Ugh, I loved, loved, loved this continuation of Ink in the Blood. It sparkled and dazzled like the Plague Doctor always did. Celia Sand is the perfect heroine, imperfect, doing right by doing wrong, being human. Loved it.

I received this and as an eARC to read for free in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and HMH Books for Young Readers for giving me access.

This was a better continuation of the first. While Ink in the Blood was a little slow to my liking, Curse of the Divine was a much better pace. The use of ink magic was better displayed and the world building grew so much more.

Not my favorite duology, but Curse of the Devine redeems my opinions on the first novel. As described, I would agree that this is a great read for those that love Wicked Saints bu Emily A. Duncan.

This was such a mystical and imaginative book. It was a very good wrap up to the duology, the concept of blood manipulation for message sending lead to many dark concepts.

Celia, the main protagonist in this book is heading to Wisteria, a town that’s tethered to illusions of ink and magic. She is after Halcyon Ronnea for revenge for her friend anya.

With things moving the way they are she has to start moving as to not lose her friend Griffin the plaque doctor to the dark forces as well. She has to play a double agent with Halcycon to gain his trust and destroy Diavala.

A plot that will take Celia to the depths of the underworld of illusions, she has to gain and figure out the difference between the real and not. She has to be at the pinnacle of her powers but What will the cost for her be this time?

The idea behind ink magic is a plot not really explored as much. Just as the ability to create the illusional life was a beautiful act in this story but as it had its beauty it had a dark side to it all that fit very well.

The characters were easy to connect to and the way it was written you got to connect with them in an emotional level and sympathize with them.

Overall I give this book a 4.5/5 definitely recommend the duology starting with INK IN THE BLOOD and then CURSE OF THE DIVINE.

I just cannot stop talking about this book! It is so so so beautiful and I have no words for this one. Beautiful characters, amazing fantasy world, perfect fit for everyone who is a fantasy lover. I loved the book one, but, I loved the book two even more!

Full review is available on website: Musing of Souls!

If you like magically macabre books, then this duology is for you 🖤

Curse of the divine picks up right where Ink in the Blood left us. Celia and co. brought down the Profeta Religion, freeing a to of people who might have otherwise not ever known they had been manipulated. This of course came at a great cost to Celia, who lost the most important person in her life. To add insult unto injury Diavala did not die, she instead hitched a ride with the nearest available body which so happens to be Celia's Plague Doctor. Together, Celia and Griffin will set off to get rid of Diavala once and for all with the help of the only "saint" who managed to survive Diavala's touch; Halycon Ronnea.

I love how creative Kim Smejkal is. She ventures out to create her own world full of her own rules and pretty much nails it. I remember really liking Ink in the Blood when it came out last year, and not knowing how the sequel would hold up. Let me tell you, it holds up in an extravagant way. I might even like it more than the first book. You get Diavala in a more close and personal scenario, giving her story texture and even making you sympathize with the she devil. After all, she wasn't born an immortal being... someone made her this way. Celia also walks the line between the good guy and the less than stellar girlfriend. She makes mistakes and spends the entire novel with the ghost of her best friend right on her shoulder--she is engulfed in sadness and grief. Pretty realistic portrayal, I am glad her trauma wasn't brushed off.

Griffin is not a favorite character for me--he is just very dramatic and I'm just not too into that, but he is perfect for Celia. I was glad he was there to guide her through the darkness they both face. We get a lot of background into the Ink; where it comes from, who created it, why they created it... It is all very marvelous and not totally surprising, but the book is all about the journey and not the twist for this reader.

I hope Kim Smejkal gets to publish a lot more books! She can only get better as a writer, and her stories more wonderful.

PS; I was provided a review copy in exchange for an honest review. Thanks go to the publisher!

So this book begins right after Ink in the Blood ends, and man, I was still getting over the end of Ink in the Blood and you can tell that Celia is too. She's so scarred by everything that happened with Diavala and Anya (and Anya was such a great loss for her) and she knows that Diavala is hiding in Griffin/the plague doctor and it's only a matter of time before she comes out and takes him over/kills him, so she needs to find out how to save him by talking to the only person who's ever survived the Touch, Halycon Ronnea. 
There were so many cool elements in this book and I loved how we got interludes where Griffin and Diavala were speaking to each other. It was really easy to understand why Celia did the things she did but it was also easy to understand why Griffin reacted to everything in the way that he did. There were some lulls in the middle of the book, but overall, they didn’t change how I felt about the book and I thought that the way the author ended the book and the twists that were taken throughout worked well! Overall, I really enjoyed Curse of the Divine and if you liked Ink in the Blood, I think you’ll enjoy this one too!

After Ink in the Blood, I wasn't sure how Kim Smejkal would be able to top the sinister vibe of the first book, but she killed it in Curse of the Divine. As a huge fan of tattoos, I found the premise of this duology exciting and completely original. Ink magic? Hells to the yes. No pun intended there, but for real, I was right there with Celia as she went through the ups and downs. I will say, I found Halcyon to be an interesting addition to the cast in this book, and wish we'd gotten a bit more back story there, but that's purely for selfish reasons because I find morally grey characters so intriguing! 

I'm looking forward to seeing what Smejkal writes next!

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Curse of the Divine

Author: Kim Smejkal

Book Series: Ink in the Blood Book 2

Rating: 3.5/5

Diversity: LGBT+ characters

Recommended For...: ya readers, fantasy lovers, magic lovers, LGBT+

Publication Date: February 9, 2021

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: 15+ (violence, gore, death, grief, religion, slight romance)

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers

Pages: 448

Synopsis: Celia Sand faced Diavala and won, using ink magic to destroy the corrupt religion of Profeta that tormented her for a decade. But winning came with a cost. Now Celia is plagued with guilt over her role in the death of her best friend. When she discovers that Diavala is still very much alive and threatening Griffin, the now-infamous plague doctor, Celia is desperate not to lose another person she loves to the deity’s wrath.

The key to destroying Diavala may lie with Halycon Ronnea, the only other person to have faced Diavala and survived. But Halcyon is dangerous and has secrets of his own, ones that involve the ink that Celia has come to hate. Forced to choose between the ink and Diavala, Celia will do whatever it takes to save Griffin—even if it means making a deal with the devil himself.

Review: For the most part I really enjoyed this read. The book had a lot of unique and fun elements to the book. The plot was intriguing and kept me hooked throughout it. The characters are well developed and the world building is well done.

However, I did feel like the book was a bit weirdly written. The book tended to hyper focus on certain events and it became a bit much to read at those points. The book was also slow paced in a lot of places. 

Verdict: It was good!

With more ink on my skin than my husband, I am a sucker for fantasy books that revolve around magic tattoos. Granted, they haven't been the greatest stories I have ever read, but that doesn't stop me from reading them. Kim Smejkal's Ink in the Blood rewarded me for my interest, so I was really looking forward to the story's finale, Curse of the Divine. Sadly, everything I loved about the first book failed to impress me this time around.

What impressed me so much about the first novel was Ms. Smejkal's critique of organized religion, her use of auras - visible to everyone - to identify gender fluidity, and the idea of magic tattoos. In Curse of the Divine, we get away from two of the three elements, and the story suffers. For one, Celia destroyed the existing organized religion in the first book, so there can be no criticism of it. Instead, Celia must deal with the one person who may be able to save her friends from a terrible fate, one that has nothing to do with religion. For me, dealing with someone who has delusions of grandeur is not as enjoyable as criticizing organized religion in any form.

At the same time, Curse of the Divine moves away from magic tattoos and instead focuses on the actual ink Celia used in the magic tattoos. Rather than sending secret messages, she learns that one can use the ink to manipulate the corporeal world. While impressive and more than a little foreboding, it is a much more serious consequence of using the ink. No matter how dark the first novel got, there was still a feeling of whimsy at the idea that Celia could use her ink to send messages to friends whenever she wanted. Now that Celia uses the ink to change the world around her, that whimsy disappears, making the story something entirely different and not, in my opinion, in a good way.

Plus, the origins of the ink, something we find out in the novel, are disappointing. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but I was expecting something much more earth-shattering than the information we obtain. It is a bit as if Ms. Smejkal used all her allotted creativity for the first story and had to rely on old standby explanations for the sequel.

Thankfully, Ms. Smejkal does still include gender-identifying auras and their infinite nuances. In fact, Celia ruminates on the beauty of gender fluidity and the freedom to change whenever you desire. She describes the auras as something so beautiful, it makes me wish they were real. Not only would it end the confusion over designated gender versus biological sex, but it would also remind people that we are beautiful no matter how we express ourselves.

I find that Curse of the Divine is four hundred pages of Celia dealing with the trauma she faced at the end of the first book followed by fifty pages of acceptance, forgiveness, and understanding so that Celia can obtain closure. While that closure is satisfying in its way, the journey to get there is less creative than in the first novel. There is less bite, less social critique, and a whole lot more hand-wringing, something I never thought I would see in Celia's character.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley and HMH Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review.

Like the first book, this was took awhile to get its feet under it. I feel like about 100 pages could have been cut out and that some of the plot points dragged out slower than they needed to making parts a bit of a slog to get through. But the last third was solid and hard to put down. Overall I think I liked this book better than the first one as well.

I liked how this duology resolved and tied up loose ends, though again, I wish Griffin had more of a voice in this tale.

The world would be a better place if everyone had a Xinto of their own.

Following the events of Ink in the Blood, Celia has faded into the background after her actions caused the dismantling of the false relgion of Profeta. She is traveling with Griffin, the plague doctor, to find the only person who might know how to save him. That person, Halcyon, was able to be Touched by Diavala, and keep his mind intact in the aftermath. Celia was able to bring Diavala down with the use of ink magic, but just because the trickster was laid low, just as the religion of Profeta was laid bare, that doesn't mean Diavala didn't have more tricks in store. Celia is already racked with guilt after losing one of the people she cared for in her bid to defeat Diavala, and she doesn't want to lose Griffin either. On finding Halcyon, Celia will be forced to make a choice, one that she may not want to make, but when love born in darkness is threatened by false light, ink may be the only way to extinguish it.

I mostly enjoyed this sequel to Ink in the Blood, and Celia is as strong and feisty as ever. Griffin and Diavala both get a lot more investment this go-around, and I liked learning more about their motivations, struggles, and desires. Celia does the best with what she has, but she is frustrated and angry with where things have gone, and the relationship she has with Griffin is complicated, not just by his binding to Diavala, but by his own brush with death. At times she wants to trust him, but she knows that Diavala lurks underneath. Halcyon presents new challenges for the group, who is difficult to gain an audience, and even more difficult to convince to help them. I felt like these characters go through a lot in this second installment, but if this is the final entry, I almost feel like there needed to be more. Even if we don't see more of this inky world in the future, Curse of the Divine is a lyrical second movement in a strange world built on ink and illusion. I recommend it for readers who have read Ink in the Blood and want to see more of Celia's journey.

3.5 ⭐

I finally sat down and read Ink in the Blood back in October. Once I finished I immediate looked into getting a copy of Curse of the Divine. Kim Semjkal has woven an incredibly imaginative story within this duology. You can see my full review for Book #1 HERE!

I always wonder how much of a difference writing a series into a duology versus a trilogy impacts a story. In the case of the Ink in the Blood series, I personally feel this would have been better received as three parts instead of just the two parts.

While Curse of the Divine, begins almost immediately where book #1 left off, the stories feel different. While the main plot has shifted, the ultimate goal is still the same in both books, undermine and get rid of The Divine. However, this shift really left me feeling that I was reading a new book and not a continuation of a series. Once again, I did feel that parts of the story could have been cut short or left out without impacting the overall story line.

Character wise, I really enjoyed getting to know both Griffin and Diavala much more within book #2 than in the first book. Their overall character growth and transformation was really well done. Celia on the other hand has a more stagnant personality and could have used a bit more growth. Based on what happened to Anya in the first book, I felt this would have had a greater impact on her personality but it didn’t seem to really make any difference. All the new characters we meet in this book also lacked a bit of depth and we really never get to know them.

Once again I’ll commend Smejkal on her imagery and uniqueness within the story itself. It’s incredibly original but I would have like to have seem more character depicts than environmental.

I was close to giving The Curse of the Divine, the same rating of four stars just as I did Ink in the Blood. The ending though didn’t feel like the closure of a series. If I didn’t know this was just a duology, I would be expecting a third installment at least to be coming out. Sure we find out what happens with Divalia but Celia and Griffin’s journey just feels so unresolved, that I knocked a star off.

This is still a highly entertaining story, and if you enjoy Dark Fantasy books or YA Fantasy books; than I would definitely recommend this series.


The Curse of the Divine hits shelves February 9, 2021. Huge thank you to HMH books for my Advanced Copy in exchange for my honest review. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books.

Thank you to Netgalley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Kim Smejkal for my arc of Curse of the Divine in exchange for an honest review. 

Published: 9th February 2021 
Some spoilers for book one below 
This is the sequel and conclusion to the duology of Ink in the Blood. It picks up right after the ending of Ink in the Blood and Griffin and Celia are travelling to Wisteria to try to find Halcyon the only person to ever survive Diavala's Touch and therefore the one person who can potentially save Griffin. 

This for me, is a seriously underrated series. I know a lot of people got the arc for book one at the 2019 YALC as I did, so I'm really surprised not to see it around so much and I'd really recommend picking it up! This book for me, well both books, are really unique they bring some elements which everyone loves, a travelling show, theatrics, a romance, a friendship and puts fresh twists on to them. Book two was a wonderful conclusion, it was very fast paced and I liked the idea of this Willy Wonka-esque world and the secrets and shocking reveals were really well done. Also Xinto... my heart *sobs* trust me when you meet Xinto you're going to love him just as much as I did. 
I think this worked really well as a duology but I would definitely love to read more books from this author in the future.

Review of Curse of the Divine and interview with Kim Smejkal will be published on my website, Netgalley, Edwlweiss and all links in my bio around the release date.

First of all, thank you to HMH Books for an eARC of Curse of the Divine! I was lucky enough to read and ARC of Ink ing hte Blood and absolutely loved it!

Curse of the Divine follows the epic events of Ink in the Blood. Celia Sand won, in a way. She broke the magic that kept the country under the thumb of Diavala, but even with the truth shattered, she and Griffin still have a task to do. Celia will do almost anything ot save Griffin. 

I loved book 1. I love the tattoo magic, and the characters of the Rabble Mob, But what I loved most about book 1 was nonexistent in book 2. Griffin and Celia hardly interact in the book, and the first 50% of it is spent almost entirely in narration. The writing is beautiful, and I really do love how inclusive Kim Smejkal is with her characters, but overall this book was just a bit of a let down. 

Overall a 3.5 star, rounding up to 4!

Sequel to Ink in the Blood, Curse of the Divine directly follows the events of the first book and the aftermath. The Plague Doctor and Celia are looking for a way to fully defeat Diavala once and for all. Their ideas taken them to find Halcyon, the only other person rumored to survive Diavala's Touch. But Halcyon's home is a bit strange, and the more they learn about him and the ink magic, the less they know.

The concepts in this duology are very unique and delve into magic and religion pretty deeply. The magic of tattoos is super interesting and the duo has a dark element to it that isn't always found in YA fantasy. Celia is very much experiencing some issues from the ending of book one, which was interesting to read and see how she reacted to it.

However, I found this book to be incredible confusing. The magic system is expanded much further than it was in the first book, but I didn't feel like it was explained very well and clearly. I had a hard time following the plot, and there was added POV's with the plague doctor and Diavala that broke up the flow of the book. There is also little romance, similar to the first book - which isn't a negative thing, just wanted to note it.

Again, the concept behind this series is fascinating, and there is definitely an audience for this series but I'm not sure it's me! I enjoyed the first book more than the second, those by the last 20% I was much more invested and understanding more. I just wish the whole book read like the last parts.

**Thank you to HMH Books for Young Readers and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review**

4/5 stars

Thanks to HMH teen for the e-ARC through Netgalley!

Let me start off my saying that I absolutely adored Ink in the Blood and the Rabble Mob and all of the characters. The first book will always stick out as a very special and unique book to me. Curse of the Divine has a VERY different feel to it and at first I was worried I was going to hate it. There were so many performances and so much at stake in the first one.

Curse of the Divine starts out with Griffin and Celia searching for Halcyon to save Griffin from Diavala. And it just starts out so boring and so easy and divine ink isn't at play at all. But eventually a boring world turns out to be extremely exciting and reality isn't as it first seems. The Divine ink gets used in new and exciting ways. I was very happy with the ending and how this story played out.

Highly recommend!

I nearly DNFed the first book in this series, but hung in there and it quickly became one of my favorite reads of the year. The followup in this duology is everything I’d hoped.

This sequel begins a few weeks after Ink in the Blood ends. Celia is determined to save Griffin (the plague doctor) from Divala’s wrath, but of course that’s much easier said than done. She’s still reeling with massive guilt and grief over the death of her best friend and begins to wonder if saving Griffin is even a possibility. Their bond has grown stronger and both are willing to sacrifice their life for the other – but neither expects to survive what’s coming.

Lies and coverups run rampant in this story, and it’s difficult to know who to trust and what their underlying motivations are. After Celia learns some shocking facts about the ink’s capabilities beyond tattoos, it’s hard for her to even know what’s real. The intricate world-building from the first book is expanded upon and delivers some surprises – things may not be what they seem.

My favorite character continues to be the completely charming plague doctor (Griffin). His Riddlish (meaning hidden in vague nonsense statements) may still leave you scratching your head, but there’s always an underlying message.

Startling twists, clever plans, and devious characters – all are present in this sequel I’m still thinking about days after finishing. The themes of religion and magic create a compelling, atmospheric story in this dark fantasy and it’s one I’d highly recommend to fans of the genre.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Overall I had a pretty good time with this book, I’ll say that from the off. I found it to be an entertaining sequel. For context I opted to read this without re-reading Ink in the Blood mostly because I could remember some pretty world changing things happening at the end of the first book and I was expecting the book to remind me of them fairly early on. I do think you can read this without a reread of the first book but my gut says you’ll get a better sense of Celia’s character development if you read them both in quick succession – simply because that’s how duologies usually pan out.

Those hoping for more magic specifically around tattooing might be disappointed in reading this book (although again the events of book one might have tipped you off to that) but that’s not to say this book doesn’t have magic – because it does. I very rarely find a book that totally shakes up it’s own magic system in book two and I was slightly concerned it wasn’t going to work. In this case I think that because there is a clear connection to the magic of Ink in the Blood and also because we see Celia learning more about this magic it doesn’t feel totally jarring or separate from book one.

I was sad to not get much continuation of the side characters from the first book – in fact you only get Celia and Griffin – that’s not to say I don’t like both of them as characters it’s just not my favourite thing when a sequel ditches most of the things that were set up in the previous book. I do think that the setting and the set-up for this book is eerie and atmospheric in a great way it just would have been nice to see some of the performance aspect of the previous book come into play in this story as well. Those who were invested in the romance of this series will likely not be dissapointed.

I had forgotten the way this book tackles gender identity, with a visible signifier that most people have that helps one to determine which pronouns you ought to use. It’s an interesting take and I thought it was a cool way of including multiple gender identities within a story that wasn’t really about that. I mean it’s a fantasy world after all why not make it simpler than it is here in reality? I’m not running around the streets cheering this as an amazing bit of LGBTQ+ fiction but it felt well handled and quietly supportive which is sometimes all I want.

Overall my impression was that this will be a good read for those who adored the first book, and I think I would say it is a series worth reading if it has captured your attention. Alas I am still waiting for a fantasy book about tattooing that stays about tattooing throughout… one day.

My rating: 3/5 stars

I received a free digital advanced review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley – all opinions are my own.

Curse of the Divine is out February 9th

I want to talk to everyone about this book. Kim has informed me as of now it is a duology. I don’t know how to process this information. Honestly tho.m, the second book was just and lovely as the first. We venture off the path of the first book and follow Celia and our plague doctor... delve deeper into the magical systems and meet a real  nasty bad guy. I felt there were things I hoped to happen that didn’t and it broke my heart... but it was exactly the way things should have gone.