Spellbound

Book II of the Grimnoir Chronicles

By: Larry Correia

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Audie Award, Paranormal, 2013

Dark fantasy goes hardboiled in Book II of the hard-hitting Grimnoir Chronicles by the New York Times best-selling creator of Monster Hunter International. The Grimnoir Society’s mission is to protect people with magic, and they’ve done so - successfully and in secret - since the mysterious arrival of the Power in the 1850s, but when a magical assassin makes an attempt on the life of President Franklin Roosevelt, the crime is pinned on the Grimnoir. The knights must become fugitives while they attempt to discover who framed them.Thing go from bad to worse when Jake Sullivan, former P.I. and knight of the Grimnoir, receives a telephone call from a dead man - a man he helped kill. Turns out the Power jumped universes because it was fleeing from a predator that eats magic and leaves destroyed worlds in its wake. That predator has just landed on Earth.

©2012 Larry Correia (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Great Stuff

This is the second book in a series started with "Hard Magic" and they are both very entertaining books. Larry Correia has made a colorful world full of action and drama, his characters are very likeable, his stories are action packed. In addition Bronson Pinchot is a fantastic narrator, his rendition of Sullivan practically drips with a rich southern molasses.

This book is an action/drama so if you're looking for deep philosophical musings or poetry you might want to look elsewhere, but if you're looking for non-stop fun this is a good one.

Better than the First

I really liked Hard Magic, the first book of The Grimnoir Chronicles, but this book was much better. Where Correia had to spend alot of the first book creating this world, in Spellbound he hits the ground running, and run he does. There are many questions answered, but in the vain of any great serious he leaves you with many more. The worst part about it was that I had to wait for some of my friends to finish it so that I could talk about it without being the spoiler.

A good example of how good audio can get

???You???re Heavy Jake Sullivan, aren???t you????
???Yep.???
???I was afraid of that.???

Larry Correia delivers another exciting magical alternate history with Spellbound, the second of his GRIMNOIR CHRONICLES. After Jake Sullivan and the gang took care of the German zombies, the Japanese Iron Guard, and Nikola Tesla???s peace ray in Hard Magic, the magicals are needed again to thwart new threats to the country. This is hard to do, though, after they???ve been framed for the attempted assassination of President Roosevelt. Public approval for magicals is low and opposition groups are organizing to march on Washington. FDR decides that magic must be regulated and proposes a new-deal-type law that will require all magicals to register with the government and wear an identification badge.

Meanwhile, after receiving a phone call from Hell, the Grimnoir recognize that there???s a much greater magical threat that the American citizens are unaware of. Only the Grimnoir are equipped to handle it. Frustrated, they must take care of this alien evil while hiding from the government. Fortunately, they do have some really awesome magical powers, an unexpected powerful ally, and a lot of guns.

Once again, I???m surprised to find myself enjoying Larry Correia???s testosterone-pumping, gun-toting, blood-spurting, heads-rolling story, but there???s a lot more here than guns, guts and gore. There???s a large diverse set of likeable and fully-developed fictional and real historical characters, an interesting historical backdrop, plenty of action and suspense, some blood-chilling moments, and a few quirky elements, too, such as an army of robots and a black hole.

There???s also quite a bit of dark humor, which blends perfectly to lighten the mood just a bit when things get scary. I was always entertained by the scenes in which Lance takes over the body of an animal. I also love the adapted quotes at the beginning of the chapters, which put the story in its historical context. For example, one is from the New York Commissioner of Boxing who explains how, after Jack Johnson beat the Great White Hope, they bribed a referee and snuck in a Brute to end Johnson???s career (???Gotta keep the sport pure, y???know????).

Bronson Pinchot???s performance of Spellbound is nothing short of brilliant. There???s a large international cast here and Pinchot handles all of those accents with ease. He perfectly captures the excitement, horror, and humor of Spellbound. If you don???t read audiobooks, you might consider starting with this series. It???s a perfect example of how good audio can get.

There???s danger on the horizon, American opinion about magicals is unstable (are they public heroes or public enemies?), and many questions remain about the Power, its motives, and Faye???s ties to it. I???m looking forward to the next GRIMNOIR CHRONICLES book.

Summoners, heavies, travelers, faders...

STORY (science fiction) - Spellbound is Book 2 in the Grimnoir Chronicles, and it won Best Paranormal 2013 for a reason. Larry Correia continues with the same great set of characters and places them in another extremely imaginative situation. The story is set sometime maybe in the 1940's, with guest appearances from Roosevelt and Hoover. The Grimnoir are "actives," who each have a special power like manipulating gravity, teleportation, mind-reading, etc., and they continually must battle against "normals" who feels they should be subjected to testing and their powers controlled. There are a lot of Grimnoir and I actually had trouble remembering who had what power, but then I'm getting kind of old...

In this book the normals try to pin a Presidential assassination on the Grimnoir, and they even obtain magic of their own to fight them. The Grimnoir face hideous summoned creatures, so be prepared for lots of action. But this book has lots more going on than what I'd call "mindless action." The story is great as well. The planet-jumping predator who eats magic and destroys worlds (mentioned in the Audible summary) is discovered in this book but does not appear. Probably will be in Warbound, Book 3.

PERFORMANCE - Bronson Pinchot (yes, the actor) does a great job narrating. He gives unique voices to the characters, but some of his performance was just "off" enough for me to rate him a 4 instead of 5.

OVERALL - This story stands alone, but you should start with Book 1 and meet the characters from the beginning. Recommended for teens, adults, males, females, almost any audience except children due to some offensive language and all the violence. No sexual situations. I definitely plan to continue to Book 3, Warbound, which is already available on Audible.

Incredible!

Any additional comments?

This is a great series! I stumbled onto the Monster Hunter international series which I consider to be something of a guilty pleasure. He has clearly taken his story telling to a new level with this series. I cannot recommend it enough. Lots of fun!

LOVE this series

Where does Spellbound rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the best audiobooks/series I've listened to

What did you like best about this story?

I'm a huge fan of "supernatural" stories, as well as history, the resulting historical fiction is a lot of fun. Mr. Correia has done a great job of making a very rich world for his characters to live in. I listened to the first book and was immediately hooked!

Any additional comments?

Bronson Pinchot does an amazing job in his performance, though the voices have changed a bit from the first book, I can't say enough how much I've enjoyed both entries in this series so far!

Fast Furious Fun!

Any additional comments?

Very fast paced story with many interesting characters and great narration from Bronson Pinchot. Bronson's narration made this series a joy to listen to. Fun story. Great narration. Get the series.

One of my new favorite authors.

Larry Correia is my new favorite writer. His books are full of monsters and beloved creatures of fairy tale and the tales are told with humour and intelligence. Parts of the book are refreshingly funny, and yet the story is a morality tale told buy a character you would normally presume would be on the side of the bad guys.

Great stories, I hope there are many more to come.

CORREIA + PINCHOT = AWESOME!!!

Where does Spellbound rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I have a huge audible library and rarely write reviews. I'm only writing this review because Spellbound and all of the Grimnoir Chronicles are in my top three series of ALL TIME! All of Larry Correia's books are amazing, but the ones that Bronson Pinchot narrates are the BEST!

Who was your favorite character and why?

All of the characters are so different and amazing, with great backgrounds and different talents...its too hard to choose a favorite.

Have you listened to any of Bronson Pinchot’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes I have listened to a few others and he is amazing in everything he does. However, the Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia are by far my favorites

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES! And the unabridged versions are over 16 hours! Normally I only listen to my audio books in the car since I have such a long commute each day, but I found myself bringing my mp3 playing into the house and listening all day long!

Any additional comments?

I only comment and review my absolute favorite titles...and I could make great comments on this series all day long!

Good book

Good book. Interesting ideas of how magic works and a creative plot. It's a bit dark, but not sad. I would recommend it to most people. Just not those that are too young.