Warbound by Larry Correia

Most authors usually only work on one series at a time. Larry Correia is working on two separate series and both series are worth reading. Beside his Monster Hunter series, Correia also has the Grimnoir Chronicles, the latest is Warbound. This latest book finishes off the trilogy wonderfully, ending the story while leaving the readers wanting to see more of these characters. Let’s check it out.

When we left our heroes, they had just defeated the Chairman and his feared Iron Guard. Faye has increased her powers so much and has now been Spellbound. Basically she has a powers virus (for lack of a better term) that gives her access to more power than ever before, but previous Spellbounds have gone crazy from the power and were killed. So Faye is traveling secretly to meet up with Jacques, one of the Grimnoir leaders. Jacques, who had originally voted to kill Faye, realizes that the Spellbound is less dangerous if he can get her to understand the threat of Spellbound. So Faye has to travel to a zombie city to meet with a zombie who has the power for seeing the future. This could help her control the Spellbound and defeat the pathfinder or could push her over the edge of insanity.

Meanwhile, Jake Sullivan is leading a team including renegade Iron Guard Toru on a mission deep into Japan to take out the fake Chairman who is possessed by the Pathfinder. But with the rest of the Iron Guard and the crafty fake Chairman, this won’t be an easy task. Sullivan is going to have to rely on every bit of magic and strategy he knows to have a chance of success. And failure means the Pathfinder is successful and the end of the world.

There is a small subplot involving Dan and Frances in the political arena with FDR and some plans to force registration and sequestration of people with power. It’s not well-developed and should have been removed from the book. And the romance subplot with Sullivan is barely mentioned and not developed at all.

Overall, the book is extremely well done. We get multiple characters development with Faye and Toru especially. We get some interesting new characters, such as the Hannibal Lectoresque Wells, a sociopathic psychologist who Sullivan needs to figure out what makes the fake Chairman tick. The Faye and Sullivan plots diverge just in time for the big fight at the end of the book and we get an extremely satisfying ending. The book is mostly plot with some decent characterization. It does look like some plot threads were dropped on the editing floor (Dan/Frances and Sullivan romance), but they aren’t essential to the story. A well told and entertaining tale. Recommended.