Review – Ink in the Blood (Ink in the Blood, Book 1) by Kim Smejkal (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Dark Fantasy
Length: 448 pages
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Release Date: February 11, 2020
ISBN-13: 978-1328557056
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Ink in the Blood duology
Source: ARC from Amazon Vine
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
“Celia Sand and her best friend, Anya Burtoni, are inklings for the esteemed religion of Profeta. Using magic, they tattoo followers with beautiful images that represent the Divine’s will and guide the actions of the recipients. It’s considered a noble calling, but ten years into their servitude Celia and Anya know the truth: Profeta is built on lies, the tattooed orders strip away freedom, and the revered temple is actually a brutal, torturous prison.
Their opportunity to escape arrives with the Rabble Mob, a traveling theater troupe. Using their inkling abilities for performance instead of propaganda, Celia and Anya are content for the first time . . . until they realize who followed them. The Divine they never believed in is very real, very angry, and determined to use Celia, Anya, and the Rabble Mob’s now-infamous stage to spread her deceitful influence even further.
To protect their new family from the wrath of a malicious deity and the zealots who work in her name, Celia and Anya must unmask the biggest lie of all–Profeta itself.”
Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Ink in the Blood duology. I got an ARC of this to review through Amazon Vine.
Story (3/5): I am kind of on the fence about this one. I really loved the beautiful imagery in here and the magical circus-like setting. The first part of the book completely drew me in. Then the story pretty much degenerated into a rebellion against a religious figurehead and things just got sooo boring. The pacing in the last two thirds of the book was really slow and I struggled to finish it. I would have given the first couple chapters of this book 5 stars and then the rest was a bit of a slog to get through (so, 2-3 stars)
Characters (3/5): I did really love some of the unique and magical characters in here. Quirky characters are present throughout the story and I loved the mystery of it all. Celia starts out as a pretty good character but I didn’t really like where she ended up. Despite all the intriguing characters, they all felt a bit shallow to me.
Setting (4/5): The amazing magical circus setting was fantastic and I really enjoyed it. The rest of the world was less well defined, although there was some effort put into world building I had some trouble picturing it.
Writing Style (3/5): I did love the magical feel to this story but things were just too ambiguous and slow as the story went on. I mean there were even parts where I was like “Okay, I think a main character just died…but I am not sure”. I would have to reread parts multiple times as I tried to figure out what just happened.
My Summary (3/5): Overall this was a story I wanted to love but it just wore me down over time and by the end I just wanted it to be over. It started completely amazing, magical, dark and intriguing but then just kind of melted into a boring mess. I don’t plan on continuing with the series.
