Ink of Blood

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I’ve read a lot of books with collections of fables and I thought it was really interesting to read a collection set in Africa. I did recognise at least one of the stories (Pendo and Prince Nyamekye) had a lot of similarities to the story of Cinderella. And Kagiso, The Princess Bride also had similarities to stories I’ve read in the past.

I liked the fact that each of the fables had a specific theme. They allowed me to get to know bits and pieces of the African culture that the fables were set in… though I was surprised that some of them had a more modern setting to them, even though they had the traditional feel of fables.

I liked the fact that a couple of the fables were connected to each other, with Nyamekye appearing as a central character in two of the fables and being mentioned in at least one of the others.

Due to the fables being so short, a lot of the development in the characters and plots were left by the wayside… but they were really quick and easy to read. I found myself quite amused by Kiburi… though I did wish a lesson had been learned by the end of the fable.

I thought that the Zuli Envy fable could have had a slightly better ending. Some of the fables just seemed to stop, leaving me not entirely sure what happened to the characters after.

I thought Nduru The Squirrel And Mboma The Snake was a particularly interesting fable. Despite the comment addressed to the reader, I didn’t really find myself leaning towards either answer, I have to say.

I thought the lessons imparted from some of the fables were particularly good and I really did like the style of writing in each of these fables. Khola The Graceful Antelope was one that I thought was particularly good at showing the possible consequences of disobedience… and there was enough left to the imagination to make it effective.

I liked the illustrations in this book and I thought they went really well with the stories. This book definitely triggered my interest in reading more fables.