Ink of Blood

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

Although I felt like I was missing some of the story, I did find this book really entertaining to read… even though it was especially short. I did find it a bit difficult to get to know all of the characters really well… but I did find it a really intriguing idea.

I would have preferred the present-day storyline to have been expanded and the flashbacks to have been minimised. Although there were some nice elements of foreshadowing, I kept getting confused about which character was which.

It was nice to see that Sam had a relationship outside of his work on Rescue One, but I would have liked some more details about the personal relationships that some of the other crew members had. Although the flashbacks did provide some details, the characters like Jack had family mentioned that were never referred to in the present day.

I liked the fact that there were some elements of mystery through this book and it was good to see something of the friendships in the crew. I did, however, spend a lot of the book trying to figure out exactly who was playing what role. I think I’d figured it out a bit more by the end of the book.

I liked the fact that, at the start, the crew had to make the decision whether to obey the orders they were given, or carry out their true mission. I found it easy to identify with the conflict they were experiencing then… and I did feel a lot of sympathy for Sam and the rest of the crew when the real contents of the ship at the beginning were revealed.

I found Chris to be quite an interesting character, even though I didn’t really know him very well and was about as suspicious as the rest of the crew were of him. I didn’t really like him being teabagged… although the misunderstanding about it did make me giggle at probably an inappropriate moment.

I did think there was a lot of tension during the book and I especially liked the ending. This book did succeed in making me want to read the next book/s in this series in the future.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I thought the idea behind this book was a really intriguing one. It was interesting to see someone creating an amusement park involving supernatural creatures… and I liked the fact that things looked so different to how they really were.

It was good to see the friendship between Wyatt, Howard and Melvin. I did feel some sympathy for Melvin and how he was treated by other people. It was understandable to see that he felt like an outcast… though he did come across as quite a bit younger than he really was.

I thought it was good to see Wyatt’s relationship with his stepfather. It was also interesting to get a glimpse into the mind of one of the zombies and the fact that he still knew what he’d become, despite not being able to control his hunger.

I did think there was a lot that was creepy about Monsterland, even before everything started going wrong. I did feel sympathy for the characters like Billy, but it would have been nice to get more details about why so many of them were being taken away.

I really didn’t like Raoul, even though I did find the vampires to be interesting. I wasn’t sure I really understood everything about the supposed safety measures… and although it was interesting to see how people viewed the Monsterland theme park, it would have been good to see a bit more of the people in the town.

I did enjoy seeing the whole debate between Wyatt and his friends about which supernatural creature was the strongest and I thought that they came up with a lot of good points. There were a couple of scenes that I felt shouldn’t have been summarised over… especially when Carter’s job suddenly changed.

It was good to see the characters having to deal with the supernatural creatures no longer being safely behind bars and I did like seeing how Billy interacted with the other members of his pack.

I’d be interested in reading a sequel to this book in the future… as well as checking out other books by this author.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

When I read the blurb of this book, I was immediately intrigued… if a little hesitant, due to quite a number of bad experiences with good-sounding books.

I liked Kenna’s character in this book. While I did think there were a few instances where there was a lack of foreshadowing… and several instances of info-dumping… I found Kenna to be a fairly strong character. It was interesting to see her having to deal with the abilities she had and how those made her an outcast in her school.

I did enjoy seeing Kenna’s friendship with Fiske and Parker. It was good to see that she did have friends who she confided in… even though there were times they seemed a bit wrapped up in each other.

It wasn’t very hard for me to figure out who Luka was… but it was interesting to read the conversations about the myths and what the characters said about Ragnarok. Plus, it was really good to see that the author didn’t go for the really obvious bad guy.

I did feel like there was a bit too much telling rather than showing going on, such as Kenna’s relationship with her mother. Plus, there was a lot of repetition about Kenna’s upbringing and how she had to fend for herself.

It was interesting to see how Kenna viewed Kari and I liked the fact that she considered Kari to be a person separate to herself. It was good to see that, although she was drawn to Luka and attracted to him, it didn’t feel like a love at first sight situation. I wasn’t sure I was entirely happy with the way things did go… but the situation did feel easy and natural to the characters.

I also liked that, although Kenna had feelings towards Luka, she also had her own life to live. But my hackles did get raised when Luka was jealously possessive of her and it was good to see she wasn’t cowed by it.

I’d like to read the next book/s in this series. It would be good to see Kenna develop her abilities and to learn more about her past with Luka. I did find this book entertaining and easy to read and I would check out other books by this author in the future.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I have some mixed feelings about this book. I really liked the idea behind it… but I found it got very bogged down in too much unnecessary detail. I’d probably give this book 2.5 stars out of 5… but not quite 3.

The concept of two scientists creating the first two of an entirely new race was a really interesting one. I did like seeing the contrast between Adam before his metamorphosis and after. It was also good to see that there conflicts between him and Eve due to the incestuous nature of their relationship.

I felt that there was a lot of telling rather than showing going on in this book. While there were some details given about certain things, I felt that it read more like a book filled with big scientific words. I struggled to understand a lot that was going on… and I thought that the relationship between Adam and Eve and their parents was particularly weird, especially when their parents appeared naked.

It was interesting to read about Eden being condensed down and how that all worked. It was also good to see that Adam and Eve formed attachments to their pets and how their genetics worked with the animals.

I did feel that there wasn’t much shown in the way of relationships. I was being told how the characters felt, but the relationships with the children later on really didn’t come across as very realistic. I felt that the sets of twins were just treated as extras, rather than developed into being characters in their own right.

I did find it interesting to see how Adam and Eve interacted with Linda, although there was too much telling rather than showing there, too. I felt there was very little foreshadowing, which made it harder for me to be fully engaged in this book.

There was a lot of potential, but I really struggled to empathise with the characters and there was too much in the way of science I didn’t understand. There was very little tension or conflict in the book.

As it stands, I won’t be reading the sequel.

(This review may contain spoilers).

Having been approached by the author about reading a copy of this short story, I gave it a try and found myself drawn into the story really easily.

Although the story was written in a letter, I found it easy to empathise with the father… though I’m not sure if what he was describing was real, or if everything was just in his head. The first person perspective worked really well, but I wasn’t sure if the character was a reliable narrator or not.

I wasn’t sure how the father had truly felt about his wife. It would have been good to get more glimpses of their lives together, since his wife seemed to come across as quite a hard woman and completely opposite to her husband. In some ways, it seemed like he might have been bewitched by her.

It was easier to see that the father cared about his son and there was an obvious contrast between the beginning and towards the end. I did pick up on what was apparently going on quite quickly.

I found the motivations of the father’s wife quite hard to understand. I really didn’t find her a very sympathetic character and it was hard to empathise with her. While the letter worked as a short story to pique my interest, I felt it would work really well as a longer story and therefore enable me to get to know the characters better.

The paranormal hints in the short story were interesting to read and I was interested in discovering exactly what was going on. Despite knowing that things probably didn’t end well, I still found myself drawn into the storyline. There was a lot of tension in the short story that made me want to see how it would have all ended.

The ending of this story wasn’t a completely satisfactory one, but I’m definitely interested enough to read an expanded storyline set in this world… and it would be good to get answers to the questions raised by this short story. In many ways, I felt this could be an introduction to a much larger world – it certainly would have made me want to read more if used as a Prologue.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

Although I was a bit confused by how everything fit together at first (there were a lot of different storylines that didn’t seem to fit together), I did eventually find myself drawn into the lives of the different characters.

I found it easy to empathise with Felt and it was interesting to see the different guilds of magic users and how the politics worked. I wasn’t really sure if I trusted Karan… Maria clearly had her own agenda to work towards, but in many ways, I could understand why she didn’t like the other Guild. Hyna was a bit confusing, though. I couldn’t work out if it really existed, or if it was just made up as a front for another organisation.

It was interesting to be able to learn more about the magic and how it worked, though I’m still not sure I understood everything even by the end of the book. I felt that the amount of POV characters could have been condensed down, to make it easier to follow everything that was going on.

I liked Hans and his interactions with Felt. It would have been good to see more of how they’d known each other in the past and how their lives had taken such different turns.

I liked being able to learn about the Demon, though it did give me the creeps. I also would have liked more answers about the artifact and how the disappearing Guild fit into everything. The ghasts of the spiders were especially disturbing and I was glad to see that the Lances were able to deal with them.

There were a few occasions where I found myself forgetting what was going on in the book, since there was so much happening. I would have liked to be able to learn more of the pasts of a few of the characters, since I felt that a lot of them, especially members of the Lance, weren’t explored as well as they could have been… and I had no idea how the Whisper fit in with everything.

There was tension in this book that succeeded in keeping me reading and I would like to see more of the world and characters in the future.