Unbeknownst to mortals, a power struggle is unfolding in a world of shadows and danger. After centuries of stability, the balance among the Faery Courts has altered, and Irial, ruler of the Dark Court, is battling to hold his rebellious and newly vulnerable fey together. If he fails, bloodshed and brutality will follow.
Seventeen-year-old Leslie knows nothing of faeries or their intrigues. When she is attracted to an eerily beautiful tattoo of eyes and wings, all she knows is that she has to have it, convinced it is a tangible symbol of changes she desperately craves for her own life.
The tattoo does bring changes; not the kind Leslie has dreamed of but sinister, compelling changes that are more than symbolic. Those changes will bind Leslie and Irial together, drawing Leslie deeper and deeper into the faery world, unable to resist its allure, and helpless to withstand it's perils...
In the second book in the Wicked Lovely series readers will get a closer and more in-depth look at the supporting characters from Wicked Lovely. Leslie, Niall and Irial take center stage in this companion novel and readers will get some of their questions answered regarding these characters. While I loved Aislinn, Keenan and Seth from Wicked Lovely, they have not completely gone away; they still remain as supporting background characters throughout this novel.
The world Melissa Marr created in Wicked Lovely still blows my mind, the creativity that goes into her work despite this being a genre that has been done and re-done so many times impressed me with each turn of the page. I felt that Marr took Ink Exchange and went beyond just the superficial to delve deeper into larger issues, real issues and fae issues as you would have it. Leslie is a girl with a clouded past…readers are never given the full picture up front as to what lies in her past or what spurs her to make the choices she does throughout the novel. And although I'd love Marr to answer every question that pops into my head as I'm reading her work, I enjoy and appreciate the intrigue and reasoning behind her careful planning as to when she reveals her information. When all was said and done I appreciated her character and the struggles she went through because Marr helped readers feel as if they experienced some of those struggles with her character.
The triangle between Leslie, Niall and Irial took me a few minutes to adjust to. I will say I came into this novel doubting that it would rank up there with Wicked Lovely and the love triangle that was present because all three main characters in Ink Exchange were not given much of a spotlight in the series' first novel; however I was proven to be a little short-sighted. Niall was not just another male hunk with a tortured past, as I first thought he would be. Marr went deeper than that. I found myself aching for him for all the difficulties he dealt with on a daily basis, and was hoping someone would come to understand his pain and only love him more for it.
Irial was another tough sell for me because for starters, I usually always root for the good guy. And let's face it, if you're the king of the dark faery court that pretty much puts you in my "bad" guy column. Again Marr proved that I needed to exercise a little more patience. I'm not saying that I'm on "team Irial" but after finishing the book I will say that I enjoyed his character and what he brought to the table. He frustrated me to no end because he refused to stay in my "good vs. bad" column. In my mind he was constantly switching sides.
I’m looking forward to continue reading the Wicked Lovely series and to see what Fragile Eternity, the third novel in the series delivers. On a side note I’m hoping to see more of the character Gabriel in future novels, because he is yet another character who was put into the background but yet still fought to come to life on the pages he was given. He fascinates me and stirs up my curiosity, so I’m crossing my fingers to see more of him in novels to come.
All in all I truly do enjoy Marr’s work. The world and characters she creates and brings to life never fail to impress.
I gave Ink Exchange (Wicked Lovely, #2) 3 shamrocks!!!
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