Dire Bound Book Review

Dire Bound Book Summary From Goodreads

Only the worthy survive the Bonding Trials. She’ll risk her life—and her heart—to be one of them…

Meryn Cooper has never dreamed of being one of the Bonded, the King’s elite warriors who form mental links with massive, vicious direwolves. She’s made peace with her life scraping by in poverty in the shadows of the castle. But then her younger sister Saela is kidnapped, stolen across the border by the immortal monsters her country has spent centuries fighting.

And Meryn’s world falls apart.

Desperate to cross the front and save her sister, Meryn enlists in the army—only to discover that there are Bonding Trials this year, where all soldiers are forced to risk their lives in an attempt to connect with a direwolf. It’s too late to turn back; Meryn is thrown into the deadly competition against her will.

Now, she’ll need to survive the next four months of training at the castle if she wants a chance of finding Saela. Everything here is a test, from the brutal classes where one mistake means death, to the glittering court parties where every smile hides a knife.

To make things worse, Meryn is bound to a feral direwolf who refuses to communicate. The other trainees would love to spill her common blood. And her gorgeous instructor, Stark Therion, is as malicious as the wolves himself.

Everyone is out to get her—everyone but the dangerously handsome crown prince, Killian Valtiere. But if she loses her heart to him, she may also lose her life.

And the castle is hiding dark secrets…

Fourth Wing meets The Hunger Games in dark action-packed fantasy series, perfect for romantasy fans of A Court of Thorns and Roses, The Serpent & the Wings of Night, When the Moon Hatched and Quicksilver!

About the Book and Where to Buy Dire Bound

Dire Bound was originally published with an indie publisher and is available on Kindle unlimited at the time of this post (June 2025) and book two was scheduled to be published in July 2025, but it’s since been picked up by a traditional publisher. It’s being republished August 26, 2025 which is said to include a bonus chapter from another character’s POV (I hope from Stark’s POV!).

At the time of this post there are still prints from the first run available and you can purchase them through my amazon affiliate link if you want to support this review.

I’ve already pre-ordered the UK edition that is signed and has sprayed edges from Waterstones (even though I live in the US), and if the one in the US is different, I’ll go ahead and order that one too! There is also going to be an audiobook duet, narrated by Avery Caris and Gabriel Michael.

Fury Bound, which is book 2 in the series, is set to be published on March 3, 2026. That’s also when the hardback special edition is supposed to be released in the US.

My Thoughts on Dire Bound

When I tell you I didn’t want to stop reading this book, I mean it. I was up until 3am reading and I finally had to put my iPad down when I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore! I got in a few hours of rest, and then I binged the rest of the book in the morning!

I had literally just finished Firebird the previous day and immediately started Dire Bound because it had some amazing reviews. Firebird was great and I gave it 5 stars, but holy crap, DIRE BOUND takes 5 stars to another level.

I have no idea why this book doesn’t get more hype. I’ve read a lot of amazing books this year and it’s definitely in my top 3! I need book 2 like yesterday.

It’s got direwolves, vampires, a strong FMC, a prince who is obsessed with her, and an alpha who is always glaring at her. The FMC’s sister has been kidnapped, and she enlists in the army to be sent to the front line so she can find her. However, during training, she becomes bonded to a direwolf and must complete the training before she can go on the hunt for her. 

Spoilers ahead……so stop reading if you haven’t read the book yet.

The first big twist that happens in the book, I feel you can see it a mile away. When she’s living in her small rundown house with her mom and sister, she’s seeing a guy and then once she’s bound to her direwolf and has to live in the castle, she finds out he’s not who he says he is.

While at the castle she has to spend 4 months of grueling training and competing in tests and if she fails these tests or if her direwolf fails they both will die. At the end of the book there’s another huge plot twist and a baby twist, you think you know what it is, but it’s something EVEN MORE. Like the last 150 pages so much happens that you’ll want to re-read a lot of it and try to see the signs you missed.

And you’re left on a huge cliff hanger, wanting to throw your book at the wall at what just happened.

Stay up to date with all things Dire Bound and Sable Sorensen by visiting their website.