Ink Exchange

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After reading the other reviews on here I wasn't sure that I would like this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. I read it in one sitting, I couldn't put it down. I'm familiar with faeries from the Laurell K Hamilton books, but this is much better. I feel that the author did a great job of submersing us in a world seamlessly without needing to explain every detail of faerie life. Unlike other reviewers, I thought this was a great stand alone book. The ending was well thought out and fit all of the characters well. I will definitely be checking out Wicked Lovely by this author, I probably should have read that first since the characters carry over. I would suggest this to anyone that enjoys Dark Fantasy. Great book!

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Ink Exchange

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Wicked Lovely, Melissa Marr's first novel, was on my Best of 2007 list and I've been very excited about the sequel, INK EXCHANGE. The storyline follows Aislinn's friend Leslie. Leslie is surrounded by a fog of secrets and unable to break through the fog because of something that happened to her while Aislinn was caught up in her own set of the tumultuous events in Wicked Lovely. The gulf between the two girls only grows wider as they find themselves unable to talk about how they have each been irrevocably altered. While Aislinn negotiates a tricky truce between Keenan and Seth, Leslie is left to fend for herself, waitressing tables to pay the bills and avoiding going home for any length of time. She is also storing away a little cash to get a tattoo as a symbol of taking her life back and escaping the terror that's dominated it for too long.

Turns out she's not completely alone, though. Aislinn has commissioned Niall, Keenan's friend and right hand man, to watch over Leslie, haunting her steps in order to protect her from the Dark Court faeries who seem to have developed a sudden, unhealthy interest in her. Chief among Aislinn's worries is Irial, the Dark King himself. But, unbeknownst to any of them, Leslie has chosen Irial's tattoo to ink on her back, a process which will link the girl and the Dark King, allowing him to feed off human emotion through her, and thereby keep his people from starving. Add to that the complication that Niall is falling in love with Leslie. Irial is falling in....something....with Leslie. And Niall and Irial have A History. A long, dark, twisted, and surprisingly moving one.

The thing about INK EXCHANGE is, just when you think it can't get any worse, it does. With a vengeance. A sort of hazy, starbursty kind of worse. Until you want to run screaming onto the page, snatch Leslie (and Niall, and, yes, Irial, too) in your arms and stash them away somewhere warm and safe and dry until they're able to heal. Short of being able to do that, you keep reading. I liked Leslie. I liked her a lot. And I hated that she had so few choices available and that, for the majority of the book, she was being manipulated left and right. By those who loved her, wanted her, and hated her alike. It made me mad. At all the characters, even as I loved them. Even my beloved Seth who seemed to see clearer than anyone, except perhaps Irial. And it made the ending a very satisfying one. But it wasn't an easy read. And it wasn't a pleasant one. And I still, epilogue be damned, have the aforementioned urge to run in and save them all. But I will wait. Somewhat impatiently. For book three.

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Ink Exchange

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After reading Wicked Lovely a few months ago, I was very excited to see Ink Exchange on the shelves at my local bookstore. I scooped it up immediately and hurried home to delve into another wonderful Melissa Marr book. Unfortunately that was not to be the case. I found the book to be slow, dark and unfulfilling.

The concept of the book seems to be exploring what happens when you lose yourself to your darker self or dark desires. While Ash, Keenan and Seth are all present in this story, they seemed flat, lacking in emotion and not as real as I found them in the first book.

Leslie, Ash's best friend from Wicked Lovely becomes a living conduit to Irial, the Dark King, losing herself completely in the process. She becomes almost zombie-like, as days and weeks fly by with her being barely lucid, struggling to simply separate herself by even one room from Irial. While she eventually breaks free with the help of Niall and her strength of will this story did NOT have a happy ending. Not even close. Unfortunately, I find myself in the category of reader that likes for the characters to at least get a semblence of what they want, you know?

This tale is well written, but heavy and weighty in its lesson to readers.

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