Ink & Sigil (Ink & Sigil #1)

I picked up Hearne’s first few Iron Druid books for some reading while I recuperated from a nasty bit of foot surgery. I enjoyed those a lot, and kept up with those.

“Ink and Sigil” keeps has the familiar pop-culture and snark, along with the inventive magic and magical beings. Unfortunately, it also contains several poorly integrated info dumps that don’t entirely make sense. I genuinely don’t know what the point of some of them were. Some relate to the subject of human trafficking, which dovetails with a plot element, but still seemed rather forced. I’m baffled an editor didn’t push him on the info dumps.

Like many college educated people of a certain class, Hearne is apparently still processing his trauma from recent right-wing populist victories in the US and England. While Trump is never explicitly named, reference to him and Brexit are clear and jarring. I am the last person to suggest that people shouldn’t be political in their writing (Kim Stanley Robinson is probably my favorite SF author), but in “Ink and Sigil” it seems just too obvious and not fully processed. It wrenched me out the story.

Kevin Hearne’s writing style is prolific in this volume. The storyline was decent, if not a bit parallel to the way The Iron Druid began. Unfortunately, bits of snarky political comments seeded throughout this volume were just enough to make me think twice about buying another book in this series. Being a devoted fan of everything else written by this author, it was difficult to come to that conclusion.
Mr. Hearne,
You lost some of what was once a great deal of my respect when you wrote negatively about “gun nuts” and incorporated political rumors into your writing. Many of us read fiction as a vacation. It felt less so with this book because it was a repeated reminder of a ridiculous political battle currently being waged in America. I will continue to regard you affectionately for your previous works.
Jeremy Shannon

I had high expectations. Ive been reading Hearnes stuff avidly since the start of the Iron Druid series, and loving them, so the bar was set in the stratosphere.

Ink and Sigil cleared it with room to spare.

Im delighted with the protagonist. Its always a pleasure to have a fantasy protagonist that is NOT a tormented teenager! Al MacBharrais is a character with experience and history and depth; a widower who has known and lost deep and abiding love, but who isnt defined by that loss. Hes smart, hes vibrant, and he cultivates and delights in unusual acquaintances.

The supporting cast is similarly drawn, with finesse and charm and extravagance. The system of magic is inventive, and well fleshed-out for a first book of a series. And the portrait thats painted of Glasgow is precise and compelling. But perhaps my favorite quality to the novel is the fierce effort put into capturing the flavor of the Glaswegian dialect, in an accessible way – an effort which I feel pays off wonderfully. Im familiar with the dialect and I think Hearne has done a masterful job sharing it, and it colors the entire novel with a rich linguistic palette.

Altogether, a delightful read – heartily recommended!

What a total delight! I really enjoyed getting to meet Scotland’s Al MacBharrais in Kevin Hearne’s new Ink & Sigil series, also set in the world of the Iron Druid (which I also totally loved) but with a new magic system and a new protagonist.

Al MacBharrais could not be more different from Atticus O’Sullivan and I liked that a lot. As a librarian, I also particularly enjoy that the new magic system revolves around the written word. Al literally writes out his spells on Sigils using specially created magic inks made from marvelous hard-to-find natural and/or magic ingredients.

I also enjoy Al’s team a lot. I like that he does not work alone AND that he still interacts with the Fae on their many planes.

I especially like that Al is one of the Sigil Agents in charge of enforcing the treaties signed by the Fae which mean they can only come to Earth with special permission from the Agents. Plus, Al still interacts directly with the Fae but in this new series they come to him rather than he having to travel to their planes.

Highly recommended for fans of urban fantasy, mystery fans, series fans, and fans of character-driven action!

Kevin Hearne never disappoints and “Ink & Sigil ” was everything I’ve come to expect from him and more. His gift with character creation and development, his humor, the action, and the deep humanity of stories about mythical and legendary beings walking beside modern people. I love the magic system he brings to this story, expanding what readers of the Iron Druid chronicles already had gotten a brief glimpse of in earlier books.
This is one of those books you read in a day or two and then return back again and again to visit these great characters and wonderful story. Thank you Mr. Hearne for another friend made of pages and ink to make me smile and lose myself with on hard days.

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member