Blood and Ink

by Stephen Davies

Part thriller, part love story, this contemporary YA novel is based on true-to-life events in Mali in 2012 and centers around the power of individuals to take a stand against terrorism.

Kadi is the 15-year-old daughter of a librarian in modern-day Timbuktu. Ali is the son of shepherds and has been conscripted by the Defenders of Faith, an arm of Al Qaeda. When these two teens meet, it's hate at first sight.

Forced together by a series of tumultous events, their feelings slowly but persistently turn into something more, causing Kadi to let her guard down and Ali to discover her family's secret hiding place for the manuscripts her family is tasked with safeguarding.  Kadi undertakes a dangerous operation to smuggle the manuscripts out of the city, while Ali and his military commander are soon in pursuit.  Ali's loyalties will never be more in question than when Kadi's life is in danger.

• ISBN10: 1580897908
• ISBN13: 9781580897907
• Publish Date: 19 September 2017 (first published 4 June 2015)
• Publish Status: Inactive
• Out of Print: 1 March 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Charlesbridge Publishing,U.S.
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 224
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781580897907

Reviews

[Linda]

This review was originally posted on (un)Conventional Bookviews
Blood and Ink mesmerised me! Very well done, mixing actual events and fiction, showing the differences in muslim faiths, how some are stricter than others, and what was done by a people to rise against their oppressors.

Story:

I was transported by Blood and Ink, through the way it unfolded two sides of a story. How it showed two sides of a war. Two sides of a religion. How good and bad can be blurred, and how difficult it is to change sides once a stance is taken. Because the story is based on true events, I think it was very realistic. Even ficionalised history can be well done, and I found the way everything unfolded to be enlightening.

Taking a village under siege, radical muslims raise against more moderate ones. And they change the law. Little by little, one of the followers, a young boy who managed to help his brethren over the wall realizes that some of the things he knows about his religion and what is practiced by their leader don't really mesh.

There is opposition, a lot of courage, and a strong sense of loyalty among the villagers.

Characters:

Kadi isn't supposed to become the new guardian of the sacred texts, but she almost is anyway. She feels alive in the musty cellar where the history of her village is hidden.
Ali thinks he fights for God. That's what he's heard for months of training, and he is happy when they finally move forward to start to fight. Until people die, that is.
There are side characters that are well fleshed out on both sides, and I think it made my comprehension of what is happening in some places in the world much better.

Writing style :

Blood and Ink is written in first person point of view, past tense. Some chapters are from Kadi's perspective, others from Ali's.

Feels :

All the feels with Blood and Ink. It really does convey both the hope and the despair very well. The righteousness of the leader, and the strong sense of belonging and history with the villagers.



I love this sound of exploding bottles. It is the sound of purity and wisdom, the sound of God returning to Timbuktu.

Our very first song will be "the political song," "Alla Le Ke." It tells the story of two princes in a kingdom called Tumana. One brother stoe the chieftaincy from the other and banished him from the land. Eventually the rightful heir returned and the cieftaincy was given back to him.