Audiobook review
Rachelle is blood-bound. A child of the forest who seeks to enshroud the world in darkness. She is evil. She is damned. But before she goes to hell, she will save the world.
Rachelle is sent to protect the King's son, Armand. A saint named by the people for a miracle that is tied to his blood. He should be blood bound, but he isn't. She takes the mission as it gives her a chance to look for the ancient sword that is the world's only chance at stopping the Forest and devouring from destroying the world. It is somewhere at the mansion she will be staying at. All she has to do is dupe the dumb Prince and make sure her commander and on/off fling Eric don't figure out what she is up to.
I love flawed evil characters. Rachelle has done terrible things in the name of her king as a blood bound. She accepts her fate and knows she will one day have no will, and truly be a creature of the forest. What she doesn't expect is that Armand is not at all who she thought. He is not truly the saint people make him out to be, and nor does he think it. He knows he as well is damned. He can see the forest all around them. They both grow closer helping each other achieve what they could not alone, yet hold their secrets close to the very end. It was frustrating not seeing them trust each other. In the end, although it was together in someways, I felt they both fought their battles alone.
I loved Erik's character. He was twisted and evil yet had the capability to love and of course I fell for it till the very end. I mean, to be honest, all the main characters in this book were a little evil, but Eric was just the bee's knees. Evil and unrepentant till the very end. His only redeeming quality was in loving Rachelle.
Overall, not as great as Cruel Beauty, but still a story I enjoyed. It was indeed a Red Ridinghood retelling, but in the loosest sense of the the original. Like really loose. I'm not sure I would have caught it had I not gone in knowing it was a retelling of little red.