I first heard of Dire Bound by Sable Sorensen from my friend at work who told me Dire Bound is being hailed as the new Fourth Wing on BookTok. But with wolves (massive dire wolves) instead of dragons. So, shall we give it a try… We had both previously read (and loved!) the aforementioned dragon book, so I was intrigued…
Opening sentence: Blood drips into my right eye.
Get ready to bond
Our heroine is Meryn Cooper, known as the Alley Cat of the Eastern Quarter, she makes her living earning money from fights. Unlike most other FMCs, Meryn is described as tall and strong. This is arguably the only time that Dire Bound goes against the grain of romantasy tropes as it is quite literally packed with them. But, I think, on purpose. Or at least that’s how I chose to read it.
It turns out Sable Sorenesen is a pen name for two authors who wrote fan-fiction and then co-wrote Dire Bound. So they obviously know their tropes, hence why I feel they must be layering them in on purpose. Sometimes it felt a bit much, but I had decided to go with the flow of it all, so embraced it!
From poverty to power
I found the world-building really well done and easy to digest here – with snippets dropped in as Meryn’s story progresses. She hails from the poorer side of town and lives with her mother and little sister, Saela.
She has a handsome and dedicated boyfriend, Lee who works in King Cyril’s castle. King Cyril commands the packs of dire wolves and the riders bonded to them. Not something Meryn has concerned herself with as the wolves only bond with people from elite families. Or do they…
The Bonded are the king’s most elite forces, soldiers who have mental bonds with massive, fearsome direwolves.
Things ramp up when Saela is taken in the night by the Siphons (vampires) so Meryn takes the only course of action she can think of: She signs up to join the army so she can be sent to enemy territory and find her sister.
Yes, Twilight fans, this is a wolves vs. vampires tale.
Siphons, our ancient, monstrous enemy from the neighbouring country of Astreona.
Once in army training, Meryn discovers she has to take part in a mandatory bonding trial to see if a wolf wants her – you can probably guess the outcome there. There are lots of trials to go through, there is an obligatory ball, there is betrayal, there are hidden ancient secrets, there are mated wolves, there is blood magic and, of course, there is the hot and moody male character.
Enter Stark Therion, Alpha of the Daemos pack. The man who physically and personality-wise bears more than a little resemblance to Xaden Riorson. Which is absolutely not a terrible thing. Stark and Meryn’s relationship is a very interesting one.
He’s as feral and dangerous as his direwolf.
Dire Bound is quite violent and gruesome in its descriptions in parts – Meryn has more bloodlust than other female characters I’ve read in the genre so far, although granted, I haven’t read a lot of fantasy / romantasy.
While Dire Bound didn’t grip me quite as much as Fourth Wing, it still kept me turning those pages and the cliffhanger it left things on (because yes, obviously it’s part of a series: The Wolves of Ruin) means I will pick up the next book. Overall, a fun reading experience with a very likeable lead character.
- Get your copy of Dire Bound here;
- Paperback published by Swiftstone Media February 2025;
- 608 pages;
- My rating:
Books on the 7:47 