(I received a free copy of this book, through NetGalley, in exchange for a review).
(This review may contain spoilers).
While I was originally drawn to this comic book because of the cover and the blurb, I did actually find this quite hard to follow. I felt that I was only seeing part of the story and that I’d missed the whole world before the events of the plot took place.
While there were some good moments of tension in this comic book, I found there was a lack of emotional connection to any of the characters. I had, in fact, missed quite a few of the apparent twists, due to a lack of different characters being shown enough that I could differentiate them from each other.
I thought that the pain ray was an interesting idea, but I really had no idea of how it worked, or how one character seemed immune to it. According to the explanation at the end, there were characters whose roles corresponded to the zodiac signs… but I think that would have been better shown by expanding the world and the characters and making more than just one comic book. When I had to leave off reading, I wasn’t able to seamlessly slip back into the world and it was harder to pick up.
There were some nice artistic styles, though I felt there were a few random portraits that could have been placed in at the end, rather than having the more Gothic feel slap in the middle of the storyline.
I didn’t feel there was much in the way of foreshadowing and by the end of the book, I really didn’t understand what had happened. The storyline had had a lot of potential, but I felt that all fell by the wayside. While I do think there should be a sequel to this comic book, I don’t think it would be one I personally would read unless it was expanded upon. Even when the characters were hurt, I didn’t know enough about them to care… and I honestly felt that the profiles at the end shouldn’t have been necessary if the characters themselves had been developed better. In this instance, I felt the comic book suffered from too many characters.
Ink of Blood 