for so many awesome ladies, for a more or less happy ending, and for existing. :)
