(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).
(This review may contain spoilers).
There’s kind of a funny story behind winning this book in a Goodreads giveaway. When I was looking through the books to enter to win, I saw this one… and I saw the prequel (which I have read). But I didn’t clock that this one was the sequel to the one I’d previously read and enjoyed. It wasn’t until my win was confirmed that I realised.
Anyway… it was really good to return to this world. What was interesting was that there were very few new characters introduced. Almost without exception, I felt like I was meeting a group of friends again. There were times I felt fully immersed in the action… like a part of the world. That’s a feeling I don’t often get now, but it’s nice when I do.
Despite my personal dislike for love triangles, I did find the one in this book bearable. I won’t say I liked it – love triangles are so over-used now, the presence of one is a red flag for me – but it was good to see that the love triangle didn’t take over the book; and the characters’ feelings seemed real and easy to understand.
I think I liked Mai a bit more in the previous book. In this one, his personality seemed to keep changing. It was really good to see politics used in the Guild. The danger the characters faced seemed real and kept the book intense… but a lot of the casualties were unnamed characters, which made it harder for me to care about them when they fell.
I liked the descriptions used in this book. I especially liked the fact that, in my head, I could picture Mai and Kara fighting side by side.
I particularly liked Celana and Ellah and I would have liked to see more of Kyth’s foster brother in this book. I also really liked Kyth’s evolution through the course of the story and I felt he’d really grown as a character by the end.
If there’s a third book in this series, I would definitely be interested in reading it. I got pulled into this world and it would be really good to see where the author takes it next.
Ink of Blood 