I received an e-book copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.Ink Mage is book 1 in the A Fire Beneath the Skin series. I really liked the main story line and liked the idea of ink magic, which is the only thing that stoppped me from putting down the book.

2.4This book started out like something I was really up for: a simple and fun fantasy novel full of magic and adventure. Rina seemed like a good protagonist too as she’s competent, but a little naïve, leaving room for success while still learning from her adventures. Then there was what seemed like a pretty fun and straight-forward plot structure involving traveling to different ink mages to gain powers with hopes of preparing to fight back against those who have wronged her family, a structure

Ink Mage by Victor Gischler is a wonderful fantasy novel about a girl, a duchess, that sees her father and mother murdered in front of her by an invading army and traitor. She is helped out of the city by her body guard and friend to see a wizard that gives her a powerful and magical tattoo that strengthens her body and helps her fight. She later gets more tattoos and soon so is very powerful. She is also assisted by others and they have many adventures on the way. Lots of characters and stories...

Can't have a fantasy without betrayal, war, magic and much more.Rina finds herself fighting to get her home back by all means. Even those of the village helping by all they can.Enjoyable read. Good characters. Loved the journey.

Alright, so here's the thing. This is probably really only a 3 star book (maybe even 2 star if I think about it too much). However, after reading the author's bio and realizing he received his PhD from the University of Southern Mississippi I had to show some love. Probably not the best way to rate a book, but hey, it's my rating so...Honestly, the book is not bad. It's just not great either. It's told from multiple POVs, and when I say multiple I mean like 6+. I'm not a huge fan of that writing...

I enjoyed this one. not spectacular, but my first 4 star in a while. I like the girl growing into a woman, a duchess, a magic user, a leader, a lover heroine. I like the world, the magic, the plot, the sidekicks, the adventure. and that's what this is overall--a fun adventure. I'm heading off into book 2 now. Which just might be all my review needed to say.

My first Audiobook!I must say I don't know how you guys do it. The narrator had a really nice voice and was very good at miming the different characters. I liked her. It took a while to get into though, the audiobook. First, how do you guys listen for 7hrs to the same book! I think Audiobooks will be a rarity for me. It wasn't until 10% I realized I could speed it up, I was almost going crazy. Even sped up , it was slow. I found myself reading the page and then waiting for the narrator to catch

2.75 inky stars Strange how honors and burdens are so often confused.Rina is the would-be duchess in Klaar, when the supposed inexpugnable city is conquered by the Perranese a loyal help her to flee the city.Let me get strait that this is not a YA book. There is a lot of sex and violence. The tone following the vicissitudes of Tosh -the deserter soldier and one of the others POV- in the city is really diferent, crude and more realistic, than the adventures following Rina traipsing in the wild se...

This book was all over the place. Or maybe I was all over the place. Either way we were both hot messes once it was over.Ink Mage.. oh man, where to start. It's about Rina who is a duchess but she's also an army of one. She has a pretty huge goal that is sort of achievable. Rina wants to reclaim her damn city. Oh and she also has some weird ass inked magic on her skin.Remember how I said that this book was a hot mess.. it was like a constant hot and cold flip flopping mess. It was boring, like r...

The most frustrating read ever! Not the actual story but the way the book was delivered. This was my first and last time at reading a Kindle Serial book which is released in small episodes every 2-3 weeks. I was especially frustrated when I would finish each episode in 15 minutes and then have to wait weeks for the next bit. My husband would hear me cursing the book every time I got a new bit to read and had to wait. It looks like the book is now available to download in its entirety so folks do...

INK MAGE opens in dramatic fashion, thrusting the reader head on into a world of warfare and violence. Blood is spilt, heroes are felled, and the homeland of Rina, soon to be Dutches by virtue of her father’s murder, is overrun by the invading Parranese. Author Victor Gischler’s deep dive into the surreal results in a fast paced fantasy that envelops the reader in a fantastical shroud of magic, monsters and mystical lore from start to finish. Rina’s initial battle alongside the devastating viole...

No matter what goodreads tries to tell you, let me say that this is not YA. Even if the protagonist is young (19 or so), the book is vulgar, bloody, and explicit. Don't get me wrong; I don't mind any of those things. I'm only warning you, if you can't handle R rated movies, you probably can't handle this book.That said, Ink Mage deserves a full five stars for the magic system alone. Mages gain the power to speak the language of the universe, or rather enhance their mental and physical powers, by...

Okay, we’ve got a pretty basic fantasy plot here: somewhat spoiled (but plucky) heir to the throne is betrayed, her family murdered, her kingdom (duchy, actually) conquered, and she ends up in exile, where she meets a mysterious old man who gives her the power to wreak her vengeance on her betrayers. She also assembles a ragtag crew of misfits, etc.The difference is, this well-used plot is brought to life this time by Victor Gischler, who cut his teeth writing some of the best hardboiled crime f...

super religious people don't like this book because of all of the swearing, apparently. shit, that's too fucking bad for them I guess. makes me like it even more, goddamnit.

Well this was a hot mess. Which caught me by surprise because the author, Victor Gischler is a published writer with award nomi­na­tions to his name. I haven't read his prose previ­ously but had read some of his comic book work. It wasn't amazing, but it was funda­men­tally compe­tent. So what went wrong here?I have a few theo­ries about that, but first some infor­ma­tion about the book. The Ink Mage is in essence a fairly tradi­tional fantasy adven­ture story about a young girl (who also happe

I borrowed Ink Mage via the Amazon Prime library, so the only incremental cost to me was the time I spent reading it and having it count as my borrowed book for the month. I don't regret borrowing it, if that tells you anything, but I might have regretted spending money on it.I read this just a week and a half ago and it’s already a little hard to remember much about it. I guess that should tell you what I thought of this book. It contained nothing so negative as to inspire a passionate review a...

3.5 An interesting book with multi POV's that did get a bit confusing at times hence the 3.5. I'm looking forward to seeing where this story goes in the next few books as this was really just the beginning. I'm not a big fan of all these books that get split up into small books when they really could quiet easily have been written as one. It's all about the $ i guess. I would like to point out this is not suitable for a young YA book. Lots of blood a gore, plenty of fighting throw in some rape s...

I'll be honest I really did not care much for this book, I thought at first it held so much promise but then I got bored and at times was having a hard time keeping up with it or even getting into it. I liked Rina plenty and I felt bad for what happened to her parents and I hated Giffen! Hated him! I really didn't like how her mother was killed, it was pretty sad when Rina almost got raped, I am so so glad that Kork was there to save her... I like the part where she gets her tattoos and the part...

This was a most interesting read. A magic system based mainly on tattoos? Color me intrigued. As it turns out, this has basis in our history, as yantra tattooing.Yantra tattoos are supposed to be a sort of good luck charm, or bestow magical powers, much like in this book. The practice is two millennia old.Ink Mage certainly follows some Game of Thrones clichés. Almost rape? Check. People getting killed left and right? Double check. Turncoat traitors? You betcha.While I understand the need to fol...

The city of Klaar is impregnable. It's Long Bridge and massive walls have never been bested by an enemy...until it was betrayed by one of their own. The Duke and Duchess were murdered, while their daughter Rina Veraiin was able to escape with the help of her bodyguard and teacher Kork. Kork following the Duke's last wishes takes Rina to an old mage who bestows upon her the special tattooed based magical power of an Ink Mage. Rina sets out to get help to reclaim her home.When I read the synopsis