Monday, 8 June 2009

Review - Wicked Lovely / Melissa Marr

Summary - Rule #3: Don't stare at invisible faeries. Aislinn has always seen faeries. Powerful and dangerous, they walk hidden in the mortal world. Aislinn fears their cruelty-especially if they learn of her Sight-and wishes she were as blind to their presence as other teens.
Rule #2: Don't speak to invisible faeries. Now faeries are stalking her. One of them, Keenan, who is equal parts terrifying and alluring, is trying to talk to her, asking questions Aislinn is afraid to answer.
Rule #1: Don't ever attract their attention. But it's too late. Keenan is the Summer King, who has sought his queen for nine centuries. Without her, summer itself will perish. His is determined that Aislinn will become the Summer Queen at any cost-regardless of her plans or desires. Suddenly none of the rules that have kept Aislinn safe are working anymore, and everything is on the line: her freedom; her best friend, Seth; everything.

Review - There was enormous hype proceeding this novel, but unlike many other titles I was excited and hopeful. Marr didn't let me down. The world of Aislinn and Seth is small, quiet and soothing and with the introduction of Keenan, everything changes. Sure Ash could see the faeries (in all their variations) before but now they are integrating in her life in a way that pulls her firmly into the sphere of the Winter Queen and the Summer King.

The mythos behind the Royal Court of Faeries is vast but quickly and clearly unfurls for the reader. There are so many characters of differing loyalties and personalities that the world becomes real (rather than chaotic), Marr succeeds where many others have failed. While it may be easy to get whisked away with the faeries, there is a real sense of the grime and the street that removes most of the whimsicality of the typical faery-dom.

The characters are incredibly well formed, clear in motivation and purpose. I felt sympathy for those with ulterior motives, a sign that these characters were extremely well crafted and three dimensional. The relationship between Seth and Aislinn was sweet but it didn't rock my world. There are bound to be shippers everywhere but I wanted to know more about their beginning. I loved the grandmother and hope to learn more about her in the future (fingers crossed). My favourite character has to be the tortured Donia of the switching allegiances. This character cannot help but love the selfish Keenan and has been suffering because of him. Seth is interesting as he's strong without being depicted in the stereotypical male way. He's quiet, supportive, understanding but strong and unique. He gets his action moment at the end but his role is to support the smart and capable Aislinn. She doesn't require a knight swooping in and take point, she just needs her knight to hold her hand as she takes charge. It's refreshing.

Unlike some supernatural driven YA titles, this is quality story making. You need and want more having read this and thankfully Ink Exchange is in my hot, little hands.

Published: May 31, 2007
Format: Paperback, 328 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen
Origin: USA
_ _ _
http://www.melissa-marr.com/

8 comments:

Diana Dang said...

Impressive, I might look into it!

BookChic said...

I'm not sure if this is what you meant by your last paragraph, but just to let you know, Fragile Eternity is the official sequel to Wicked Lovely. Ink Exchange is a companion book focusing on different characters.

Great review- glad you enjoyed the book! :)

Adele said...

Thanks BC for clearing that up - but now I am a little distressed. Ink Exchange will no longer do. That means I am going to have to order the $36 copy of Fragile Eternity that doesn't seem to be available in Australia. Arghhhhh.

prophecygirl said...

Great review Adele! I'm glad you enjoyed it, it is indeed a brilliant story! I hope you manage to get hold of a copy of Fragile Eternity... let me know if I can help you out - it's just been released here in paperback. :)

Jo said...

Awesome review, Adele! I absolutely love Wicked Lovely, and Ink Exchange is better in some ways. Sure read Fragile Eternity (which is also awesome), but don't skip Ink Exchange! Of the three, that might just be my favourite!

I've also reviewed Wicked Lovely, and will link to your review from mine :)

Tina said...

I'm really impressed with this series. I loved every character Marr created, even the evil Bannanch. I love this world she created.

Amelia said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Amelia said...

Fantastic review! I haven't read any of the books yet, but they look VERY good. I hope you can get Fragile Eternity easily.