I read the first four of Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series last December just before Christmas. They were my "Christmas-is-retail-hell-blow-off-books". I didn't expect to like them as much as I did, but with great writing, characters, and plot development I was quickly hooked. 6 months pass and I pick up Spirit Bound upon it's release, worried that I may not get into it as hard because it's after having read the previous four back to back...and I read it in about 36 hours. What can I say? I'm still hooked.Spirit Bound picks up shortly after Rose's arrival in the states from her stint in Russia, and just before her guardian trials. After blowing away everyone at the trials Rose turns her attention to a rumour she heard in Russia about healing Strigoi. The problem lies in the source of the info, Victor Dashkov's brother, Robert Doru. Rose must track down Lissa's greatest enemy in order to restore her lover Dimitri's soul or she will never be at peace...even with having moved on in life and love.I'm constantly amazed by Mead's ability to craft books that have significant plots end in the middle of the book... wow, that sounds worse than it is, let me rephrase that. Mead is one of the only authors I know of who manages to surprise the reader by putting an event in the middle of the book that one expects to occur as an ending, and then surprises us all afresh with something even of greater shock factor that is totally unexpected or predicted. It's refreshing in the most jarring way. My motto in reading her is to just wait, it will get bigger and better by the last page, particularly so with these books. I like that her plot and character arc's bump along high and low, it makes me as a reader feel unsafe. That I don't know quite what's going on, but that the ride will be fun.This is an obvious win book. 5 of 5 stars easy. I have know idea how Mead will end all this in one more book, but I can't wait until December to find out.- review courtesy of www.bibliopunkk.net