Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge

Publication Date:  May 5, 2015  
Publisher:  Balzer + Bray
Pages:  448
Series:  Stand Alone
Genre:  Fantasy
Synopsis:  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?


Review:  This fairy tale retelling is as dark and twisted as they come.  A boy with missing hands, a doomed world, and a child who murdered out of desperation and fear are only glimpses of the horrors that lie folded between these pages.

Rosamund Hodge weaves a web of lies and deceit with so many false truths and twists that it makes your head spin.  You notice the hints, can pick them out from the nonsense, but it is impossible to figure out how they will matter.  Just when you think you've figured it out, something happens that alters the entire plot of the book.

In all your life, your only choice is the path of needles or the path of pins.

However, this may also be the downfall of Crimson Bound:  there is an endless amount of ifs.  If she had only noticed this, that never would have occurred.  If he had been honest from the start, that could have been prevented.  It is an overwhelming amount of ifs, which can be beyond frustrating.

The world, if lacking a bit of development, is both terrifying and beautiful in equal measure.  It is a savage place with monsters and demons and the Devourer--the Big Bad of the book.  It is richly imagined and utterly fantastical.

She had won them the sun and the moon, but she had become a monster.

The writing style is addicting and all-encompassing, complex yet not necessarily sophisticated.  When you manage to put the book down for a moment, you leave your head and heart behind in the story. 

Crimson Bound contains the same intensity of Cruel Beauty, Rosamund Hodge's debut novel.  In fact, I spotted multiple similarities.  Perhaps too many.

In the darkest shadows of the wood stands a house. The walls are caulked with blood. The roof is thatched with bones. Within that bloody house lived Old Mother Hunger, the first and eldest of all forestborn. 

Rachelle is brutal.  She is ashamed and doesn't want to die, as much as she believes herself damned.  She is willing to go to the farthest corners of the world and abandon all her humanity to save those who fear and despise her.  She is not kind, nor is she gentle, but she is resolute in her actions and everything I love in a character.

Armand, the handless bastard son of the frail King has been proclaimed a saint.  He is a wholeheartedly good character, one whom I can hold nothing against.  While his and Rachelle's romance had a little too much love and too little of the falling, it was true and took a backseat to the rest of the plot.

This story begins with endless night and infinite forest; with two orphaned children, and two swords made of broken bone.  It has not ended yet.

Eric, the final point in the love triangle (which is painless, I promise you that), is an arrogant child you likes playing games.  I never did truly like him.  And for good reason, in the end.

There is friendship, sacrifice, and guilt--nothing about this book is easy, even if some of the events are a bit convenient.  There is the Big Bad Wolf and an old legend no one believes.  All I can say is:  well done.