Spell Bound (Hex Hall, #3)

by Rachel Hawkins

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?

• ISBN10: 1423121406
• ISBN13: 9781423121404
• Publish Date: 5 February 2013 (first published 13 March 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

"Help me, Sophie-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope."

  
A rushed finale.

Each book in the Hex Hall series explore a different aspect of the main character, Sophie. The first book is where Sophie finds out more about herself. The second book deals with her heritage from her father's side and learning more about her powers and Spellbound looks at Sophie's heritage from her mother's side. We've seen all the parts that make-up Sophie and continue to witness her heroic choices. 

Sophie has gone through it all, and while that means character development, she still remains her awesome, snarky and witty self. In Spellbound, however, it seems that Sophie's trying too hard to make jokes and be witty. There are some comments, while at the Brannicks, that made me laugh, but otherwise, the lightheartedness and humour doesn't come by naturally and seems forced. 

Here are some of my feelings about the secondary characters: I love the Brannicks, a group of fierce warrior women, and their interactions with Sophie, with Izzy warming up to Sophie right away and Finley's grudging respect. There's also the obligatory shout-out to Sophie's parents because they've been awesome throughout the series. We all need a Jenna in our lives! Elodie has a larger role in Spellbound and her love-hate relationship with Sophie is entertaining. I also feel there's a lot to unpack with Torin and he probably has an interesting life story. 

The love triangle in the Hex Hall series is unnecessary. There's only one person that Sophie is interested in, which means that she leads the other person on for a little while. The way the love triangle is handled, does not sit well with me. Firstly, Sophie kisses Cal, for reasons that I don't understand, then a few pages later, Archer is alive and back in the picture and Sophie forgets about Cal, because, hello Archer. Secondly, I get why Elodie initiated the kiss with Cal while possessing Sophie's body, but all that resulted in was a failure to recreate romantic tension when there was none to begin with. On a related note, Cal is done dirty throughout this series. His death is so unnecessary because it does not affect the plot or the characters. 

The main issue is that there's different settings and aspects and lots of action crammed into a small book. It makes for a fast-paced read, but seems rushed because the characters have no time to breathe. Moments that are supposed to have gravitas, are just a small event in a series of other small events that lead to an emotionless ending. This also resulted in caricature villains who feel more like annoyances, instead of 'big bads'. Spellbound is plot-driven, and as a reader who prefers character-driven novels, it lacks emotional impact. 

While, Spellbound is a little disappointing, I had a lot of fun rereading the Hex Hall series. It's a pick-me-up during stressful times. 

"People are so rarely villians in their own minds."

[celinenyx]

Spell Bound is a decent ending to the Hex Hall trilogy. This series combines light-hearted humour with a fresh take on the magic boarding school trope.

After the happenings in Demonglass, Sophia needs some time to recuperate. She teams up with unlikely allies, and together they fight to ensure safety for all Progidium.

There is a lot of ground to cover in Spell Bound, and plot developments are thrown at the reader rapidly. Ms Hawkins didn't fall into the common trap of making the last book in the series a beast with double the word count of the other books in the series. However, neither did she manage to smooth out the story in such a way that it comfortably fits in the length of Spell Bound. The plot felt rather ill-paced, dwelling too long in some places, and not standing still long enough in others.

This also had repercussions for the characterisation. I always liked Sophia in the other Hex Hall books, but her personality is lacking in Spell Bound. It's only rarely that she has time to shine, and her humour often seems at odds with the darkness of the plot. At one point, teens are forced to torture another teen, who is brought back to life again and again for more torture, yet this is brushed off as only merely being unpleasant.

The love triangle between Sophia, Call, and Daniel that was introduced in Demonglass gains a resolution in Spell Bound. There was some going back and forth that I found to be out of character. It didn't annoy me enough to make me feel irritated by the book, but it did seem unnecessary. There were some touching moments between the two pairs, but not enough to make me root one way or another.

Spell Bound is an easy read, and the final face-off between the evil enemies was fun. Because of the less-than-stellar plotting Spell Bound is the weakest book in the Hex Hall series, I'm left with a general feeling of satisfaction. I found the light tone to be at odds with the teens-torturing-other-teens and death threats and the like, but overall I had a pleasant evening with Spell Bound.

[Angie]

As far as series finales go, Spell Bound is an underwhelming one. It started off a bit annoying, since I hate when books about magical characters have said magical character suddenly not have magic. What is the point!? Of course, this allows Sophie to discover other interesting stuff about herself. But she's really no use to anyone in this fight against raising demons for whatever purpose they're being raised for. Then the middle portion grabbed my attention because once again we're thrust into Hectate Hall, but things are certainly not as anyone remembered.

Spell Bound was really all over the place for me. The beginning was a bit dull and frustrating, and honestly, I can't remember much of what happened even though I read it only about 3 hours ago. Not a good sign. The middle section was fun and exciting, since the school has been turned into something evil and Sophie and Friends are finally doing something to stop it. However, the ending? The big show down with the villain is of the "blink and you'll miss it' variety. I seriously had to reread that part, because I did miss it. It was over in a flash.

Spell Bound also marked the resolution of the love triangle. I'm actually hesitant to call it a love triangle, because it's not really. Sophie has obviously made her choice already, the other guy was just forced into the picture. I totally didn't believe her interest in either of them, so I honestly didn't care who she chose. But then things happen that essentially force her choice. It's the biggest cop-out ever for solving love triangles, but it didn't even matter, because like I said, Sophie already made her choice! It was just unnecessary.

In the end, Spell Bound was an okay ending. The characters set out to do what they needed to do, did it, and all is well again. It was just underwhelming. All of the major events were over in less than five pages, which meant everything was either too easy to begin with, or....I don't even know. It was all just over in an instant, so there was no build up of tension. Just done.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[angelarenea9]

This was a nice ending to the series. I was a little disappointed in the direction that the author went with the romantic aspect. (I was routing for Cal) I think that the way it was handled was a little bit of a cop out, albeit a fluffy cop out. I had the same problem with this book that I did with the previous two, that some of the characters' reactions were a little bit unbelievable, but all in all it was a great ending. Just enough depth to keep me interested.

[MurderByDeath]

Loved this trilogy. The characters were fabulous - witty, interesting and likeable. The dialoge in this book and the others reminded me lot of the first few seasons of Buffy. Great snark. Even the "nemesis" Edodie is a character you like and cheer on.

The over arcing plot of the trilogy was interesting, the ultimate villains not being the obvious foes. I won't say the story arc was obvious - it wasn't - but it wasn't shocking to me either. But then, I'm a generation removed from the demographic for these books.

I genuinely enjoyed reading these books - I didn't want to put them down until I was finished and the climax of this one left me feeling a bit misty eyed. I'll definitely be checking out some of Ms. Hawkins' other work.

[liz089]

I completely LOVED it !! I'm so sad that it is over though.. :( The moment I opened the book I was addicted, I loved it to be back in the world of Hex Hall and Sophie ! It was very exciting and captivating, just awesome !

[Kelsenator]

For the full review go to my blog Kelsey's Cluttered Bookshelf

This book picks up with the action right where the second one ended, no random time lapse or anything. It’s been a while since I read number 2, and I was worried that I’d be lost, but it did a great job of reminding me of certain things that happened.

There is still a group (won’t spoil it) that wants to start the war between the Prodigium and the humans and raise their own army of demons, or as they call it “protecting” themselves and others. Even though Sophie has her powers sealed at the moment, she’s still considered the greatest hope in saving the world and leading them, but she might just also be their nightmare if that group can change her to their side. I know I’m being vague, but I don’t want to ruin the third and final book of a series for someone who hasn’t started it, I dislike spoilers. And this book was really good!

Sophie’s witty and sarcastic humour is just as fun as before, she had me laughing at all the right times, but also feeling her pain or sadness. Even Archer was amusing in his own way, I still wasn’t sure if I liked his character or not yet until I read more of this book. Jenna the Vampire is still my favourite, with her thing for Pink including the streak in her hair and her ability to just go with the flow. Cal is still quiet, but I feel sorry for the guy at times with the whole love triangle going on. The Brannicks are also pretty awesome too, warrior women who kick butt and all.

So, if you haven’t read the first two books, go pick them up and read them already! This series has lots of laughs, action, romance, danger and tons magic and secrets. Recommended for those who like paranormal, romance, fantasy-like young adult books.

And now for my favourite saying in the book:

Holy hell weasel!

[Amber]

Review here: http://www.booksofamber.com/2012/04/spell-bound-by-rachel-hawkins.html

I am so, so pleased with this fantastic finale to one of my favourite trilogies! Usually I'm a little disappointed by the final book in a series, but Spell Bound left me feeling content about the whole thing.

As always, Sophie is such a great female lead. I love her courage and determination, and I love her awkward jokes when she's in uncomfortable situations. Absolutely hilarious. We learn more about her mum's side of the family in this book, and I really enjoyed that. We see that strong will and determination runs in the family!

I did feel that a little too much time was spent on romance rather than saving the world from demons. If the world is about to come to an end, you don't fool around! I also didn't think that the story had that urgent feel that it should have had; it just cruised along. That said, it was still a fast paced book and it had almost non-stop action. I just didn't feel as though the world was going to blow up, if that makes sense.

Like I said above, I was extremely pleased with the ending. This isn't another Harry Potter, where characters die left and right, so I was a little disappointed by that (I like suffereing, okay?) but overall I think Rachel Hawkins did a brilliant job wrapping up her trilogy and also leaving room for more.

As for my favourite book in the trilogy, I can't say that this is it. My favourite is definitely Demonglass, because that was one explosive book. Spell Bound was still excellent though, and I'll definitely be treasuring this trilogy and recommending it to everyone!