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Oathbound by Tracy Deonn
4.5
adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I did really like this book, and had an absolute blast tearing through it, but the ending did leave me a little disappointed. I think given that this was originally meant to be a trilogy, this is the book to fall prey to the mid-series slump as everything just kind of feels like lead up to the last showdown. 

I’m not sure if I would have felt more strongly towards it if I hadn’t gone straight into it from Bloodmarked and had time to ponder and anticipate it, but I’m also glad that I wasn’t more let down by having a long wait. 

Don’t get me wrong! Deonn’s “weakest” work so far is still better than most people’s best, but I think Legendborn was so completely mindblowing it’s almost impossible to replicate that same kind of drama and revelation without it starting to feel trite. There were still multiple moments that had me perched on the end of my seat, heart racing, and I cried more than I’d like to admit. Deonn’s writing is evocative and captivating for sure, it was the pacing and plot points that had me feeling like there was a lot of anticipation for not much follow through. The ending twist honestly doesn’t make any sense to me and feels unnecessary as I don’t feel it was well set up at all. 

It is risky, in my opinion, to switch from 1 POV first person to multiple first person POVs in a series, because it doesn’t always work out very well. I don’t think Oathbound did it poorly, per se, because it was in many ways necessary, but it was kind of erratic in terms of spacing of the perspectives, which had me going “okay when am I going to get _this persons_ POV back?” and then we didn’t actually get to see things from them after a certain point, which left things feeling unresolved. I’m curious to see how this will play out in the last book though. 

I absolutely loved the characters as always, and will always be a #1 Will fan. I also loved seeing more of Mariah, and spending time with Nick again after his absence in Bloodmarked. I’m curious to see where the BreeSelNick of it all will lead in the final book!

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