Review: Inkmistress by Audrey Coulthurst

Inkmistress by Audrey Coulthurst
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review.  This book will be released on March 6th, and is a companion to Of Fire and Stars.  I haven't read Of Fire and Stars, but from what I understand it takes place a few hundred years beforehand and in a neighboring kingdom.

I loved the mythology and magic elements in Inkmistress. The people within the world can manifest when they come of age, meaning they can take the form of an animal. The animal they can manifest into ties them to one of the gods the people worship. It is rare that a person cannot manifest, but it does happen. Our main character, Asra is a demigod, and she has unique powers. She is a bloodscribe, and has been hidden away in a mountain town to study as a healer where she will be safe. Her blood holds her true power, but using her powers can kill her. She uses her blood to enchant healing tinctures and aid the townsfolk.

When tragedy strikes the town she has protected, Asra uses her powers to aid the girl she thinks she loves to find her manifest before her time. But we all know by now that magic comes with a price, and Asra's magic doesn't work out as she planned. Ina, Asra's love, manifests into a fierce dragon fueled by revenge for her loved ones. Ina strikes out to revenge the town, and Asra is left feeling guilty that her magic didn't work out the way she'd hoped. Asra follow's Ina to explain what she's done and to stop her from her revenge mission. Along the way, Asra meets Hal another demigod who vows to help Asra. Hal and Asra grow close and they eventually team up to fight Ina on her revenge mission. Asra is betrayed throughout the course of her mission to change the past and fix what she felt she did wrong.

I felt like the pace of the story was really slow and parts of it dragged for me. There is a ton of time spent building up to the various milestone events in the story, but I found them anticlimactic when they finally did happen. There were some plot twists I didn't see coming especially when it came to the numerous betrayals that happen in the story, but there were so many they eventually lost their impact on me. Asra seemed to never learn her lesson after being betrayed over and over again. Her misplaced sense of loyalty and lack of self-preservation got to be a bit much, I'm glad she found her strength and backbone toward the end. I just felt she was portrayed as weak and naive for much of the story, and it took too long for her to find her inner strength. I did like the diversity of the characters, Asra and Ina both appear to be bisexual, but I think Ina might have a preference for women over men if I read the clues correctly. The romance doesn't overpower the story, and it does teach a good lesson to not let your feeling cloud your judgement.

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