Review – Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne

Posted October 7, 2020 by Carole in 2020 Audiobook Challenge, 2020 New Release Challenge, Book Reviews / 5 Comments

Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne
Narrated by Luke Daniels
Series: Ink & Sigil #1
Publisher: Random House – Del Rey
Publication Date: August 25, 2020
Date Read: September 22, 2020
Length: 336 pages / 10 hours and 11 minutes
Source: Publisher via NetGalley / Purchased
★★★★☆

New York Times bestselling author Kevin Hearne returns to the
world of his beloved Iron Druid Chronicles in a spin-off series about an
eccentric master of rare magic solving an uncanny mystery in Scotland.

“Ink & Sigil is escape reading, and I loved every word.”—Charlaine Harris, New York Times bestselling author of A Longer Fall

Al MacBharrais is both blessed and cursed. He is blessed with an
extraordinary white moustache, an appreciation for craft cocktails—and a
most unique magical talent. He can cast spells with magically enchanted
ink and he uses his gifts to protect our world from rogue minions of
various pantheons, especially the Fae.

But he is also cursed.
Anyone who hears his voice will begin to feel an inexplicable hatred for
Al, so he can only communicate through the written word or speech apps.
And his apprentices keep dying in peculiar freak accidents. As his
personal life crumbles around him, he devotes his life to his work, all
the while trying to crack the secret of his curse.

But when his
latest apprentice, Gordie, turns up dead in his Glasgow flat, Al
discovers evidence that Gordie was living a secret life of crime. Now Al
is forced to play detective—while avoiding actual detectives who are
wondering why death seems to always follow Al. Investigating his
apprentice’s death will take him through Scotland’s magical underworld,
and he’ll need the help of a mischievous hobgoblin if he’s to survive.

Amazon | Audible | BAM! | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Kobo

My Review

I had a really good time with this book! Even though I haven’t quite finished reading the Iron Druid Chronicles, I was excited to see that Kevin Hearne was writing more stories set in the same world. I had originally planned to read this book on my e-reader but I ended up with the audiobook since Luke Daniels does such a good job with this author’s work. I was not disappointed. I am so glad that I decided to give this book a try.

This book is set in the same world as the books from the Iron Druid Chronicles. Fans of that series will be happy to be back in the world and will enjoy seeing some familiar characters but this is also a great place for new readers to jump in. I really enjoyed getting to know these new characters and found the whole idea of the sigils to be very interesting.

Al is a great character. I love that he is an older guy just trying to do what needs to be done and get through each day. He takes special precautions to protect others from his curse. The more I learned about Al, the more I liked him. Buck added a nice touch to the story. I was quite entertained by this hobgoblin and thought that he added a really fun element to the story. The two of them make a great, but very unlikely, pair.

I thought that the story was very well done. I was really invested in the mystery and couldn’t wait to see how things would work out. The sigils added a nice element to their quest to get to the bottom of things. I found the police to also be well done. I found the book to be really exciting and quite often hard to put down.

Luke Daniels did a fantastic job with the narration. I liked the different voices that he used and thought that he did an especially great job with the voice app that Al often uses. He added a lot of excitement to the story and was able to capture each character’s personality in his reading. I am glad that I decided to go with the audiobook for this story.

I would recommend this book to others. It was a very well done story with a new spin on some familiar elements. I cannot wait to go on future adventures with Al and Buck!

I received a digital review copy of this book from Random House Publishing – Del Rey via NetGalley and purchased a copy of the audiobook.

About the Author

Kevin Hearne hugs trees, pets doggies, and rocks out to heavy metal. He also thinks tacos are a pretty nifty idea. He is the author of A Plague of Giants and the New York Times bestselling series The Iron Druid Chronicles.

Author Links: Website | Goodreads | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter