(I received a free copy of this book, through NetGalley, in exchange for a review).
(This review may contain spoilers).
This book took me a little while to read, since I was reading it to someone… and reading out loud always takes longer than if I’m reading it in my head.
I found a lot of this book to be quite complicated. There was an awful lot happening and a lot of characters. There were times when I got a bit confused with who was who, especially with the characters who weren’t mentioned as much.
As the book went on, I found it easier to like Shen Ming as a character. Even though he became desperate towards the end of part one, I could understand the evolution of his character. And it was interesting to see glimpses of his past and personality through other characters during the course of the book.
It was interesting to see the Chinese culture and how the characters’ different beliefs affected the situations they were in. I did find Si Wang to be a really creepy boy at times. There were other times I couldn’t help feeling a bit sorry for him, but for a lot of the time, I did find that he was just a really creepy child.
It was interesting to see how things connected together through the course of the book. While I was reading it, I had no idea how events were connected in the way they were by the end of the book. I also found it interesting to read about the relationships that Si Wang formed with the other characters… even though I kept getting the impression that he didn’t really care about any of them.
I didn’t like Gu Quisha as a character at all. The way she interacted with Si Wang just seemed really inappropriate. I did find Si Wang’s mother an interesting character… even though she didn’t come across as a very nice woman for portions of the book.
I felt that this book was quite a good mix of different genres. There were parts of this book that were disturbing and other parts that were completely unexpected. The ending was kind of satisfactory… but I was a bit confused by one of the things that occurred then.
I would probably read other books by this author in the future. This was entertaining and deeply engaging and it was good to see how all of the characters were connected to each other.
Ink of Blood 