(This review may contain spoilers).
Although the last book I read by this author wasn’t quite as good as it could have been, I did find this book a lot easier to read, especially since it was written in third person.
I thought the idea of the Keeper and the Seeker was a really intriguing one, though I wasn’t sure of exactly what the rituals were all supposed to be about. The hints about the ancestor spirits were interesting, but there was very little background information on the culture. I would have liked to see a bit more of the rituals before everything went wrong.
I thought it was good to see the differences in personality between Moria and Ashyn, though when they met the older Seeker and Keeper towards the end of the book, they came across as very similar to their younger counterparts.
It was also good to have the opportunity to see the two different journeys and to see that, although Ashyn and Moria were both capable and skilled, they weren’t ridiculously over-powered and they both clearly had different strengths.
There was a lot of tension in both paths, but I liked seeing the interactions between Moria and Gavril more. It was good to see them forced to work together and I felt the mutual respect between them developed easily and naturally.
I also liked being able to see the relationship between Moria and Diago and Ashyn and Tova. It was good to see the bonds between them.
I didn’t really think much of the governor, even if some of the reasoning behind his actions was understandable. I felt there should have been more reaction to what he’d done, considering the culture held the animals as sacred.
There were a lot of really creepy scenes in this book, but it did get a bit tiresome to read how literally every single character assumed Ashyn and Moria were mistaken about what had happened to their home.
The world was a really intriguing one and I cared about the characters and plot. As soon as I’m able to afford them, I intend to buy the next two books in this trilogy.
Ink of Blood 