(This review may contain spoilers).
When I read the blurb of this book, I thought it sounded quite intriguing, even though it did make me think of the Outlander series.
While I don’t know a great deal about the historical figure of William Wallace, I did think he was a more unique person from history for Eva to meet. However, I didn’t feel that I got to know Eva very well.
I did think it was interesting that Eva was not only from Scotland in the modern-day, but that she had a major interest in history generally and, more specifically, in William Wallace. On the other hand… I did wonder why she was so willing to be away from her own time. Even though she was clearly interested, I had the feeling she had a good relationship with her parents… so it made very little sense that she didn’t even consider that she was going to be leaving them behind for so long.
I did like the opportunity to see other members of William’s rebel army and although there were a lot of secondary characters who weren’t developed, I thought it was good to see that the maturity of boys like Robbie was so completely different to the maturity of boys his age in the modern day.
I did think that William’s reactions to Eva’s belongings made a lot of sense, though I found it quite hard to really believe in their feelings for each other. Considering the time period, I felt that the relationship progressed far too quickly. Although Eva revealed bits and pieces of her past, there was very little in the way of foreshadowing and almost no culture shock.
I did find it very hard not to think of Outlander while reading this, as even though Eva was from a different time, she didn’t seem to have any problems or much questioning about what was going on. It was interesting to see that there were warnings given any time Eva came too close to changing the past… but I would have liked to get more background and if there were other time travelers.
I would have liked a more believable romance, but I did find this book entertaining to read. I don’t intend to read book two… but this one, despite some problems, was intriguing.
Ink of Blood 