Dire Bound

 I do more of a book babble than a book review. I imagine you and I sitting down together getting coffee and catching up and you asked me what I'm reading. I say "Oh, I finished 'Dire Bound" by Sable Sorenson. And then you say "oh! How was that one?" And then I say.... 

Okay, I'm gonna be honest with you my friend. I didn't love this book. I didn't hate it. But I didn't love it. I feel like my run of 5 ⭐reads to start 2026 is balancing out. I liked the pacing, it was VERY readable, and especially in the last half of the book it had that "one more chapter, just one more chapter" pull to it. And if I had read it right after Fourth Wing when I was hungry for another book like that, or if I hadn't read Fourth Wing at all, I think I would have like it more. But reading it years later when we've had so many Fourth Wing-ish books already, I just found it a bit too predictable and a bit too much reminiscence of Fourth Wing. I loved the wolves though! I just wish we'd gotten more of them. I could get nit-picky on the specific things I didn't like. But I don't want to do that. 

Instead, I want to tell you why reading this book was so much fun.
 I did this as a buddy read with @nicole.audiobookjunkie
 And even if the book was my favorite, doing it as a buddy read was so much fun. The conversations we had made me laugh and think. We were pretty much on the same page on how we felt about the book. And our shared eye rolls, trading predictions, and gasps (there are some legit plot twists) and looking up trivia on actual dire wolves and wolf pack behavior was so much fun! Honestly, doing the buddy read with her took this from a book slog to something I looked forward to every day. 

And it was a book club book at @lakecity.books They are always so much fun, and the conversations are always great. We were probably more divided on our opinion of the book that any other. But honestly, that made it so much fun. My face hurt from smiling and I was laughing so hard at some of the "but wait, think about it..." directions the conversation took. 

So my friend, all that is to say, even if the book isn't the best, reading and talking about it with friends is always the best thing in the world.