Ink of Blood

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I was immediately drawn into the storyline of this book. I found Eden to be a character who was easy to relate to… though her own descriptions of herself of pretty, with no actual description, was kind of irritating.

I felt that the society of this world came across really well. There were some pretty awful things about the world that Eden and the rest of her family were in, but the sheer desperation people had to survive came across really well. Even though some of the methods they had to utilise for survival were pretty awful, I could understand how they were driven to it.

Even by the end of the book, I still had some questions about how Erasing worked. It took me a while to figure out that Erasure was a normal punishment and not just for more unusual/major crimes.

I would have liked to learn a bit more about the society Eden was in, although I did think it made sense for her not to know everything. There was a potential lead to her finding out something about her past… but considering what happened after that, it made sense she wouldn’t follow up.

I found the other characters to be really interesting, though I had some mixed feelings about Jonas. Even though he was a good person some of the time, I felt he was a bit of a jerk for most of the time. I much preferred Apollon to Jonas, since I could see that Apollon really did seem to care about the members of his family… and not just about manipulating them for his own goals.

I also particularly liked Miranda, even though there were times I felt she came across as more of a foil for Eden. Apart from Apollon, my favourite character was probably Oscar. I liked the relationship he formed with Eden.

I couldn’t really say I liked Matt as a character, even though I found him an intriguing one. I would have liked to know more about his history and motivations, but although he was ruthless and cruel a lot of the time, I felt there was more to him.

I am hoping to read the next two books in this trilogy, as well as the prequel, at some point in the future. I’m interested in seeing more of the society and the characters.

Although there were hints of a love triangle, I still found this to be an entertaining and easy read. I think it’s worth reading if you enjoy dystopian novels.