Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Tinte und Knochen by Rachel Caine

9 reviews

angel__'s review

adventurous emotional mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Slavery and Fire/Fire injury

jdromsky's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I remember reading this book years ago when I was a kid and I loved it. Back then only the first book in the series was out. Now that more are out, I can’t wait to read the whole series! 

I absolutely loved the large and diverse cast of characters! They came from all over the globe and has such beautiful and developed distinct personalities and idiosyncrasies. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

rinku's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

At the beginning, I wasn’t sure if I would like Ink and Bone but later, it fascinated me totally. This book is what I wished The Atlas Six or Babel were: It had characters from different part of the world working together in a magic library, completed with some great action scenes and deep characters. 

This book follows Jess, who’s living in London where real books are only supposed to be in libraries, but his father is smuggling them. When he’s older, he’s invited to become a postulant at the great library of Alexandria where all the knowledge is stored and controlled. Arriving there, he learns that there’s more to the library than he thought and he’s in the middle of this big intrigue. 

The beginning was kinda slow but as soon as Jess arrives at the library, the story got more interesting. There are postulants from around the world there which I always love. At first, there’s a lot of competition between them for the few places in the library. Later, after they endure some hardships, they get closer to each other and

Wolfe starts to see them as equals which was so great

. These hardships include

the occupation of Oxford that depicted war quite realistically and hence disturbing

. After this, the novel in general became more exciting with dramatic action scenes and amazing moments between specific characters. Besides those, I furthermore enjoyed some small slice of life moments that introduced the characters more to us. The ending is not too satisfying since it’s kinda open ended and

Jess has to become a solider now, urgh

. 

What is additionally great about this book is the quite dark atmosphere and the steampunk elements thrown in here and there. In general, the world is really interesting with its different fractions. The chapters are a bit long though and at some points, I wished that we got a few more descriptions. 

The characters are one of the things I enjoyed the most about Ink and Bone. Jess is a great protagonist who’s caught up between two worlds, namely his love for books and the library, and the family business around smuggling books. This creates a tense atmosphere, especially when Jess first arrives at the library. Another character I absolutely love is Wolfe, he’s so interesting. I also shipped him with Santi, who’s great as well,

and I was right about them

! The rest of the cast was likable as well and it was so great to see how they slowly warm up in the course of the story. Thomas especially found a place in my heart because he’s just so wholesome;

his death was so sad and shocking

. 

I only had my problems with Morgan. It’s so obvious from the beginning that she’s the love interest but I really can’t see what Jess finds in her. Her character is not worked out enough and their chemistry is not really believable. Jess trusts her way too fast, and it was annoying how much he was focussed on her in the later part of the book; it isn’t shown enough why

he would sacrifice his life for hers

. 

Ink and Bone is thus an entertaining and dark fantasy novel that I personal wouldn’t categorize as YA since the conflicts in it felt too “adult” for this. There were so many interesting characters, and I can’t wait to see what adventures await them next – but I’ll also worry how long they will survive lmao. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Slavery, Suicide, Kidnapping, Grief, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content and Vomit

_alyssar_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

I liked it, but not enough to keep reading the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

hayzey's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, and War

Minor: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

A fun dystopian sci-fi that reimagines libraries and how knowledge is kept and accessed. Overall, this seems like a fun book for book lovers. Unfortunately, it never had a wow factor for me, and none of the characters stood out. Each time a character died I found myself trying to remember who that was and why the protagonist should be upset about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Confinement

caitlinjadams's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A solid and brutal book that becomes more and more complicated as it goes and promises to reveal more and more as the series continues. I’m intrigued enough by the world building and how it probes at the many ways books and knowledge are power that I will likely read more of the series, but I also might not. There’s too much death and murder and torture and fear to be an truly enjoyable read for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and War

Moderate: Gun violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying and Alcohol