Blade Bound by Chloe Neill

Title: Blade Bound (Chicagoland Vampires, 13)
Author: Chloe Neill
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Gollancz Fiction (27th April 2017)
Blurb:

The thrilling final installment of Chloe Neill’s New York Times bestselling urban fantasy series sees sinister sorcery advancing across Chicago, and it might usher in the fall of Cadogan House . . .

Since the night of her brutal attack and unwilling transformation into a vampire, Merit has stood as Sentinel and protector of Chicago’s Cadogan House. She’s saved the Windy City from the forces of darkness time and again with her liege and lover, Ethan Sullivan, by her side.

When the House is infiltrated and Merit is attacked by a vampire who seems to be under the sway of dark magic, Merit and Ethan realize the danger is closer than they could have imagined. As malign sorcery spreads throughout the city, Merit must go to war against supernaturla powers beyond her comprehension. It is her last chance to save everything – and everyone – she loves.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)
Review:

BLADE BOUND is the final instalment in Chloe Neill’s brilliant Chicagoland Vampires series. This book brings to an end Caroline Evelyn Merit’s adventures from newly turned vampire, to Sentinel of Cadogan House. Merit has gone through many changes and challenges since her first appearance in SOME GIRLS BITE twelve books ago, but she still has one final challenge to face – one that threatens the whole of Chicago. It starts when a vampire, who seems to be under the sway of dark magic, attacks Merit when she should have been safe inside Cadogan House. This attack seems to be a symptom of a larger problem, along with the harmful sorcery spreading through the city.

I didn’t realise until after I’d purchased the book that it was the final book in the series. BLADE BOUND is the thirteenth book in the Chicagoland Vampires series. It is a series I have really enjoyed following, and I have looked forward to the publication of the next book. Reading BLADE BOUND was therefore a little bittersweet. I wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye to Merit and Ethan, and all the other brilliant characters in the series. With that said, I do think that in BLADE BOUND Chloe Neill provides a fitting conclusion to a real kick-ass series. And even if I am sad to say goodbye, I think Neill has Merit bow out in her typical style.

If you have read and enjoyed the previous books in the Chicagoland Vampires series then you are in for a treat with this one. In BLADE BOUND Neill wraps up a lot of the tantalising plot threads that she dangled in the previous books. The only thing I didn’t enjoy about this book was how by the end everything seemed so neatly wrapped in a bow, and frankly it happened so quickly. I also managed to guess how one of the plot threads was going to be resolved, and frankly I think it deserved not to be as rushed – it felt like Neill was trying to pack as much as she could into this book.

Having said that I really did enjoy reading this book – I finished it the same day I started it. I really loved the humour and food references, something that has been a theme throughout the series. Whilst I wouldn’t say BLADE BOUND is the most tense and exciting ending to a series I have read, I would say it’s a darn good one. BLADE BOUND has everything I loved about the previous books in it, and is a good solid conclusion to the series.