(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).
(This review may contain spoilers).
Okay, so I did start off actually liking this book more than the previous one. Unfortunately, I had some very mixed feeling by the end of this book.
I liked how Ariana was interacting with Zane at first and it was good to see how he was trying to do the right thing. There were times that he came across a bit too good to be true, but he did make mistakes at times and he wasn’t perfect. Of course, he did kind of come across as quite whiny and I ended up rolling my eyes a lot through his part of the book.
I did find Isla to be an interesting character, despite the writing setting her up as an awful person… which was probably subjective, since Isla seemed to be a better character from Zane’s perspective.
It was fairly obvious who the bad guys were in this, which took away a lot of the mystery. And I can just about tolerate love triangles… I DO NOT like books where the main characters are basically lust objects. Or where they’re in love with someone, yet noticing how good-looking members of the opposite sex are in really over-the-top ways.
I did like seeing a bit more of Cal in this book and I couldn’t help feeling a lot of sympathy for him… even if there were times I cringed at what he admitted. I liked some of the minor characters in this book and, in particular, Deacon and Mel. I would have liked to see more of them. Unfortunately, I found Ariana to be reaching Mary Sue proportions.
Although it was interesting to see Ariana developing her powers, I also felt she made some really appalling choices. It was a shame, because she could have been a much stronger character… and there were elements of that in the first book.
I thought it was interesting to see Ariana’s connection with her mother and I would have liked to learn a bit more about that. I did think it was good to see Cal’s father come across as a bit more human in this book. Although I wasn’t sure if I trusted him, I would have liked to see more of a redemptive-arc with him.
Despite the problems I mentioned, the last line has really piqued my interest to see how everything will end. I just don’t want to see more of the same, so I don’t think I’ll be purchasing the final book.
Ink of Blood 