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. Although not an entirely original idea, it seemed to have a more unique character. I felt a lot of sympathy for Joy at the beginning of the book and I found her a character who was easy to empathise with.

One of the biggest problems I had with this book was that it felt very disjointed. There were scenes that were set in the past and others set in the present… and it was quite confusing to suddenly end up in a flashback.

I was quite intrigued by the hierarchy in the hospital and the explanations for why they were treated the way they were. I really liked the twins as characters and it was disappointing I didn’t get the opportunity to see more of them. I was confused by just how many people there were in the hospital, though. It wasn’t completely clear how many were on each floor.

I didn’t really like Louis as a character, even though I thought it was understandable that Joy felt the need to connect with someone. I felt that, for a lot of the first part of the book, she seems very passive. It isn’t until later on in part one that she actually starts properly reacting to the situation she’s in.

I actually spent a whole lot of the second half of the book thinking that it was more of a dream world. There were some hints of foreshadowing that I felt weren’t really followed through and I kept wondering if Joy was hallucinating. I thought it was fascinating how she kept trying to imagine what her mother might be like and fantasizing about how meeting her might go.

I was a bit disappointed that there were all sorts of theories about the sickness, but nothing actually discovered. Some of the things, I found quite difficult to follow and some people’s actions didn’t make a whole lot of sense. I did find Darcie to be a fascinating character… though I can’t say I liked her.

I did like Marcus, to an extent. It was interesting to see how he kept hiding behind the masks.

I didn’t really find the ending satisfactory, I have to say. I think there could have been a lot more to the story.

I did find this book easy to read and it didn’t take me as long as I’d expected to finish. I won’t read it again… but I might check out other books by this author in the future.