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A review by readermeetsbook
Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
2.0
Set in the same world as Wicked Lovely, Melissa Marr's first novel, Ink Exchange focuses on the Dark Court of the faeries. While it might not be necessary to have read the first novel to understand the gist of the story, it is mighty helpful to read it for background information and to understand certain characters.
Living with a deadbeat dad and a druggie brother, Leslie struggles to survive each day. After being sold by her brother for drugs and raped by his friends, she shuts down. Feeling a need to find control again, she decides to get a tattoo for her body.
At the same time, Irial, the fairy king of the Dark Court is dealing with problems in his court. The Dark Court is getting weaker as peace between the Winter and Summer Court continue to grow longer. To keep the Dark Court stabilizes, Irial decides to do an Ink Exchange. Essentially, he will be connected to a mortal and feed off of their emotions (the darker ones: anger, pain, sadness, etc) like a vampire. The connection is created by a tattoo done on the mortal with the blood of the fairy. Leslie is the one chosen.
Throw in her friend Aislinn - who is not really human anymore but queen of the Summer Court which is not exactly buddy buddy with the Dark Court. And Niall - a fairy advisor for the Summer King and also has a torrid background with Irial. Add to the fact that Leslie is very attracted to him. What happens is confrontation between characters as Irial works to save his court and Leslie tries to find herself again.
The worlds Marr creates, both fairy and human, come alive with her prose. While reading Ink Exchange, I found it easy to envision myself in the setting of the story. I also enjoy the reappearances of characters from Wicked Lovely especially Aislinn. On the other hand, I did not like the main characters of this novel. The characters, Leslie and Irial, were ones that I could not sympathize or connect with. But this is all personal opinion.
Living with a deadbeat dad and a druggie brother, Leslie struggles to survive each day. After being sold by her brother for drugs and raped by his friends, she shuts down. Feeling a need to find control again, she decides to get a tattoo for her body.
At the same time, Irial, the fairy king of the Dark Court is dealing with problems in his court. The Dark Court is getting weaker as peace between the Winter and Summer Court continue to grow longer. To keep the Dark Court stabilizes, Irial decides to do an Ink Exchange. Essentially, he will be connected to a mortal and feed off of their emotions (the darker ones: anger, pain, sadness, etc) like a vampire. The connection is created by a tattoo done on the mortal with the blood of the fairy. Leslie is the one chosen.
Throw in her friend Aislinn - who is not really human anymore but queen of the Summer Court which is not exactly buddy buddy with the Dark Court. And Niall - a fairy advisor for the Summer King and also has a torrid background with Irial. Add to the fact that Leslie is very attracted to him. What happens is confrontation between characters as Irial works to save his court and Leslie tries to find herself again.
The worlds Marr creates, both fairy and human, come alive with her prose. While reading Ink Exchange, I found it easy to envision myself in the setting of the story. I also enjoy the reappearances of characters from Wicked Lovely especially Aislinn. On the other hand, I did not like the main characters of this novel. The characters, Leslie and Irial, were ones that I could not sympathize or connect with. But this is all personal opinion.