Book Review: Direbound by Sable Sorenson
Published: February 26, 2025
Series: The Wolves of Ruin
Genres: Adult // Romantasy
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Quick Thoughts: Direbound did everything right. It layered on popular romantasy tropes while still making the story feel entirely new. And the romance? Chefs kiss. If you’re a fan of romantasy, this is a must read.
-
Death of a parent
Grief
Mental Illness
Graphic Violence
Self Harm
Torture (Side Characters)
War (minor)
-
Love Triangles
Military school setting
Found Family
Betrayals
Secret Royalty
Fated Mates
Deadly Trials
Talking Animal Companions
Secret Relationships
Characters with Disabilities (side character)
ABOUT THIS BOOK
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!
INITIAL REACTION
Tell me to describe my ideal book to you, and it's this. I've thought about it every. single. day. since I finished.
MY REVIEW
If you're a fan of Fourth Wing or Spark of the Everflame, stop what you’re doing and pick up Direbound. This was good and impressively written for a debut novel. Yes, it borrows heavily from popular romantasy elements, but the execution elevates familiar tropes into something that feels fresh.
However, if you're looking for something completely new or not trope heavy (they're layered on thick here), then this book may not be for you.
The plot hit every mark. The entire narrative is driven by Meryn's desperation to save her kidnapped sister. Lately, I've read a lot many books where the goal is to "save the world" so this felt refreshingly personal. The pacing was perfection. The first half establishes the world and the stakes, but the last 25% was pure adrenaline. The plot twists that landed felt earned, not thrown in for shock value.
The writing is balanced perfectly between accessible and sophisticated. The dialogue between characters is loaded with tension. The direwolf bonding system is particularly well-crafted, with clear rules that create genuine stakes.
Meryn annoyed me at times because she was *too* self-assured and proud to trust people around her. However, her behavior and mistrust made sense in the context of having only herself to rely on for most of her life. She starts off as a scrappy street fighter, but throughout the book she learns that physical strength is not the only kind of power. She gained more emotional intelligence as we got further into the book. Her character development was slow, but I think that is way more believable. I'm excited to see how she grows throughout the series.
Last but not least, this book knows what it's doing in the romance department. The slow-burn, love-triangle elements are expertly paced with stolen glances and charged conversations that build anticipation without feeling drawn out. The spice levels are steamy without overwhelming the plot. And Stark 🥵 mysterious, slightly dangerous, and a little mean. That's all I have to say.
If you're here for deadly trials, morally complex characters, found family dynamics, and romance that makes you want to throw your book across the room (in the best way), this delivers on every front. I'm already counting down days until book two.
Check out this review on Goodreads or Storygraph.
Happy reading!
Kim
DIREBOUND FAQs
Some of the answers may be spoilers if you haven’t read it already. Proceed with caution!
-
Yes, Direbound is the first series in the Wolves of Ruin Trilogy.
-
As of the writing of this post, Fury Bound, the second book in the series, will come out on May 5, 2026.
-
Yes, Direbound is spicy. There are multiple spicy scenes throughout the book that go into explicit details.
The spicy chapters are:
Chapter 3 (steamy kissing scene)
Chapter 5
Chapter 26
Chapter 29
Chapter 34
Chapter 39
Chapter 50
-
Yes, Meryn finds Saela in Direbound but the book leaves Saela’s fate open ended in a cliffhanger.
-
At the end of Direbound, Meryn is bound to Killian by a magical bracelet, but the story also hints at a future with Stark.
The irresistible bond between their Direwolves suggest, that Stark and Meryn’s bond will likely be explored in the next books.