Ink by Alice Broadway

Synopsis: Every action, every deed, every significant moment is tattooed on your skin for ever. When Leora's father dies, she is determined to see her father remembered forever. She knows he deserves to have all his tattoos removed and made into a Skin Book to stand as a record of his good life. But when she discovers that his ink has been edited and his book is incomplete, she wonders whether she ever knew him at all.

Review: I'm a sucker for stories where tattoos play an important role. I loved the idea of tattoos telling a person's history. Leora was an interesting character. I liked seeing her dedication towards inking and what it meant to her. Even though there's clearly something behind all of this, it was neat to see her interact with different people if they were inkers, flayers, or storytellers. I loved Verity. She was a great best friend and I wish we got to see her at work a bit more often. I'm glad she became a more important character and she also had rather high stakes in this story. I liked Oscar, but we didn't get to spend much time with him. There were hints of flirting between him and Leora but, thankfully, it wasn't a major part of the story.

The plot of Ink was good. I liked how dedicated Leora was to this way of life, but there were still moments when she questioned things happening around her. My biggest gripe with this book was that I really couldn't tell if it was supposed to be a dystopian type story or a fantasy one. This didn't hinder my enjoyment too much, it just made it difficult to visualize some aspects. I can genuinely say that I didn't see the plot twist coming. I also didn't expect to see so many characters trying to help Leora. I won't say anymore than that, but it was a nice change of pace from other stories.

This was a refreshing debut and I can't wait to read the next book.

4 howls