ARC Review: Blood, Ink & Fire by Ashley Mansour
Synopsis:
Snow falling. Deep winter.
Ice hardening into daggers.
A mother wolf licking her cub.
These are the banal images fed to Noelle Hartley to comfort
her, to prepare her. To keep her feeling vulnerable.
Welcome to the future inside the United Vales of Fell, a
world where books have been eliminated and reading has been replaced by
watching Fell’s ever-present stream of information, Verity. Where others see
images, Noelle sees words. Lots of them. She’s obsessed with what they mean,
where they came from and why they found her.
Noelle’s been keeping her forbidden words a secret; but on
the night before her seventeenth birthday, a rare interruption in the stream
sets them loose, leading Noelle to discover a mysterious volume linked to an
underworld of rebel book lovers known as The Nine of the Rising. With the help
of the Risers, Noelle realizes that the words are precious clues to the earlier
time, and as a child of their bookless age, she might just be the very last
reader.
Coming 2015
My Review:
4 stars
4 stars
I received an eARC from the author in exchange for an honest
review. I was lucky enough to be a part of a group of readers called The Hundred with the author.
Blood, Ink & Fire is set in a world where books have
been destroyed and made illegal to possess. Reading is a crime and for Noelle
Hartley that is a dangerous problem. Unlike everyone else in the United Vales
of Fell, Noelle can read. This leads Noelle on a journey where she has to come
to terms with both love and loss, and who she is.
I really loved this book! It was so unique and wonderfully
written. I am surprised that this is the author's first book. The idea of a
world without books is utterly terrifying to me and I feel that the Ashley
Mansour portrayed it perfectly. Throughout the book there were many quotes from
other great works of literature and MANY literary references (hint
hint....names). You will understand once you have read this story for yourself.
Normally this book would have received 5 stars from me but I cannot get over
the ending. I was a bit perturbed and a little frustrated with Noelle. I am
really hoping that Ashley decides to write a second book because I feel there
is much more that could and needs to be wrote about with this story.
I recommend this book to every book lover out there!
Author:
In April 2014 Ashley Mansour began a yearlong experiment.
She overcame her fear of social media, setup an Instagram
profile—@ashleymwrites—and began shamelessly sharing her writing journey
(warts, pitfalls, and all) with readers and writers online. The result? Ashley
found a community of amazing people that cared deeply about reading and books,
and the curious little story she had begun writing that featured a world without
them.
One year later, Ashley’s first dystopian sci-fi novel for
young adults, Blood, Ink & Fire is complete and due to be read and reviewed
by a select few known as The Hundred, an advanced reader group of 100
passionate bibliophiles representing nearly half a million readers worldwide.
It’s her goal to share Blood, Ink & Fire with readers everywhere in 2015.
Before embarking on her experiment, Ashley wandered through
many creative fields. She published for children. She “did” voices. She wrote
songs and recorded them. She wore blazers instead of PJs. Born and raised in
Southern California, Ashley traveled, working in three countries with big
teams, emerging artists, major brands and cool startups. Whenever she’d had
enough of the wandering, the words were always there, waiting to bring her
home.
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