Nessa Luna
Written on Jan 6, 2016
Last year I saw a tweet from the author about a blog tour for his book, Inked, that (on the day I post this) came out exactly one year ago! I decided to apply for the blog tour, because I had never been in a blog tour before, and I thought it would be a cool think to do. I had been interested in this book for a while now, but I just never went and picked it up because there were so many other books I wanted to read. So I am super happy to be one of the people chosen for the blog tour!
Inked tells the story of Caenum, who is not looking forward to his Inking at all. What if he doesn't like the Ink he's going to receive? He doesn't want his fate to be decided by a tattoo! So he plans to run away, but his grandmother and his best friend Dreya don't want him to leave. That is until they find someone in a field, with a power that no one has ever seen before. Caenum, Dreya and Kenzi must find a place that no one thinks exists in order for them to be safe.
I was really intrigued by this book, mainly because of the whole moving tattoo's idea. I once read a headcanon that in the world of Harry Potter, magical tattoo's could move and change with the seasons, so when I heard about this book I really hoped it would be like that. The tattoo's in Inked are similar to this, for example Dreya's tattoo does actually change with the seasons. During the winter season, the plants on her body actually wither and lose their leaves and stuff, which is really cool (okay maybe not for Dreya, but to me it sounded cool).
Caenum is our main character, and I'm honestly not too sure what to think about him. I like him, especially his relationship with Dreya and his determination to solve stuff without so much violence, but I don't know, there was something about him that annoyed me. Maybe the fact that he kept getting knocked out so much (I mean not his fault, but yeah it did happen a lot). Dreya could have been an amazing character, but I felt like she was pushed to the background more to give Ceanum and Kenzi more room to improve. I hope that in the sequel - I mean there is going to be a sequel right - that she gets more attention.
My main question mostly during this book was - where do these magical tattoos come from? what is the story behind them. I can say that even though the answer was a bit obvious when I thought about it, it did satisfy me a lot when I found out the cruel truth. I really liked the magic and the many different forms of magic. I believe it was mostly inspired by the four elements; water, air, fire and earth, and honestly elemental magic is something I love.
I did feel that there was something lacking, and I hate myself for not knowing exactly what, but I guess I just expected more, especially from the first half of the book. The latter part really picked up and I honestly enjoyed that part better than the first. The fight in the city was just my favourite part, as much as I hated to see those innocent people hurt. But honestly that's what I'm here for, the battles, the hurt, the deaths, the betrayal, that's my kind of thing!
So in the end, I really liked Inked and I will certainly be picking up the second book! If you're really intrigued by the whole magical moving tattoos like I was, and you love books with battles and magic; you should definitely pick up this book! The sequel, Rise of the Unprinted, will be released in May this year (at least, that's what Goodreads says)!
My opinion on this book in one gif: