Ink in the Blood

Kim Smejkal’s Ink in the Blood is the fantasy epic I didn’t know I needed. It draws together so many of my interests: tattoos, magic, masquerades, revolution, well-written characters across the gender spectrum, and immerses you fully in its spell over several hundred pages.

When Celia Sand is six years old, a tattoo etches itself on her ankle in the middle of the night, consigning her to a mysterious religion called Profeta. Alongside her best friend Anya, Celia wields tattoo magic that nudges followers' fates at the whim of the Divine. Sound like a dream job? It’s not. So when Celia and Anya are given the chance to escape their cruel fates and join the Rabble Mob (a bold and irrepressible theater troupe and lovable found family) they take it… and find themselves at the center of a brewing revolution that promises to shake the very foundations of the faith they ran away from.

This is dark fantasy at its most irresistible, and I loved exploring the all-encompassing world Kim Smejkal has created. Each aspect is so unique and intricately rendered, sweeping you into the embrace of unforgettable characters and dangerous schemes. For readers who like their fantasy bloody, complex, and utterly enthralling, I can't recommend Ink in the Blood highly enough!

Celia Sand and her best friend, Anya Burtoni, are inklings for the esteemed religion of Profeta. Using magic, they tattoo followers with beautiful images that represent the Divine’s will and guide the actions of the recipients. It’s considered a noble calling, but ten years into their servitude Celia and Anya know the truth: Profeta is built on lies, the tattooed orders strip away freedom, and the revered temple is actually a brutal, torturous prison.

Their opportunity to escape arrives with the Rabble Mob, a traveling theater troupe. Using their inkling abilities for performance instead of propaganda, Celia and Anya are content for the first time . . . until they realize who followed them. The Divine they never believed in is very real, very angry, and determined to use Celia, Anya, and the Rabble Mob’s now-infamous stage to spread her deceitful influence even further.

To protect their new family from the wrath of a malicious deity and the zealots who work in her name, Celia and Anya must unmask the biggest lie of all—Profeta itself.