In this fantasy sequel, a young tattooist learns that contradictory stories can be true.After dramatically defying Saintstone's customs, Leora Flint is exiled to live among the blanks of Featherstonenot in punishment but as a spy. The blanks view her community's obligatory tattooed marks as abominations. To her surprise, they aren't the aggressors she was taught to hate but peaceful, accepting, desperately poor, and hungry. As she discovers more about her own parents' pasts, Leora regrets her mission and is faced with a dilemma: Betray the blanks or the people she loves will face the consequences. Leora's first-person narration remains vacillating, nave, and guilt-ridden even as others hail her as uniquely special and influential. Additionally, the inconsistent worldbuilding from the first title remains muddled. Still, this entry gains power from the explicit comparisons between the two societies: Both are benevolent utopias on the surface, finding equal beauty in all genders, skin tones, and body shapes, and each slowly reveals dark undercurrents of deception, fear, and anger. Broadway's (Ink, 2018) lush (if occasionally overwrought) prose is especially effective when narrating the dark foundational myths of Featherstone interspersed throughout the narrative, forming a reverse mirror to the tales of Saintstone. The pacing is taut and suspenseful, right up to a shocking cliffhanger which seems to belong to another genre entirely.Interesting, if uneven; will appeal to fans of the first volume. (Fantasy. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In Ink (rev. 1/19), Leora Flint exposed some of the community of Saintstones intolerant treatment of nonconformists, including her late father. Now, Saintstones leader, Mayor Longsight, threatens Leoras loved ones with unspecified punishmentsand his goon breaks the hand of her inking mentorto persuade her to accept a spy mission to a distant village where the dreaded blanks live. The (untattooed) blanks receive Leora with some suspicion but agree to take her in and teach her their ways, which involve sharing, honesty, and telling stories slightly different from the teaching myths Leora has known all her life. Seeing that the blanks arent the threat shes been conditioned to fear, and moved by their generosity, Leora decides to throw her lot in with them, but Mayor Longsight heightens the pressure on Leora to betray her new community. Although the blanks rituals can stray into hokey territory, readers will be interested in how propaganda and fear work in both societies to rally the populace against a perceived enemyas well as how the propagandists seem to be better allies to each other than to the people they profess to protect. Heavy with original fairy tales and symbolism, and lightly touched with magic, this suspenseful sequel will continue to draw readers in. anita l. burkam July/Aug p.124(c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.