#Inkbook review skin
#Inkbook review crack

However, Jenna takes a back seat in this novel. When I reviewed Shielded, the first novel in this duology, I truly enjoyed how Flanders created a character young readers would be charmed and delighted by: Jennesara, or Jenna for short. And that they must learn to trust themselves, and each other, before the mages retrieve their artifacts and become too powerful to ever defeat. But with no magic and no fighting skills, she doesn’t stand a chance against a mage.Īs Ren’s and Chiara’s paths cross, they find the depth of the mages’ hold on the Plateau is more powerful than anyone suspected. She longs to help restore peace on the Plateau. With some who want him dead, and a Medallion that warns of worse trouble brewing in the south.Īs second born, Princess Chiara is the perfect Turian royal–perfectly invisible. Cecelia Beckman, Sheaf & Ink The StoryĪlthough King Atháren’s sister, Jennesara, saved Hálendi from the Gray Mage, the reprieve came at a steep price–the life of their father. The end of the book strongly suggests that Broadway intends at least one sequel to this story, but I don’t think I’ll be picking it up.īefore I close, I do have to mention that the book itself is unusually beautiful (just look at the pictures below) if only it was as interesting on the inside as it is on the cover.Ī copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review.Untethered is not what I expected. It seems like Ink wants to be a progressive metaphor for our times, but it falls far short in several places.

#Inkbook review crack

The part of the book that didn’t quite work for me was that Ink was yet another book that aims to tackle issues of race and politics without actually engaging in them: Leora’s people are prejudiced against blanks because they fear and misunderstand them the newly elected Mayor Longsight is a zealot determined to crack down on blanks and bring back the old ways and the villainized mythological figure of the White Witch turns out to be heroic after all (uncomfortably resonating with the white savior trope). Like in The City of Ember, young people are placed in careers early on, and seeing the infrastructure of what jobs Leora and her friends are apprenticed in was one of the book’s most interesting parts. Even though the stories aren’t similar, the pacing and quirks of this book reminded me of The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau.

#Inkbook review skin

Author Alice Broadway has turned an interesting historical phenomenon – the binding of books in human skin – into an original mythology and culture to go along with the practice. When I returned to it, I managed to finish it, ultimately concluding that it was okay, if not great. I had a little trouble getting into this book at first – I had to set it down and leave it for a few weeks. The more she learns, the more she comes to question everything she’s ever been told. After the death of Leora’s father, while she awaits judgement on his life, Leora uncovers an alarming family connection to the blank community. More than anything else, those in Leora’s community fear “blanks” – those who choose to abstain from the practice of tattooing their skin. When a person dies, their skin is tanned and turned into a book of their life – to be either treasured and passed down by their family members, or destroyed if the person is judged to have lived an immoral life. People can’t hide their secrets from those around them, and skilled specialists are trained to read the story of a person’s life by the marks on their skin. In Leora’s society, the most important moments of a person’s life are tattooed upon their skin for everyone to see.