Ink of Blood

(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

This book was another one that I struggled a little to get into… but once I settled into the world and the characters, I found it really easy to follow the plotline. Although there were times that the characters irritated me (no, it does not take one day to fall in love with someone), I did find myself liking them… which is partly because I have a soft spot for spaceship crews that come together. (I blame Star Trek and the Knights of the Old Republic games for that).

I liked a lot of the characters on the ship. Gari was a particularly interesting character, especially with his mutation. It was interesting to also get some background on the characters before they all came together as well.

I liked the fact that there were three novellas in this book. I particularly liked the relationship that formed between Kol-ian and Ker-ris, but I did feel that, after it formed, Kol-ian lost a lot of his strength as a character. By the third book, he seemed much weaker personality-wise than he had in the first one and I felt it was a major character change.

The different races in the book were quite interesting as well and I would have liked to see more of some of them, particularly the Felines.

I did appreciate the fact that the author made an attempt to ‘humanise’ the bad guys in the third novella. There were times I felt a bit sorry for them, even though what they were doing was awful. By the time I got to the third book, I’d managed to become fully absorbed in the world and the characters.

I did feel that there was a bit too much pairing up. By the end of the book, there was the strong implication that almost every major character was going to be romantically involved with someone. I like romance, but I don’t think every character needs to be pushed into a relationship.

I particularly liked Ker-ris’ relationship with his son, too. The children were cute and it would be cool to read a book where they’ve grown up.

I did find the book a little bit difficult to read at times. There was mixing of POVs and quite a number of errors. Even so, it was an entertaining read and it’s a world I’d like to revisit at some point in the future. Also, the character ‘interviews’ at the end were pretty cool.