I love the Iron Druid series and was pleased to get an ARC of Kevin Hearne's second book in his new Ink & Sigil series from Net Galley. I did enjoy it, but I hope the next one might have a little more pizzazz. Which coincidentally, is just the same as I wrote about the first book. The characters are likable enough, and I listened to an audio version, which added some entertainment value, especially with Buck Foi. It was pleasant enough reading and moved quickly. The fact that they spent time telling stories while they camped and there were interludes around papermaking left me with the impression that Hearne was trying to stretch a shorter work into a longer one, but it did not deter me. Gladys, Who Has Seen Some Shite, was pretty fun, would love to see more of her! I'd like to see something a little stronger for the third outing, which I will definitely read.

Kevin Hearne's Ink & Sigils series continues with Paper & Blood. Hearne built a community of magic characters and joined them into a network of magic users that support each other, no matter what. This book is as good or better than the first one as the team joins together to find a missing friend. Excellent.

This book was not for me, unfortunately. I am always open for new takes on "old school" fantasy, any books that twist around those tropes and staples of fantasy while still keeping what is good about them, but this was just that: old school fantasy. Nothing innovative, sadly.

This wasn't a bad concept but the writing was lacking a bit for me. It just didn't grab me and pull me into the story and was a bit slow to start but ultimately i found the book as a whole a decent read. Very interesting premise, but I'm not sure I will continue with the series.

The second in a series. Getting this title had me running to pick up the first novel (Ink & Sigil) and the pair drew me into a fantasy world I was not ready to return from. Al is a worker of rare magic and he has a mystery to solve. Stunning!

I could swear that I reviewed this book last year, because I remember writing about how good it was to see [redacted character*] again after the Iron Druid series. Except that review is no where in my archives, so I guess I’ll be writing it out again!

*Please note that if you don’t want to be spoiled for this redacted character, don’t read the back cover copy! I guess it’s probably not a spoiler if it’s in the advertising material, but I think they should have kept that as a surprise, so I’m not revealing it here even though the attempt might be futile. Especially since the book has been out 6+ months now.

This book was an adventure. I love Al. Buck Foi is a delight. Nadia is a badass. Don’t expect this series to be a copy of Iron Druid. It’s not. For one thing, Al isn’t filled with the guilt and ego that Atticus had going on in that series, which honestly makes this story much less tedious. Al was cursed, and it sucks, and he’s dealing with it the best that he can. I guess that’s one of the benefits of not being immortal — you don’t have time to fuck around, you have to find out right now.

Don’t get me wrong. I loved Atticus and his story. It’s just that Al has much more of a ‘tired human man’ vibe than Atticus’ action-adventure hero, and I honestly think that’s what the world needs more of right now. We’re all tired humans. We need some stories that teach us that we can keep moving on anyway, and that’s what Al’s stories does.

I’m a huge fan of Kevin Hearne to begin with, and his “Ink and Sigil” series is a delight. As a former student of calligraphy, I love the idea that the written word is magical. In this series, set in the world of the Iron Druid, scribes create magical spells using not only words, but painstakingly prepared pens, inks, and paper. The spells include the Sigils of Unchained Destruction, Restorative Care, Agile Grace, Muscular Brawn, and Quick
Compliance and are used to protect the world against malevolent gods and monsters.

Our everyman-hero, Al MacBharrais, is under a couple of nasty spells himself. If he speaks to someone more than a few times, they loathe him (this happened to his own son), and his apprentices die violently after a year of service. This isn’t good news for his hobgoblin apprentice, Buck Foi. While Al is searching for a way to lift his misfortunes, his fellow sigil agents go missing in the wilds of Australia. Al and Buck are off to the rescue, joined by one of the missing agent’s apprentices, his receptionist Gladys Who Has Seen Some Shite, a few sundry allies, and the Iron Druid himself. The search leads them to a forested preserve, where chimeric monsters lie in wait. These critters are sometimes more effective and lethal than others, but always inventive: a turtle-dragon-spider, an eagle bull, a scorpion with a rat’s head (ugh), pygmy goats with fanged snake heads, a gorilla elephant, a yak badger, and my favorite, a zebra possum.
All in all, this is a quick, fun read filled with plot twists and delightful characters but also depth, the best combination.

“Abandoned cheese is a sure sign that something’s gone wrong.”

I am going to just be honest up front, while I did enjoy Paper & Blood, I didn't enjoy it as much as the first book. This one just sort of dragged on a bit and had a different feel than the first one did. I think it had to do with the Iron Druid being very prominent in this book, him, along with a couple of other characters made an appearance. I felt this took away from Al & his crew being the center focus.

The pacing was also a little slow as well, this book also included a couple of small stories sprinkled in through out the book taken from other POVs. This to me just seemed like a page filler and took away from my immersion with the story. That's not to say I didn't like the book, because I did. The actual main story was pretty interesting, and I always like Buck Foi. We also got to go into a little about Gladys who has seen some shite and who is also Canadian.

Overall, not as strong as the first book but I am still interesting to see where this goes.

Another entertaining read from Kevin H. The gang is back to continue another mystery/adventure in this fantasy themed world. The best part is bringing in the humor that while the mystery keeps u up on your toes, the funny moments and banter makes you laugh and shake your help.

The author has built a great set of characters that continues on to this next book and just love the camaraderie and mix of different personalities of these characters yet making each an important part of the story. It was pretty cool that there was a recap portion before the book starts on with its storyline.

I have become a fan of Kevin H since reading the first book and will read his other books. I can't wait for another release to this series! I recommend this book!

Paper & Blood is the second book in the UF Ink & Sigil series by Kevin Hearne. Released 10th Aug 2021 by Penguin Random House on their Del Rey imprint, it's 304 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a really fun series with an ensemble cast and an intricate and well built world (the same settings and tangential political/magic governmental bodies as his Iron Druid chronicles). I enjoyed the iron druid books, and love Atticus and his canine cohorts. They make an appearance in this installment of the series as well, along with Al's other compatriots, Buck Foi (a drunken cursed hobgoblin), Nadia (pit fighter and office manager extraordinaire), and their tricked out Scooby-Doo-esque wizard van.

This time, they're road-tripping to Australia and everything really -does- want to kill them. Many of the characters in this book are Scottish and the author has made a herculean attempt to translate the language and accent. It's mostly successful and I didn't have any trouble following (and got more than one chuckle out of the vernacular), but readers unfamiliar with spoken Scottish might find parts of the book slow going. The language is rough, but not egregiously so. There is violence and destruction aplenty (again, used in context). For readers familiar with the author's other work, it's on a similar level (or roughly equivalent) to Jim Butcher, Charles Stross, and the like. I couldn't help but hear the dialogue in my head in the Glaswegian accent as written.

I loved the vernacular. Readers who hate transliterated accented dialogue will probably be somewhat annoyed, but it's worth the effort. Some of the dialogue surprised an actual guffaw out of me, and that's a pretty big deal. I found it genuinely funny and I really am looking forward to more in this world setting.

Four and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Paper & Blood was a good book as I would expect from Kevin Hearne. I have enjoyed this series so far my only caveat would be that the strong accent of the protagonist would seriously detract from the book for several people I know (i.e basically making the book unreadable to them). I'm not sure it really adds to the books enough to make it required either.

Paper and Blood is a fun series with an enjoyable storyline. It is a book that will capture your interests and keep you coming back for more. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review after reading this arc.

The second book within the series and yet I still enjoy it pretty much so!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC

There’s only one Al MacBharrais: Though other Scotsmen may have dramatic mustaches and a taste for fancy cocktails, Al also has a unique talent. He’s a master of ink and sigil magic. In his gifted hands, paper and pen can work wondrous spells.

But Al isn’t quite alone: He is part of a global network of sigil agents who use their powers to protect the world from mischievous gods and strange monsters. So when a fellow agent disappears under sinister circumstances in Australia, Al leaves behind the cozy pubs and cafes of Glasgow and travels to the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria to solve the mystery.

The trail to his colleague begins to pile up with bodies at alarming speed, so Al is grateful his friends have come to help—especially Nadia, his accountant who moonlights as a pit fighter. Together with a whisky-loving hobgoblin known as Buck Foi and the ancient Druid Atticus O’Sullivan, along with his dogs, Oberon and Starbuck, Al and Nadia will face down the wildest wonders Australia—and the supernatural world—can throw at them, and confront a legendary monster not seen in centuries.

I found this to be an enjoyable read, keeping me on my toes throughout. The storyline was written well and flowed seamlessly. I look forward to reading more by this author!

This series was really fun! I enjoyed the characters and the humor, and even though I haven't read any of the other books set in this world, I was never confused.

The review of Paper & Blood is in the November 2021 issue of SFRevu and is exclusive to them until December 1st, 2021. You may read the review using this link:
<http://sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=19421>

this was a great entry in the Ink & Sigil series, it was what I wanted from the authors previous work. The plot was great and I enjoyed reading this.

Paper & Blood is the second installment of Kevin Hearne's spin off series set in the same world as the Iron Druid. I have not read the Iron Druid series, but as a lover of inks and fountain pens, I had greatly enjoyed Ink & Sigil where were were first introduced to our protagonist Al MacBharrais and his circle of friends and associates.

As a voracious reader of urban fantasy novels, MacBharrais stands out for being quite unique. He's not a young upstart who's a whiz at his craft but still has much to learn; rather, he's an wise, older master practitioner of his craft with decades of experience. I quite the characters in this series, and I felt they were more richly portrayed in this work then in the prior book. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like their presences in the book were well incorporated; characters regularly appeared/reappeared fortuitously and abruptly, almost like actors walking on and off a set sitcom-style, waving at the audience as they do so. This was in part due to the pacing of the book, which spent most of the page count introducing characters and/or having individual. characters telling individual stories. I quite enjoyed these vignettes, but they sapped the energy, drive, and importance of the main plot. Note: while the Iron Druid had only a brief cameo in the prior book, this book functions as more of a direct tie-in: he features quite prominently in this book. That said, I did not feel like the book was confusing for having not read the other series, but be warned that there may be some large spoilers for Iron Druid series.

In general, I found this book a fun read, if a little unsatisfying in the execution and resolution of the main plot. I enjoyed my time with the characters, and I expect I will be picking up the next installment.

Thanks Netgalley for this copy of Paper and Blood!

Ink and Sigil was my introduction to the world of the Iron Druid and I was not disapointed. It made me an instant fan! Kevin Hearnes brilliant characters and endless imagination, not to mention his cleverness for storytelling are stars in his latest book Paper and Blood! I was enthralled and submersed from beginning to end and can not help but wait in anticipation for what he has coming next.

This series is so fun, I’m so glad I randomly decided to give it a shot last year. It’s modern and magical and fun and hits my sense of humor exactly. I love the nods to beer lovers!

I didn’t realize until this book that it’s set in the world of Hearne’s earlier series (silly me) and I feel like, because I had such a blast with this book and the first one, I’m obviously going to have to go back and read his entire catalog now ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.