Hexbound: A Novel of the Dark Elite (Dark Elite, #2)

by Chloe Neill

Lily Parker is new to St Sophia's School for Girls, but she's already learned that magic can be your best friend ...or your worst enemy. So they say absolute power corrupts absolutely. But it turns out even a little bit of magic can turn you to the dark side. That's why Lily has to learn how to control her newly discovered abilities and quickly, on top of avoiding the snobs who think they run her school, nursing a crush on a cute sophomore with a big, werewolfy secret, and fighting the good fight with her best friend Scout as they take on Chicago's nastiest nightlife - including the tainted magic users known as the Reapers. All that's even before Lily's invited to a private meeting with Sebastian. He's hot, he's powerful, and he's offering to help her harness the magic flowing through her veins in a way that no one else can. He's also a Reaper. Lily can't help but be suspicious of his offer. But she also needs his help. It seems that the line between good and evil isn't quite so clear as she thought ...

• ISBN10: 0575095431
• ISBN13: 9780575095434
• Publish Date: 27 January 2011 (first published 1 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 20 September 2012
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Gollancz
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 256
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

Hexbound is another fun book in this series, but I didn't like it as much as the first one. Lily has gotten settled into her new school, and is being accepted into Enclave Three (the local group of Adepts). While Firespell served to introduce Lily and us to St. Sophia's and the secret supernatural society, Hexbound focuses more on the strange happenings and Lily investigating her parents' lies. There's some strange slime in the tunnels beneath the city as well as some unusual, vampire-like creatures. It's up to Lily, Scout, and the rest of their crew to find out what's happening.

I thought Hexbound felt extremely short. Well, it is short, but one moment I was starting and next thing I knew it was over. Every conflict was just resolved too quickly for me to get fully invested in the adventure. Lily goes from not knowing she had powers, to doing some super strong magic. She helps save the day multiple times without evening trying. It was still fun to see all of the weirdness happening in Chicago, but I wish it had been longer so things could develop better.

Hexbound continued the awesome friendship between Lily and Scout. They have some great banter! But now there's also a blossoming romance. Lily and Jason seemed to hit it off immediately in the first book, but it's hard to start a relationship when you go to different schools by day and fight evil magic users by night. They do manage to sneak in a date, and it was cute. Nothing earth shattering, no declarations of love, just cute.

I liked Hexbound. It did feel like filler though with all of the amateur sleuthing. Lily's parents are up to something, but it's still not clear what, or how it's connected to everything else that's happening. Sadly, it doesn't get resolved in the final book despite taking up a good chunk of the plot thus far.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.