Ink of Blood

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I was quite intrigued by the blurb of this book and the front cover was quite appealing. I did find this book to be a really intriguing read and I liked the mix of history and modern in the book.

I did find parts of the book to be a bit contradictory in parts. I did quite like John Rose as a character, but I was a bit unsure about Tom and Jean. I did like them for most of the book, but there were some scenes where I really didn’t like them. They did things that I don’t associate with the ‘good guys’.

The characters from the past were, I felt, much more real than the characters from the present day. In many ways, I felt like the past was more real than the present. Also, although the danger felt real in the town of South Heart, it seemed less like a world-wide thing. The animals helped to indicate that the war was on a much larger scale, but the amount of people on the ‘good’ side seemed really outnumbered.

I really liked the cat and dog in this book, as well as the horse Animus. It was interesting to see how Tom had to deal with working on the ranch, since he was very much a city boy. I was quite confused about the whole thing with Gabby. I have a theory about him, but there are parts of the book that don’t back up that theory, which was one of the confusing parts.

I did like Tom’s relationship with his students and I would have liked to see more of their interaction. The rings were quite an interesting idea, too, but I would have liked to see them utilised a bit more. There were some things that I would have liked to see explored more than they were.

I did notice quite a few errors in the writing. I would have found it easier to read if some of the plotlines had been a bit more expanded.

I did care about the characters, though there were times I thought that Tom and Jean were more skilled than they should have been in fighting. I also did like the religious aspects to this book, probably unsurprisingly.

I’d likely read a sequel to this book, but I’d like to see some more things expanded upon.