Angel's Ink

The Asylum Tales, Book 1

By: Jocelynn Drake

Narrated by: Michael Urie

Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Buyer beware....

Looking for a tattoo - and maybe a little something extra: a burst of good luck, a dollop of true love, or even a hex on an ex? Head to the quiet and mysterious Gage, the best skin artist in town. Using unique potions - a blend of extraordinary ingredients and special inks - to etch the right symbol, he can fulfill any heart's desire. But in a place like Low Town, where elves, faeries, trolls, werewolves, and vampires happily walk among humanity, everything has its price.

No one knows that better than Gage. Turning his back on his own kind, he left the magical Ivory Tower where cruel witches and warlocks rule, a decision that cost him the right to practice magic. And if he disobeys, his punishment - execution - will be swift.

Though he's tried to fly under the radar, Gage can't hide from powerful warlocks who want him dead - or the secrets of his own past. But with the help of his friends, Trixie, a gorgeous elf who hides her true identity, and a hulking troll named Bronx, Gage might just make it through this enchanted world alive.

©2012 Jocelynn Drake (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers

Engaging

I didn't care for the narrator, I found his attempt to make every single voice different annoying. I found the story engaging. Except for the sex scene, which I felt wasn't as well written as the rest of the book.

Fun, dark, edgy urban fantasy

Angel’s Ink had been sitting in my Audible library since December 2017, so I couldn’t say I was in a hurry to get to it. Audiobooks aren’t my main format for reading, so that’s not much of a surprise. I guess I got it because it was on sale and the blurb seemed really interesting and pretty much had everything that could hook me to a book. The funny thing is, at the time I didn’t have a tattoo yet (but I wanted to have one!) or the blog (funny coincidence with the series title, but then I don’t believe in coincidences), so I had no idea what a good fit it’ll be within 2 years, hah!

As urban fantasies go, I pretty much enjoyed Angel’s Ink, but I also had a few issues, which is why I ultimately decided to review it.

Gage lives a, well, let’s call it quiet life, running a tattoo parlor along with his friends Trixie, a beautiful (of course) and mysterious elf and Bronx, a troll who doesn’t talk much but knows more than you’d think. All three of them has their own secrets and troubling pasts they try running from, but past has that annoying habit to catch up with you when you least expect it. Trouble comes knocking on the Asylum’s door in the face of a young woman with terminal illness, looking for a tattoo to fulfill her last wish. Things go downhill from here as Gage tries to unmake his mistakes and avoid early retirement – for the disappointment of many parties.

I liked Gage as a character – he is somewhat your typical UF male MC with a quirky attitude, a knack for trouble, a tortured past and a big kind heart. But of course it works, because, let’s face it, we all love characters like him – though poor guy could have do with a much better name than Gage. The narrator – Michael Urie – did a pretty good job impersonating him, and most of the characters. I hated his voice for Trixie with a passion though. He made her sound like an affecting bitch, and I don’t think she was that. Especially since she liked to listen to bands like Papa Roach, and that’s a nice big point from me. The chemistry between the characters worked well, banters and all. I especially liked Bronx and Sophie – I hope she’ll get a bigger part in the story later on, because she has an interesting background and I’m pretty sure she’s a mischievous one.

What I had an issue with was the plot(s). Where to start? The love plot. Because, yes, there is a love interest *eyeroll*. To be fair I liked the relationship itself, they are good together. However. It would have worked much better if they were already in a relationship to begin with and were introduced as such. Personally I just don’t see the necessity to insert such a cliché into the story. It was OBVIOUS to even blind people that they were in love, and that the author intended for them to have a relationship, and I don’t think it added anything to the story in general that – conveniently – they started to realise their feelings right around the time we dropped into their lives. Seriously, I would have just left this whole thing out as it was annoying, and that sex scene was just… ugh, a bit too much information. If I was interested in some steamy scenes, I would have picked a romance book. And I don’t like romance books.

So, that was one unecessary plotline, without which there would have been space for a bit more worldbuilding. All we know is that we are in a city, and that the world is ruled by warlocks who live in Ivory Towers – but why and where the name comes from and a few other questions are never answered. There are hints about a past war which made some races extinct, but these are only hints. We never really learn about that either. Or about why the warlocks are said to be evil and why they need to practically kidnap young kids who have magical abilities. There is a lot of saying and not much showing which makes the world feel like its built out of carton shapes. You know what I mean? Like it’s all an illusion, a stage decoration. Everything is subordinated to cram as many plotlines (and creatures) into the book as possible, while it would have benefited if there was only one or two but those were well rounded out. It feels like the author wanted to add a lot of action and throw in a lot of hardships for the characters to deal with, but it resulted in chaos and too many unanswered questions. Drake wanted to give a history to all three characters – Gage, Trixie, Bronx – by dragging their past into the present, but all she managed to do was overcomplicate things and take away the focus from worldbuilding and from her characters to really have time to shine. Less would have been more as I’m sure there would be plenty of time as the series progressed to slowly introduce these plotlines and actually make more sense out of them.

Despite my complaints, I still enjoyed Angel’s Ink. Books with snarky protagonists are my weaknesses and besides I really dug the idea of a magical tattoo shop. Especially one in which there is at least one person with a great music taste – fun fact, when I almost got my first tattoo, I bonded with my artist over my favourite Hungarian band, so that was cool and set the mood early on. The Asylum Tales (I swear this wasn’t an inspiration for my feature) has the potential to be a good series if it gets a bit cleared up and the world itself gets a bit more attention. I blew through the audiobook pretty fast, so I imagine it must be a fast read as well. If you need a palate cleanser, as I did and look for some fun – although a bit dark – UF read, then absolutely give a go to Angel’s Ink.

Angels ink

Exciting twists and turns full of suspense. A wonderful love story. Can’t what to find out what happens next.

😱😱😱😱😜😜😜😜👏👏👏

Really awesome fantasy book!!
I would love to know what happens next! I hope there is another book! I wish I knew how to do spells!💗💚

If your into Sci-fy & tattoos get this book!

Any additional comments?

I got a kick out of this book. I love tattoos, getting them & looking at them on others as well as sci-fy books so this was right up my ally. I am a big believer that the tattoo you get should have meaming to you and can grant you strength/power even if it is only psychological, this book follows that idea. If you have read the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne and liked them then you'll most likely enjoy this book.

Loved the narration

Which character – as performed by Michael Urie – was your favorite?

Gage was my favorite character narrated by Michael Urie. I love the sarcasm.

Any additional comments?

What I loved most about this was the narration. The story was a pretty good one, but I felt it dragged on at times. But, I really liked the narration by Michael Urie. I thought the female voice of Trixie sounded like Adam Sandler in the movie Jack and Jill and it made me giggle. And the character Gideon sounded like Clint Eastwood, but I loved loved loved the sarcasm of Gage that was captured. I was pleasantly surprised when I googled Michael Urie and saw it was the guy from Ugly Betty. I loved that show and him on it, and I love his narration. I will buy any book he narrates.

Great ideas..

Great job narrator, in ability to change voices to match the characters as needed But, and as you can see, it cost a whole star, the obnoxious voice chosen for the Trixie character..an interesting character with an as yet not fully explored backstory.. but for the love of all the gods the lispy, wispy voice was awful. Please change her voice and we’ll pretend she’d a terrible case of strep this whole time. Or bronchitis. Whatever. Otherwise it’s a good book, and it was interesting.

Nicely surprised by this one

Any additional comments?

I bought this because I like the narrator and I figured it would be a simple story to pass the time. It was so much more than that. Unpredictable , unique and refreshing . I was forced to reconsider this author as a seriously good storyteller. Nicely done

A few holes, but overall a very interesting story.

I was first intrigued by the story's underlying plot line as described in the story summary, and I am happy to say I was not disappointed. I found the story's premise to be fresh and original. The characters were not flat or bland, with both depth and individuality, and the story progressed at a steady pace and never felt too rushed.

There were a few what you might call plot holes or inconsistencies here and there, and there were even several times I considered not finishing the story. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the majority of the story, and am glad I did finish it as the ending was well executed, but as curious as I am to see how it it continues I'm still on the fence about picking up the second book. For example, the MC is not allowed to use magic, except for personal self defense. The majority of the story involves him repeatedly walking a thin line along this exception, constantly performing magic while looking over his shoulder hoping not to get caught, some times in broad daylight. But then a situation arises in which he would be both justified to use magic and would probably not be caught, and all the sudden he chooses to start soundly adhering to the rules? I found the inconsistency to be very distracting. There were several other situation where character actions and decisions just didn't make logical sense as presented. I'm sure the author could have better structured the situation to fit the intended outcome, or better explained a character's motivations.

As for the audio recording, first let me say I think the narrator is an excellent voice performer. The story is written from a first person perspective and I really enjoyed his personification of the MC. That being said, there were a couple of voices that a found VERY annoying, and it is unfortunate that they were pretty big characters. I tried getting over it, hoping they would eventually grow on me, but even up to the end I couldn't. Probably the most irritating was the main female character. I mean, she is supposed to be this gorgeous, sexy elf woman whom the MC is secretly in love with, and she sounds like some nerdy high school boy with a lisp. And don't even get me started on the character I started referring to as "batman" (need I explain more?). If I do read the second book I will probably opt to go written over audio.

Entertaining but somewhat problematic

I really liked the narrator, EXCEPT (and this is a huge except) for Trixie’s voice. Trixie’s voice was incredibly irritating. It was all light and wispy and had a lisp. She sounded like a five year old. She’s a pretty major character, so you had to hear that awful voice ALL THE TIME. She should’ve had a sultry voice, not a grating one. If he’d done a better voice for Trixie I would’ve given his performance five stars.
My problem with the story also has to do with the treatment of Trixie. I really liked the premise and the plot of the story, but towards the beginning at least, Trixie was really objectified. Like yes, she’s hot, I get it, but you don’t have to constantly talk about her breasts. Gage sounded like a 13 year old boy. Also his machismo throughout the story did get irritating at times.
Other than that, though, I do like the world she’s built with magic and fantasy races in a modern context. The idea of magical tattoos is really cool.