Rate: 4 out of 5 stars
(This review may contain spoilers).
After having read the previous books in this series, I was really happy to be able to read this one and see Lila and the other characters once more.
It was good to see that this book started in with the action straight away. I enjoyed seeing Felix and Deah’s relationship, but I especially liked seeing how conflicted Deah was in regards to her father and brother. Even though she was trying to do the right thing, I felt her reactions came across as quite realistic and I especially liked seeing the elements of her and Lila’s relationship.
I thought it was good to see some of the monsters that made their home in the city and in particular how Lila usedd her soulsight to ‘communicate’ with the lochness monster, who I couldn’t help but feel sorry for.
Even though there was romance in this book, I did like that it didn’t completely overwhelm the plot. It was good to see that there were other priorities as well.
It was also good to see something of the politics in this, though I would have liked a bit more expansion of the heads of the other Families. Towards the end of the book, I felt that those who had allied with the Sinclairs were grouped together, rather than individual members explored.
There was a lot of action in this book and I thought it was good it didn’t really seem to let up. I did find myself constantly on edge while reading, but I was glad to see that Lila wasn’t perfect. It was an interesting weakness that her transference power only kicked in after someone used their power and I felt it was much more realistic to have her need to flee and regroup at times.
I did care about what happened to the characters and it did feel like they were in real danger. While there weren’t really any new characters introduced, it was really good to see the ones I knew already once more, even though I didn’t get to see as many of them as much as I would have liked.
I did appreciate that there was some attempt to give Blake more depth, but it was far too little and far too late. Plus, I didn’t see much of that depth outside of Lila’s ‘instinct’.
I found this book easy to read and it engaged me really well. I’d like to see more of this world in future books.
Devon and I caught up with Felix, and the three of us headed deeper into the woods. The summer sun had set while Devon and I had been kissing, and darkness was quickly creeping over the land. We didn’t dare use a flashlight, and Devon and Felix fell back, letting me take the lead, since I could still see everything around me as clearly as if it were noon. Not only could I use my rare soulsight magic to look into people and feel what they were feeling, but I also had the much more common and mundane sight Talent of being able to see everything around me in crystal clarity, no matter how dark it was.
And the place we were going was definitely dark—the Draconi Family compound, home of Victor Draconi, the most powerful person in Cloudburst Falls, the sworn enemy of the Sinclair Family.
And the monster who’d murdered my mom.
The longer we hiked, the darker it got, and the quieter the three of us became. Even Felix stopped talking, dropped his hand to his sword, and scanned the trees around us, even though he couldn’t see through the thick fog that was slowly sliding down from the top of Cloudburst Mountain to invade the forests below. Every once in a while, I could hear the faint rush of water in the distance from one of the many waterfalls that tumbled down the mountain. The resulting clouds of mist from the falls always cloaked the top of the rugged peak, even during the brightest, hottest part of the day, but at night, after the sun had set, the fog grew thicker and thicker and sank lower and lower on the mountain.
But the white clouds did little to hide the eyes that stared at us.
Sapphire-blue, ruby-red, emerald-green. The colors were the same as all the jewels I’d stolen over the years, but these were the bright, glowing orbs of the monsters that called the mountain home—tree trolls, rockmunks, copper crushers, and the like. Some more dangerous than others, but there were plenty of monsters lurking in the trees with enough teeth and claws to make meals out of all three of us.
But I didn’t mind the cool clouds of mist, the watching monsters, or the soft, shimmering sheen of dew that covered everything. It made for better cover for us.
Because if we were caught, we’d be executed on the spot.
Ink of Blood 