Romance: Not only was romance not needed in this book, but Hodge also executed it so poorly. I can’t think of any redeeming qualities Rachelle possesses and spent the majority of the book sighing, rolling my eyes, and going (see below) because of all of her whining. If I could’ve entered the book, I would have killed her just to take her out of her misery. She plagued with guilt and survivor’s remorse so she goes back and forth between declaring that she should die and whining that she doesn’t want to die. I will fight to my last breath to save the world.” Rachelle may sound noble, but she’s not. Rachelle: I can summarize Rachelle in three sentences: “I deserve to die. I now see the error of my actions and may need to reevaluate how I pick books. I had picked up Crimson Bound simply because I had enjoyed Cruel Beauty so much.

I understand that Crimson Bound is not part of the Cruel Beauty Universe so I shouldn’t be comparing them too harshly, but the overall quality of the story shouldn’t change so drastically from one retelling to another. I don’t understand how Hodge can create an amazing retelling like Cruel Beauty, but each subsequent retelling ( Gilded Ashesthen Crimson Bound) be lesser in quality than the previous one. I expected to like Crimson Bound since I loved Hodge’s Cruel Beauty, but no such luck. This book was an absolute disappointment. However, complex characters that were all equally intriguing, frustrating, and well written and a world full of brilliant fantastical detail brings this story to colorful life.I’m just going to leave that there for a minute. It flip-flops between Rachelle’s determined search for the sword and a succession of court parties for a little more than half the book before anything happens to really move the plot forward. Gorgeous and lyrical writing immediately drew me into Crimson Bound, though once there, I found myself a little bored with the slow movement of the plot. When she is appointed as bodyguard to the king’s son, she finds herself in a chateau that may be exactly where she needs to be to help her quest. When she is told that the Devourer will soon bring darkness to the whole world, she decides to find the one weapon that might defeat him, a sword called Joyeuse. She becomes a bloodbound, a wild being connected to the Great Forest. That all changes when she meets a forestborn in the woods and foolishly discards her protections to coax information from him. In the world of Crimson Bound, Rachelle’s destiny was to follow in her aunt’s footsteps of becoming a woodwife, a village protector.

Crimson bound