Vampire Academy #5: Spirit Bound – Richelle Mead

Vampire Academy

Warning! There will be spoilers!

Vampire Academy is without any shred of doubt in my mind, my absolute favorite series of all time. I have read the entire series over and over again and I hope to continue doing so until I’m all old and wrinkled.

Hidden within these amazing pages is a story about friendship, forbidden romance, magic, mystery, power, lust, family and self discovery that I can connect with on so many levels.

Also, anyone who follows me on any type of social media knows that my OTP of all time is Lissa and Christian. What about Rose and Dimitri? you might be thinking. Don’t worry! I love them very much as well, but although I see a lot of myself in Rose (her impulsiveness, stubbornness and passion) I think when it comes to a romantic relationship I can see so much more of myself and my boyfriend in what Christian and Lissa have. (I have also made myself a Christian and Lissa poster which I put on Twitter to prove my point).

Either way, I have found so much joy and life lessons from reading these books and am glad to finally be able to review them all.

Published: May 18th, 2010

Page Count: 489

“Dimitri gave Rose the ultimate choice. But she chose wrong…

After a long and heartbreaking journey to Dimitri’s birthplace in Siberia, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir’s-and to her best friend, Lissa. It is nearly graduation, and the girls can’t wait for their real lives beyond the Academy’s iron gates to begin. But Rose’s heart still aches for Dimitri, and she knows he’s out there, somewhere.
She failed to kill him when she had the chance. And now her worst fears are about to come true. Dimitri has tasted her blood, and now he is hunting her. And this time he won’t rest until Rose joins him… forever.”

~

I think Spirit Bound is probably the most under appreciated book in the Vampire Academy series. A lot happens in this book, a lifetime of things and I think especially Lissa goes through a massive character development in this book. 

Once more, I must say that I absolutely admire the way in which Rose is willing to sacrifice herself over and over again in order to save Dimitri – for real this time.

And I also think it’s majorly awesome that she takes along Lissa this time, since she kicks ass with her spirit powers. 

After coming back from Las Vegas, Rose is being detained for a while and Lissa has to go off on her own to figure things out at Court. This is where I think the roles between the two of them get reversed for a small amount of time. Lissa is the one who becomes willing to lay down her life to stay Dimitri and is determined to learn how to fight. With both Rose doing work and Christian gone from her side, she becomes a lot more independent. It is truly a phenomenal experience, once she does actually stake Dimitri, to see Lissa go into this complete warrior-princess mode. 

Once Dimitri gets turned back into a dhampir, things get a little…complicated between him and Rose. 

It’s truly a painful experience to read about how Dimitri treats Rose in this book. The tension between Rose and Lissa also shoots up, since Lissa is the one who wants Dimitri protected from any outside stimuli that might harm him, while Rose is determined to break down the prison bars and shake some sense into him. While I can understand where Lissa is coming from, I know that if I were Rose, I’d be just as angry as she is at not getting the recognition she deserves from Dimitri. She was the one who for the most part saved him and it actually makes me angry as a reader to see her being treated to unfairly. It also completely breaks my heart to hear Dimitri telling Rose that he doesn’t love her anymore. (*cue tears*)

“I’ve given up on you,” he said back, his voice also soft. “Love fades, mine has.”

Meanwhile, Rose and Adrian progress in their relationship. Although I don’t think this relationship runs exactly parallel to the one between Rose and Mason, you can definitely see the telltale characteristics of Rose not being able to completely devote herself to Adrian. You can see that she is trying, though. I think she really does want to move on, especially after all the things Dimitri has said to her.  

“He’s out of line! He has no right to threaten my boyfriends. I’m eighteen. An adult. I don’t need his help. I can threaten my boyfriends myself.”

It is obvious, however, when the royal guardians come for her, that Dimitri is still willing to lay down his life for her, no matter what. There is still a major spark there, one that tells her that he would never stop protecting her. 

“Don’t touch her,” he growled. There was a note in his voice that would of scared me if it had been directed toward me. He shoved me behind him, putting his body protectively in front of mine with my back to the table. Guardians came at us from all directions,and Dimitri began dispatching them with the same deadly grace that had once made people call him a god.”

And then once again, the main focus of the book is shifted immediately when we find out why Rose has been taken into custody. They think she was responsible for Tatiana’s murder. 

Mind. Blown.

“What have you gotten me into?” I hissed to him. 

“Me? What have you gotten yourself into? Couldn’t I have just picked you up at the police station for underage drinking, like most fathers?”

My favorite part of the book is no doubt the part where Lissa and Christian get back together. It’s filled with such sweetness and understanding and makes me *squeaaal* 

“I don’t remember you being this reasonable before.”  

“It’s because everyone has different definitions of ‘reasonable’. Mine’s just misunderstood, that’s all.” His voice was lofty. 

“I think you must be misunderstood a lot,” she laughed. 

His eyes held hers, and the smile on his face transformed into something warmer and softer. 

“Well, I hope this isn’t misunderstood. Otherwise, I might get punched.”   

Leaning over, he brought his lips to her. Lissa responded with no hesitation or thought whatsoever, losing herself in the sweetness of the kiss. Unfortunately, I was swept along with it. When they pulled away, Lissa felt her heart rate increase and her cheeks flush.  

“What exactly was that the definition of?” she asked, reliving how his mouth had felt.  

“It means ‘I’m sorry’,” he said. 

She looked away nervously and plucked at some of the grass. Finally, with a sigh, she looked back up. “Christian…was there ever…was there ever between you and Jill? Or Mia?” 

He stared in surprise. “What? How could you think that?”“You spent so much time with them.” 

“There is only one person I have ever wanted,” he said. The steadiness of his gaze, those crystal blue eyes, left no question as to who that person was. “No one else has ever come close. In spite of everything, even with Avery -”  

“Christian, I’m so sorry for that -“ 

“You don’t have to -“ 

“I do -“ 

“Damn it,” he said, “Will you let me finish a sent -”  

“No,” Lissa interrupted. And she leaned over and kissed him, a hard and powerful kiss that burned through her body, one that told her there was no one else in the world for her either.”

No better feeling in the world than when your OTP finds their way back together. 🙂

Once again, there is some major foreshadowing going on, especially with Rose’s fortune that she got read by Rhonda. It’s actually pretty chilling to read back knowing the events of the last book. Richelle Mead, I applaud you. 

~

Other Favorite Quotes:

“There’s a big difference between death threats and love letters – even if the person writing the death threats still claims to actually love you. Of course, considering I once tried to kill someone I loved, maybe I had no right to judge.”

“Well, you’ve finally got a license to kill. It’s about time.”

“I can’t believe you just used to the word intel. This really is turing in to a spy movie.”

“Four thirty? Good God. Are we getting the senior citizen special?”

“But it was you, wasn’t it? Somehow you broke into a maximum-security prison. With Eddie.” 

“Must not have been all that secure,” I remarked lightly. 

“Dreams, dreams. I walk them; I live them. I delude myself with them. It’s a wonder I can spot reality anymore.”

“What had happened in those two years? I’d run off with Lissa, watched friends die, traveled around the world, fallen in love…’You can live a lifetime in two years.’ “

“That,” I told Tatiana, “is the most fucked-up law I have ever heard.”

“We can argue your messed-up unholy schedule some other time,” she said. 

“The suit screamed, I’m sorry the queen is dead, and I’m going to look fashionable while showing my grief.“

“Abe shook his head. “There must have been some mistake. It took a while to get a flight here, so I can see why you would have appointed a community lawyer to fill in.” 

“Community lawyer!” Damon’s face grew red with indignation. “I’m one of the most renowned lawyers among American Moroi.” 

“Renowned, community.” Abe shrugged and leaned back on his heels. “I don’t judge. No pun intended.”

“At the end of the day, was it true that blood ran thicker than water? I didn’t know. I actually didn’t like the saying. Maybe it worked for humans, but it made no sense with vampires.”