Spark is the second book in the Ink series by Alice Broadway.  It is an inventive take on a good versus evil type plotline with a throwback to old-fashioned oral history and storytelling.

First, make sure that you don’t start reading with this second book.  It picks up right where the first one ends and while there are references to the previous novel, you will be lost and miss most of the plotline should you start with this book.  That being said, if you are one of those readers who can’t stand a cliff-hanger ending, you may want to wait until a third in this series is readily available.

While in the first book we spent all our time with the “marked” race, this book focuses almost solely on the “blanks”.  There is a rich tradition of oral story telling in this society and I found it highly interesting how the mirror image of the stories and tales from the first book are retold in this second book, but from a different perspective.  It lends itself well to conversations on frames of reference and how one]s view on events can be different than someone else viewing the exact same event.

This book was a little flatter then the first.  It didn’t suck me into the story and intrigue as much and focused more on the historical backstory.  It was also harder to tell where the conflict story line was going to go, so if you like twists and turns, this book might spark your fancy.  I didn’t feel like the author was as artistic with the descriptions of scenery and people, but that could have been due to the focus being less on the marked and more centered on the blanks.

Overall, this is one that I can recommend reading for most readers.  While the main character is a girl, the book is well suited to any gender and the language is easy reading for those that don’t want complex abilities/intricacies of many books in the fantasy genre.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  None

Violence and Gore:  Multiple verbal threats; man purposefully knocks stuff over breaking; intentional breaking of man’s hand; multiple minor scrapes, cuts, bruises; story of verbal abuse by father to children; story of rebellion with injuries and death; reference to murder; self-inflicted blade wounds; children kidnapped; women die of elements and/or old age; frightening/nasty crow found poisoning well; story of man who carves self for others to eat; beaten/bloody man held by neck; dog bites woman; man forcefully holds woman by wrist; man is stabbed with graphic blood; woman is trampled resulting in minor injuries; recall of genocide; girl almost drowns; story where girl’s fingers are cut off, man is murdered and fingers are re-attached; live crow nailed to wall; man’s hand is cut off; burns on arm.

Sex and Nudity:  Five hugs/embraces; two instances of hand-holding; one kiss, one caress of face.

Mature Subject Matter:

Racial/religious conflict; poverty; starvation; verbal abuse; abandonment; war; ethics; stealing; murder.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Drinking of wine.