(This review may contain spoilers).
I’ve read (and now re-read) the previous two books in this trilogy. Even after reading this one, though, I would still consider book one to be my favourite.
While I did still find this book to be really engaging and I cared about more characters than just the main ones, while I was reading this, I felt like all I was doing was waiting for the real end to come.
I’ll be honest. I liked Aries, Mason and Daniel as separate characters, but I was really off the love triangle by the end of this final book. I liked seeing the survival of the characters, but I was kind of disappointed in how many of the characters seemed unable to organise themselves. I would have liked to see a bit more of the attitude in the base, rather than just being told that all of the adults didn’t really trust Aries and the other teenagers to know what they were doing.
I did feel that the characters had become complacent. I would have liked to see more details about how the plans were made, rather than just the aftermath and what seemed like characters making really poor decisions they shouldn’t have, given the world they were in at that time. I couldn’t believe one character risked an entire mission to feed a dog. I actually assumed they were lying about it at first.
I was with Clementine towards the end of the book. I couldn’t believe so much had been crammed into a day, two at the most. The appearance of the ferals was really creepy… and that was saying something. I wasn’t sure which was the worst threat: the mob of psychos, or the Baggers still able to think, feel, reason.
I was kind of disappointed there wasn’t more of a resolution. While this book was the final one in the trilogy, I felt there was still a lot of the story to be told and not enough answers. For instance, why was Aries able to bring back a Bagger’s conscience, however temporarily? And what was the whole deal with Daniel? I did enjoy seeing the friendship growing gradually between Daniel and Mason, though.
I would definitely be interested in reading more books by this author in the future; and also any more books set in the Dark Inside universe.
Ink of Blood 