Ink in the Blood, written by Kim Smejkal, reviewed by Stephanie Wilson

Summary: Celia and Anya have been friends since their apprentice days. Each holds the mysterious power to transmit tattoos to other people via the ink that runs in their blood. Their “gift” is controlled by the orders of Divine. Celia and Anya long for a life beyond the temple walls. They plot their escape with the help of a fallen mistico (priestess) and join the Rabble Mob. The Rabble Mob is a traveling theater troupe that performs morality plays within the careful constraints of the Divine. Celia and Anya soon learn their past won’t be so easily escaped.

Straight Talk for Librarians: Ink in the Blood is a dark fantasy novel filled with characters whose gender is unknown or shifts. The lack of consistency leads to some confusion as to which character is speaking in parts of the novel. It is especially confusing when one character refers to another as "he" on one page and "she" on the following page. It was unclear whether this was intentional or due to spotty editing. Consistent use of the convention of they or we would have made more sense. The individual characters of the Rabble Mob are frequently more interesting than either Celia or Anya. Celia’s weakness, whining and moping is irritating. Act I of the book moves incredibly slow. The pace picks up in Act II and it's the best written section of the novel. The novel is clearly meant for high school level readers. There are multiple references to drinking absinthe with predictable consequences. Celia finds herself in several romantic entanglements that stop short of being sexual encounters. A character gouges her eyes out and multiple characters go mad.

It's clear the author completed tons of worldbuilding before the novel was written. Unfortunately, some of this previous work needed to be included in the novel for clarity's sake. The novel has good bones, but they never get fleshed out. I enjoyed parts of the novel but not the entire novel. The novel is book one of a planned series.