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A review by neekoshimmer32
Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Really enjoyed this book, it was really a page-turner.
Leslie is set up as a normal girl thrust into the world of faery.
She doesn’t discover much about this world until beyond the halfway point of the book though. As much as her naivety is a bother (which wasn’t much to me) it felt more like a responsibility of her fae friends to inform her of this world and about the dangerous tattoo she was getting herself and herself into.
She comes from an abusive background and has a not-so-lovely brother, so the fae world seemed like a haven for her at first. Despite this, she discovers that there can be too much of a good thing. As she becomes tied to Irial, she discovers that all her pain and worry can be drowned away by him, leaving her numb. Unable to feel any of the less-than-savory human emotions, she stays in a drunken state for a while. She then realizes that if she wants to be truly human, she needs to feel them all.
On the other side, Irial of the Dark Court, who regularly takes in humans to feed his court has his eyes set on Leslie. As Leslie gets her full tattoo, he binds himself to her though more painfully than her. Leslie of course is unaware of what she’d just done. (Maybe Rabbit, Ani or Trish could’ve said something?) Now Irial has taken her as his without her consent. This allows him to drink away any of her bad emotions, causing her to be stoic like fae. But it also makes her make poor decisions. He then takes Leslie to his world, having her drown and feed off of emotions until she is drunk for a while.
The most thought-provoking part of the book for me is exactly that. How Irial took away part of her emotions and feelings, and yet still let her have enough that she felt like she has some control in her life. Leslie is convinced that Irial cares about her consent, though clearly that didn’t apply to her brain. To me, that trickles down to everything else as well. Choice is only an illusion for Leslie, and she does what she can to survive. She even grows fond of Irial despite his overstepping to say the least. The writing was great and I understood Leslie at every turn but this was where I felt like she didn’t really give consent. I haven’t read a lot of YA lately, but I do believe that this counts as dubcon (dubious consent), so just be aware of that.
Now that I think about it more, Leslie had a few similarities with her brother. Though not of her own volition, she became an addict to a drug - the feelings and good times with fae - and it left her numb. She had to discover that it was bad for her to continue down this path, being with Irial as well, and try to find a way out of his situation. It was only around the very last few chapters that she had her tattoo removed and the connection to Irial severed.
As a character, I do love Leslie. But more than that, I loved Niall. Niall’s love for Leslie kept me reading this book. He was the sweetest man I’ve read about recently. I wanted to see him in every next chapter. His dialogue was very smooth and he was very caring and charming. I’d like to see the two together as a couple, but Irial had stolen Leslie away. Niall has been her secret protector for a while even at the start, but I do wonder where he was when Leslie was taken. I was expecting the story to be Niall saving his damsel in distress and ending up with her at the end. As much as he helped dissolve her tattoo, I felt that he, during Leslie’s drunken state, was MIA. I would’ve loved to see chapters between Leslie and Niall and his attempts at saving her, even if proved futile.
I understand Leslie’s decision not to be with Niall at the end. I have read two other (future) books in this series (I read out of order) but as it was a while ago, Im trying to remember Niall in the future books. The writing was still immaculate and the book was totally worth it. Im down to collect and read the rest of the series. There’s something unexplainable about it that keeps me going.
Leslie is set up as a normal girl thrust into the world of faery.
She comes from an abusive background and has a not-so-lovely brother, so the fae world seemed like a haven for her at first. Despite this, she discovers that there can be too much of a good thing. As she becomes tied to Irial, she discovers that all her pain and worry can be drowned away by him, leaving her numb. Unable to feel any of the less-than-savory human emotions, she stays in a drunken state for a while. She then realizes that if she wants to be truly human, she needs to feel them all.
On the other side, Irial of the Dark Court, who regularly takes in humans to feed his court has his eyes set on Leslie. As Leslie gets her full tattoo, he binds himself to her though more painfully than her. Leslie of course is unaware of what she’d just done. (Maybe Rabbit, Ani or Trish could’ve said something?) Now Irial has taken her as his without her consent. This allows him to drink away any of her bad emotions, causing her to be stoic like fae. But it also makes her make poor decisions. He then takes Leslie to his world, having her drown and feed off of emotions until she is drunk for a while.
The most thought-provoking part of the book for me is exactly that. How Irial took away part of her emotions and feelings, and yet still let her have enough that she felt like she has some control in her life. Leslie is convinced that Irial cares about her consent, though clearly that didn’t apply to her brain. To me, that trickles down to everything else as well. Choice is only an illusion for Leslie, and she does what she can to survive. She even grows fond of Irial despite his overstepping to say the least. The writing was great and I understood Leslie at every turn but this was where I felt like she didn’t really give consent. I haven’t read a lot of YA lately, but I do believe that this counts as dubcon (dubious consent), so just be aware of that.
Now that I think about it more, Leslie had a few similarities with her brother. Though not of her own volition, she became an addict to a drug - the feelings and good times with fae - and it left her numb. She had to discover that it was bad for her to continue down this path, being with Irial as well, and try to find a way out of his situation.
As a character, I do love Leslie. But more than that, I loved Niall. Niall’s love for Leslie kept me reading this book. He was the sweetest man I’ve read about recently. I wanted to see him in every next chapter. His dialogue was very smooth and he was very caring and charming. I’d like to see the two together as a couple, but Irial had stolen Leslie away. Niall has been her secret protector for a while even at the start, but I do wonder where he was when Leslie was taken. I was expecting the story to be Niall saving his damsel in distress and ending up with her at the end.
I understand Leslie’s decision not to be with Niall at the end. I have read two other (future) books in this series (I read out of order) but as it was a while ago, Im trying to remember Niall in the future books. The writing was still immaculate and the book was totally worth it. Im down to collect and read the rest of the series. There’s something unexplainable about it that keeps me going.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
Minor: Rape