Ink of Blood

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

Having had the opportunity to read the previous two books in this trilogy, I was really eager to read the third book. And it was good to be able to see the characters I recognised from the previous two books, as well as to meet new ones.

I really liked seeing more of the stark contrast between Rebecca and the other characters and in particular in contrast to her as a child in book one. I thought it was good that Rebecca was a capable person… but that the way she was raised meant that she had weaknesses that were clear and that there were things she couldn’t do. It was good to see that her issues with trust meant that she was second-guessing everything about the people she didn’t know well.

There was a lot of good tension in this book. I didn’t trust Betty at all at first, though I hadn’t trusted Mary in the previous book. I was able to understand her a bit more during this book, but I still didn’t trust her until towards the end.

I liked seeing more of Priest, though it was a bit strange to see him talk so much during one of the scenes. I would have liked to see more details of him and Rebecca. I wasn’t completely sure how Priest felt about her, even though it was obvious towards the end of the book that he did care about her more than himself. I would have liked to learn a bit more of him, but it was good to see his appearances during the book… even though I didn’t understand how he could live through everything that he did.

There were some really intense moments in this book and parts where I was reading frantically to see what would happen next. I liked seeing George and Rebecca interacting together and it was good to see how George was still strong, despite being laid out with a fever. There were some twists and turns that I wasn’t expecting and there were quite a few characters that I did like and who made this book easy to read, since I cared about what happened to them.

In the future, I would like to read more books by this author… but this trilogy was a good read and drew me in. I’m sad to see it finished, but I did enjoy it.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

When I first read the blurb of this book and saw the front cover, I was immediately drawn towards it. It took me a little while to get to reading this book, but I did find it easy to read and although Smitha wasn’t a likable character at first, I thought that she went through a real journey through this book.

In some ways, Smitha reminded me of the character of the Star Child. It was interesting to see how she viewed herself and the people of her home at first. I didn’t really like her as a character, even though there were parts of the narration that indicated she was looking back on her life and had gone through hardships that had changed her.

I did like the fact that Smitha’s ice did affect her, not just the people around her. It was interesting to see that she had to figure out how to eat and drink… and I felt bad that she found things so difficult, even early on.

While I could understand why people were so distrustful of her, Smitha’s experiences with people pursuing her weren’t nice to read about and helped me to empathise with her really well. I also thought her conversations with Death were really interesting to read. Although there were some parts of her life after the curse that were summarised, I felt that I was given the opportunity to get to know her as a character and have glimpses of the world around.

It was interesting to see the contrast to the different country Smitha found herself in. I thought that she was pushed right down, but it was good to see her able to push herself back up again. I enjoyed reading Smitha’s growing friendship with Lo, though I wasn’t sure he treated her very well for a lot of the book. I did feel an intense amount of sympathy for Smitha with how some of the others treated her, though.

I found this book a quick read, though there were some difficult parts of it. It was nice to see more of the wider world around Smitha and how she interacted with other characters both before and after the curse. I’d be interested in reading more 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 very mixed feelings about this book. I was really intrigued by the plot and I thought it might be a good coming of age story.

Angevin came across as very much a wild child, vastly different to the sophisticated appearance on the front of the cover. I wavered between feeling a lot of sympathy for her and feeling that she came across as a bit of a caricature at times.

It was interesting to see Angevin’s relationship with her mother and grandmother. I couldn’t figure out why either of them kept her around, since they obviously didn’t like her at all. Dima made my skin crawl, since I thought she was strange and I couldn’t figure out what to think about how she saw Angevin. I felt a bit of sympathy for Angevin’s mother… but I thought the way she treated her daughter was awful.

I thought it was interesting to learn about the witchcraft and how it worked, though I would have liked some more details about the kinds of spells the characters were able to do. I would have liked to see more of the other witches, too, since Angevin’s mother and grandmother were supposed to be part of a coven.

I thought that Angevin was clearly very lonely. I would have liked to see more of her with her cat, since I felt that there was a sudden shift with what happened with the cat compared to the short amount of time Angevin had with her.

I didn’t really like how Angevin became when she saw Constantine. I couldn’t believe that her feelings were anything like real, because all she noticed about him was his appearance. I also didn’t like Constantine at all… and much less so by the end of the book.

I did like the idea of the shapeshifting stone and it was interesting to see Angevin’s interactions with it. I also thought it was good to see how some of the other characters viewed the stone and how much they wanted it, despite it being an illusion.

I did like that Angevin had goals to work towards outside of Constantine and I did think she was an interesting character. Despite the overall feel of the book, I would like to see more of her in future books in the series.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I’d probably give this book 3.5 stars out of 5. The book was short and didn’t take me long to read, but I can’t say it was an easy book to read.

Tobias and Sara were both interesting characters. As the book progressed, I couldn’t help but feel some sympathy for both of the characters, even though I didn’t much like either of them by the end of the book.

I thought it was good that the story was very self-contained, at least to a certain extent. However, it did mean that I didn’t get to know most of the characters. For instance, I would have liked to learn more about Johan. I was interested in how he interacted with both Sara and Tobias, but I found it hard to understand his motivations and how he saw both of the suspects.

I didn’t like Joakim very much, even though there were some intriguing aspects about him. I would have liked some more details about his relationship with Tobias and why things changed so much between them, considering that Tobias seemed to look up to Joakim as a child. I thought that their relationship changed very abruptly… and I would have liked to see more of the tension in their relationship later on.

I was very confused about what both Tobias and Sara were trying to achieve. Tobias clearly showed a darker side to himself, but I felt that the three main characters all did that… and I was disappointed, since I couldn’t get behind any of them.

I would have liked to see the book expanded upon a bit and more details about the area they lived. I didn’t think much of Joakim’s and Tobias’ mother. She didn’t seem to have any redeeming qualities to her and I felt she treated her sons very unequally, even though she seemed to be making an effort in the very first scene.

I did think the book ended quite abruptly. I felt that there was more to the story and the characters’ fates that could have been expanded upon. I’m not sure I’d read a sequel to this book, though. I was expecting it to be dark… but I didn’t much like the characters, despite feeling empathy towards them.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I read the Borderlands anthology a while back and I found the world to be a really interesting one. It was good to have the opportunity to see how everything all began with the Actuator going wrong and the whole world getting divided into Zones.

I would have liked some more details about the different teams involved in the Actuator creation. I wasn’t entirely sure what their purpose was… if it was a virtual reality thing or something else. I did think it was good that the action started almost straight away. It was difficult to see Red having to make the decision to kill someone else for the safety of his fellow team members and I thought that his feelings of guilt and responsibility came across really well throughout the course of the book.

It was interesting to see how things changed as the characters moved between the different zones, to the point where even their food supplies changed to fit in with the worlds. It was also interesting to see how the characters in charge of the zones apparently changed to fit in with their worlds… but it was harder to see them as anything other than bad guys, due to not seeing anything of them before the world went bad. And Pete was a hard character to like, due to the fact that he was clearly hiding a lot of things… though it was good to see that Hanna’s world was more Dracula and less Twilight.

I didn’t really like Mack’s character, even though I think he had some aspects to his character I could relate to. I also thought it was interesting to see the different totem animals that Red and Dragon Star had.

I really didn’t like Luiz’s character and less so when he and the other soldiers ended up in the fantasy world. I would have liked to see more of the ordinary characters caught up in the world, but the aspect with the pirates was interesting and it was good to see that the characters were in real danger.

I do have the second book in this series on my Kindle and I’m looking forward to learning more about the world and seeing more of the characters.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I haven’t read the prequel to this book, but I didn’t feel I needed to in order to get a good feel for the storyline and the characters.

One of the interesting aspects to this book, I felt, was the mix of attitudes towards the supposed haunting. I did question the wisdom as to why Kie was insisting on staying in the house after everything that had happened… he was an intriguing character, but I felt that a lot of what I knew about him was told rather than shown. For instance, one of the characters talks about this charm that he exudes… but the only person I could tell was drawn to him was Libby; and that was because she was attracted to him and quite obviously so.

I did find a lot of thoroughly unlikable characters in this book. It would have been good to see them from different angles, since it’s possible that a lot of my perceptions were coloured by Libby’s, since it was her head I was in the most. However, I would have liked to see less demonising of Catherine and Kie’s mother.

The paranormal elements in this book were particularly intriguing and there was a bit of an air of mystery. I liked the fact that the ghosts didn’t make much of a physical appearance for most of the book… having them act invisibly was a much more effective way of showing tension, I felt.

I did think that some things were glossed over when they shouldn’t have been. There were a few times when a chapter ended calmly… only for the next chapter to summarise events that had occurred after the previous chapter’s end. I did like Libby’s character. She was an interesting, strong woman and although I did think she went after Kie fast (especially given her decision not to go after someone who was with another person), I did find that their relationship and feelings toward each other came across really well.

I am intrigued enough to read the first book in this series in the future, though I would like to see how things go with Libby and Kie in a later book.