When I went to Tropes & Trifles’ second anniversary event, I picked up a few new books and a graphic novel to read. One of those books was Dire Bound by Sable Sorensen. As I was checking out, there was someone next to me who told me that they just finished Dire Bound. I mentioned how I heard it was good, and they agreed, saying it was one of their favorite books they had read recently. That’s always good to hear when you start a new book. Dire Bound was described to me as Fourth Wing meets The Hunger Games. I’d say that’s accurate. Dire Bound was a great first book to kick off this series.

Meryn Cooper is the sole provider for her family. She fights in the pits and uses her abilities to teach her sister, Saela, how to protect herself. Meryn knows about the Bonded, the warriors who are given the chance to bond with Direwolves. She hates them, thinking they are elitist and a bit too bloodthirsty for her taste. Things change when Saela is kidnapped. Meryn enlists to move to the front lines, but ends up getting a chance to bond with a direwolf. Now, Meryn has to put finding her sister on hold to face her trials and hopefully build a permanent bond with Anassa, one of the strongest direwolves of the pack. It’s life or death; without the bond, Meryn dies along with Anassa. Meryn has to open her eyes to her preconceived notions about the bonded to find her sister.

I liked reading from Meryn’s perspective. She has her flaws, which I think make her a more well-rounded character. For one thing, she refuses to acknowledge Anassa’s presence and shields herself from her, then wonders why Anassa doesn’t communicate with her. Meryn acknowledges this later and admits that she was wrong to do that. It shows Meryn coming to terms with Anassa and the permanence of their bond. I can see Meryn and Anassa becoming closer throughout the rest of the series. Meryn’s love for her sister is unmatched. I think this is where The Hunger Games comparisons come in. Meryn will do anything to protect her family by not only finding her sister but also taking care of their mother, who is plagued by visions or hallucinations. There are a lot of side characters who are a big part of the story, including Igor, Meryn’s trainer and confidant. Izabel and Venna, I love them. They are sisters that Meryn meets, and they become fast friends. All the characters make the story what it is.

With the story, I ended up predicting most, if not all, of the major plot twists. This didn’t ruin anything for me; instead, I felt validated. There was a certain character whom I immediately didn’t trust. There was something off about them. I was right! This character was awful to Meryn. There was another cliffhanger that occurred in the last ten pages or so, and I predicted that it would play out how it did. Some foreshadowing a few pages earlier made me think this was how the story would play out. This paragraph feels like a whole lot of nothing, but I don’t want to ruin the major story points for anyone.

One last thing I’ll add with Dire Bound is that I like all the extra content within the book. Towards the back are the four wolf packs and their specialties, a glossary of terms, and pronunciations of the characters. I have been seeing this in more fantasy books that I’m reading, and I like the added information! Without it, I end up mispronouncing their names in my head, and I’d rather not. It makes reading Dire Bound easy because I don’t have to remember it all, and I can page back and forth if I need to.

I loved Dire Bound, and I contemplated what to rate this. This might be a book where I change my rating later. The sequel to this book, Fury Bound, came out a few weeks ago. I have been holding off purchasing it because I prefer to read books in paperback versus hardcover. Although I’m not sure how much patience I will have and may end up caving and buying the sequel early. I rated Dire Bound four stars on Goodreads and four and a half stars on Storygraph.