Ink of Blood

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

This book was actually shorter than I expected… more of a short story than a novella. I still found it quite interesting, though.

I was really unclear about exactly what the society was like that Carus and Mitch were in. While it was clear they were hiding from something… I really couldn’t figure out what it was they were sheltering from.

Parts of this story read very much in a more surreal way. I thought perhaps that one of the characters had descended into insanity by the end… but even reaching the end page, I understood very little about what was really going on.

It was good to see the relationship between Carus and Mitch. I was intrigued by the fact that the names didn’t seem to be their real names… that raised more questions than answers, too.

I didn’t really get a good image of the house the sisters were staying in. While it was apparently boarded up (and probably really dark), it didn’t really feel like that. It would have been good to see more of how the two of them were able to feed themselves and cope without any kind of electricity. I would have liked to know what the scratching sound actually was… if it was only in their heads, or if there were others outside.

I thought the fact that Carus’ and Mitch’s relationship grew strained towards the end came across really well. I thought Mitch was written really well for the age she was and there were times I felt some sympathy for Carus… even though I have my own theories for what happened at the end of the book.

I was intrigued by the mentions of Jom, though I wasn’t sure what kind of a person he was, since I didn’t get a chance to see him or get to know anything about him other than what Carus and Mitch said and what was written on the notes.

I did find this book really quick and easy to read. In the future, I would definitely be interested in reading more books by this author. This has a creepy atmosphere and is well-written… even without many questions being answered by the end.