Urban fantasy
isn't my favorite genre, but I'd heard Wicked
Lovely praised, so I decided to read it. I liked Melissa Marr's creative take on faeries,
and enjoyed the vivid imagery.
However, the
excessive repetition and over-explanation sometimes bogged down the story. Example:
Beira (evil queen who's not quite as frightening as she needs to
be) touches Keenan (her son and enemy) and bruises him with cold. Aislinn (the chosen one, who hasn't quite
admitted she's the chosen one) kisses his cheek and takes away the
bruises. It goes on for a page or so
about this, and both their wonder at her power.
Then someone comes up and asks what happened. "Aislinn healed the Winter Queen's
touch," Keenan says. Four lines
later, "She kissed Beira's frost, and it's gone. She unmade Beira's touch. She offered me her hand—by choice—and I was
stronger." In case we didn't get it
yet, another character asks, "What?"
Keenana says—and I kid you not—"She healed me with a kiss, shared
her strength with me." Four pages
later she tells her boyfriend about it.
Yes, it's a pivotal plot point, because it convinces everyone, including
her, that she's The One, but for heaven's sake WE GOT IT.
I also didn't like that there are all these rules for the
faery world and this epic "game" of theirs, which we hear about over
and over, yet we never learn who set the rules, or why, or what will happen if
the rules are disobeyed.
As for the characters, Keenan was interesting enough, though
whiny. I liked Donia and her inner
struggles. Seth seemed too perfect to be
real (except for his former promiscuity).
And Aislinn, the main character…well, I didn't have strong feelings one
way or the other about her.
It has a great tag line, though: "Rule #3: Don't stare at invisible faeries. Rule #2: Don't speak to invisible faeries. Rule #1: Don't ever attract theirattention." That's probably how it got
the attention of agents and publishers.
My rating: 3 minus
My rating: 3 minus
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