Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge
2015; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 68; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/bcc.2015.0488
ISSN1558-6766
Autores Tópico(s)Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies
ResumoReviewed by: Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge Kate Quealy-Gainer, Assistant Editor Hodge, Rosamund Crimson Bound. Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins, 2015 [448p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-06-222476-7 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-06-222478-1 $9.99 Reviewed from galleys R* Gr. 8-12 At fifteen, Rachelle encountered a forestborn (a fey-like creature) in the Great Forest; now she’s marked as a bloodbound and left with two choices: kill a human within three days or die herself. Three years later, Rachelle is still very much alive and using [End Page 496] the supernatural abilities gifted to the bloodbound to repent for her murder of her beloved aunt; as a member of the king’s elite, she stalks and kills the forestborn who terrorize the kingdom’s villages. Ultimately, though, her goal is to destroy the Devourer, the leader of the forestborn, but her plans are hampered when the king insists that she instead guard his heir, Armand, a man whom Rachelle believes to be a liar and a con while the rest of the court sees him as a saint. Hodge blends elements from “Little Red Riding Hood” and the lesser known folktale “The Girl with No Hands” to create an intoxicatingly dark story of love, lust, murder, and redemption. Descriptive prose details the opulence of the king’s palace and his royal court (bearing a marked resemblance to eighteenth-century Versailles) as vividly as it portrays the gruesome, dark power of the Great Forest (details include a house built of bone and mortared with blood). There’s also a refreshing flip of gender roles to Rachelle and Armand’s inevitable romance, with Rachelle as the brooding monster with blood on her hands and Armand as the innocent bent on saving her. Romantic, immersive, complex, and oh so satisfying, this will please fans of Hodge’s previous Cruel Beauty (BCCB 2/13) as well as readers of Rutkoski’s Winners trilogy (The Winner’s Curse, BCCB 3/14, etc.). Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
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