Ink of Blood

(I received a free copy of this book from Corinthians Publishing, through NetGalley, in return for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I didn’t realise until I started reading this book, but I had read another book by this same author. I like to think that I go into reading books (and watching movies) with a fairly open mind – and that might be evidenced in the fact that I liked this book a whole lot more.

The blurb of this story was really interesting. Infertility isn’t something that’s really uncommon in fiction, but this book might be the first one I’ve read that also included time travel as part of the infertility thing.

Rachel was a character I found easy to relate to. She was likable, despite the fact that I thought she was a little too focused on guys. Still, I really admired the fact that she kept her main focus on the goal that had been established for her. She didn’t suddenly change partway through the book and that was something I liked about her.

Time travel is probably always something that’s going to be really difficult to work with. It can either be handled really cleverly… or really poorly. This book, I felt, was somewhere between the two extremes. I’m still not sure I totally understood everything that was going on. The ending made a bit more sense, but even though I was running through every potential twist in my mind, I actually didn’t guess at how the book was going to end.

One of the things I really liked about this book was the way Rachel immediately bonded with her new child. In real life, some people unfortunately do have a negative view about adoption, but a child is a child. Rachel’s feelings were understandable and easy to see.

I think the only real problem I had with this book was that Rachel’s time was only thirty years in the future. I actually can’t picture robots frequently used and flying cars in those recent times, even with the jumps in technology we’ve made now. (And why does everything set in the future have flying cars, anyway…?)

If there’s a sequel to this book, I would definitely read it. As for other books by this author? I’d have to judge based on a book-by-book basis.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

To be honest, I don’t tend to read poems very much. I sometimes find it difficult to relate to the style, even though they can sometimes be easier to read than narrative.

I’ve not actually read any of Aesop’s Fables, but I know one of the more famous ones. However, I could clearly see the inspiration that the original author of these fables took from Aesop, while still making these fables his own.

It’s interesting to see human emotions ascribed to animals in this. We do that quite a lot in speech – ‘loyal as a dog’; ‘curious (or clever) cat’; ‘crafty as a fox’.

I wonder, if animals could communicate with each other, what they would say. Would they be as they’re portrayed in these fables, or the complete opposite? I noticed that serpents seem constantly referred to as ‘evil’ here. Again, it’s interesting to see the human concept of good and evil used in animals when most people use the fact that animals can’t think or reason (supposedly) as excuses why they can be mistreated.

I think society, as a whole, can learn a lot from fables like these. The morals were good to read and some of them were a bit surprising – as were the endings to the stories. Not all of them, but some were a little unexpected.

The main focus on this collection of fables seems to be about greed. Misers, people wanting more than they’ve got and not being content with what they have… as true as that probably was in the author’s time, in a way, I’d say it’s even worse now. How different would our world be if people learned the lessons from these fables?

I’m not sure what I’ve written here has made a lot of sense. These fables were cleverly written and entertaining to read even now, years after they were written. This book has definitely piqued my interest in looking at other fables in the future.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I did find this book a little difficult to get into. During the first scene with Jake and Ben, I actually thought they came across as much older than they were supposed to be. Their speech was a little… strange.

Saving worlds isn’t a unique storyline, but I still found this to be a really entertaining read. When Jake and Ben go into the other world, I think that – on the whole – it is dealt with quite well. However, I do have a problem with a character who suddenly gets all of this skill and knowledge, able to wield a sword and defeat people with years of experience. In my opinion, that’s kind of lazy.

The other world they enter is quite an interesting one, with a lot of unique creatures and characters. I do think, however, there was a lot of ‘listing’ going on – a paragraph explaining all of the details of these races that probably wasn’t necessary to explain.

I particularly liked Knesh as a character and the rebel King. I also really liked Ben. I felt he was more realistic than Jake and his loyalty to his friend and then to the world was really touching.

The writing seemed a bit stilted at times. There were a lot of mentions of ‘the evil king/wizard’. Apart from the fact that villains who see themselves as evil aren’t that interesting, I don’t think it’s necessary to keep saying ‘evil’.

I did also notice quite a few errors in the writing. There was lots of random punctuation, too – three or more exclamation or question marks aren’t necessary. Even two aren’t.

I think I would like to read the next two books in this trilogy. The ending was a bit more intense than the rest of the book and despite the issues I mentioned above, I was invested enough in the characters to care about what happened to them.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I actually liked this book a lot better than the first book. I really liked the characters in this book and it was really interesting that there were good and bad people on both sides.

I particularly liked Akiva’s relationship with his brother and sister in this book. Hazael was definitely one of my favourite characters in this – I really liked the whole birds thing. And he was just pretty amusing for most of the book.

I also really liked Ziri, though I didn’t like him very much at first. He did kind of grow on me during the book, though.

I really like the whole idea behind the resurrection thing. It’s really interesting that magic takes a realistic cost – and that the cost’s pain.

I really disliked the Wolf. (I’ve forgotten the spelling of his name). And Ten. Actually, a lot of the chimera Karou resurrected weren’t very nice. There was one in particular that I was really happy to see again, though.

I would have liked to see more with the freed slaves. The characters there were really interesting and I hope to see more of them in the third book.

Some of the ending of the book was really devastating. I nearly had tears in my eyes, it was so emotional.

I found this book to be a really up-and-down read. It was almost like an emotional roller coaster. I definitely want to read the third book in this trilogy. I cared about the characters and the situations. Even though there are angels in this book, they’re different to most of the paranormal romance angels now infecting books.

I’d love to see the world they dreamed of come to life…

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I’ve read a lot of good books – and especially recently – but I don’t have too many that I want to re-read again for the first time as soon as I reach the end.

When I originally entered to win a copy of this book, I didn’t actually read the blurb. I saw the cover and the title and entered on that alone. It wasn’t until I read the blurb that I knew what this was going to be about.

This book did a really good job of pulling me in straight away. I personally found that the characters were interesting, each with their own quirks and strengths and weaknesses. One of the strongest points of this book is the allowance of consequences – when the main character gets tired, he makes mistakes. He’s skilled, but not unbeatable.

I don’t often think this about books, but I honestly feel that this one in particular would make a really good film, provided the storyline and characters were stuck to. There are some scenes in this that would be really good shown visually. And it would be pretty cool to hear the songs sung. (I had a tune for the caravan song in my head, though it’s obviously not the right one…)

I felt that the descriptions in this book came across really well. I was able to picture the events happening fairly easily in my mind. There were also some things that did make me smile. The main character’s personality came across really well. I felt for him with the glimpses shown of his past and I’ve always liked the true hero character type.

I do think that there were some convenient things in the plot. It was a bit difficult to know how one character in particular could prepare for all of these different eventualities. That didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the story, but I would have liked a bit more explanation of it.

I think Kest was probably my favourite character in this, apart from Falcio. I would have liked to see a bit more of him.

This book, according to the blurb on the back, is the first in a series. I would definitely be interested in reading the next books in the future.