Ink of Blood

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I’m going to start off this review by saying that I really wanted to like this book. The front cover was incredibly cool and I really liked the blurb of the book.

I had a few issues with Stephanie. When she wasn’t around the boys (plural. Because there wasn’t just one love interest), she was a fairly interesting character. I liked her power and it was interesting to see the way it developed over the course of the book.

I didn’t feel there was much effect shown from her past. Someone who is closed off from all physical contact and kept inside a tiny closet for most of their life probably shouldn’t be as comfortable and well-adjusted as Stephanie is. I would have liked to see more of the issues that she probably would have and not just in that she lacks a lot of intelligence. The only real problems she seemed to have was a complete obsession with guys. I’m not sure how many, exactly, she was attracted to… but there were quite a few.

I really liked Kyan and I did like his interactions with Stephanie. I also liked the fact that he was stubborn and determined to learn how to protect himself, to the point that there was a very serious match. And it was good that he was looking out for Stephanie, even though he was technically the child.

The different powers the synergies had were really interesting. I would have liked a bit more information about how the different kinds of powers manifested and the whole thing with the Fiends. It was also cool to learn about the different levels and I would have liked to see more of them.

I found Steel a really intriguing character… right until he also started showing an unhealthy obsession with Stephanie. I was disappointed not to see more of Holly in the book. She was quite intriguing with her abilities, but there wasn’t much shown about the difficulties she and others had to deal with.

I wasn’t too keen on the first person perspective, mainly because I felt it showed Stephanie as quite conceited. (I kind of ‘lost’ some of my like for the story when she described herself as luscious…) Also, there was a lot of, ‘[Insert character here] thought this’, which… well, she wasn’t a mindreader.

I don’t think I’ll read a sequel to this. I really did want to like it, but I found it really difficult to like and I think there were a lot of issues left out that should have been dealt with.