Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

Having seen the movie based on this book, I thought I’d get this for my sister… and then found myself in the position of being bored with none of the books on my list to read at hand.

I did like this book… but there was a bit too much information dumping going on. Although Bianca was a really interesting narrator, she was a darker character than I was expecting. She did amuse me a bit at times… and I had a lot of sympathy for her, even when I wished that she would just let her friends in to help her.

While I did like Casey’s character, I didn’t like the constant ‘OMG’ from her, which is one of my pet hates. Casey seems too intelligent to act like a ditzy teenage girl… though Jess came across as that stereotypical ditzy/dumb blonde. It was a shame, because there was a lot of potential in the friendship. But I thought it was good to see that both Casey and Jess did differ in their opinions and that they were both supportive and good friends.

I found it difficult not to like Wesley. It was good to see that he had a lot of depth to him as a character… that he had his own problems and was more than someone who just slept around. It was also good to see how protective he became of Bianca after they started hooking up. And I felt the romance was given an opportunity to develop naturally, rather than seem stilted and forced. Though it did follow the cliche of one or both of the characters in the romantic relationship hating/constantly fighting each other.

I liked the fact that Bianca had issues to deal with. Those made her a more gritty character and gave a bit of depth to her. And it was also good to see what her past was like with her previous relationship. I did feel a lot for her when Wesley kept using the nickname ‘Duff’… even though I doubt he realised what it meant to her.

While I don’t think some of the behaviour in this book was right, I did find it a really entertaining read. The movie is much lighter than the book… but this feels more real and is worth reading… at least in my opinion. Just not for a younger audience.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

This book was actually shorter than I expected… more of a short story than a novella. I still found it quite interesting, though.

I was really unclear about exactly what the society was like that Carus and Mitch were in. While it was clear they were hiding from something… I really couldn’t figure out what it was they were sheltering from.

Parts of this story read very much in a more surreal way. I thought perhaps that one of the characters had descended into insanity by the end… but even reaching the end page, I understood very little about what was really going on.

It was good to see the relationship between Carus and Mitch. I was intrigued by the fact that the names didn’t seem to be their real names… that raised more questions than answers, too.

I didn’t really get a good image of the house the sisters were staying in. While it was apparently boarded up (and probably really dark), it didn’t really feel like that. It would have been good to see more of how the two of them were able to feed themselves and cope without any kind of electricity. I would have liked to know what the scratching sound actually was… if it was only in their heads, or if there were others outside.

I thought the fact that Carus’ and Mitch’s relationship grew strained towards the end came across really well. I thought Mitch was written really well for the age she was and there were times I felt some sympathy for Carus… even though I have my own theories for what happened at the end of the book.

I was intrigued by the mentions of Jom, though I wasn’t sure what kind of a person he was, since I didn’t get a chance to see him or get to know anything about him other than what Carus and Mitch said and what was written on the notes.

I did find this book really quick and easy to read. In the future, I would definitely be interested in reading more books by this author. This has a creepy atmosphere and is well-written… even without many questions being answered by the end.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I thought this was a pretty interesting concept for a book. Although technically an adult now, I still enjoy reading books aimed at a younger audience. And Rob was a character who was easy to like.

It was good to see the friendships between the characters, though I did think that there were times in the book where quite a bit of information was dumped in the narrative. I would have liked to see more of Rob’s interactions with the other people in his school.

I liked that all of the characters in the band had their own clear personalities, even though Jimmy was obviously not very reliable. I would have liked to see more of Rob interacting with David… and I did feel a lot of sympathy for Michelle at times.

I liked being able to see a lot of the details that went into Rob working as Out of Sight’s manager and the rehearsals themselves. There were times I found myself cringing along, such as the loud feedback, and there were various points I felt like I was there at the gigs.

It was good to see that Rob was trying to do the right thing and help Sarah. It was also good to see that he had a proper, realistic goal to work towards.

It would have been good to see more of Rob’s interactions with his parents. There were moments when what he came out with made me smile and I felt the author did a good job of showing his strengths and weaknesses as a person. I also liked it when he worked with Sarah on SWOT.

I didn’t really like Emily. Even though I’m sure she was just trying to help out her friend, it seemed that she wasn’t concerned with Sarah’s medical issues… It was good to see how everyone pulled together at the end, though I wasn’t really that fond of Henry and the rest of his band.

This book was really quick and easy to read. Despite the issues mentioned above, I think it’s definitely worth a read. And I’d be willing to read 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).

Although I’m not too sure of the cover of this book (I’m not sure it fits well with the plot of the story), I did find this book to be really entertaining to read.

I liked the elements of fantasy in this book, even though Livi was more or less a normal person to start. As a heroine, I thought she was a likable character… and even though I would have liked to see more of her training expanded upon, instead of being glossed over, it was good to see that she didn’t just do everything perfectly… that she had to train and she clearly didn’t have the skills straight away.

There was a lot about the world in this book that was intriguing. I didn’t really like Benny’s character. He was all right at first, but the way he spoke to Livi was… pretty awful.

I really did like both Hickory and Tess as characters. While I wish I could have seen some of their interactions live, instead of summarised, what I was able to see of them made them really intriguing. And it was nice to see that Tess was really tough.

I liked Violet and it was interesting to see the cause of her fever… though I did think there were some confusing aspects to it. I also liked the fact that not everything was black and white… there did seem to be shades of grey involved.

Wallace was an interesting character. I liked the way he interacted with Livi… though I did think he kept shifting personality slightly. There were some good elements of foreshadowing in this book, too, I thought.

It was good that there were some elements of mystery in this book. And it was also good that there was the opportunity to see some of the politics that were going on… even though parts of it were a bit confusing.

I’d be interested in seeing more about this world and the characters. I liked the mooncalfs and it was interesting to see something about the world itself… like the Inferno, which was especially spooky. While I didn’t like Benny, I did like a lot of the other characters Livi met and interacted with.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I have a few mixed feelings about this book. I thought the blurb sounded really interesting and I did find this book to be a really entertaining read.

Although I did find myself absorbed into this book in parts, there were a lot of areas I found difficult to read. It took me a while to understand what was going on in a general sense… but even by the end of the book, I couldn’t figure out what the Factions were; or what role they were supposed to play.

There were quite a few intriguing parts in this book, such as the main character’s connection to the Munti princess. I would have liked a bit more detail about the dream the main character had at the beginning.

I was intrigued by the different planets and how they related to things from the Bible/Christian faith… though I would have liked to know more details about that, too.

It would have been good to learn more about the planet that the character was on. I wasn’t sure if it was meant to be part of Earth’s own past, or parallel universe, or another planet altogether. It was interesting to see the amount of politics that were going on… though I did think that the King came across as kind of weak at times.

I did find there was too much summarising of events in this book. There were also a few too many characters. I kept losing track of who was who, which made it difficult to form an emotional connection to a lot of the characters.

It was good to see that the main character did have to go through training, even though I think some of those scenes could have been shown and not told. There were a lot of intriguing moments that I felt didn’t really get expanded upon.

I found a lot of the style of writing to be hard to get my head around, especially with the elements of dialogue, where it wasn’t always clear what the character was thinking and what he was speaking. I also noticed that the narration switched into third and second person at various points.

There was a lot of intrigue in this book, but the atmosphere seemed to come across more as a dream. I couldn’t say I’d read the second book in this series… not unless there was a lot less confusion.