**RECEIVED AN UNCORRECTED BOUND PROOF FROM Allison & Busby and Rachel Caine. IN RETURN FOR MY HONEST REVIEW** 
 Ink & Bone is the beginning of a brand new YA series, The Great Library, written by Rachel Caine. I received an uncorrected bound proof (ARC) from Allison & Busby for my honest review. 
 (which at Honestly Simple Reviews all my reviews are lol) Now I know my Advanced review is quite late as the book was published July 7th, and really i have no excuse other then starting a new job and being busy busy busy lol. 
 I read the paperback edition of Ink & Bone as part of my 2015 Reading Challenge. (Started June 24, Finished August 4th) 
 Shortly after starting Ink & Bone i realised two things: 1) This isn't going to be anything like i imagined... 2) People haven't been getting hype enough about this new series. 
 When I'd heard about Ink & Bone i thought it was going to be totally different. i seriously thought that Jess was gonna be a character that gets smuggled into the library to be a spy and steal all the valuables or kill some important people lol...enough with what i originally thought though because it just gets worse from there ha! 
 Truly though after i got over the shock of my expectations being smashed and surpassed, i did admire many things about the story. For one it was the development and complexity of characters, i don't think i've changed my opinions on a set of characters that much in all my life. Were they Mean, Nice, Cruel, Kind....the list of comparisons goes on and on....and many character manage to hit many of them on the head if not all of them. That in it self was a thrill because you think you've sussed a character out then WHAM a twist that knocks you and the character out of focus, Without giving anything away, I'd have to say my favourite character in that sense is Scholar Wolfe. 
 Another thing i liked was relation development between characters and setting, as characters and relationships change, grow and become more clear the settings around them seem to change...for better or worse i can not say without spoiling the story for you. However i can tell you that for me personally that relation was key and ever so fascinating....almost turned into a sort of game where I'd try and guess outcomes from events in the story. Nearly always i was wrong or only half way there....which for me was great because there was no sure way of me knowing where i was go as i followed the main character, Jess, though his story. 
 Now hopefully everyone knows this already, but in case you don't. The Great Library series is set in a world were the great library of Alexandria was never burned down and instead grew and grew....basically Jess's story is set in a world where The Great Library rules and to own private books is a crime punishable by Death. 
 So I've spoken a little about the setting already but just stop and imagine what that would be like....Now forget it because your probably not even close to the world that Rachel Caine has created, i know i wasn't. The World she has created is so vast she writes about the entire world, she literally takes the world we all know and places it (roughly or gently I'm not sure) in the future but also far back into our known past and somewhat of another dimension completely. Don't know if you can tell but I'm fascinated, no in love with the world that has been created its such a mystery it's hard not to be. Saying that though i'm quite adamant i would never like to live there ha! I own over 900 books....i'd have be drawn and quartered a long time ago. 
 Personally for me i feel that this vast world and the events that Jess and his fellow students encounter would have been more challenging if not for the EPHEMERA placed between every chapter. That is not saying i'd have preferred not to have them because actually i quite like them....They not only give you information that help make events clearer through out the book, they also in some parts give you an exciting insight to this vast worlds history and even the inner workings of the library itself. It is also quite fun and frustrating knowing things the characters do not. 
 I have greatly enjoyed reading this book and am over joyed to hear there is work on the 2nd novel already. Ink & Bone is a story that will stay with me forever ... it's the first of a kind for myself and if someone else were to write something similar well...i'd have to read it before i can say anything i guess .... but Ink & Bone will always be the first. 
 So if your looking for your next book to read i completely recommend Ink & Bone. If you enjoy YA Novels, Books with a little history, Fantasy Novels then this should be great for you and of course if you just enjoy Rachel Caine Novels ... well thats GREAT lol. 
 Please Leave me a comment and let me know what you thought, i greatly appreciate it. 
 Lesley Acford - Creator & CEO of Honestly Simple Reviews (HSR)