Book Review: Indelible

Some things are permanent.

Indelible.

And they cannot be changed back.

Joy Malone learns this the night she sees a stranger with all-black eyes across a crowded room—right before the mystery boy tries to cut out her eye. Instead, the wound accidentally marks her as property of Indelible Ink, and this dangerous mistake thrusts Joy into an incomprehensible world—a world of monsters at the window, glowing girls on the doorstep, and a life that will never be the same.

Now, Joy must pretend to be Ink’s chosen one—his helper, his love, his something for the foreseeable future . . . and failure to be convincing means a painful death for them both. Swept into a world of monsters, illusion, immortal honor and revenge, Joy discovers that sometimes, there are no mistakes.

Somewhere between reality and myth lies . . .
THE TWIXT.   Quoted from Goodreads

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I enjoyed this book surprisingly a lot.  This is one of those I was on the fence about.  The idea sounded fantastic, the cover was beautiful, but a guy who tries to cut out a girl's eye as a love interest?  You can see why I wasn't sure.

Like I said, this actually was a really fun book.  Even the eye part.  First, the author gave a decent explanation for what he did . . . sort of.  If Ink were a normal person it would still be inexcusable, but with his character in the beginning, I understood why and what he did. Ink's character was one of the ones I enjoyed the most. First, he changes---drastically.  He's not the same person in the beginning that he becomes in the end, both emotionally and physically (you'll have to read the book to really understand that one). He's a unique romantic lead and a refreshing change from the sarcastic, bad boy who only the main character can truly see or understand.

I thought Joy was a good, albeit rather average, main character.   She was brave when she needed to be, and I really liked her attitude about being indispensable.  It helped her handle the challenge of the Twixt and Ink.  I did get a little sick of her issues with her mother. I might understand her feelings, but, for me, it sort of detracted from the rest of the book and added an unneeded level of angst that wasn't even resolved particularly well.

The world-building was excellent.  There are all sorts of mythical creatures that are new and unique and, honestly, a bit dark.  The Twixt, while it has it's good moments, is really more of a dark, strange place than some fantastical fairy world.  It took a while to see where this book was really going, but I loved the climax in the end and the way everything resolved.  I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be a series, but it could be one book, and I really liked that.

The supporting characters were fun.  I especially liked the beings from the Twixt as opposed to Joy's human friends and family, mostly because they were far more interesting.  I should probably say something about Inq here.  She's actually rather the stereotypical love interest's "sister," and I wasn't a fan of the Q at the end of her name, but I did enjoy the contrast between her and Ink.  She's mysterious enough that I want to find out more about her in later books, and I loved her devoted group of guys.

All in all this is a fun, albeit slightly dark, read.  It's a strong 3.5 stars for me.  Some things happened a little too fast and there were a few transitions that confused me a bit, but overall I liked it.  It's a new, unique world, and I look forward to future books.