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A review by cutenanya
Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine
3.0
This book took me a while to read because it's so slow, this is truly an exemplary of a book with great potential but poor execution. Reading this book reminds me of the digital vs. paper book problem. The blanks are like kindles (sorry but that's how I picture it) and the world is one where only the mega privileged, a.k.a. scholars are entitled to reading REAL books made from paper. The rest of the world, we can only see words floating on blanks if we want to read. While this may seem absurd from our perspective as we are used to be surrounded by real books and not digital blanks, nonetheless, this maybe the reality of our future generation. As a book lover, (like most of you who are reading my review :D) I can totally relate to the sad reality that not only is the number of real books gradually declining, we also see fewer thoughts being poured into the creation of books today. A few centuries ago, books are beautifully bound, with leather and occasionally bindings. Today, hardcovers cost so much I feel myself being a spendthrift just collecting this books.
Anyway, I have been sidetracked so I shall come back to Jesse's adventures in Ink and Bone. I think this book fails in the following aspects (and thus just 3 stars despite the awesome world building):
1) PACING: This books is SO SLOW I keep wanting to DNF it but I can't just because I feel a book with such a wonderful background world should not be dumped into my DNF shelf. Still, though it's action packed in a way, the actions don't really grab my interest. This is probably due to the poor development of the cast, bringing me to my second problem with this book.
2) CHARACTERS: I think Ms. Caine should REALLY work on character development. Frankly, the whole cast has potential to be lovable, realistic characters but I end up disliking Jesse and Morgan toward the end of the story and that's a HUGE problem when they are the main characters. Jesse is conflicted and inconsistent. The rest of the cast though is awesome and I truly like Thomas and scholar Wolfe (MVP of the book). I adore Thomas for his intelligence and loyalty to Jesse and I adore Wolfe because he's intelligent, innovative, kind and caring. I also like the other characters but sadly, their screen time is too limited for me to develop any emotion for them.
3) ROMANCE: Again, I can't believe how Jesse and Morgan's romance can be SO BADLY developed. While Jesse and Morgan's relationships is disappointing though, the romance between other characters are more appealing, especially between Wolfe and Santi. I've seen many reviews expressing fondness for this couple (they're cute), supportive and caring for each other. Hopefully, they would form a model for the younger generation. Dario is not the best character for sure but he has potential to become a better person in the future and his crush (?) on Khalila is just SO CUTE!
Overall, this is a book with a promising premise. The poor execution and poor characterization of the main character though is a problem for me. I'm still struggling as to whether I should continue reading the next books in the series but I definitely won't read it immediately.
Anyway, I have been sidetracked so I shall come back to Jesse's adventures in Ink and Bone. I think this book fails in the following aspects (and thus just 3 stars despite the awesome world building):
1) PACING: This books is SO SLOW I keep wanting to DNF it but I can't just because I feel a book with such a wonderful background world should not be dumped into my DNF shelf. Still, though it's action packed in a way, the actions don't really grab my interest. This is probably due to the poor development of the cast, bringing me to my second problem with this book.
2) CHARACTERS: I think Ms. Caine should REALLY work on character development. Frankly, the whole cast has potential to be lovable, realistic characters but I end up disliking Jesse and Morgan toward the end of the story and that's a HUGE problem when they are the main characters. Jesse is conflicted and inconsistent.
Spoiler
He's been used by other people his whole life - his family, the library, and even his girlfriend and hates it but he's doing exactly the same thing to Morgan. If that's not the works of a hypocrite, I don't know what is.3) ROMANCE: Again, I can't believe how Jesse and Morgan's romance can be SO BADLY developed.
Spoiler
It was okay halfway and maybe even a bit sweet immediately after their escape from Oxford and explosion on the train. However, things just went downhill when Jesse betrayed Morgan even if he had the best of intentions. She would be captured anyway if left alone, maybe even tortured so this is really the logical thing to do. Yet, the logical thing may not necessarily be the right thing to do. Jesse's too logical to border being insensitive and I guess that's what frustrates Morgan.Spoiler
When Jesse said Khalila is too good for Dario, he admits it. Imagine that !? An arrogant prick like Dario humbling himself and striving to be better for Khalila! Darn, that's adorable!!!Overall, this is a book with a promising premise. The poor execution and poor characterization of the main character though is a problem for me. I'm still struggling as to whether I should continue reading the next books in the series but I definitely won't read it immediately.