Blood Bound by Rachel Vincent

Title: Blood Bound (Unbound #1)
Author: Rachel Vincent
Genre:  Urban Fantasy
Publisher:  Mira (1st September 2011)
Blurb:

Bound by blood, condemned by fate.

As a blood tracker, Liv is extremely powerful. And in a world where power is a commodity that can get you killed, Live’s learnt to survive by her own rules.

Rule number one? Trust no one.

When a friend’s daughter goes missing, Liv is bound by a potent magical oath. She can’t rest until the child is safe. And that means trusting her dangerous ex, Cam.

A sinister prophecy tells that she and Cam will be the death of each other, yet Liv’s tired of being a slave to destiny. She’s ready to play the forces controlling her world at their own game.

No matter what the cost.

Rating: ***** (5 stars)
Review:

Blood Bound is the first book in Rachel Vincent’s new adult series Unbound. As I enjoyed her The Shifters series, this was a must read for me.

I really enjoyed reading this book. In fact, it only took me a day to devour it. Once I started reading, I could not put this book down. It is a very fast paced adventure, with many twists along the way. The only thing that bothered me a little bit was the dual narrative, and the fact that on a couple of occasions the narrator switched mid-chapter. I really hate when authors do that.

The world of the Unbound series looks like it will be a really interesting place. The characters look like they will be really interesting too. The main character of Blood Bound is Liv – Olivia – is a really interesting character. She’s a blood tracker, which means she can use a person’s blood to find them within a set distance. Liv is quite independent, a trait that most of Vincent’s protagonists seem to share, yet she’s not all-powerful. She also has a strong moral core. Cam is also an interesting character. He’s a very determined person, and it’s very clear what his feelings about Liv are. The secondary characters are well fleshed out, and intriguing – I hope we learn more about them, and see them in later books. The world of Blood Bound is inhabited with people like her who have different and similar “skills” to her. It is interesting to learn about these different “skills” and how they are used – some of the “skills” are really quite ingenious, and I think original.

The overall plot of the book is pretty simple, but there are lots of twists through the narrative which keep it interesting and kept my attention on the pages. There were more than a few twists which I didn’t see coming, particularly Liv’s final realisation – which was neat, and well thought out. The ending of the book was very, very well done and it left me looking forward to reading the next book in the series Shadow Bound. If you are an Urban Fantasy fan, then this is definitely one book to give a try.