https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2023/10/2023147-ink-blood-sister-scribe-emma.html ( )

This book starts off really slow with a small info dump to set up for the last half of the book. Which was well worth sitting through. I really hope this becomes a series. To those who may consider DNF stick it out. It will be worth it. ( )

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
This book contains scenes of death (including on page death of a parent), ritual sacrifice, violence, torture, blood-letting, gore, kidnapping and physical assault. It also contains abusive relationship (emotional, physical and coercive control) by one family member to other relatives, including causing permanent physical disfigurement to a child.

In Ink Blood Sister Scribe, Emma Törzs delivers a delightful world of books, magic and found family that had me gripped from the start. All their lives Esther and Joanna have known that magic exists in the shape of books that give temporary powers to people. While Esther left home at eighteen and left the world of magic behind her, Joanna remained behind and continued to protect their family’s collection from falling into the hands of those who would misuse it. It is a duty that she takes as seriously as their father, but when he dies suddenly, Joanna is left alone to carry on their legacy alone. When Esther doesn’t return home for the funeral, Joanna is hurt and confused, but Esther was told to stay away and keep moving lest something bad happen. Most importantly, she was told not to tell her sister.

Meanwhile, far away in London lives a boy who has also grown up surrounded by books. But Nicolas’ life couldn’t be more different from the Kalotay sisters. Part of a wealthy family with an even richer knowledge of books, his entire life revolves around them. His legacy is one of blood, and danger, and his life is inexplicably tangled up with Esther and Joanna’s lives.

As two legacies and decades of events come to a head, a group of young people find themselves making difficult decisions that will change their lives forever as everything they’ve ever known comes crashing down.

From the first few pages of Ink Blood Sister Scribe, Törzs had me completely hooked. She has a vibrant and unique writing style that breathes life into her characters. Each of them could have so easily become dull clichés, and yet Törzs’ unique style puts a stop to that. Instead, they felt like individual people to me who had been shaped by their experiences, even when those experiences had been very limited in the cases of Joanna and Nicholas. I particularly liked the way that she juxtaposed the two of these characters. Both have spent most of their time with books, and spent little time with the outside world. While they have similarities, their relationships with other people, especially with family show clear differences. As an only child I especially noted how Joanna having a sister effected her, compared to Nicholas who had no siblings.

Nicholas was an interesting character who could have quite easily have become yet another annoying rich kid. What made the difference for me was the way that Törzs kept bringing Ink Blood Sister Scribe back to books. While Nicholas made the typical rich kid comments about an average house being “small”, he then noted that something being “threadbare”. His thoughts on this instinctively jumped to books and how that was something he had only ever read about in books. On the one hand, yes it’s a very snobby thing to think, but when you think about it, it’s an incredibly sad and lonely thing to only be able to see things through the lens of books. As wonderful as they are, they exist to heighten our experiences not be the only experience.

There were moments in Ink Blood Sister Scribe that were I saw coming, and then there were layers and twists I didn’t. This is a deliciously fun and complex book with wickedly interesting world building, and my only complaint is that it appears to be a standalone that ends on a cliffhanger. It can’t (but sadly does) end like that; I need to know what happens next! So if you’re someone who hates books that end like that, probably best to avoid this one as the fact that the cover says “a novel” suggests that’s all we’re getting from this universe right now.

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Mostly noting for self:

I DNFed this about 20% of the way in. It has all the elements I usually like - dark academic! Dark magic! Books containing spells fed by human blood! But, I got stuck and couldn't get lost in it. I believe this to be 'right book, wrong time,' so will try again eventually.

This was one of those rare cases where my enjoyment of the book exceeded my high expectations for it. Loved it. ( )