DNF, bailing at 26%.

I have read... a LOT of Rhys Ford novels & related collections. Like, a LOT. But this one doesn't live up to subsequent work.

I wouldn't have minded that it isn't a romance, had there not also been a plague of head-hopping scenes, some gross imagery, AND poor pacing. It's pretty awful, and I am too old to trudge through this when I have other, far better books to read instead. ( )

UPDATE:
While reading the length of this book, one star.
==================

I was sooooo looking froward to this book! This is pre-Kai Gracen universe, I was told. But the moment I dug in.... *sigh* I expected horror elements, of course, but not like this :/

This is a horror, alright. This. Is. Frigging terrible. Who "edited" this book? They really need to be fired. Like 3 years ago. Before this mess came out :/

Warning: Misplaced modifiers, POV ping-pong, adjectives (ab)used as nouns.

I lost the story behind this terror! :/ Sure, horror was never my poison, but it's on me, not the author. I still love Kai Gracen, but he certainly received much more attention from people who somewhat know how to apply English grammar to a written text. It wasn't perfect, but it was readable. Lack of editing in its entirety, however, I cannot forgive. Not where it comes to a published book. Not when that book costs you 7 bucks :/

I am beyond disappointed and this.... this close to DNF.


66% After acquiring a massive headache that not even sake can heal, I am DNF-ing. My brains says No. More! ( )

I'm really not sure what to say about this one. It wasn't what I expected, I'm not really sure what it expected, lol. It's Rhys Ford, so I should love it. But, I didn't. Not really. And that is leaving me very confused. And part of the issue is that I can't pinpoint why I'm disappointed. Not disappointed enough to give up on the series however, lol ( )

This was very different from the other Rhys Ford books I've read. I've heard others say this about it (much to her chagrin) :-) but there's a sweetness about it I didn't find in the other books. Don't get me wrong--there's still lots of cool wraiths--the big ones are cool and impressive but I have to admit I really like the little tadpole ones that eat through flesh. It's a dimensional thing, don't worry. But I loved the relationships between the four Horsemen (yes, those Horsemen) and just how different they were, especially the one between War and Death. The two eldest, they have been around each other for centuries, involved in a convoluted courtship that has developed into a dance. As Pestilence, the youngest of the four, says when asked if Death and War are lovers; "Not now, but they have been. Probably should be...Sometimes I think the world is spinning out of control because both of them fight about how they feel. But I know that's not true." I love that. And the friendship between Mal, (Pestilence) and Kismet is also fun and interesting. I'm so curious to see what Kismet's role plays out to be. I am definitely hooked on this series: I care about what happens to the characters, and while there's a HFN ending, there are things brewing behind the veil... ( )

The writing in this book is so wretched that I don't think the book should have been released. So many sentences are so agonizing to read that I stopped at around 60%.

Ms Ford and her copyeditor do not know how to match singular and plural verbs with singular and plural nouns. There are dozens of mistakes. "…either Mal or Min are… ." "None of us have… ." "There's someone who…" "There's always a few…" "Everyone has their use…" "…there's five." Plus loads of misplaced or vague modifiers and places where it unclear who "he" is and who is acting. "A patter echoed under [his] fingertips, drumming a pattern along the doorjamb." Huh? It also bothered me that Ms Ford can't write a fight scene to save herself and her sex is greasy.

Besides the usual mistaking of "than" with "from", "who" with "that", and "less" with "fewer", "dove" with "dived", "leech" for "leach", Ms Ford writes that a coat was "worn soft from years of wear." Something is not "realistic of a person." An empty eye is "pupil-devoid." "[He] knew more than what he was telling." Someone asks "How big of one?" In a fight one cocks a dagger. About a painting the word "collection" is used to mean "depiction" or "representation." Corpses, with presumably stilled hearts, somehow manage to bleed out large pools of blood. A man is "older than what [he] originally guessed." A wraith has "muscled legs, bristling with talons" which seems to imply that clawed toes pop out all over. A broken fire hydrant is "decimated." After an explosion "their hearing [is] momentarily deafened." And what is this "crimpling" that cushions do when you sit on them?

The one that made me quit reading? "A cicatrix scarred over the bullet hole, the rounded smooth scar nearly watery in appearance."

Ms Ford's portrayal of characters is mind-numbingly bad. Mal is a weakling tripping around in a mental haze. Min must be short for Minimum in that she barely registers. Kismet (a truly icky name) does little but crave heroin through many many pages.

Most of the book is not taken up with the actual plot and its necessities, but by pathetic dialogue between the immortals Shi and Ari. In the human world, and humans are the ones most likely to be reading, one does not cuddle intimately with someone and then deny intercourse. Shi's behavior with Ari is trashy. On the other hand, Ari's single note whine and wandering hands are boring, then very boring and finally irritating as hell. I grew to hate him. He even detours from killing wraiths to force his attentions on Shi, copping a feel every second sentence. Ms Ford is trying to portray the pull and push of desired yet feared intimacy but anyone who has had to push away an overly aggressive suitor will recoil. We call this harassment or even rape these days.

As I said, I quit reading at about 60%. Hard to tell what pushed me over the edge. Mostly I think it was Ari's tongue.

I received a review copy of "Ink and Shadows" by Rhys Ford (Dreamspinner) through NetGalley.com. For what it is worth, the only "ink" in the part I read is when we first meet Kismet who is working part-time in a tattoo parlor to make some cash for heroin. ( )