No one told me this isn't a trilogy. No one told me that I would need to wait years for the next book.

Oathbound is the third book in the Legendborn series, and I just want y'all to know now that when the next book releases, I will be sequestering myself away for at least 24 hours. Is this a perfect book? No, it feels a lot like filler and didn't bring about the same withdrawal that I had with the first two books. But I still enjoyed it, the ending has me stalking the release date for book 4, and I enjoyed the extra POVs. Of the series so far, this book is my least favorite, but I genuinely do think book 4 is going to be epic.

Bree has chosen to flee with the Shadow King in order to train in her power, leaving Sel to be healed by his mother and Nick to deal with the rest of the Order. Because of the multiple storylines, this book uses multiple POVs as well, namely Bree's, William's, Mariah's, and, on occasion, Natasia's. Usually, with multiple POVs, there's some semblance of balance between them, but I think what really ruined the pacing of the book for me was the disproportionate time spent on each POV and what plot each one handled. Most of the chapters come from Bree - which makes sense, since she's the protagonist - but they often come in large chunks, meaning the rest of the POVs are forgotten for 50+ pages or so at a time. I understand that the POVs from other characters were important for setting up the last third of the book or so, but I wanted more of them and in more than two chapters at a time. In general, I think this book also lacked some of the suspense and tension from the last book, possibly due to the disjointed narrative. It felt like there was more of a focus on developing the characters (through training/discovery of their true natures), establishing the past of the world, and introducing a few mild mystery aspects as opposed to the action/suspense from the first two books. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; it just didn't interest me as much, and I'm hoping book 4 resumes the quicker pacing. The last 1/3 of the book was, by far, the most interesting and enjoyable, but even that part felt drawn out. The last two chapters (especially just the last page) leave a lot of enticing implications for book 4, so I do appreciate that ending even though I'm mad about it.

The multiple POVs also give the reader a chance to get to know the side characters a bit more, which I found both beneficial and a bit annoying at times. First of all, not giving Sel and Nick frequent POVs. Sel does not receive any POVs and, overall, has very minimal page time. Nick has a few chapters (I think they're all in a row, and it's only, like, three of them), but he does manage to earn significant page time, especially at the beginning and end of the book. While book 2 was Sel's book, it's clear that book 3 is Nick's (and here's to hoping book 4 reunites them again). The lack of time spent on Sel probably disappoints a lot of readers, including me. I liked the extra Nick time, especially with his new reservations regarding the Order and the developments in his character as Lancelot's Scion, so I'm hoping we get more POV time from him and Sel in the next book. As for the other POV characters, I thought Natasia was a helpful character, if a bit convenient. I'm not sure how I feel about her. Mariah's POVs were the slowest for me because her chapters almost exclusively serve to further Bree's plotline, and she's also just not as interesting as the other characters, in my opinion. Since William is my favorite character, I was excited to see more of him. He didn't get a ton of page time, but I think his internal conflicts are interesting, and I'm intrigued by his dynamics with Lark. As for non-POV side characters: Elijah and Zoe were okay additions to the cast, but their change to trusting Bree so quickly felt a bit unrealistic, and I feel like we're missing a lot of backstory. Lark is growing on me; I liked Valec a bit less for some reason. I'm hoping to see more of Ava in future installations as well. And Bree? I have mixed feelings about her development because one of the main subplots for her (amnesia) felt a bit out of place, but I also appreciated her getting time to shine on her own, and I'm hoping her training makes her even more powerful as a character.

While Oathbound is a bit slower than previous books in the series and can be a bit messy with characters, it's still a worthwhile read and establishes a super exciting set-up for book 4.

3.75/5