Branded

Inked #2

by Eric Smith

In Inked, Caenum discovered his destiny.Now, in Branded, he must fight for it.As the final battle approaches, Caenum must choose his own path one last time . . . or it will be decided for him. After narrowly escaping the soldiers of the Citadel six months ago, farmboy-turned-rebel Caenum is now at the head of the rebel army. He and his fellow Conduits, practitioners of an ancient, forbidden magic, have spread across the Realm, freeing city after city from the Citadel's tyrannical grip. But in the midst of their rebellion, a traitor lurks. And when their safe haven is destroyed, Caenum and his friends must flee deeper into the wilds than ever before. Because he has something the Citadel wants--a weapon that could change everything…a weapon he must protect at all costs. In this thrilling new sequel to Inked, Eric Smith delivers a heart-pounding conclusion to the battle between magic and free will.PRAISE FOR "Inked is an action-packed read with a hero I could root for, magic I wanted to have, and a vivid fantasy world to back it all up. Smith's prose had me turning pages way past my bedtime." --Susan Dennard, New York Times bestselling author Truthwitch"A fast-paced page-turner from Eric Smith filled with magic, mystery and mayhem." --Kristi Helvig, author of Burn Out"With a lively cast of characters and a captivating idea, Inked draws its readers into a world where magic lives on every page." --Kat Zhang, author of The Hybrid Chronicles series

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

237 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Eric Smith is a Young Adult author and literary agent living in Philadelphia.

His next book, Jagged Little Pill: The Novel, a collaboration with Alanis Morissette, Diablo Cody, and Glen Ballard, will be published with Abrams in April 2022. It’s an adaptation of the Grammy and Tony award winning musical.

His latest books include You Can Go Your Own Way (Inkyard Press) and the acclaimed anthology Battle of the Bands (Candlewick), co-edited with award-winning author Lauren Gibaldi. It’s currently being adapted for film by Playground Entertainment.

His novel Don’t Read the Comments was a YALSA 2021 Best Fiction for Young Adults selection. The paperback is out now.

He has short stories and essays in the anthologies Color Outside the Lines by Sangu Mandanna (Soho Teen), Body Talk by Kelly Jensen (Algonquin), Allies by Dana Alison Levy and Shakirah Bourne (DK), All Signs Point to Yes by Candice Montgomery, cara davis-araux, and Adrianne Russell (Inkyard), and Adoptee to Adoptee by Nicole Chung and Shannon Gibney (Harper).

His other books include the IndieBound bestseller The Geek’s Guide to Dating (Quirk), Inked (Bloomsbury), the anthology Welcome Home (Flux), and contemporary fantasy novel The Girl and the Grove (Flux).

Reviews

[Eric Smith]

The sequel! It's happening!

[Sheila G]

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

DNFing at 40%

I had a difficult time getting through Inked, the first book in the series. However, I was interested by the overall idea and stuck it out. Starting Branded, I just found myself not being interested enough to stick with the story. The first 30% mainly talks about one instance, and I simply lost interest.

I was looking for more general world building, but it simply doesn't happen. I think reading nearly the first half of the book is a generous opportunity to see some progression, but I think that this story plateaued and couldn't move passed what was revealed in Inked.

1.5 stars

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book!

This review can also be viewed on my blog along with others: She's Going Book Crazy

[Rachel Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved Inked, so when I heard there was a sequel I was very excited to continue this story. Unfortunately, this story fell way flat for me. Although it kept me interested enough at the time to continue reading it, even now trying to write this review I find that I'm having a hard time even remembering what happened.

The story starts a few months after the ending of the first. Caenum is leading the rebellion, and they are going from town to town, spreading the rebellion and freeing the conduits. Unfortunately, nothing really happened? Inked set up for some great worldbuilding, but that wasn't really expanded on in this one, which was some really wasted potential.

The other thing was that I was kind of confused on the rebels and what was going on with them. I kind of felt like no one was really...doing anything? Also the prejudice against Inked/unInked/whatever was really confusing. They hated you if you had Ink, but they also hated you if you didn't?? Huh?? Whatever the difference may have been, it wasn't explained well.

While this was a quick read, it ultimately felt like a let down. Although I will continue to read more of Eric's work, as I think he has potential and a great writing style, this one was a no from me.

I received an eARC from the publisher, this did not affect my honest opinion.
This review first appears on The NerdHerd Reads

[Bev · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been waiting to read this follow up to Inked for a while and I'm happy that I enjoyed it just as much as the first book. Caenum is older now and art of a band of fighters who want to take down the powerful Citadel. The death of one of my favourite characters early on in the book left me in tears and there are more moments of pathos and loss throughout the story. Action packed and magical, the tale kept my interest all the way, I loved it.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first received this book I was STOKED. Inked (the first novel) was an absolute amazing novel and I was incredibly excited to see what was going to happen next!

Reading this novel however, I found both good and bad surprises. Starting with the bad news, I found that I preferred the first novel to Branded. Inked was full of world building and although Branded introduces some new characters I didn't feel like enough of the world was developed for the reader. This sucked because the settings sounded cool, but there could be so many interesting details. I also found that this novel would fare much better as a movie. Lots of pieces felt awkward and only included one perspective. If Branded became a movie I feel like it would be incredibly interesting for not only the plot, but also by providing those extra details about the landscape. Due to this it took me awhile to get through this novels, and even longer due to finals and other events.

Despite its setbacks, Branded also brought in a lot of aspects that I did really enjoy. For instance, I really enjoyed the twists that this story had. As an avid book predictor, I found this novel to really surprise me along the way! I'm also still in love with the concept of magical tattoos. Overall the concept was still fun and I did like Flycker as a character and those were what was really keeping me reading. However, the romance was also bittersweet. His romance was Dreya was obvious from Inked and was still as sweet as ever, but this novel really took a turn and (no spoilers), but I definitely did not agree with how the romance took a turn in this novel.