(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).
(This review may contain spoilers).
I felt this book was a particularly intriguing one. When I first read the blurb, I found the idea of humanity trying to survive in the face of utter slaughter of women and children a really interesting one. Also, the book had time travel… and to the Dark Ages, which I feel is an interesting period of our history… perhaps because so little is known about that time.
I got pulled into the plot pretty much straight away. Even though I got a bit confused with some of the characters at times, I still found this really easy to follow. There was a lot I liked about this book.
I was particularly drawn into the plot when the characters went back in time. The differences between the two different times were really obvious and I felt the author did a good job of showing the contrast. I was a little confused about how the computers were able to run, though, when they went back in time.
I also felt the author did a really good job of showing the different characters, both in the men who went back in time and in those people from the past. There were some parts in the past that were brutal… but then again, humanity has always been capable of hideous atrocities.
One of the things I found really intriguing was the ‘Americans’ attitude towards women. The way they treated and looked at them was really quite moving and I felt that made sense, given what they’d experienced before.
There were quite a lot of the characters I liked in this book… and a fair amount that I hated. I did get a bit confused with some of the names at times… there were too many that began with ‘E’.
I really did care about what happened to the characters and I could realistically get behind the romances, even if I felt there was a bit too much ‘pairing off’. At times, there did seem to be a lot of glossing over of various events, but Matt and Ellyn’s relationship was one I could really get behind.
The book itself was really well-written and I was drawn really easily into the world and its characters. If there was a sequel to this book, I would definitely check it out. And I wouldn’t be averse to reading other books by this author in the future.
Ink of Blood 