By Ashley Mansour
Source: Netgalley
Release date: 1st December 2015
Genres: Young Adult, Dystopian
Imagine a world without books…
In the future, books are a distant memory. The written word has been replaced by an ever-present stream of images known as Verity. In the controlling dominion of the United Vales of Fell, reading is obsolete and forbidden, and readers themselves do not—cannot—exist. But where others see images in the stream, teenager Noelle Hartley sees words. She’s obsessed with what they mean, where they came from, and why they found her.
Noelle’s been keeping her dangerous fixation with words a secret, but on the night before her seventeenth birthday, a rare interruption in the stream leads her to a mysterious volume linked to an underworld of rebel book lovers known as the Nine of the Rising. With the help of the Risers and the beguiling boy Ledger, Noelle discovers that the words within her are precious clues to the books of the earlier time—and as a child of their bookless age, she might be the world’s last hope of bringing them back.
Blood, Ink & Fire is a gripping, evocative tale that asks, who would we be without books?
When I began this book, I really wasn’t sure if I was going to like it or not. I hadn’t read many reviews before hand, so I was unsure. Though, the concept was really intriguing, so I was really hoping for it to be great - it’s a book for book lovers, and sounds beautiful, but sadly it left me really disappointed.
The main thing that let it down was the pacing. I got really bored in the middle, and wasn't fully engaged with the story at all. Some parts felt way too rushed, yet at others it was painfully slow. The ending was really disappointing too - it felt incredibly rushed, and gave me no closure at all. I won’t be reading the sequel (if there is one) as I didn’t enjoy the book, which makes me feel even more let down, as it just didn’t explain anything!
One thing I did like was all the family themes explored. A large section of the plot was defined by Noelle’s love for her family, and it was refreshing! There’s slowly starting to be more family themes in YA, but for now, I’ll take what I can get! ☺
Something that I really didn’t like in this book was the romance. Noelle’s involvement with Ledger was cringe-worthy and unnecessary anyway, but an added love triangle? No thanks! To be fair, it wasn’t huge, but I was confused as to why it was added in. I didn’t enjoy any aspects of the romance, and it just distracted from the plot.
I really liked the protagonist, Noelle! She wasn’t perfect, but she definitely had her fist-pump worthy moments. She was flawed, but real depth was shown, and I liked how determined she was. I enjoyed reading about her, even if I wasn’t convinced by all her decisions!
Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this book. It had its moments, but I was so disappointed, and I didn’t enjoy it. There were some beautiful quotes, but it was too oddly paced for me, and too many aspects that let me down to give it a higher rating. I’m really disappointing, because I thought it had so much potential!
Hello! I'm D - a dog-loving feminist from the UK. You'll probably find me with my nose in a book or playing my clarinet
