Ink Mage: A Fire Beneath the Skin, Book 1

Interesting premise taken to a whole different level. Reminded me of Ray Bradbury's Illustrated Man in medieval times. Fun read. Give it a shot.

Superior and sarcastic duchess Rina Veraiin spends her days practicing fencing with her loyal guard and teasing people. I bore with Superbrat because usually something happens to characters like to change them, and soon enough the conflict comes as her father’s steward (whom Rina, of course, has never liked) conspires with an invading army to take the city of Klaar. With the help of her guard, Rina escapes horrors piled upon horrors and is led to the dwelling of the Ink Mage to learn of a way to seek vengeance and reclaim her city.Along with her journey, the story’s narrative rotates to cover different characters as they face the take over of their home by the invading Perranese. I enjoyed this question as the head stable boy wonders what really change in his own life if there are still horses to care for, or those who frequent taverns grow accustomed to drinking alongside foreign soldiers. It threw Rina’s quest more into a light of personal vengeance against the man who betrayed her family and less of a reclaiming-her-right, and I found myself wondering if the people of Klaar would welcome her intentions upon her return.There is resistance within the city, although I found these sections and most of the ones that were not directly following Rina to be distracting, more like eddies than a helpful current. Many people who are going to play only a brief part are given their own narrative and to me the additional development of the world was not worth the time away from Rina seeking out those who had the stencils to give her incredible abilities through the tattoos they ink on her skin. Each tattoo unique in the methods of its inking and the powers they grant, building upon her resourcefulness and fighting skills (which she gets to use often). Rina gains powers and struggles with the constant temptation to use them even if doing so could destroy her but I felt that this too was not followed through with as much as I was hoping. I don’t know if there is going to be a sequel but there were many more things that were brought up and cast aside in all too short a time, or made out to seem important but turned out to be mere misdirection. I wonder if the narrative could have followed Rina if more time and plot threads could have been devoted to things that barely got to make their point.The narrative is done in an intermediate style that couldn’t seem to settle on a tone. While I’m a fan of Mitch Headburg’s observation, “Every book is a children’s book if the kid can read” and am not offended by the content, I found it strange that the same book contains a scene where a young man is alarmed by the sight of ladies’ underwear and a scene in which a man mutters that he will next take a woman up the backside. The style did make the intricacies of the kingdom more accessible, with one character working to establish a line of credit to help Rina and reveal the attitudes of the kingdom’s nobility toward the independent city that now needs help.Ink Mage is an ambitious story with crazy action, awesome systems of magic, and examines several sides of the conflict it tells of. I read it as a full book instead of in the serials it was released as; perhaps I would have enjoyed the cycling narrative more if I had read the sections as they came out. I enjoyed Rina’s journey and loved the implementation of the ability-imbued tattoos. For an ultra-badass heroine beset by obstacles of all kinds, who embraces the joy and power that she finds even as she grieves and sets herself on a path for revenge, who questions what she is becoming and what she feels for her companions and who she is in the world, read Ink Mage.

Sad but uplifting. A semi desperate but fluid sheros journey. 10, 9, 8,7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, bye bye.

***My final comments don't really contain spoilers, but they it does give you a general idea of how things end, in the sense of whether it was a happy, sad, good, or bad ending. If you don't want to know that much, then skip it. I clearly marked where I go into that.***This is a cool premise to this story. I read it like a whole book, so didn't get it piece meal like some of the people who didn't like it that way. That's the way you paid to receive it, so I don't know why you'd complain about getting it that way.It may have some common tropes in it, but I never understood why that bothered people. If you like something, then you want more of it. How many times do you read a book and hear the line about how 'there are no new stories, just the same old stories, rediscovered with new players.' I like to read new and imaginative stuff as much as the next person, but not everyone can do that and sometimes you just want to read stuff where you know the backwoods farm boy is going to get a bunch of cool magic powers and defeat the ambiguous evil overlord. Also, the fact that the magic powers that come from tattoos is cool and something I haven't personally read, even though I'd heard the idea before.I also read a reviewer who said that they turned their nose up at the book because there were cuss words and sex in it. I agree and disagree with that. Firstly, I don't mind that. I think it's a little weird when a writer will have an army of hardened soldiers who run around saying, 'heck' and 'gosh darnit'. Contrary to many uppity peoples opinions, cussing does have a place in the world. Sometimes regular words just won't do it. I don't think it necessarily makes someone ignorant to cuss, but if it does, then you still need ignorant characters in your world. I will say it's unnecessary for every other word out of someone's mouth to be a cuss word, but I work with a guy who does just that. The only reason I agree that the cursing and sex should probably have been left out of this is because it feels like a middle school - high school type of read. I think adults can certainly enjoy it, but it's kind of like how Harry Potter is classified as a kids book and adults enjoy it. It wouldn't feel right or necessary to have the characters cursing or having sex even though that happens a lot with kids in the age range that go to Hogwarts. It's just not that kind of book. So it would have been better to have left it out.**Possible Inferred Spoilers***The main reason I gave this book 3 stars was because of the ending. It climaxed too quickly. (Double entendre, but not pun intended.) The story is going along just fine and then within a couple of chapters, the main character has everything fall into place without a hitch. It was too convenient. There was no struggle and there were story lines they didn't wrap up. If he plans to write another book, then these can be addressed and it wasn't a bad ending. If this is it, then it wasn't very good. Like I usually do, I suggest you read it anyway, or at least some of it to see if you get hooked. There are plenty of books and tv shows I really enjoyed and would watch again even though they got cancelled or had a bad ending, because as most characters say at some point, 'It's about the journey, not the destination.'

An above average quality story for a free Kindle book. Likable characters that have a delightful twist on the stereotypical. There is a quantity of cavalier sex and violence, so if those things offend you, probably better to take a pass on this series.There is a lot of action and magic, though some of it is slightly outside of the realistic, but not enough to ruin the story.This is the first book of a series of three. I listened to the accompanying audio and the narrator did an excellent job.I would rate this book R. There is a lot of sex and references to sex, there is bloody violence, and some language.I recommend this book for MATURE audiences.(Read and listened to with Kindle Unlimited Subscription.)

At first, I found the concept that a person can obtain magical powers through special tattoos is perhaps less convincing than say the ability to channel the energy of the universe or ride dragons in the fantasy genre. But as I progressed, the found the concept to be satisfactory, with fast paced action. Overall the book was very well written and entertaining.

This book definitely isn’t happy endings & “saved by the bell” moments, it’s more about people reaching within themselves and finding what they need to get the job done. Even the magic tattoos that offer hope for an entire duchy (not that they realise it) aren’t an easy fix by any means. And be warned that not all the good guys survive! Dark bits aside, it’s a really enjoyable read though. Looking forward to the next book.

A well deserved five stars this book grips you in the first chapter and builds from there, the story line keeps you wanting more and more which I found hard to put the book down, the Author has constructed characters that you want to achieve their goal in the storyline and they all come from different backgrounds, I now look forward to the next book in this series.

It's been a while since I have read a high fantasy novel. Am really enjoying it😁

I couldn’t put it down. Took me right out of myself. Looking forward to book 2 to see what happened next.