IN SHORT: This young adult book based on two fairy tales is set in a world filled with monsters. It’s a romance-heavy fantasy story.

REVIEW

When Rachelle was 15, she was apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But she was too reckless — straying from the forest path and ignoring her aunt’s warnings. When an illicit meeting went dreadfully wrong, Rachelle found herself Bound to the very evil she was being groomed to defeat.

Three years later, Rachelle has dedicated her life to serving the realm. She’s honed her swordsmanship skills and fights deadly creatures in the streets to try to atone for her mistake. But when the king orders her to serve as bodyguard to his son Armand, she’s forced to enter a world of politics and court life alongside a man she detests. As much as she hates Armand, though, he may be the only one able to help her find a legendary sword. It can save their world from destruction and the threat of endless night. Soon the bitter rivals become unsuspecting allies as they uncover far-reaching conspiracies, hidden magic, and an unexpected romance. 

Crimson Bound is a mashup retelling of Little Red Riding Hood and a lesser-known fairy tale, The Girl Without Hands. As with another of her fairy tale retellings for young adults, Cruel Beauty, Rosamund Hodge takes the story into new, creepy territory. This time, readers are introduced to a world filled with monsters and a shadow-plane reality.

Crimson Bound is mainly a romance-heavy story set in a somewhat odd fantasy world. I did appreciate some of the darker tones and the underlying message that sometimes humans can be monsters too. But I found that the darker nature of this story, mixed with the heavy romance aspects, made it a fairy tale book more suited to older young adult readers.

RATING

Rated: Moderate, for two uses of mild language and one use of moderate language. Violence is sometimes gory, and mainly against once-human monsters. It also includes tales of humans who are murdered so others can gain monstrous powers. One woman’s death and mercy killing is retold with some disturbing detail. Sexual content includes a man lusting after and stalking a woman who eventually gives in to him and becomes known as his lover. There are two instances of characters having sex (both scenes skip over the act to reveal the characters in bed). Characters kiss.

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