(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).
(This review may contain spoilers).
Although I did end up enjoying this book a lot, I found it a bit hard to get into at first. The main characters were interesting, but I felt like I was missing a lot of the previous story and the explanation about how the Sandrat and Voyageur became friends/travelling companions.
I thought it was interesting to see the things that were in the characters’ heads, talking to them, though I would have liked to see more explanation about the beings(?) in their heads. Meemi’s interactions with the Sandrat did make me smile and it was cool to see how they were able to communicate with each other through the things that talked to them.
It was interesting to see the Sandrat talking and bantering with his enemies. I felt his skills and experience came across really well. And it was also good to see that Voyageur was good at acting calm and rational. I would have liked some more details about the friendship between them… as well as about the world they found themselves in.
I did find myself getting confused about some of the characters. When the Sandrat talked about the history of the god, I found that really intriguing… but I was confused as to why he had appeared so vastly different to what the Sandrat’s explanation was.
I liked Ator and Rota. I would have liked more details about their history and how they related to the garden. It was good to see how Ator interacted with the others… but by the end of the book, I was left with a lot of questions rather than answers.
There was a good amount of action, though I felt the bad guys were a bit too one-dimensional. It was hard to see them as well-rounded. Breddick was annoying… and I didn’t really get enough information about his children to be able to differentiate between them.
This book was long, but it took a while for the title to become relevant. I was intrigued by the characters and their situation. In the future, I’d like to see more of both the Sandrat and Voyageur.
Ink of Blood 