Inked by Eric Smith Review

Inked by Eric Smith

“Lose control once in a while, and your emotions will make you strong. Keep your heart open, and they’ll make you invincible.”

Inked is the story of Caenum, a teenage boy who’s waiting to get inked. An inking ceremony consists of a person getting a moving tattoo which will tell the person what career choice they are best suited for. Caenum at the start of the book is dreading his ceremony to the point in which he’d rather run away than face it, that is until the arrival of Kenzi a scribe whose magical abilities send the town after him. Caenum and his friend Dreya accompany Kenzi to the Sanctuary where they could all be safe however nothing is that easy in their lives.

The plot is split into 3 parts; the town and home life, the Freedland men and the sanctuary. The first part – the introduction of the novel was good as it showed an insight into the 3 main characters and their lives. It sets up how village life is, how the villagers are and the back-story of the villain. The second part which is the best part is when the trio are on the run and get captured by un-inked men who call themselves the Freedland men – basically Viking men. We’re introduced to the main men from there that either ally themselves with the trio or become enemies with them. The last section is the worst section. Also it’s revealed that the trio all have a magical ability which is such a cliché and typical – of course they’re all special.

Overall the story was fast paced however with that the story missed a lot of explanations out -the entire inking ceremony wasn’t really gone into and its effects on people’s lives. Also how, when they got into the sanctuary we only met like 3 characters because Caenum spent most of his time outside so it was a missed opportunity which was instead focused on Caenum doing basically nothing. Also the section on the entire “war” and training were way too rushed especially compared to all the unnecessary stuff added in.

The character of the dad really annoyed me. It was as if the author couldn’t decide whether to make him good or bad and then decided to infuse both ideas. One moment the dad’s all nice talking about the past then he’s power hungry – it was confusing and pointless. The villain and the hero had their fight at 97%! Literally there was hardly anything and he was supposed to be this big scary feared assassin – wasted potential there.

The romance was frustrating as the feelings were already there even before the story started and nothing really developed and then randomly at the end he found out her loved her. Also the ending sucked as it didn’t wrap up things properly.

 “You can only stop running when there’s no one left to chase you.”

★★★☆☆