Ink of Blood

I love the fact that I now have a new book coming every month…a book that I have no idea what it will be, other than the genre of apocalyptic/dystopian. Unfortunately, I missed the initial delivery of this book, so I had to avoid spoilers for what was in the box until I could get the rearranged delivery.

When I opened the box, I was immediately drawn in by the front cover. The blurb succeeded in piquing my interest even more, as I’m always kind of a sucker for reunion stories…and more so when they have an apocalyptic style setting.

The stronges part of this book was definitely the relationship between Katie and her son, Harry. However, I did feel like Katie’s decision not to tell him the real truth…and let him think there were ‘nasties’…made things so much more difficult. Children tend to understand a lot more than they’re given credit for, and what Harry’s imagination came up with was clearly much worse than the truth, given that he wasn’t that scared when Katie finally told him the truth.

I did find the constant flashbacks to before the storm a bit jarring and not really necessary. I guess those did a good job of showing that Katie was stuck in the Before and not able to embrace the new world, despite being forced to live in it…which is also understandable, since every breath she takes exposes her lungs to the toxic fumes of the air.

Katie’s struggles to breathe and her constant chest pain gave a kind of urgency to this book that didn’t really feel like it translated to the long descriptions of her driving the car along deserted roads, or walking with Harry. I felt that some parts of the book really dragged, while others rushed by too fast.

I did feel bad for poor Harry, who was wrenched from everything he knew and was thrust into a complete unknown. His reactions to being carried out of his safe space made a whole lot of sense, especially when he ended up getting motion sick from being in the car for the first time. The poor kid was actually pretty resilient, compared to how a lot of children his age would be.

I did feel that this book was pretty hopeless and depressing to read. It wasn’t easy…but that was the whole point of the book, really. It wasn’t a nice, easy read because the world the characters were in wasn’t a nice or an easy one. I just kind of wish that the multiple flashbacks hadn’t been included, as they pulled me out of the book.

On the whole, I felt this book was worth reading…but it isn’t something I would really want to read again. I recommend giving it a try, at least.