Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

Before buying this one, I read about three of the novellas of this series… and despite reading them very much out of order, I found myself drawn really easily into the world and the characters, so I was happy to be able to read the whole serial.

I really liked the opportunity to learn the pasts of the different characters with each short segment. By the end of the book, I had no real idea what to think of Proctor and I was left with a whole horde of questions, even though there were a couple of answers given.

I would have liked some more detail about what exactly Ryan remembered of his past with the other crew members of the Survivor, though I did really like seeing his interactions with them… especially with Jabo. I would have liked more detail on them, especially as I wasn’t really sold on Maria by the end of the book. While I had a lot of empathy for her as a child, I didn’t really like her as an adult by the end of the book.

I found Ai to be the most interesting character. I thought it was interesting to see the parts of the story from her POV and it was good to get some idea of the events that had shaped her as an adult. Plus, I felt one of her weaknesses gave her a lot more depth.

I thought it was interesting to see the different gifts and abilities the characters had and to learn about how each of them gained those abilities. It was also good to see them using their abilities after they reached the planet.

I did find it interesting to learn, along with the characters, where they’d landed. There was a lot of mystery and tension surrounding the place the characters found themselves in… but there wasn’t a lot of time to relax and really absorb what was going on, or to put together many of the clues provided.

The beginning of the book was tense enough to pull me in straight from the start. I would have liked this book to be longer, though, and to be able to learn more about the events leading up to the crew and why Ryan was the only one who retained any memory.

I would really like to read the second serial. Unfortunately, as it’s in German (and I don’t know any other languages), I’m currently being disappointed… as I would jump at the chance to see more of this world and the characters.