(I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for a review).
(This review may contain spoilers).
Ideally, I would give this book 3.5 stars. It seemed to pick up more as the story progressed, but I did find it a little difficult to get into at first.
The blurb of this book didn’t actually give much of the story away. I did know before I started reading that this was the second in a series, but I still found this book fairly easy to read.
I did waver a bit about how I felt in regards to Ali. There were times I wasn’t quite sure what to make of her. The other characters were fairly interesting, but there were one or two occasions where Ali came across as fairly self-centred. Some of the really minor characters were intriguing, but apart from the unnamed cheerleader, there seemed to be very few students at the school.
The idea about Essence was a really unique one and I would have liked to know more about how it all worked. The Weres and Fangs were also interesting twists and, again, something that intrigued me.
I think some of the supporting characters could have been a bit better developed – in particular the fledglings. When it came to the battles, it was difficult to care about the loss of characters I hadn’t really met.
I did like Krysta and Sammael as characters. They were both ones I’d like to see more of in other books. I did like Ali and Kian’s relationship. It was nice to see there were some conflicts, which made their relationship more realistic.
I did feel some sympathy towards Dumah, though she creeps me out a lot. I was absorbed by the end of the book and I would be interested in reading other books in this series at some point in the future.
Ink of Blood 