Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge

"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."

Yet another gorgeous cover. Like Ms. Hodge's previous book, Cruel Beauty, Crimson Bound is also a fairy tale retelling. However, it is not a sequel and isn't actually in the same universe. It's based a lot on Little Red Riding Hood, but there are also aspects of other fairy tales. Everything comes together quite nicely and makes a truly original book that sounds like it should have been written by the Brothers Grimm.

The book begins when Rachelle meets a forestborn, basically a creeper who hangs out to catch unsuspecting people. She is training to become a woodwife (They cast spells and protect people from the Forest), but she is also young and thinks she is invincible. Because of this, Rachelle lowers her guard around the forestborn, she takes off her cloak with the protective charms, and she is marked.

Once a forestborn marks you, you have three days to kill someone or you will die yourself. After you kill, you become a bloodbound. Eventually, your human heart will burn out and you become a forestborn. After resisting for three days, Rachelle kills her Aunt Leonie, the woodwife who was training her and the person she loved most.

Because of the guilt, she fled to the city of Rocamadour and joined the King's band of bloodbounds. While at the castle one day, Rachelle saves a young man from assassins. She is disgusted to find out that she saved Armand, one of the King's bastard children. Armand was marked by a forestborn but refused to kill anyone. After the three days, he didn't die. The forestborn cut of his hands but let him live. The people see him as a saint, someone who resisted the temptations of the Forest. Rachelle resents the implication that she didn't have to kill her aunt after all, that if she had been stronger she could have kept from becoming a bloodbound. She also detests his decadent silver hands and the saintly image that she sees as tricking the people. Imagine how upset she becomes when the King appoints her to guard the saint.

Meanwhile, the forestborn who marked Rachelle informs her that the Devourer (Master of forestborns, once ate the sun and the moon, will plunge the world into eternal darkness) will return soon. She has to hurry and find Joyeuse (A legendary sword made from the bone of a prince who once slayed the Devourer) before that happens.

The more time that Rachelle spends with Armand, the less she hates him. She starts to see the ways his father uses him as a pawn, how uncomfortable he is with his saint title. She also sees him answer her insults with a smile and they become friendly. Poor Rachelle is used to people resenting her for being a bloodborn, and used to feeling as though she deserves it for what she did. Armand and her friend Amelie (A young girl whose father was a bloodborn; she helps Rachelle with clothes and makeup while Rachelle guards Armand) don't treat her like a bloodborn. They notice how she does her best to save as many people as possible and see the good in her.

Can Rachelle find Joyeuse in time? Will she be able to defeat the Devourer? What is going on between her and Armand? Will she have the strength to defeat the Devourer if it means losing him?

I'm sorry if my review is confusing. It really is a great book, though the various characters and things make it a little hard to describe succinctly. I particularly liked the story of Tyr and Zisa, the last ones to fight the Devourer, woven in with the main story. Rachelle was an awesome, ass-kicking heroine.   Rosamund Hodge's books seem to just get better and better. I can't wait for the next one.

I received my copy of Crimson Bound from Edelweiss, courtesy of Balzer + Bray. It's available for purchase now.

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

"Demons are made of shadow. Don't look at the shadows too long or a demon might look back..."

This cover, this is a gorgeous cover. Just look at the pretty.

Anyways...

In this retelling of Beauty and the Beast, a young woman named Nyx is married off to an evil, demonic man. The Gentle Lord makes bargains. For the price of two daughters, one was promised as a future wife. In spite of her outward appearance, Nyx is resentful that she was chosen to sacrifice her freedom and ultimately her life.

She was chosen because she resembles their father. Astraia, her twin, resembles their mother, who died giving birth to them. By punishing Nyx, he is symbolically punishing himself for the bargain that led to his wife's death and for sexing up his dead wife's sister.

The plan is for Nyx to give into her husband's, um..."marital desires." Then she must find the four elemental hearts in his palace. She was trained in an elemental magic that will allow her to shut down the hearts. Once all four hearts are destroyed, she will be able to kill the Gentle Lord and finally free her people from his bargains, though she will most likely die in the process.

After a lovely wedding where Nyx calls her aunt out on having the sex with her dad, tells her sister how she really feels, and marries a rock (Symbolizing her husband), she arrives at the castle. There are many surprises awaiting her. The Gentle Lord, Ignifex, doesn't immediately ravage her. He turns out to be pretty evil, but not such a bad guy. I really loved him, but I'm always a fan of the bad ones.

Living with Ignifex involves a lot of games. Nyx is given a key that opens a select number of doors. She uses them to explore and search for the hearts while he is indisposed at night. She is also given the chance to guess his true name every night. If she guesses correctly, Ignifex will let her go. If she is wrong, he will kill her.

There is also the issue of his servant, a shadow called Shade. Ignifex must retreat from the darkness every night. At the same time, Shade is insubstantial in the day and becomes solid at night. Nyx trusts Shade, even starts to fall in love with him.

Nyx spends most of the book wanting to kill Ignifex. He is evil, making bargains and twisting them around to hurt people. Ignifex argues that the people are aware that the bargains come with a great price, they just don't care. Personally, I think he has a point, but Nyx is firmly in the "my husband is evil" camp. What she doesn't see until later in the book is that they share a dark side. Nyx has a part of her that doesn't want to be self-sacrificing, that part that destroyed her sister on what was probably the last time she will ever see her. Ignifex has secrets that even he doesn't know. Together they might be a perfect match.

I really liked the story here. The fairy tale elements were fantastic, and as the story continues it becomes even better. Unfortunately, one of the major plot elements was glaringly obvious. It was frustrating that Nyx was so unaware, to the point that I was yelling at her. It kept the book from being a complete 5 stars, but it was still really good. Again, I really loved Ignifex. He was funny and kind of evil, and deserves to be part of my YA Boyfriends club.

I received my copy of Cruel Beauty from Edelweiss, courtesy of Balzer + Bray. It's available for purchase now.