Spellbound

Book II of the Grimnoir Chronicles

By: Larry Correia

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

Favorite book in series.

Love this book. It really builds on the first one and takes the story in a whole new direction.

Amazing Narration - again!

I don't know how Bronson Pinchot can convince me he's a naive young woman as well as a built-like-a-rock strongman, but he does. I'm starting to see a graphic novel playing in my head as I listen to these books. Very entertaining with likable heroes and heroines. Captures the flavor of noir and includes this slightly altered version of history that I find utterly enjoyable. Bigger than life fiction to help you get through that commute or pile of dishes.

Better then book 1

Spellbond book 2 was outstanding, it takes place in the 1930s that has been changed by magic. a credit well spent!

Love these books

This book has just the right amount of fantasy and reality intertwined. Book 2 continues the epic story of Jake Sullivan. The narrator is awesome and makes it easy to listen to these books even in a single setting

Good series for people who like magic

Would you consider the audio edition of Spellbound to be better than the print version?

Writing is good and narration is great, but maybe not for those (like me) who aren't into the magical genre. My first impression is to rate it lower, but that is difficult to do honestly. I believe I had the same problem with Book1. So the real problem is likely the genre (it's not really Sci-Fi) and likely should be in the fantasy section.

One of the best narrations I've listened to

Pinchot did a phenomenal job of narrating this story and book 1. I will buy book 3, guaranteed.

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.