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A review by kittyg
Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne
4.0
I read this book for the #clearursht readathon and I am so glad I picked this up as I ended up really liking this story and I will definitely be reading more in this series and trying more by this author.
The story is an urban fantasy set in Glasgow for the most part with Al as our main character. He’s a sigil crafter and sigils are magical inked pictures which each have unique magical effects based on the design and the inks used to create them. He’s one of only a few who have a skill set to use and know about the inks and the sigils, and they are spread around the globe. His magic may not be the wand-waving, showy sort of some wizards, or the unavoidable type that hobgoblins and trolls have, but it’s pretty bad-ass and he manages to use the sigils in pretty cool ways to solve problems.
Al masquerades as a book printer, but his shop is really a front for his sigil business. He’s had 7 apprentices and all have died mysteriously, including his latest who is dead when we start the book. Unbeknownst to Al his latest apprentice was deep into some underground fae stuff, and he now needs to find out what’s been going on and who’s behind it all. Al needs to investigate and fast.
The book is written with the Glaswegian accent in mind in the spelling of many of the words. For me, this actually worked really well as I could almost “hear” the words in my mind and the accent, but I could see how for some readers it might be difficult to follow if you’re not familiar with a Scottish accent. I’m actually going to Glasgow soon for a holiday so having read this by chance at this time I really got immersed and enjoyed hearing about the place itself and the people there.
There are lots of great side characters in this one too, Nadia who is very strong and powerful and exactly the sort of person Al needs to take care of his business. She takes no shit from anyone and she’ll dish out whatever needs dishing.
We also have Buck Foi who is crazy and yet comedic too. I found his banter with Al to be a lot of fun and I enjoyed seeing his own magics come into play too.
Overall, this was a fun story with great writing and a good fast pace. Even though it’s fast it doesn’t feel like it skimps on development of the characters as I found that I definitely cared about them and wanted to see them solve the mysteries.
I definitely plan to get to book #2 soon! 4*s for this one.
The story is an urban fantasy set in Glasgow for the most part with Al as our main character. He’s a sigil crafter and sigils are magical inked pictures which each have unique magical effects based on the design and the inks used to create them. He’s one of only a few who have a skill set to use and know about the inks and the sigils, and they are spread around the globe. His magic may not be the wand-waving, showy sort of some wizards, or the unavoidable type that hobgoblins and trolls have, but it’s pretty bad-ass and he manages to use the sigils in pretty cool ways to solve problems.
Al masquerades as a book printer, but his shop is really a front for his sigil business. He’s had 7 apprentices and all have died mysteriously, including his latest who is dead when we start the book. Unbeknownst to Al his latest apprentice was deep into some underground fae stuff, and he now needs to find out what’s been going on and who’s behind it all. Al needs to investigate and fast.
The book is written with the Glaswegian accent in mind in the spelling of many of the words. For me, this actually worked really well as I could almost “hear” the words in my mind and the accent, but I could see how for some readers it might be difficult to follow if you’re not familiar with a Scottish accent. I’m actually going to Glasgow soon for a holiday so having read this by chance at this time I really got immersed and enjoyed hearing about the place itself and the people there.
There are lots of great side characters in this one too, Nadia who is very strong and powerful and exactly the sort of person Al needs to take care of his business. She takes no shit from anyone and she’ll dish out whatever needs dishing.
We also have Buck Foi who is crazy and yet comedic too. I found his banter with Al to be a lot of fun and I enjoyed seeing his own magics come into play too.
Overall, this was a fun story with great writing and a good fast pace. Even though it’s fast it doesn’t feel like it skimps on development of the characters as I found that I definitely cared about them and wanted to see them solve the mysteries.
I definitely plan to get to book #2 soon! 4*s for this one.