If you have read any of my posts you know I love a good retelling. Crimson Bound is a loose red riding hood retelling. So loose that you probably wouldn’t even realize it was a red riding hood retelling without a few key lines, but when your looking for the parallels it’s easy to see it as a retelling that absolutely has taken on a life of it’s own, and doesn’t just mirror the original tale.
Like Cruel Beauty but the same author, Crimson Bound has a very dark feel to it. There is no shortage of death and despair, starting with our heroine Rachelle. Tortured by the choice she made to live, she sees herself as unworthy of even the smallest human affection. At times the guilt can be a bit overbearing making her character’s inner monologue a tedious. Especially when the full story about what events transpired when she became bloodbound is realized. Armand is absolutely one of my least favorite male leads in a while if I’m honest. He is definitely a beta hero and just way to judgmental and preachy. I hate how he treats Rachelle and feel the romance between them was incredibly forced and had no foundation. With romance being something I specifically look for in books, it absolutely effected my enjoyment reading Crimson Bound. I don’t mind flawed characters and friction in relationships, enemies to lovers is my bread and butter, but there has to be a connection. Some reason beyond just proximity for the relationship.
I love darker fairy tales and just wish more had been put into the world building when I came to the woodwives. It felt like they where going to have a much bigger role in the story but really felt underutilized in the plot. So much more could have been put into their backstory and general existence. As it stands very little is known about them beyond their existence and a vague idea of what they do.
I loved Cruel Beauty for it’s wonderful dark world building and feel that was just missing a bit here. Very little actually happens in the book when you actually look at the events that unfolded. It really just feels like the book is unfinished.
