Ink and Shadows

Title: Ink and Shadows (Ink and Shadows #1)
Author: Rhys Ford and Greg Tremblay (Narrator)
Publisher: DSP Publications
Release Date: January 15th 2016
Genre(s): Paranormal / Horror / Urban Fantasy
Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
Reviewed by: Belen
Heat Level: 1 flames out of 5
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Blurb:

Kismet Andreas lives in fear of the shadows.

For the young tattoo artist, the shadows hold more than darkness. He is certain of his insanity because the dark holds creatures and crawling things only he can see—monsters who hunt out the weak to eat their minds and souls, leaving behind only empty husks and despair.

And if there’s one thing Kismet fears more than being hunted—it’s the madness left in its wake.

The shadowy Veil is Mal’s home. As Pestilence, he is the youngest—and most inexperienced—of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, immortal manifestations resurrected to serve—and cull—mankind. Invisible to all but the dead and insane, the Four exist between the Veil and the mortal world, bound to their nearly eternal fate. Feared by other immortals, the Horsemen live in near solitude but Mal longs to know more than Death, War and Famine.

Mal longs to be… more human. To interact with someone other than lunatics or the deceased.

When Kismet rescues Mal from a shadowy attack, Pestilence is suddenly thrust into a vicious war—where mankind is the prize, and the only one who has faith in Mal is the human the other Horsemen believe is destined to die.

There is something I don’t like to admit about myself. I get scared and startled easily.

Yes, I am a wuss. I turn into a quivering pile of shuddering terror around horror stories. It’s true. I get nightmares easily and figure, hey! No reason to bring that shit to my playground, right? So I avoid horror movies and books whenever I can. Which is most of the time.

When I was offered Ink and Shadows for review I did read the blurb, but what I was thinking was “Rhys Ford and Greg Tremblay together? Winning combo – sign me right up!” I saw this as “Urban Fantasy”, sure, but I didn’t really think anything of it.

I should have. Oh, god, I really should have. Because this story creeped me out…big time.

The story scared the shit out me. Straight up – left me clutching the sheets trying not to fall asleep for the images in my mind – scared.

I played a chapter for a co-worker that had me straight up gasping and trembling…

And she looked at me like I’d grown a second head. “That’s not scary.” I was told. But it was scary, for me. I didn’t want to keep listening, but I couldn’t stop.

Between the awesome world building, and the fabulous narration performance by Greg Tremblay (naturally!) I was hooked. I was really into the story, which for someone who’s not a wuss, will probably work out a lot better than it did for me.

This is a great stepping stone story into this new world. While not a cliffhanger, the story is more an introduction to the world and the characters, and certainly not complete. The end lends itself to many unanswered questions, which I assume will be answered in later installments. Also, good for some to know is that though there’s some hints of affection and longing between characters, this is by no means a romance. Maybe there’ll be some romance later, you can see the potential of it, but there’s none here.

This one is for those people who love a good paranormal/urban fantasy story with lots of deep, dark crevices to explore. More for say a Stephen King-type fan than a Nora Roberts-type fan, if you know what I mean.

My problem? Now I’m hooked. I need to know what happens next. So, I’ll just have to put on my big girl pants and suck it up and get ready for book #2.