Book Review: Shadow Bound by Rachel Vincent

Shadow Bound
Author: Rachel Vincent
Series: Unbound (Book 2)
Publication: MIRA (June 1, 2012)

Description: Kori Daniels is a shadow-walker, able to travel instantly from one shadow to another. After weeks of confinement for betraying her boss, she's ready to break free of the Tower syndicate for good. But Jake Tower has one final job for Kori, one chance to secure freedom for herself and her sister, Kenley, even if it means taking it from someone else.…

The job? Recruit Ian Holt—or kill him.

Ian's ability to manipulate the dark has drawn interest from every syndicate in the world, most notably an invitation from Jake Tower. Though he has no interest in organized crime, Ian accepts the invite, because he's on a mission of his own. Ian has come to kill Tower's top Binder: Kori's little sister.

Amid the tangle of lies, an unexpected thread of truth connecting Ian and Kori comes to light. But with opposing goals, they'll have to choose between love and liberty….

My Thoughts: Kori Daniels is facing the consequences of her inadvertent assistance in the activities of the first book in this trilogy when the story begins. Kori is being tortured, starved, and otherwise being abused in Jake Towers' basement having been ordered by Jake not to fight back. She is released only to serve as a lure for a Skilled man named Ian Holt who Jake wants in his syndicate.

Ian has his own reasons for bringing himself to Jake's attention. Ian brother Steven is dying from breaking an oath that was bound by Kori's sister Kenley. Ian wants to get close enough to Kenley to kill her in order to free his brother.

Once he meets Kori his plans undergo a revision. He falls for her because of her courage and strength. Unfortunately, Kori has been ordered to do whatever Ian wants so she can't trust his feelings or her own.

This was an amazingly difficult book to read because Kori had so many awful things happen to her. She is bound to Towers's service in order to protect her sister Kinley but she feels, and is, powerless against the bonds that have been imposed on her by Jake Towers. Ian also has a very difficult time because, for a while, it looks like he will be forced to choose between his brother and Kori. It doesn't look like there is a way to save both of them.

This is the middle book in a trilogy and has the same wonderful world building as the first book. People who have Skills are bound by oath into crime syndicates. They literally cannot break orders given to them by their masters. There is no way out for the most Skilled. As long as they have people the love, harm to those loved ones can be used as a threat to keep the Skilled one in line.

I can't wait to read the third book in this series to see how things are resolved.

Favorite Quote:

"You don't have to understand me."

"I do, though." I wanted to understand her worse than I'd ever wanted to understand anyone in my life, and I couldn't quite convince myself that my motivation was purely professional. Yes, the better I understood her, the easier it would be to use her to get to her sister. But the more time I spent with Kori, the harder it was to remember that she even had a sister, much less what I'd come into Tower's territory to do. "We're going to be spending a lot of time together over the next few days, and I'd like to know where the landmines are buried before I step on the next one."

I bought this book on August 24, 2012. You can buy your copy here.