Title: Crimson Bound
Author: Rosamund Hodge
Published: May 5th, 2015 by Balzer + Bray
read in: February, 2015
young adult • fantasy • fairy tale retelling • romance
Every day for the last three years, she had thought she deserved to die. She still didn’t want to. She wanted to live with every filthy desperate scrap of her heart.
When Rachelle was fifteen she was good—apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But she was also reckless— straying from the forest path in search of a way to free her world from the threat of eternal darkness. After an illicit meeting goes dreadfully wrong, Rachelle is forced to make a terrible choice that binds her to the very evil she had hoped to defeat.
Three years later, Rachelle has given her life to serving the realm, fighting deadly creatures in an effort to atone. When the king orders her to guard his son Armand—the man she hates most—Rachelle forces Armand to help her find the legendary sword that might save their world. As the two become unexpected allies, they uncover far-reaching conspiracies, hidden magic, and a love that may be their undoing. In a palace built on unbelievable wealth and dangerous secrets, can Rachelle discover the truth and stop the fall of endless night?
Inspired by the classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, Crimson Bound is an exhilarating tale of darkness, love, and redemption.
Fairy tale retelling is one of the genres that people are addicted of these days. And most of the retelling-especially Little Red Riding Hood–revolves around a dark and creepy world that I found somehow quite predictable. I didn’t expect a lot when I started reading this and that what caught me off guard. This story was far from what the classical Red Riding Hood was about. I mean, yes there were some elements here and there that will remind you of it but for the most part, it will blow your mind with its unexpected turns and twist in a gory and creepy way. This book is just so mesmerizing that I can’t even think of a word to describe this.
“In all your life, your only choice,” Aunt Léonie said to her once, “is the path of needles or the path of pins.”
Rachelle’s character was the kind of character I always want in a story with a dark vibe. She was a bloodbound. She loathed herself. She thought she deserved to die. But despite feeling sorry for whatever unfortunate events that happened to her, she accepted who she was and wanted to live anyway. She stop thinking of what she did instead she thought about how she could make everything better without running from it. What can I say? That pretty much describe how badass she was.
“When a dress is torn. you know. you can just pin it up, or you can take the time to sew it together. That’s what it means. The quick and easy way, or the painful way that works.”
There was a love triangle. Yes, I know, I should have told you that first. But, don’t put this book down just yet because I didn’t feel the love triangle was a huge deal since it kind of part of the story but not part of it at the same time. I mean, I couldn’t imagine the love triangle being ripped out from the story and still have the same impact at the end. It wasn’t bothering me either since there wasn’t so much of a romance was poured into the pages. The story was pretty much grounded in how Rachelle trying to save the world.
The plot twist.. wow! I just can’t.. Every pages literally twisted in a very unexpected ways that was mind blowing. I really could not predict everything. I was so clueless and patient-less to find out about what would happen next. And about few chapters at the end made me breathless and my heart raced so bad. That tension was just.. wow!
The Book Venom 
[…] Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge: Dark fairy tale retelling with a badass heroine. […]
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