Review of Vengeance Bound by Justina Ireland

Title/Author: Vengeance Bound by Justina Ireland
Publisher/Date published: Simon & Schuster, April 2nd 2013
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy it at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Cory Graff is not alone in her head. Bound to a deal of desperation made when she was a child, Cory’s mind houses the Furies — the hawk and the serpent — lingering always, waiting for her to satisfy their bloodlust. After escaping the asylum where she was trapped for years, Cory knows how to keep the Furies quiet. By day, she lives a normal life, but by night, she tracks down targets the Furies send her way. And she brings down Justice upon them.

Cory’s perfected her system of survival, but when she meets a mysterious boy named Niko at her new school, she can’t figure out how she feels about him. For the first time, the Furies are quiet in her head around a guy. But does this mean that Cory’s finally found someone who she can trust, or are there greater factors at work? As Cory’s mind becomes a battlefield, with the Furies fighting for control, Cory will have to put everything on the line to hold on to what she’s worked so hard to build.

Guys, I love pretty much anything to do with mythology and the Furies fascinate me. So I was really excited to pick up Vengeance Bound, even though I'd heard a couple not so good things about it. And I was pretty disappointed...

I mean, it really is a fascinating concept that the Furies sort of get attached to a host and use said host to do their 'justice'. But this was exactly my problem, the '' around justice. The Furies in Vengeance Bound are not looking for justice, they're looking to kill as many men as possible, not even caring if someone is guilty or not. And that's what majorly put me off, but maybe more so that Cory actually goes along with this. I get that they don't leave her much of a choice, but it's scary how cold-blooded she is.

I couldn't connect to Cory. She's a little all over the place and she didn't seem to have much of a personality outside of being the Furies' instrument. But maybe it was just also because I just didn't like her. I felt no sympathy towards her whatsoever, so it was kinda hard to root for her in her struggles.

Several times I considered DNF-ing Vengeance Bound, but I kept going because I thought, but wait, this HAS TO GET GOOD, right?? But mostly it was just Cory bemoaning her fate and doing nothing to change it. And then there was this weird thing going on with Niko and one of Cory's new friends, who was seriously cuckoo-crazy. I mean, she pretty much had a sign over her head saying "HI, I'M INSANE, WHO ARE YOU?" and I didn't get how anyone can call themselves someone's friend if you don't try to get someone like this help. Really. LOTS of help.

I really wanted to like Vengeance Bound, but it was kind of a depressing book. I had no love for any of the characters and not even the Furies were interesting enough to keep me entertained.

My rating: 1,5 stars