(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).
(This review may contain spoilers).
When I was originally contacted and asked to read this book, the fact that it was heavily based on different kinds of mythology really made me want to read it. However, now that I’ve reached the end, I think I’d give it 3.5 stars out of 5. While I did find it quick and easy to read, it hit a lot of the elements that I’m not especially keen on.
The concept of some of the gods being trapped/reincarnated/losing their powers… somehow becoming teenagers… was a really intriguing one; one that I would have liked to see explored further. While it was made clear how Set had wound up in the prison (though another scene later on raised a lot of questions about that), I didn’t know how Eris had apparently kept her abilities… or any idea of how Anubis had become Andrew. And was Tomas meant to be Loki? I found myself incredibly confused by the whole plotline with him involving Sif and Asgard.
I did think that the relationship between Kitty and Tomas was incredibly cliched. Most of the conflicts between them didn’t strike me as very realistic. I felt that the character who was the most well-rounded, at least in a way that I could understand, was Natalie. I was confused about her exact relationship to Anna, though. I’d thought that they were enemies, but by the end of the book, it seemed like they were in a relationship and… yeah. There were a whole lot of other questions.
I think this book was a bit too short. There was a lot going on, but I wasn’t given the opportunity to understand everything. And the villains did fall into the trap of the cliiched villains who only work together up until they betray each other. I did feel the previous friendship between Set and Gin was interesting and I would have liked the opportunity to see more of their past interactions… and what the whole thing with Eris was all about.
I was also disappointed to see that there was very little opportunity for the characters to grow in their relationships. Passages of time were skipped over… but there was one of those ‘instant connections’ between Kitty and Tomas that I have a strong dislike for. And I found Andrew very difficult to understand by the end of the book.
I’m not sure I’d read the next book in this series as it stands. Although there were some nice elements, there was too much that made it difficult to form an emotional connection to many of the characters… and there were virtually no surprises or twists, since everything was revealed almost at once.
Ink of Blood 