Reviewed by Sarina

TITLE: Stolen Ink

SERIES: Ink Born #1

AUTHOR: Holly Evans

PUBLISHER: Chaos Fox

LENGTH: 199 pages

RELEASE DATE: February 10, 2017

BLURB:

I’m Dacian, a tattoo magician, and my life went from my biggest concern being finding a pretty guy to fall into bed with at the end of the week to everything falling apart around me.

There are two problems in my life.

Number one – I’m an ink magician, the thing of myths. A lot of very powerful people would love to get their hands on me, and I have no intention of letting that happen.

Number two – A tattoo thief came to my city, and the magical community has decided that I’m the guy to stop them.

Somehow, I have to catch the thief without letting my secret out of the bag, and that’s even harder than it sounds.

REVIEW:

Let me start off by saying that this book has, in my opinion, everything an Urban Fantasy needs to be great. There was a wide variety of characters and species, various forms of magic and magic users, and a plot that caught and kept my attention…all of which was brought together with an interesting setting and clever dialogue. I LOVED this!

Dacian is a tattoo magician which is both different than I was expecting and way more unique. Tattoos in this world don’t just get inked into someone’s skin any time they want one; the tattoos themselves choose when they want to be brought out and on whom. Dacian’s job is to first paint the tattoo in order to give it form while giving the person its attached to a chance to see it, before it is permanently inked into the skin. Each tattoo is basically a manifestation of that person’s soul (at least in part) and can be brought out of their skin to provide company, help, or just because they or their person don’t wish for them to reside within them for a time. The basic plot line is that someone is going around stealing these tattoos from people, in essence stealing parts of their souls, and is leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. Dacian keeps having weird dreams courtesy of the ‘ink network’ (the magic the tattoos stem from) and finds himself declared the ink networks ambassador and is, in other people’s minds, the logical choice to catch and bring the thief to justice before anyone else is killed. Along the way, Dacian finds himself with new allies, a new relationship, and the unwelcome attentions of the council whose members are attempting to claim Dacian and his abilities for their own.

This book was amazing, just completely amazing and I can’t wait to read it again! Dacian was just a guy trying to live his life under the radar but finds that his need for his own safety is outweighed by the desire to keep his friends safe instead. I adored him from the beginning and by the end had decided he was one of those characters that I would most likely never get enough of. The story itself had fantastic pacing, enough variety that I was never bored and a few surprises that kept me eagerly anticipating what would happen next. And the end? So good! Even when things with the thief were wrapped up, the problems surrounding Dacian and his abilities weren’t and with how things were left off, I just can’t wait to read the next book!

If you enjoy a good Urban Fantasy, you need this book! I absolutely loved it from start to finish and I will happily re-read it a couple of times a year.

RATING:

BUY LINK: 

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