Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

I really liked the concept behind this book, being someone who has enjoyed making up stories and fantasy worlds from a really early age.

I would have liked a bit more detail of the differences between Tamarisk and Earth. While Tamarisk clearly had some fantasy elements, there were also parts that matched modern-day Earth. And while there had been some thought given to the science behind things, I would have liked perhaps some flashbacks to Chris and Becky telling the stories to each other. Seeing the strain in their relationship in the present day would have been more poignant if there’d been more showing the contrasts between their relationship in the past and their relationship in the present.

While it was easy to see the tension between Polly and Chris, I felt there was too much in the way of information dumping in regards to the other characters. For instance Lisa, who seemed to be good friends with Chris and who knew Becky… but had little to no interactions with her.

The already-established relationships were actually quite easy to believe, but I thought that the friendship between Miea and Becky was glossed over and didn’t feel that real. Most of the travels to Tamarisk were just glossed over; and there was little to no foreshadowing about what Becky was seeing when it was shown. By the end of the book, I had very little idea of just how much time had passed.

I did figure out the exact cause of the Blight before it was revealed and I found it quite strange that the characters didn’t figure it out for a long time. When it was realised, it didn’t really feel all that satisfactory, as said realisation was glossed over and not shown.

I liked being able to see different parts of the world and something of the animals that existed, but there were some things that weren’t really explained away; for instance that Miea remembered animals that had disappeared while no one else did. I was also disappointed that the forays into Earth weren’t really explored.

I don’t think I’d read this book again, but it was entertaining to read the first time. I think there were some things that could have been expanded upon further.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I’ve always enjoyed reading books by this author and this one was no exception.

I really like Eve Dallas’ character and I especially enjoyed seeing her relationship with Rourke. While I did think there was a bit too much summarising of past events, it was good to see bits and pieces of her past. And I thought there were some really good moments between her and the other characters. It was good to see her interactions with Peabody and there were a few scenes I found myself smiling at their exchanges.

I really liked seeing the setting of the world and how it imagined the future to look like, especially with the use of the droids and the fact that coffee was a shortage.

The thriller type aspect of this book was really creepy even from the start, but I felt that it was spoiled somewhat by the constant switching in POVs. I would have liked to see the book entirely from Eve’s perspective, rather than have it switch over to provide some red herrings.

Right from the start, it was good to see something of how Eve relaxed, if one could term it that. And it was good to see the mixture of science fiction with the murder aspect. And I especially liked that both Eve and Rourke still seemed to have hangups, even though they were clearly happy and very much in love.

I did think there were times when Eve’s actions contradicted each other. That wouldn’t have been such a bad thing, but I wasn’t sure exactly where she drew the line.

I also liked that, along with trying to solve the murders, it felt like there was a lot more going on personally with the characters. I have to be honest, though, and say that Mavis annoyed me a bit by the end of the book. I felt like she was a bit over-the-top and didn’t really seem that sincere.

I did feel like there were a few instances of telling rather than showing when it came to relationships between Eve and some of the other characters. But this book did draw me in and kept me reading throughout. I enjoyed the world and getting to know the characters and I would definitely be interested in reading more books in this series in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I’d give this book 3.5 stars out of 5. As I recall, I liked the first one a whole lot…but this second book kind of strayed away from Alanna’s desire to be a knight and focused far more on forcing a love triangle. While I did enjoy seeing her interactions with the other characters, especially Jonathan and George, I would have preferred the friendship building to forcing romance.

It was interesting to see something of Roger’s machinations, but because the book switched between POVs, there wasn’t really much in the way of surprises. And some of the more minor characters seemed to get left by the wayside.

One of the main things I liked about this book (and the first one) was that the role of a knight clearly wasn’t glamorous or easy. While Alanna was skilled in fighting, it was because of the long training she’d had. And it was clear her stubborn nature didn’t do her many favours.

I really liked the fact Alanna got a cat and it was amusing to see the two of them communicate human to feline. I also enjoyed seeing Alanna interacting with some of the other soldiers, though I felt there were a few too many secondary characters that weren’t really developed.

I did also feel like passages of time were glossed over. The book wasn’t really long enough to span a couple of years and I didn’t think nearly enough growth was shown for any of the characters, not just Alanna. I would have liked to see a bit more detail about Alex, especially as he, like some of the other characters, were lost by the end of the book.

I felt this book could have done with being longer and more expanded upon. It was nice to see how Alanna’s brother, Thom, had changed and grown, but seeing his maturity only seemed to hit home how little Alanna had changed. And with her constant protestations about not wanting to fall in love and be beholden to any man, I felt like the book became more about that and less about her dream of becoming a knight.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and the others as a child, but re-reading it now as an adult, I recognised there were parts of the story that weren’t as strong.

(This review may contain spoilers).

This book actually contains two misses for me. 1: It’s about vampires. 2: It’s about destined love. Both of these have become over-used in books and destined love is very rarely handled well.

So why did I pick this book to read? The plot sounded good. And Alec was a policeman, rather than a high school girl.

The reason this book gets three stars is actually not because of the romance. The sheer amount of information dumping made it very hard to read the book. There was really only any action right at the beginning and towards the end. During the middle scenes, I was lulled into the same sense of complacency the main characters seemed to be. During one scene where there’s an attack, I actually didn’t realise that was happening, since there was little to no buildup.

There were a lot of really sweet, tender moments between Cronin and Alec and I felt that Alec’s reactions to the ‘destined love’ thing were actually realistic. There was time taken to allow them to grow.

The concept of the vampire culture being ‘hidden’ in modern culture would have been an interesting one, but I never got to see or learn anything of that for myself. I actually did have a major issue with the book at the beginning, as I thought it seemed really odd that Alec would just pack up his job and not even consider what he might do. It would have been good to know what made him decide to be a police officer in the first place.

I did like seeing some of the other vampires and learning about what they could do; but, again, it would have been better to be shown rather than told. Many of the secondary characters weren’t developed enough for me to really care about what happened to them.

The inclusion of Egyptian mythology would have been an interesting twist, if it weren’t for the above-mentioned information dumping. I think this book would have really benefitted from less dialogue and more action.

It’s a toss-up whether I’ll read the next books in the series or not. I liked Cronin and Alec together and their romance felt real. I cared about it. But the rest of the plot was very much a miss.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I think the Fairies of Rush was probably one of my favourite duologies when I first started reading books on my Kindle. I’ve had this book on my device for a while, but only recently had a reason to read it.

I did really enjoy reading this book, although I did find Ash to be a sexist jerk for part of the book. Well, most of the beginning. Then again, Joey felt exactly the same way, so it was good to see that at least he didn’t get away with the sexist beliefs. And even though it wasn’t an excuse, there were at least reasons behind his way of thinking. And the more I learned about his past, the more sympathy I felt for him.

I liked seeing Joey and glimpses of her relationship with her sister, but I would have liked to see a bit more of them interacting before she came to Ash in the hospital. I felt there was a bit too much information dumping in the book, in particular when it came to Joey’s relationship with her family members.

It was good to see the way the relationship formed between Joey and Ash. I liked the recurring theme of the frog and there were some really sweet moments between them. Plus, I really liked the fact that Joey didn’t change anything about herself to be with Ash. In fact, I had the feeling they both had to compromise. Their relationship felt real and I cared about whether they sorted out the conflicts or not.

I liked the fact that Joey’s psychic abilities were so easy and natural for her, but I would have liked to see more details about who apart from her father knew about her powers. While it was interesting to see the links with the murderer, there were times I felt that part of the storyline dragged. And I didn’t think the twists worked so well. I figured out the identity before the main characters did because of a comment I felt Ash, at least, should have picked up on. And I didn’t think the red herrings worked as well as they could have done.

I think the romantic aspect of the book worked better than the thriller aspects and I would have liked the serial killer aspect to either have been dropped into lower focus, or to be a bigger part of the book, as I didn’t feel it quite lived up to my expectations.

I did, however, enjoy reading this book and I would read more books by this author in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

It’s been quite a while since I returned to the world of Deverry, but when I started reading this book, it was really nice to return to a world I had spent a lot of time in when I was much younger.

I really liked being able to see the contrast between the past and the present. I couldn’t help but feel a lot of sympathy for some of the characters, especially at the beginning. The cycle of rebirth was really interesting to read about and I especially felt that this book did a good job of showing the differences in the characters from one life to another.

I really didn’t like Maryn in the first part of the book. I felt a lot of empathy for Bellyra, but I really thought that she was trapped in a loveless marriage. I very much preferred her relationship with Maddyn, even though they didn’t really have much hope. And even though I knew no good could come from their feelings for each other, I did want them to have a happy ending.

I really didn’t like Lilli, even though I did like seeing her relationship with Branoic and it was quite a strange thing to see Jill’s soul as a male, considering every other appearance she’s been female. I did think it was quite nice to see such a difference in that life.

I was somewhat unsure of what to make of Rhodry in the second half of the book. In the previous volumes, I really liked him, but I felt he was flirting with madness in this book. At the same time, it came across quite strongly that he’d lived too long and was at the point where death would be a welcome comfort. I did enjoy seeing him interact with the dragon, who I developed a particular fondness for.

I did feel sympathy for Varrac, even though I didn’t really like him when he was interacting with Raena. I was disappointed that the blurb wasn’t entirely accurate, as I didn’t feel there was a huge amount of hostility between Rhodry and Raena. Certainly not enough to stretch over at least two lifetimes.

There was a lot of action and fantasy in this book and it made me want to re-read the other books in this series at some point in the future.