Ink Exchange (Wicked Lovely Series #2)

Reviewed by Lynn Crow for TeensReadToo.com

Torn up inside after her drug-dealer brother betrays her in the most horrible way, Leslie puts on a brave front with her friends, pretending her drunken dad isn't letting the bills pile up and hiding all her pain. Hoping to take back control over her body, she decides to get a tattoo, and picks out a special design at the tattoo parlor she often hangs out at. Unbeknownst to Leslie, that tattoo is the symbol of Irial, the king of the faerie Dark Court, designed to allow him to filter the unpleasant emotions that feed his court through her into him and his people.

As Leslie finds her vision changing and her feelings shifting in unpredictable ways, Niall, a faerie of the Summer Court who has always admired her, steps in, hoping to help her and keep Irial away. He has his own tangled feelings about Irial, whom he once counted as a friend. But as Leslie sinks further under Irial's thrall, enjoying the escape from the hurt and fear she'd been living with, only she can decide when to pull away--or whether she would rather stay with him, after all.

INK EXCHANGE is a darkly imaginative novel set in the same world as Marr's first novel, WICKED LOVELY. Readers will enjoy exploring the lives of some of that novel's minor characters and seeing more of the shadowy side of the faerie courts. They may find Leslie, Niall, and Irial less engaging than the spirited and perhaps more sympathetic narrators of WICKED LOVELY, but the trio still make for a fascinating "love" triangle as each deals with conflicting emotions and tries to decide what is right both for him or herself and for those who are counting on them.

The imagery is striking and evocative, and the politics of the different faerie courts is intriguing to explore. A great book for dark fantasy fans.

13 out of 13 people found this review helpful.

Very disappointing

This book was definitely not as well written as the first in the series. I had alot of trouble getting into the story and when I did, it seemed like the author was trying too hard to make this book edgier than the first. The characters are not as vivid and the overall story was disappointing.

7 out of 13 people found this review helpful.

A VERY GOOD READ!

I really did enjoy Ink Spell, don't get me wrong. I love the writing, I love the darkness of Melissa Marr's writing. But I didn't find this book to be quite on the scale of Wicked Lovely, I felt like the writing seemed forced and didn't flow as easily as it did in the first book. I enjoyed Leslie's character but felt that maybe she was a little TOO dark. I guess it made sense with the plot, but I thought that she needed more substance than that.
I missed Asylinn and Keenan's characters, they were barely mentioned and given the circumstances I thought that they should have held a larger role in the plot.
Still, a very good book. Great book...not so much. But that's just my opinion. If you like Melissaq Marr, this one will be great for you too.

5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

Ink Exchange

INK EXCHANGE is the second book in Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely Series. Where the first book dealt with the Summer and Winter Faerie Courts, this one opens readers to the Dark Court and its faeries.
Peace between Summer and Winter Court has weakening the Dark Court for they feed on the negative emotions. Peace doesn't exactly bring on those emotions. Irial, King of the Dark Court, works with Rabbit, a tattoo artist to find the right human to strengthen them - a human who will filter the emotions to Irial so that he can feed his court.
When Leslie, Aislinn's friend, makes up her mind to get a tattoo as a way to reclaim her body from the abuse she has been subjected to, it's one of Irial's enchanted design she elects to have. Little does she know this symbol will bind her to Irial and a fate will be far worse than before.
Leslie ends up caught in the dark world of faeries and sandwiched between a rogue who wants to save her and one who wants to possess her. The bittersweet ending stays true to the dark theme Marr has portrayed in this emotionally addictive story. I recommend it highly.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Disappointing Follow Up to Wicked Lovely

I really liked Marr's first, Wicked Lovely, and while I liked this, too, it just didn't grab me in the same way. I loved the first half/ two-thirds of Ink Exchange, once the ink exchange took effect, I felt like the story got convoluted.

The story focuses on Leslie, a close friend of Aislinn, the main character from the first book and the reigning Summer Queen of the faery courts. She has a very unhappy home life, complete with druggie brother and absentee father, and one of the few things that gives her pleasure is hanging out at the local tattoo shop. She desperately wants a tattoo, which she feels will give her ownership of her own body, and help her feel some control amid her chaotic life. Unbeknownst to Leslie, Rabbit, the shop's owner, is the half-fey son of the Hound of the Dark Court. He has an agreement with Irial, the Dark Court's king, to use a special faery ink with certain tattoos as part of an ink exchange. The ink exchange allows Irial and the rest of the Dark Court to feed on the dark emotions of mortals, which have grown scarce since the peace made between Summer and Winter in the first book.

Leslie ends up picking the tattoo that represents Irial himself. As she begins to get the tattoo, her friends from the Summer Court notice that she's attracted the Dark King's attention, and Niall, who is Keenan's (the Summer King) right hand man, is asked to guard her more closely. Niall is also interested in Leslie, and he and Irial struggle over Leslie's mortality and her role in the faery world.

Leslie, having been kept in the dark about all this, completes the tattoo, making her Irial's Shadow Girl. Once she is a part of his court, she struggles to maintain her sense of self, even as she witnesses atrocities against mortals. Eventually, she must make the choice between remaining with the Dark Court or breaking her tie with Irial.

I did like that the story wasn't just about hooking Leslie up with the hottest faery out there, but about her making choices about her own destiny. I also liked seeing the POV characters from the other book from another perspective. I think my favorite aspect of the book was that the various faeries and faery courts are not depicted as good/bad, black/white entities. The reader can find Irial sympathetic, and Keenan distasteful. Gabriel (the Hound), who I initially thought was going to be very one-note, actually ended up being a dynamic character with depth. Niall, like Leslie, has to make tough choices about his own path, and it's always nice for me when an author doesn't go easy on their characters.

I think what I didn't like was that I didn't have a firm grip on Leslie as a character- the faeries were much, much more fully realized- and thus when she was with the Dark Court and time was passing in a haze, the plot got very hazy for me, too. It seemed almost like it took too long to get Leslie there, and then things were rushed and not fully explained. I also found it a little convenient that it was one of Aislinn's closest friends who happened to choose Irial's mark. I could understand her catching faery eyes because of her closeness to the Summer Queen, but it was little too coincidental that she ended up being the Shadow Girl. I just wish Marr would have spent more time on developing Leslie as a character, and devoted a few more pages to explaining what the hell, exactly, was going on at the Dark Court.

That said, I would read another book set in this world. I loved the first

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Waste of precious time...

I want to say this first: I did not like this book one bit. The story had a lot of potential, but I did not connect with any of the characters. The author could have done things a lot different to help you hate/love the characters more. For example instead of reading about what happened to Leslie, she could have made us experience it with a flashback maybe. The characters actions also made no sense. I felt I was starting a whole new series without reading what happened before, like a continuation which this was supposed to be. Instead it felt like a whole new series which it isn't. I don't know about you but in a series I like to follow the story of the first main characters, not be thrown in to the middle of another character's story. There were a lot of loose end as well, like the whole conversation with Rianne, pointless. I was not thrilled about the first book but I read on thinking it would get better but it does not. The only good parts in this book is when Leslie takes an interest in Niall, that's about it. None of her actions made sense nor did the author do well explaining the reasoning. Also too many points of view, the author tried to do too much in a short time. I will not be reading the rest of the series.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Ink Exchange

Ink Exchange was a great follow up for Wicked Lovely. Even though it wasn't about Aislynn and Seth I found the new characters interesting and real. I also liked how the main character was a small character in Wicked Lovely and now you get to know her more. Overall a great book!!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Ink Exchange

I really enjoyed reading this one. Being the 2nd book in the Wicked Lovely series, Ink Exchange continues the story and broadens it as well. Unlike vampire and warewolf stories, there are no pretenses or "rules" for what we think of or associate with faeries. Melissa Marr makes the whole fairy world come to life. She makes the story dark and beautiful and the characters fierce yet volunerable. Its vivid and emotional. The Wicked Lovely series is the ultimate Fairy Tale. I anxiously await the next one.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Positive

considering this was the first book that i read (it was a gift so i didnt think it was a series) i went out and got the rest. but i read this book and fell in love. I dont really have alot of time on my hands to read but i actually made time for these books. great job

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Dark Faeries - Love it!!

This is the sequel to Wicked Lovely. Tells the tale of Aislenn's best friend Leslie and her desent into the world of faerie, the darker side of it with Niall. Ink Exchange is much darker than Wicked Lovely and aside from the faery part very realistic in terms of what some teenagers face and the impact it has on thier life and every day decisions. The story is amazing and the plot develops exquisitly. Aislinn, Keenan, Niall, and Seth are all back and as awesome as ever. Great description and tone. Creative and riveting, I could not put Wicked Lovely down nor could I concieve have putting this one down. I flew through the book. A highly recommended read.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Disturbing

I'm not really sure what to say about this book. It disturbs me that the protagonist, Leslie, who has survived a horrible sexual assault is, by the end of the book, repeatedly used both emotionally and sexually for weeks by the Dark Court king. But we're supposed to think this is a healing thing because her proximity to the Dark King feels so good that she forgets everything except being with him. Yet she wouldn't need him or feel anything toward him were it not for the tattoo using his blood that was put on her back and he knew that she'd need endless sex with him once it was done.
I found this story truly distasteful, particularly since this book is YA. I'd expect this plot in a novel with adult characters, not teens. The fey have lived hundreds of years and they can't find adults to interact with, but must continue to prey on teeangers? Creepy, and not in a good way.
The most sympathetic character was Niall but his backstory is never truly told and his relationship with Leslie fizzles.
I was also very bothered that the tattoo artist who put the fey king's blood into the tattoo on Leslie without her knowledge pays no price for doing this to her. No one is angry, Leslie comes to acceptance of what he did and that's it. He helped the Dark King trap her and use her, but no one seems to care. Humans have died because Rabbit did this to them in the past but since Arial comes to care for Leslie, we're supposed to think that makes it okay, I guess.
One of the things that continues to bother me about Marr's storytelling is being thrown into the story without ever having the action explained or clear until the book is more than half over. Even when the book is finished I still don't know what a Ly Erg, glaistig or the Bananach are and I feel like I need to read these books with the encyclopedia of fey creatures sitting beside me. If you're going to create a whole world, kindly explain how it works and what the creatures are.
For me, a disappointment.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Creative

The moment I finished Wicked Lovely I was hooked, and no sooner did I finish Ink Exchange did I demand Fragile Eternity. The characters are great and surprising, I found that my favorite character after reading the first book changed after having finished the second...So I am anxious to read the third.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

ink exchange

great story. leslie gets a tattoo that links her to the dark king, Irial. niall wants her, but must fight the temptation because of what he is.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

simply put

EXCELLENT ! enchanting story you never know whats going to happen next!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Good series

This was a good series. I wasn't sure if I was gonna like it but it turned out to be one of my favorites. Nice job.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A Bit Disappointing.

This is the second book in Melissa Marr's series that starts with "Wicked Lovely" and it is not nearly as captivating as the first book. In fact, the connection between the two books is very narrow and many of the characters that are so likable in the first book are literally just part of the background in this book. While the story is interesting, it is lacking because the characters and plot from "Wicked Lovely" are not transitioned or placed well within this book. This book could almost be its own entity apart from "Wicked Lovely" if references hadn't been made to the first book. I am hoping that the third book in the series "Fragile Eternity" will do better at tying everything, both characters and plot, together. The first book is intriguing enough that I will read the third book even though the second, "Ink Exchange",is disappointing. The third book, "Fragile Eternity" is not scheduled to be out until May of 2009. Hopefully, it will be a better story and bring all the pieces together.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Liv's Book Reviews

Ink Exchange wasn't quite as good as Wicked Lovely, but it was still highly readable and addictive. I think the thing lacking in the second book was deep character connection. I felt like I knew the characters in the first book better than the ones in the second book which isn't a huge problem, but I think that if anything could be improved in Ink Exchange, that would be the one small thing I would fix. Other than that, the rest of the aspects of the story were on par with the first book and I finished it satisfied. In Wicked Lovely, some of the details of the other faery courts were skimmed over and this book gave us an opportunity to look at the dark faery court from a different view point the view of someone who has no idea what she is getting herself into. I think the best part about the book, for me, was how all of the tattooing tied in. I've never thought about getting a tattoo myself, but after reading about the whole art and history of it, I think I have a deeper understanding of what drives people to permanently mark their bodies. I would never go through with it as I have a very low pain thresh hold, but I like the idea of claiming your body as your own, as Leslie did. I think Melissa Marr put a lot of effort in to that part of the book and it definitely paid off. I was a teensy bit disappointed by the ending of the book, but I think the contrast of the endings between Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange was needed and overall, the end fit the book even if I didn't particularly like how things were tied up. I am looking forward to a possible third book because there is one (maybe two) faery court(s) that haven't been told about yet, and I think the last one, Sorcha's court, should be the most interesting of all. Let's cross our fingers that a third book is one its way!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

3 1/2 stars

Pretty good read. I liked this book better than the 1st in the series (Wicked Lovely) because it was not as predictable. Entertaining read.

Highly Recommend

Not the best in the Wicked Lovely series, but still a great read.

Good

I read the book in two days and lost hours of sleep reading it. I literally stayed until two in the morning finishing the second half of this book - note I wake up at 6:30AM
Good book. I really liked it and I can't wait to buy the next one.