Hexbound: No sense of high stakes

Hexbound by Chloe Neill

The second in Chloe Neill’s DARK ELITE series, Hexbound follows the continued adventures of Lily and her friend Scout at St. Sophia’s School for Girls, as they face both teen drama and evil magicians.

I’ve had a bit of trouble getting into this series from the beginning, but couldn’t initially put my finger on why. I got a little over halfway through Hexbound and encountered a scene that made the issue clear to me — and sapped my interest in the book. Neill tells us that the conflict between the Adepts and the Reapers is a matter of life and death, but the way these scenes are written, they don’t feel any more tense than the scenes of ordinary teenage conflict between cliques or romantic rivals. There’s not a sense of high stakes.

This scene is a good example of the problem. A ward has been tripped, alerting Scout and Lily to a pair of Reapers breaking into St. Sophia’s via the underground tunnel system. The two good girls have just dragged the two bad girls (who are “tied up” in magical restraints) back over the threshold and off St. Sophia’s property, and they’re all arguing.

Scout rolled her eyes. I raised a hand. “While we’re here, I have a question.”
”Go for it, Lils. All right, cheer-reaper and gatekeeper—“
”I’m in the band.”
”Sorry?”
”You call her cheer-reaper, I figure you should call me by my title, too. I’m in the band. I play the French horn.”

After some more bickering, Lily and Scout leave the bad girls outside the door with a flashlight to help them get out of the tunnels safely. The bad guys get indignant about the French horn; the good guys don’t even try to detain these people who mean them harm; and I’m left with the sense that neither side is taking this conflict seriously. It feels like they’re playing magical Capture the Flag, rather than fighting a secret, deadly war. At that point, I lost interest.

Neill’s portrayal of Chicago remains one of her strengths, however, and I think I’ll give her adult CHICAGOLAND VAMPIRES series a shot. I have a hunch it may feature more danger and less drama.