Ink of Blood

(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I made the mistake of having this book out in my room, a fact that immediately drew comments from my thirteen-year-old brother. (Teenagers…)

Although this book had very little by way of actual plot, I did find it fairly easy to read. The use of first person worked particularly well in each of the stories – and I felt that the narrator of the third story came across really differently to the narrators in the first two stories.

The first story was particularly intriguing because of the use of an angel in it. There were some hints of further consequences that the angel would face and I think that that would be something that could be explored further if the author ever chose to look at expanding the short story into a novel. Still, it does work quite well on its own.

Although each of the three stories are quite similar to each other in the case of wording, I felt the slightly different plots came across really well. I did, however, feel that some of the language was a bit crude and juvenile at times. (I’m not sure why, but there are certain words that start making me giggle when I read a book with erotic scenes in it).

The second story was… interesting. It’s not the sort of thing I personally would be turned on by, but I could appreciate that the narrator found it all a turn-on. I was left very confused by the end of it, though. I’m still not sure if there was a relationship involving the four of them or if I’d completely misread that.

The third story was an interesting exploration of desires and the gradual forming of a relationship.

I would perhaps like to see the stories further expanded, so I can get into the heads of the characters better.

(I received a free copy of this book from Patchwork Press, through NetGalley, in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

So… I was really intrigued by the premise of this book, even though – being a Christian – I felt somewhat guilty for being so.

I didn’t have much trouble thinking of this world as a completely different one, though. My suspension of disbelief worked well enough that I found myself quite entertained by this book… even though I do think that pretty much all of the characters came across as masochists.

There was a bit of plot in this book, but most of it was about the different characters sleeping together. (I was half-expecting there to be an orgy by the end). The book became a bit more tense by the end and I found myself avidly reading, waiting to see what would happen to the characters.

The way the different characters related to each other came across quite well. Although I did feel like I’d been thrown in at the deep end of the world, I was quickly able to understand more or less what was going on.

I do think a bit more background would have been good in this. I kept getting somewhat confused about some of the characters who had similar names. (Why is he now fighting for the bad guys…? Oh, wait…)

The ‘good guys’ had fairly interesting back stories, but I felt that only one of the bad guys had a back story that was expanded upon. I’ve mentioned before that my favourite types of bad guys are the ones who have good reasons for doing what they do. I… didn’t really see that here. The bad ones were definitely bad with little that was redeeming about them.

For the most part, the book was really well-written, but there were parts I actually cringed at reading. I understand the pleasure versus pain thing, but not so much the pure-pain angle. (That does link to an earlier comment).

I think I would read a sequel to this book, especially if the cliffhanger it was left on is dealt with. The concept of good and evil is reversed, though, so not everyone will enjoy this book.

(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I did have a bit of a false start with this book – probably because I tried reading it after less than five hours sleep and therefore failed miserably to get very far in.

I think I made up for that today, though. I found this book really easy to read and although there was quite a lot of switching between POVs, I was able to like and care about the different characters.

I felt that the main characters were well-written and well-rounded, but there were an awful lot of sexist jerks. Some of the behaviour, I couldn’t believe certain characters were able to get away with.

The mystery in this book worked pretty well and there were quite a lot of things I didn’t see coming. I did find myself getting a little bogged down at times, though.

I think the POV switching towards the end didn’t work very well. There were chapters made up of only a few paragraphs and those were a little frustrating, because it kept taking me away from the action I wanted to read more about.

Kees was a character I wasn’t quite sure about. I didn’t like him for a lot of the book, but by the end, he was starting to grow on me a bit.

I felt the author did quite a good job of linking together the different mysteries and I could see a lot of the book’s events happening in my mind. I think I’d be interested in reading more books by this author in the future – and especially more books involving the characters in this one.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I do like things to do with superheroes. Costumes are great. Masks are even better.

I didn’t realise, when first requesting this book, that it was the third in a series. I still found it fairly easy to understand, though. There was some confusion a few times with the different characters, but for the most part, I understood what was going on.

Although the plot of this story wasn’t really an original one, I felt that the characters (at least the heroes) definitely made this book worth reading. I even felt some sympathy towards Harlan… at least for a part of the book. (Part of me wonders if he could have turned out differently, if he’d had a bit more attention – of the good kind).

I really liked the idea of the parahumans, but I would have liked a bit more background/history of the origin of the powers. Why do some people develop powers and others don’t?

One of the other things I really liked about this book was how human the characters came across as. And being superheroes didn’t necessarily mean they were nice people. (I’m looking at Javelin here. I seriously wanted to punch him. I can’t imagine how the other characters held back).

I especially liked Imp. There was one line in particular that startled a laugh out of me. And, besides, I particularly liked her power. It maybe wasn’t the sort one might think a superhero should have, but it certainly came in handy.

I particularly liked Gretchen and Stan. I really felt sorry for Gretchen, but it seemed she came into her own through the events of the book. And Stan was the classic nice guy. I found their relationship really believable.

I have some mixed feelings about Faith. I liked her for some of the book, but I don’t agree with some of the things she did.

I would have liked to see a bit more of some of the other characters. I’d definitely be interested in reading more of this series (despite the bittersweet ending of this book) and I do recommend it for a well-written superhero read.

(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

This was quite an interesting book to read. I was intrigued by the start of the book and I thought it was pretty cool how the beings were animals in the first scene, though I’m still not completely sure I understood what was going on at the start.

The characters in the book were, for the most part, well-written and well-rounded. I wasn’t so sure about the aliens, though. The scenes intermixed with the situations happening on Earth came across really well, but I did get a bit confused at times. There was quite a bit of switching between POVs and sometimes, the scene changed without any warning.

The two different worlds were fairly easy to follow, even though there was constant switching between the plots. I did really like the idea behind the Sphinx and the different gods, though I was still somewhat confused by the end of the book.

The idea of being judged is one that’s prevalent in a lot of different religions. I thought it was interesting how it was handled in this book. I felt the author did a really good job of showing how the beliefs of people changed depending on the passing of time and other factors.

I like the idea of reincarnation and I would have liked to see more of it in this book than was shown.

Benben and Bulbul were fairly interesting characters, but by the end of the book, I wasn’t really sure what to make of them. They seemed much more villainous than how I’d first perceived them and they weren’t really ‘balanced’.

The science and magic mixed really well in this book, though I would have liked a bit more explanation as to how certain things were possible. I liked how this book ended, but I would have liked to know more. In some ways, I think this book was ended at the closing of one chapter in the universe – and that there’s more of the story that could be explored.

I would be interested in reading more books by this author in the future. This was an interesting, entertaining read in a world that I’d like to see more of.