Book Review: Demon Bound (Crossroad Chronicles) by Chris Cannon

Demon Bound by Chris Cannon is a young adult novel that starts of a new series. When a summoning goes awry, book nerd Meena’s summer job suddenly becomes something drastically different. Instead of cleaning eccentric Carol’s house, she’s bound to a demon as his soul-collector. Soon Meena discovers that the boring, pageant-obsessed, bonfire-loving town that she’s never fit into is a hotbed for soul-sucking demons, demon-hunting witches, and vampires who just wanna have fun. And then she comes into her own powers. Could things get any stranger? Good thing she meets new guy Jake—who gets her and still hangs around. When Jake’s mom sends him off to his Aunt Zelda’s for the summer, he thought he’d be bored. But nothing is what it seems in this town. His aunt isn’t just odd, she’s a witch who fights demons and tries to maintain the magical balance of the town. Jake should get the hell out of there, and he would leave, except for bad-ass newbie witch Meena, who looks at him like he matters. He never counted on sticking around, but Meena’s bound to a demon who wants to destroy her soul—and Jake’s finally found someone worth fighting for.

Demon Bound is an urban fantasy with young and new adults in mind, although fans of the genre of all ages can enjoy it. Meena and Jake are multi layered characters, and I liked that they are not perfect and make some bad choices but ones that made sense in the context of the story and their individual histories. I liked getting to know the secondary characters that are family and friends to Meena and Jake, and the way bad options for good reasons is shown and expressed. I look forward to seeing some more of the secondary characters taking action and becoming even more developed.  The world building to describe the town and the supernatural dynamics was well done and balanced through out the story, showing the strengths and balance that has been created. I will say that while I still have questions about Bane and other demons, and some oft he past fights between the residents of Crossroads, the conflicts surrounding Meena and Jake were well handled and resolved. I did think it came together a bit too neatly, but I suspect in future books many things will come back into play one way or another. 

Demon Bound is a solid series starter that has the promise to grown with its characters and readers. 


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