(This review may contain spoilers).
Short story collections tend to garner a mixture of different emotions when I read them. I did like that there was a variety of different genres, even if all of the stories seemed to have a recurring theme of death throughout.
The very first story might have actually put me off reading the collection in its entirety, if I hadn’t picked up this book as part of a challenge. I did find the style of the first story to be quite a unique one, as it made use of the second person POV, as if the main character was addressing the reader. However, most of the first story seemed to gloss over a lot of the character development and although there were hints that something horrible had happened, I didn’t really get to know even the narrator well enough to truly care about what the story led up to.
The second story was actually very disturbing to read, but it crossed very quickly from a glimpse into a serial killer’s mind to a supernatural, almost black comedy situation. And, again, there wasn’t any emotional connection for me, the reader.
The emotional connection, for me, really hit when it came to the story about the twins. I felt a lot of sympathy for the two of them and I could completely understand why things came to a head and such a drastic action ended up being taken.
The story about the soldier was one I found easy to engage with as well. I liked his interactions with Death and even though the subject matter was a really dark one, there were some nice moments of humour that did well to lower some of the tension.
Probably my favourite story in the collection was the one about the garden. In comparison to the rest of the stories, that one seemed to be more developed and although there were long periods of time glossed over, there were some very sweet moments in it.
Also, of course, I enjoyed reading the Spartan king who was brought back for vengeance by the Furies. While it was just a revenge storyline, it still kept me interested.
I don’t think I’d read this book again, but I wouldn’t mind reading more books by this author in the future.
Ink of Blood 