Early Review: Soulbound by Kristen Callihan (Darkest London #6)

Soulbound (Darkest London #6)
Kristen Callihan
Published: Feb. 24, 2015 (Forever)
Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon
Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

Reviewed by: Margaret

Rating (out of 5): 4.5 stars

Note: While review will be spoiler free, it does make reference to previous books in the series. If you haven’t started yet, check out VBC’s review of Firelight.

Going into Soulbound, I was having one of those “okay, favorite author, I’m trusting you to make this work” moments. I wasn’t entirely convinced that Adam deserved to be a hero. He offered Eliza a second chance at life and then proceeded to chain her to his side like Princess Leia (though, thankfully, without the gold bikini). She escaped and found refuge with her “Aunt” Mab, not understanding who and what the Queen of the Fae really was.

Months later, she’s grown tired of Mab’s cruelty and once again wishes for freedom. Then she finds Adam chained and tortured in Mab’s dungeon. She shows him kindness despite their antagonistic history and hatches a plan for them to escape together. Adam’s curse makes their escape more complicated than Eliza had anticipated, but they learn to work together and build some trust between them. Adam admits that he handled the situation badly before and understands that his attempts to hang on to Eliza only pushed her away. It was that honesty and introspection that really endeared him to me and, I think, to Eliza.

Soulbound provided lots of opportunities to check on the couples from the previous books in the series, which are always some of my favorite parts. Not all of them are doing well though, as Adam’s weakened condition is affecting all of the GIM, including Daisy and Mary. While the plot would be easy to follow, I would not recommend trying to read this without the other books in the series since it would lose the emotional impact from knowing those characters. Even characters from the novellas like Eliza’s grandfather are mentioned and I feel for them more knowing the whole story.

I enjoyed learning more about the GIM and the Fae in this book, but what I was especially happy to see was more of Sin’s story. I felt much like I did about Adam at the end of Evernight—he was quite mysterious and possibly a villain. I was really expecting one particular part of his story to continue into the next book. Instead it ended rather abruptly. Still, interesting things seem to be in store for Sin in the series.

What really stays with me about Soulbound though is Adam and Eliza’s story. It’s a powerful and emotional romance with an unconventional Happily Ever After. But it’s also insightful as they struggle to balance fate and free will. I don’t think it’s my favorite in the series, which seems to just keep getting better, but I’m certainly not disappointed. I can’t wait to see what’s next!

Sexual content: sex, magically coerced sex