Audiobook Review – Spellbound (Grimnoir Chronicles, Book 2) by Larry Correia (4.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 16 hours and 22 minutes (656 pages)
Publisher: Audible Studios
Release Date: February 20, 2012
ASIN: B007B7GMAW
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Grimnoir Chronicles
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

This is the second book in the Grimnoir series and was a great continuation of this alternate history series with loads of action and magic. I enjoyed this book a lot more than 1st one in the series.

I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was very well done. The narrator does an excellent job with having distinct voices for different characters and portrays emotion well. My only complaint is that some of the voices are very deep and it is hard to hear them when you are driving because of background noise.

When a magical assassin (an Active) makes an assassination attempt on President Roosevelt all Actives are blamed, in particular the Grimnoir Society. All of the member of the Grimnoir become wanted men/women and are forced to hide. However then Jake Sullivan receives a call from a man beyond the grave. The call is a warning that the Power was fleeing something huge and evil and that something is about to arrive on Earth.

I really enjoyed this book a lot. The characters are interesting and well done and the magic system is unique. I love the idea of the Power and the parasitic relationship it has with humanity.

There is excellent world building here; the whole story is set in an alternate version of 1920’s America. The setting is made more real by quotes from newspapers and articles at the beginning of each chapter that highlight how different this alternate history is from the one we know.

There is a lot of action in this book as well and a lot of Correia’s standard “gun talk”. I continue to really enjoy how Correia has strong female and male characters. He does a good job balancing the roles for both female and male characters.

Overall this was an incredibly fun and interesting read. I love the characters, the world, the unique magic system, the high-octane action, and the complex plot. I really look forward to reading the third and final book in this series. I would definitely recommend this series to those who enough action-packed urban fantasy or alternate histories.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– 2015 Audiobook Challenge