Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

I wanted to like this book. I really did. The blurb was a really intriguing one and the book started out quite strong as a different version of the Arthurian legends.

One thing I really liked about this book was the different types of magic that existed in the world, but the information revealed about those types was dumped in the narration all in one go, rather than shown gradually throughout.

The background of Gwydion could have been interesting, but there was too much hinting and not enough detail about the reasonings behind his hangups. Plus, it seemed like his hangups came and went as it fitted the plot. And apparently, many people didn’t actually like him… but that was stated and not shown throughout.

I felt the strongest part of this book was the dreams and the relationship between Gwydion and the previous dreamer. However, even that slightly more interesting relationship suffered from telling rather than showing.

The statements about the High Kings being betrayed would have been indicative of a good plot point. However, especially towards the end, that was rehased so many times, it lost its effects. Or any mystery in the book. After all, betrayal hits so much harder when you don’t know it’s coming. And it was kind of irritating to have the stories of said betrayals told and then reiterated through the visions. Maybe if the visions had shown the stories passed down were inaccurate… but that wasn’t the case at all.

Too much of the story was told through dialogue and there wasn’t enough shown of the characters and their relationships to each other. There was no sense of urgency until right towards the end of the book. And there were too many characters. Even Gwydion’s relationship with his daughter didn’t feel real, as they had exactly one interaction with each other shown.

All told, this book was a really disappointing read. There was so much potential that was wasted. I won’t be reading the next book/s in this series.

(This review may contain spoilers).

Having read the previous two books in this series, I was very happy to read this book.

The storyline in the green forest felt more real to me than the one in modern-day Earth, I have to say. Even though the danger in both realities was intense, I was able to engage with the green forest storyline more, especially since the danger had a more physical form. Plus, it was interesting to see the contrast between Elyon (Justin) and his plans for Chelise and what Teeleh wanted. I did, however, have a major problem with how the Circle referred to Chelise’s people. Yes, it made sense that there would be hostility and conflicts. But for the followers of Elyon (God) to use terminology like ‘whore’… really didn’t sit right with me.

While there were some instances of information dumping/summarising of interactions between Thomas and Chelise, it was good to see how both of them grew to know each other and how their relationship developed over the course of the book. Plus, there was a lot of angst in this book that made it really quite intense to read at times.

I thought it was good to see Johan’s opinion of the Horde, but what was also particularly intriguing to see was how the Horde viewed themselves. It made little sense to me for them to insist on keeping the society the way it was, particularly when it came to Ciphus. After all, he was part of the forest guard in book two and in this book, he seemed to have lost his way entirely…but he didn’t realise exactly what was wrong with him. I actually had a lot of sympathy for Ciphus and Qurong and the rest of the Horde who were blinded by the disease.

I did think that the blank books disappearing seemed to be a bit too convenient for the plot. And then again, they were also convenient for the beginning of the book. It would have been more interesting for Thomas to figure out a way without having had said way effectively handed to him.

I was disappointed not to see Thomas really interacting with his children…and while I’ve yet to read Green, I can kind of understand why Samuel went in such a different direction. But I still plan to read Green…and the Lost Books. Because this book wasn’t perfect, but it was still a thoroughly enjoyable read as far as I was concerned.

(This review may contain spoilers).

When I first read the blurb of this book, I found it a really intriguing idea. But I felt like I was thrown into the middle of a storyline and had even less knowledge of Bayne than Bayne even had of himself.

I felt it was a pity this book wasn’t longer, as there were hints of a strong fantasy world with its own mythology. Bayne was an interesting character, as he was much darker than most fantasy heroes I read about. At the same time, I couldn’t really get to know him. It was difficult to form a connection to him, as even though he wasn’t born in the conventional way, I had the feeling he was still a blank slate with very few real morals. It could have been interesting to see the journey of Bayne as he became a person outside of the violence that so defined him in his first creation.

It did seem like there were some lessons to be learned during the course of the climb, but I didn’t feel like Bayne really took any of that in. He made decisions and took actions that quite often didn’t have much motivation behind them. It seemed strange that so many people chose to try and kill a man who had killed so many people in return.

The ending of the book was, I felt, quite anticlimactic. While it is the first book in a series, I felt that the main character lacked much depth. He was a different type of main character in this fantasy world, but although he was an active character, he also came across as kind of passive. He reacted when other characters threatened him, but there were very few actions outside of violence that he took. I wouldn’t have called him a neutral character. And by the end of this book, there seemed to be good and evil with very little depth to them. That can be done well sometimes, but not when the ‘evil’ characters have no depth and call themselves evil.

I would be likely to read more books in this series if they were longer and allowed me more than a glimpse into a world that has a lot of potential to it. I would have liked a bit more detail and some more detailed characters.

(This review may contain spoilers).

The majority of this book took place over twenty-four hours, but there was a lot happening over that time. It was really good to see many of the characters from the previous books in the series. I especially liked seeing how Molly had changed from the previous book to this one.

My favourite part of this book was the relationship between Harry and Thomas. While there was an element of information dumping to it, I really liked the banter between them when it was shown. And it was nice to see a more human side to the characters like Mab.

There were times I felt this book was a bit too much at times. It was good to see Harry having to battle against the mantle that was the Winter Knight…and although it was difficult to see, I liked being able to see Fix and Lily, despite having the idea that both might morph into the same personality their predecessors had.

I really didn’t like Maeve in this book, even though it was interesting to see something of the different figures from mythology crop up in Winter’s Court. Kringle had an especially unique twist to him.

I particularly liked seeing Toot and his interactions with Harry made me giggle. It was also incredibly sweet to see how loyal he was to Harry, even if the rest of his little army was really more concerned about being fed pizza.

I was a bit disappointed not to see anything of Lea, even though she kept being mentioned. While Lea isn’t a ‘good’ character, I definitely found her to be an interesting one.

One of my favourite things about the Dresden Files is the fact that Harry, despite being a wizard, is still human. He gets knocked down and picks himself back up again. That was very evident in this book. Even though he had more power, there was always someone bigger and better.

I did find myself getting frustrated with Harry at times and while there were some good elements of pop culture, I felt there were certain occasions where those weren’t really appropriate. I did recognise there were differences in Harry’s behaviour, but I liked seeing him fight and refuse to become a monster.

I have the fifteenth book in this series and as soon as I get the chance, I will definitely be reading it. This is one of my favourite book series and I’d love to see more of Harry and Thomas interacting especially.

(This review may contain spoilers).

As a Christian, the very first time I read this book, I was excited by it and engaged with it. Reading it again now, though….

The idea behind this book was an intriguing one. No one knows what heaven could be like and while it might be a fun concept to imagine, the chances are heaven in reality will fall thousands of miles short of even the most vivid of imaginations.

While the book was inherently quite powerful, with a strong message, I did think it came across as a bit preachy in parts. The concepts are fairly sound, but the Bible verses indicated by the passages don’t really say anything more than what’s already stated in the book. Certainly not in the kind of language a young person might want to read off their own back. It would be better if the book contained a bit more mystery; hinted at stories and parables in the Bible, rather than outright stating everything. After all, the point behind the book was to engage with people who aren’t Christian.

The idea of the three types of people being judged and two of them as Christians was well-written, even though the characters themselves seemed to just be mouthpieces. Rather than characters readers can identify with, they were just used to identify three types of people in the Bible.

I couldn’t really say this book would resonate with people who aren’t Christians and who don’t have any background in Christianity. The character who wasn’t a Christian was fairly stereotypical and there was really more of a sense of ‘deathbed confession’ about him. And all three of the characters decided to list ten points in the exact same way, instead of considering indicating those points in a more intriguing way. The points in bold really weren’t necessary, as they could have been emphasised in different ways.

I would say that this book might do better as part of a discussion/reading group. Maybe as part of an ALPHA course. The questions at the end of the book fit in well with that…but again, I would say it would appeal more to those already curious about the Christian faith.

(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.