Book: Fury Bound by Sable Sorensen
Reviewed by plotdrunk
Rating: 3.5/5
This one was a 3.5 stars for me. I'm bummed about that rating because Dire Bound was a 6-star read, and I came into this book with pretty high (but fair!) expectations because I love Sable Sorenson's writing.
For the first 50-75% of the book, I thought it was delivering. We picked back up where the first book left off and got an expanded world full of political intrigue, deception, defectors, erased history, and new places. I loved learning more about the Astreonans and how much the kings of Nocturna had managed to bury over centuries, and it really made the world feel richer. Meryn's emotional journey continued to pull me in, and I loved the tension between her and Stark, especially once Noemi was introduced and we got major jealousy from Meryn.
There was a ton of really strong character work as well. I loved the complication of Saela being a Siphon, and the additional representation with sign language as Venna's arc grew was great. I thought Isabel's death was the right choice (RIP) because it gave real stakes to the story and showed that these authors were not afraid to kill off beloved characters, and I always love that. Siegrid was another standout because she felt complicated and grey and real. And obviously, the wolves continue to be a highlight.
However, the ending of this book really lost me. The pacing suddenly shifted at around the 85% mark and started introducing massive new plot elements one after the other. Noemi being ensnared by Killian's ring was SO foreseeable, and the final confrontation with Killian was WAY too easy after spending two books building him up to be a terrifying, super powerful threat that nobody could defeat for centuries. Then suddenly he's dead after a five minute standoff with basically no consequences. And instead of the ending focusing on the fallout of the victory and rebuilding after, we are suddenly introduced to a new big-bad god in the last chapter. Maybe I missed some foreshadowing, but it felt really abrupt and disconnected from the story the first two books told.
After the first two books, it feels like this series could have been a duology that ended with the battle with Killian. The emotional and political arcs felt substantial enough to support a strong climax without introducing an entirely new conflict at the very end for the last book. I'll still read the third book because I think these authors are incredibly talented and could potentially pull it all together, but this ending felt confusing, rushed, and weaker than I expected based on the first 75% of the book that I really enjoyed.