Oath Bound by Rachel Vincent

Released: April 30, 2013
Format: Mass market paperback
Publisher: Mira

Series: Unbound #3

Source: Personal shelf

The Tower Syndicate will fall…

The secret daughter of the head of an infamous Skilled crime family, Sera Brandt has hidden her past, her potential and especially her powers. But when a tragedy strikes her other family, Sera needs justice. And the only way to get it is to reveal her heritage- including a rare Skill-and take the reins of the Tower Syndicate from her cunning and malicious aunt.

If he can figure out how…

Kristopher Daniels might have the answer. He’s fought the syndicate to protect his sisters, but he’d never realized just how close to the new heir he needed to get.…

And if they can survive

Neither is used to trusting. But there’s something between them that can’t be ignored. And so Sera is on the run with a man she can’t figure out, a target on her back and the new knowledge of just how powerful she really is….

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Holy balls, Oath Bound was awesome. I know it’s not the classiest language but it really sums up my reaction to the novel. I’ve been a fan of Rachel Vincent’s since I first picked up Prey but her writing has really grown over the course of her various series and it shows in Oath Bound. This is probably her best book yet. From following her blog, I know it wasn’t the easiest novel to write but her dedication totally paid off. Each of her Unbound books has built on the previous ones and Oath Bound is a fitting and strong end to the Unbound trilogy.

As with the other books in the trilogy, Oath Bound is told from two alternating points of view: Sera’s and Kris’. Kris is a familiar character since he was featured in Shadow Bound and is related to two of the central characters in the series. But now he’s front and centre and it was great. He’s such a complicated man, which is the perfect hero for such a complex series. Like his sister Kori, Kris is a Traveler but he’s managed to avoid the notice of the various Syndicates. He’s a smuggler and he wants to bring down the Syndicates that have caused so much pain for his friends and family. Sera, on the other hand, is a complete unknown. We learn about her history and Skills slowly and each reveal makes her more interesting. She’s young but she knows herself well enough to realize when she’s in over her head…eventually…Both Kris and Sera have a lot of secrets but Sera’s secret is a doozy: she’s the secret bastard child of Jake Tower, the late head of the Tower Syndicate, a man not known for his kindness or compassion. I can only imagine how hard it is to learn that your biological father is all kinds of evil but Sera grew up with a loving family so it sort of makes things better. (I say “sort of” because Sera’s family was killed.) 

If the characters in Oath Bound are complicated, the plot is even more tangled. Sera is seeking vengeance for her family’s deaths and trying to figure out what to do with herself. She’s a babe in the woods when it comes to the Syndicates, something she quickly learns as the story progresses. Kris is trying to take down the Tower Syndicate by having his sister Kenley unbind people she’d bound to Jake Tower while in his employ. It’s not entirely a noble goal but it’s definitely an uphill battle, even with the aid of characters we know from the previous Unbound novels.

Since this is a relatively new release, I don’t want to say too much about the plot but I will say that Oath Bound is a truly fantastic novel. Vincent has created an amazing (and scary) world in the Unbound series and I’m sorry that this is the last book (at least as far as I know). But the main storylines are wrapped up in a satisfying manner and I’ve truly enjoyed this trilogy. It’s one that has improved from book to book and I look forward to re-reading these stories time and again.