Spell Bound review

Spell Bound
Rachel Hawkins
March 29th 2012
Simon Pulse


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?


When these guys say impossible to put down, they freaking mean it. It's been just over a year since I read Demonglass and I had completely forgotten just how fast paced and addicting these books are. I'd also forgotten how much I adore Sophie, and much I loved Archer Cross despite his being a part of The Eye. He's a good guy really. 


And when I say that I adore Sophie, I mean. I know, I know, I say this in all of my reviews of this series, but you guys need to know! She's wickedly funny, Like, every page, even in the middle of all the awful things, she still has the time to be sarcastic and make jokes and I appreciate someone who does that, and who expresses her panic by not shutting up, because I do that too! If she wasn't fictional, I would so want to be her friend. Also, lack of breakdowns! There's nothing that annoys me more than a silly little Bella-esque break down, and while there were many situations totally deserving of one, Sophie didn't. She wanted to, but she didn't for the sake of everyone she loved. Yay courage!


Archer was brilliant too. I know some people need convincing about Archer *still* (though I don't know why. He's a smart arse and has pretty hair. What else do you need from a guy) but I think this book will be enough to convince anyone to like him. I liked that while he did walk away sometimes because of certain horrible revelations made about his family, he always came back (and sometimes with back-up) to help Sophie and the gang out. Cal was also in this book a lot, and I really like him, but I never wanted him with Sophie because Sophie never really wanted him with her! And while he's a really, really nice guy, I kind of like where his love life is going now. But seriously Cal, that was NOT OKAY. NOT. OKAY. 


There was loads of revelations about The Casnoff's and the Brannicks in this book, and I really liked finding out about their backgrounds and history, and it was interesting to see this whole Prodigium thing from a different perspective. But The Casnoff's history did not excuse what they tried to do to all of those kids. Not cool, Lara Casnoff. Not cool. But one character really got my respect back for her at the end, and I was kind of shocked to see that she did that. But I take my hat off to her.


The plot, like always, was twisted and it was always tricky to know what was going to happen next. Guesswork is wasted on these books, so you may as well just give up and enjoy the ride. And get suitably shocked at each twist. It's so much fun. And I think that's the main thing about these books for me. They're just so much fun to read! And who doesn't want to read a fun book? 


Spell Bound was an excellent end to the series, and gave the perfect amount of closure (so weird reading a Hex Hall book and NOT wanting to kill anyone after the cliffhanger!) but I really do want to see more from these guys, so I can't wait for the spin-off!