Ink of Blood

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I have some very mixed feelings about this book. I was really intrigued by the plot and I thought it might be a good coming of age story.

Angevin came across as very much a wild child, vastly different to the sophisticated appearance on the front of the cover. I wavered between feeling a lot of sympathy for her and feeling that she came across as a bit of a caricature at times.

It was interesting to see Angevin’s relationship with her mother and grandmother. I couldn’t figure out why either of them kept her around, since they obviously didn’t like her at all. Dima made my skin crawl, since I thought she was strange and I couldn’t figure out what to think about how she saw Angevin. I felt a bit of sympathy for Angevin’s mother… but I thought the way she treated her daughter was awful.

I thought it was interesting to learn about the witchcraft and how it worked, though I would have liked some more details about the kinds of spells the characters were able to do. I would have liked to see more of the other witches, too, since Angevin’s mother and grandmother were supposed to be part of a coven.

I thought that Angevin was clearly very lonely. I would have liked to see more of her with her cat, since I felt that there was a sudden shift with what happened with the cat compared to the short amount of time Angevin had with her.

I didn’t really like how Angevin became when she saw Constantine. I couldn’t believe that her feelings were anything like real, because all she noticed about him was his appearance. I also didn’t like Constantine at all… and much less so by the end of the book.

I did like the idea of the shapeshifting stone and it was interesting to see Angevin’s interactions with it. I also thought it was good to see how some of the other characters viewed the stone and how much they wanted it, despite it being an illusion.

I did like that Angevin had goals to work towards outside of Constantine and I did think she was an interesting character. Despite the overall feel of the book, I would like to see more of her in future books in the series.