Review: Vampire Academy #5 - Spirit Bound

Crossposted from Feminist Quill, written on August 16, 2015

Title: Spirit Bound
Author: Richelle Mead
Year of Publication: 2010
Series: Vampire Academy
#: 5
Goodreads Rating (Avg.): 4.38
Goodreads Rating (Mine): 5

Considering how long the previous post ended up being, I should make this one short and sweet: Hijinks! (And some regrettable death).

Spoilers!

After the darkness that was Blood Promise, Spirit Bound is back to the basics. And if there's some residual darkness tingeing the book, I'm sure we can forgive and forget, all things considered. And by 'all things' I mean there's a raging strigoi on the loose.

Despite having graduated near the top of her class, Rose's future is lacking in real job prospects due to her reputation as an unreliable vigilante with little respect for the rules. So she's largely left to her own devices, and shenanigans are on her mind.

First stop, Vegas! (Well, no. First stop was storming an unbeatable high security prison and breaking out a high security prisoner.) They're on a mission to learn all they can about the possibility of healing and curing Strigoi, and this time Lissa gets to be in on the difficult adventures. When our troublesome little Scooby gang comes back, they're in deep trouble. And Rose gets blamed for everything, as usual.

For once, Rose couldn't care less. Yes, she's worried about being handcuffed to a desk job for the rest of her life, but she's numb. Very, very numbed by the realization that curing a Strigoi isn't going to happen - not because it's impossible, but because a Spirit user is supposed to do the job. There's no way she's going to let Lissa or Adrian - the only two known Spirit users - get anywhere close to Strigoi to even try.

Lissa on the other hand is still feeling very guilty over having been a poor friend to Rose in the past, and is determined to do this one thing for her. And here's the thing about Lissa. A pampered, bleeding-heart princess she maybe, but when she needs to do something, nothing in the world will stop her. Clearly, there's a reason she's best friends.

Alongside all of the shenanigans go the political machinations. The panic and paranoia spreading amongst the Moroi elite cause them to pass a controversial law stating that dhampirs can now be sent out as guardians at the age of sixteen. They use Rose's testimony to support this move, which, as anyone knows, is a terrible way to implement legislation. You can't pick the exception from the lot and use it to propagate a fake generalization. It's a terrible thing to do, causes uproar, and results in Rose calling Queen Tatiana a sanctimonious bitch in open court.

In the meanwhile, Crazy Dimitri is still on the loose. Following an incident in Vegas that involved a daylight attack and a literal mountain of dead security guards, he launches a savage attack on Lissa's group while she's touring her prospective college, kidnapping her and Christian as bait to lure Rose in. He's now given up on the whole 'turn you and we be together for all of eternity' plan - now he's just trying to kill her. Rose sees the whole thing through Lissa's eyes, as he'd known she would, and plans and spearheads an attack force against Dimitri's strigoi nest.

The first time she faced an undead Dimitri, Rose choked, leading to her capture. The second time she tried to kill him, there was no hesitation, but he kinda fell over a bridge before she could ensure the kill. The third time, in Vegas, she impulsively ensured that Eddie would fail to kill him. This time, the fourth and last time, it's different. In her mind, it doesn't matter anymore that he could be saved at some point in the future.

"You can't, Rose. Haven't you figured that out by now? Haven't you seen it? You can't defeat me. You can't kill me. Even if you could, you can't bring yourself to do it. You'll hesitate. Again."
No, I wouldn't. That's what he didn't realize. He'd made a mistake bringing Lissa here. She increased the stakes--no pun intended--on everything. She was here. She was real. Her life was on the line, and for that . . . for that, I wouldn't hesitate.

Dimitri must have a zillion lives, I'll say that for the guy. Only this time, it's Lissa standing in the way of Rose and Dimitri's death. And like that, the story moves seamlessly into a narrative of redemption.

A Dhampir Reborn and the Death of a Queen

If Rose thought, even for a moment, that her heartache would be over the minute Dimitri was cured, she was mistaken. Mead makes both Rose and the reader work for that reconciliation, possibly because she knows very well that both Rose and the reader are, at this point, more than happy to give Dimitri every ounce of forgiveness they possess. For free. And the manner of this comes from Dimitri himself - a soul so tortured and lost that he bans Rose from his presence.

I'll be honest. This portion of the book was difficult for me to read, mostly because I was bursting with righteous indignation. How dare he? How DARE he? Dimitri looks at Lissa almost reverentially, because she's his saviour. Never mind that all she did was thrust that final stake. Never mind that Rose just broke ALL THE LAWS in a mere matter of weeks just to get to him and save him. He doesn't even look at her. He can't even bear to look at her.

Because Dimitri's not being an asshole. Rose and the reader maybe willing to forget the events of Blood Promise - the kidnapping and the sexual assault via vitiated consent; the brainwashing of someone using potent drugs; the sheer lack of respect for life and liberty. But Dimitri isn't. He remembers everything he did when he wasn't himself, and he knows he's not worthy of Rose, not after what he did - especially to her.

To add to their problems, the Moroi-Dhampir community is infinitely distrustful of this apparent healing of a Strigoi, and it becomes important to prove to everyone that he is no longer Strigoi. And one mustn't forget the royal assassination that soon followed, and the fact that Rose was almost immediately implicated in it.

One of the best scenes in the book is getting to watch Abe Mazur 'defend' Rose in a court of law.

"What have you gotten me into?" I hissed to him."Me? What have you gotten yourself into? Couldn't I have just picked you up at the police station for underage drinking, like most fathers?"I was beginning to understand why people got irritated when I made jokes in dangerous situations.

Spirit Bound talks about the journey one embarks on when one's trying to save something or someone, and questions you about the lengths you're willing to go to achieve your goal. It asks you how you will prioritize your life. When you're dedicating all your life and everything in it to your mission, is there anything left over? Anything that is more important than your mission and your life and everything in between?

It also talks about how, even after someone has been saved - even though they've been rescued - they still have a ways to go. Saving someone isn't the same as redeeming them. And there is no forgiveness - there can be no forgiveness - without redemption. All too often in our lives, we forget this fact in our hurry to have our loved ones back in our lives. It pertains particularly to people who've been in Rose's position - i.e. people who've been in abusive relationships. Humans do have the capability to love those close them even when their loved ones are being abusive. But they shouldn't - they musn't - get close to you again until they've redeemed themselves, and until you're sure - dead sure - that there's no trace of Strigoi left in them.

Next: Vampire Academy #6 - Last Sacrifice