A little bit The Night Circus, a little bit The Golden Compass, and a little bit Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but ultimately forging its own path through some well-loved fantasy tropes, this novel is one of the best I’ve delved into in a long time. Smejkal throws us into a world ruled by prophetic tattoos and the goddess behind them, which is quickly turned upside down as we follow paired Inklings Celia and Anya as they make a bid for freedom from the Divine Profeta and their constricted lives. Celia and Anya’s protection comes in the form of the Rabble Mob of Minos, a travelling performance troupe made up of whimsical and strange characters who are some of the few outside the overt influence of the Divine’s religious cult. The pair are quick and independent thinkers (hence their resistance to playing along with the dictations of Profeta) and are soon engulfed in the Mob’s performances and antics through a clever use of the inking abilities they acquired at the Temple. Of course, escape can’t be quite that simple, and the game comes afoot when the Divine herself tracks them down and turns their performance into a new means of spreading her cult of believers – something the girls are loath to do, and must devise a way to escape once and for all. Smejkal’s artful use of language and wonderfully crafted scene setting can’t help but draw us into Celia and Anya’s story, but it is the intricacies of the story’s many twists and turns that keep us glued to the very final page and finale performance. Definitely drawing from the mode of dark fantasy, Smejkal doesn’t shy away from darkening the plot at several points either, making it clear that the stakes are high in the fight that Celia and Anya must make to free themselves in this dangerous world. As the book closes, we are left with a world on the brink of a new performance, which would have been satisfying enough, but there’s a second book out so I guess we’ll see what Celia’s second act holds. ( )

DNF ( )

4.25

Intense. Dark. Atmospheric. A circus. A God. A Devil. A strong friendship. A Battle, and a commentary on religious zealots. What was not to love? ( )

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. ( )

Tattoo magic, people!!!! Magic ink!!

OMG, I loved Ink in the Blood by Kim Smejkal so much. I loved it so much I read it in one day. That hasn’t happened to me in YEARS. I am actually afraid to pick up my next book because I know it is going to disappoint me as only any book following an excellent book does.

It is not just the tattoo magic that made me fall in love with Ink in the Blood. I adore any story that is critical of organized religions, and Ink in the Blood is particularly brutal in that area. What makes the criticism particularly satisfying is the fact that in the story, a deity does exist. Faith has actual substance, and yet the organized part of the religion remains corrupt and anything but pious – something Celia and Anya know from experience. And before a reader complains about the fact that the Profeta tortures children, let’s not ignore the Catholic Church’s history of torture and mutilation in the name of God.

The other aspect of Ink in the Blood I adore is Ms. Smejkal’s use of gender fluidity. Children who don’t get names until they choose one for themselves, the use of He, She, and They, the auras that allow people to identify fluctuating genders – to me, everything about this is revolutionary but feels so right. There is a matter-of-factness about gender identity and allowing children to self-identify that is respectful and yet proves a point that such things do not have to be complex or confusing. As this is the first novel wherein the author used “they” as a pronoun to identify one person, I loved every time I came across its use.

Every individual aspect of a story could be good, but unless the writing is equally good, the story could be a failure. Thankfully, this is not the case with Ink in the Blood. Fantastic pacing, great supporting characters, and seamless world-building round out this amazing tale. The story itself is dark and desperate. In fact, the author added a trigger warning on GoodReads because some of the subject matter is disturbing. You know that I love dark and disturbing, so this only enhanced my love of it. To me, it shows that Ms. Smejkal is not afraid to take chances. Plus there is tattoo magic. If that doesn’t get you excited, I don’t know what will! 😀