Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins
Series: Hex Hall #3
Published by Disney Hyperion on March 13th 2012
Pages: 337
Genres: Fantasy, Funny-ha-ha, Paranormal
Format: eBook
Amazon
Goodreads

Also by this author: Hex Hall, Demonglass, School Spirits

Hailed as “impossible to put down,” the Hex Hall series has both critics and teens cheering. With a winning combination of romance, action, magic and humor, this third volume will leave readers enchanted.

Just as Sophie Mercer has come to accept her extraordinary magical powers as a demon, the Prodigium Council strips them away. Now Sophie is defenseless, alone, and at the mercy of her sworn enemies—the Brannicks, a family of warrior women who hunt down the Prodigium. Or at least that’s what Sophie thinks, until she makes a surprising discovery. The Brannicks know an epic war is coming, and they believe Sophie is the only one powerful enough to stop the world from ending. But without her magic, Sophie isn’t as confident.

Sophie’s bound for one hell of a ride—can she get her powers back before it’s too late?

Man… where do I start. Big sigh for this one. Big disappointment for me. I’m very sad this series is over and there won’t be a chance to make something more of this series. I read the first and second books back to back when the second book was released and fell in love with Sophie and Jenna and Hex Hall and Archer and Cal and the world that Rachel Hawkins created. I was so eager to get my hands on Spell Bound that I had the release date marked on my calendar even. To say I was anticipating this like no other is an understatement.

I’m typically wary of the final books in series because they are rarely wrapped up sufficiently in my opinion and Spell Bound definitely fell in that category. For being such a short book and having so many loose ends that still needed tying up, I was extremely surprised that it took so long for anything to actually happen (plot-wise). Midway through the book I found myself bored and begging for something interesting to happen; it was really quite upsetting. Once the plot started actually ‘progressing’ I felt it was very forced, lacked sufficient explanation, and lacked in excitement.

I remember Sophie being a lot of fun and really funny in the first two books but despite the fact that there were some really funny moments her humor really fell a little flat for me. And her fluctuating maturity really drove me batty. One second she’d be acting like a mature young-adult making smart, rational decisions and the next moment she’s acting like a teen making immature statements. There were moments that still put a smile on my face and had me laughing but…I missed old Sophie in this one. As for the other characters I really enjoyed Jenna’s part but found myself really enjoying the scenes with the two new characters Izzy and Finley. Way too serious for their young age and pretty darn funny (but not an intentional funny. 🙂 )

There were some major ‘eh’ moments that I didn’t much care for. Don’t click if you haven’t read this! I don’t make spoiler tags for nothing.

View Spoiler »The love triangle was bearable but in Spell Bound it made no sense whatsoever to me. Sophie played with the emotions of both Cal and Archer and when she’d have her moments of ‘internal turmoil’ on who she wants to be with it didn’t feel real or honest. Making out with Cal in the beginning came out of left field for me and then seconds later she’s fawning over Archer and isn’t even forthcoming about what she did. Then later when Elodie (possessing Sophie) made out with Cal both Sophie and Archer brushed the incident off but the fact that Sophie was obviously enjoying herself was completely swept under the rug. « Hide Spoiler

View Spoiler »That whole spell that Lara did on Sophie that showed her the Casnoff family history? Anyone else think of Dumbledore’s Pensieve or was it just me? « Hide Spoiler

View Spoiler »And that last moment in Hex Hall when Elodie was possessing Sophie and she says that she shows her the grimoire. Elodie says, ‘I brought it here’… uhh, how did she, a ghost, bring a book from Lara’s office and place it in her dresser drawer? Did she levitate it Harry Potter style? No explanation was given and I felt something was off there. « Hide Spoiler

View Spoiler »And that ending… really? Between the relatively quick war, the random assistance from Mrs. Casanoff, and then Cal dying!? Was that really necessary!? No other potential outcome? I mean way to break my heart. « Hide Spoiler

Very sad this series is over and that this is how it ended. Nonetheless, I am very excited to see what Rachel Hawkins comes up with next!