(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).
(This review may contain spoilers).
Having read the prequel novella to this series, I wasn’t sure this first book would draw me in quite as completely as it did.
Even though demons aren’t terribly unique (read: at all now) in fiction, I did find this book to be a really entertaining, easy read. While there was the potential for Ashlyn to come across as a Mary Sue, I actually found her to be a likable, sympathetic character. And it was really good to see the way the book stuck to one first person POV.
Compared to the prequel, I thought this book actually contained more of an explanation about the university and how it related to the world and the characters. I think it helped that Ashlyn was ignorant about most of it.
It was interesting to see Claudia and the others through Ashlyn’s eyes. I still really didn’t like Berenice, but Howard grew on me a bit more by the end of this book. Only a little, though.
It was good to have the opportunity to see Ashlyn interacting with her other flatmates. I liked Alex, though I didn’t think Sarah really stood out on her own. I did think that there wasn’t much in the way of twists, though. There was an air of mystery through this book, but it was disappointing that it turned out to be the obvious.
I would have liked to see Cyrus and Leo interacting together a bit more, especially since they’re meant to be brothers. It was interesting to see Persephone… and also have the opportunity to learn a bit more about the different types of demons. There were a couple of frustrating scenes where I knew what was going on… but the main character didn’t.
I liked the fact that Ashlyn’s powers were different without her being ridiculously overpowered. I thought she was nicely balanced… at least in this book. I’ll reserve judgement for the later books.
I was intrigued by the hints of the history of the founding family of the town. I’m hoping there’ll be more details in later books… and I do have the next two on my Kindle, ready to read.
Ink of Blood 