Ink Exchange

FYI: Author Melissa Marr defines this book as a companion novel to  Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely (Quality)) , rather than a sequel. Secondary characters in Wicked Lovely come to the forefront in this book, along with the introduction of a new faery court, the Dark Court, or the "court of nightmares."THE SET-UP: Home life is desperate for 17 year-old Leslie, though she pretends otherwise to her school friends. Ever since last year when her mother left, her father has stopped being a parent and is missing a good deal on drinking binges or gambling sprees. Leslie has had to get a job waitressing to pay the family bills. Her older brother, Ren, even wasted her on drugs one time to use her as payment to his dealer and some of his other drug pals (in other words, got her raped). Just one more year and she'll be gone from all of this at college. But until then, she's decided to get a tattoo as her one sign of freedom and independence - that she owns her own body.Meanwhile, due to the relative peace between the Summer and Winter Faerie Courts (a result of the events in Wicked Lovely), King Irial of the Dark Court, is having desperate troubles of his own. Since he and his court are nourished by dark faerie emotions, the new peace leaves them starving and weak - so weak that one of his own faeries is even killed by mortal bullets. Irial's plan is to perform an "ink exchange." Utilizing a tattoo inked with his own blood and tears, he will forge a link between himself and a mortal source, allowing him to also feed off the darker emotions of humans and then channel this feeding to the rest of the Dark Court for their sustenance.WHY I CHOSE THIS BOOK: Honestly? It was the eerie beauty of Ink Exchange's cover image that intrigued me. I had read Wicked Lovely, but had not been overly enthused by it, so I hadn't planned on reading Ink Exchange. However, the book's cover drew me enough to wonder if its content would be just as fascinating. Fortunately, it was. (I later learned from a web search that the cover is a real photograph of a model named Laura Flemming, who stated that the tattoo was a combination of paint and real feathers glued onto her back. And here I thought the tattoo and feathers were a product of digital photographic manipulation!)MY THOUGHTS ON INK EXCHANGE: This novel is a darker and more disturbing read than Wicked Lovely. Irial's character presents a quandary rather than a clear-cut villain. He is trying to do what is right by his court - keeping them fed - as best he can. Yes, he uses Leslie, but he cares for her as well. On the other hand, Keenan, who was someone to cheer for as the underdog King of the Summer Court in Wicked Lovely, shines less bright as someone who doesn't hesitate over the morality of using his own friends to further the cause of his court. Although there is a love triangle with Leslie, Niall (a Summer Court adviser), and Irial, the emphasis on this book is not on romance. (Please note, because this book deals with the aftermath of gang rape, even if only in a peripheral sense, I would recommend it to the older teenage crowd and above.)HOW GOOD A READ IS IT? I found this to be an engrossing, absorbing, even haunting, book. Despite a power outage on the afternoon I began reading it, I stayed up during the night with a flashlight, unable to put it down when it became too dark to read by the window. Leslie's descent into debauched madness after receiving her tattoo is a darkly fascinating thing as the reader tries to make sense of it all.

first became acquainted with the writing style of Melissa Marr back in February when I read her first book, Wicked Lovely. Which tells the story of Aislinn and introduces the reader to a world of faerie which co-exists alongside ours. In Ink Exchange we return that that world with the story of Leslie, Aislinn's best friend. Leslie's story is different from Aislinn's though because she knows nothing of the faerie world. All she knows is that her friend has changed over the last few months. Not only that but she has changed as well as her home life gets progressively worse as she deals with her alcoholic father and drug addicted brother. Leslie often works longer hours not just to escape from being at home but to also earn the money that will pay the bills. Leslie has also been thinking for months about getting a tattoo. No design ever seems to appeal to her though nor does she think she can justify the cost.Until one day a tattoo artist named Rabbit shows her some of his personal designs. One time only deals that means each tattoo once used will not be used on another person. Leslie flips through the pages and is immediately drawn to one. She can't get it out of her head and convinces Rabbit to sell it to her. Rabbit says that it will change her life and since that is what Leslie wants she doesn't think about the cost. This is also no ordinary tattoo, it was designed by one of the Fey and it will change its bearer and not always the way that they want.I enjoyed returning to the universe that Marr created in Wicked Lovely and it was great to see the cameos of all the characters that were in that first book. However, this book didn't have the same draw for me as Wicked Lovely did. The build up for Leslie getting the tattoo was a little slow and often seem stilted. The relationships that were tossed in her path with the two Fey folk Irial and Niall seemed a little too contrived to be believable. Then when Leslie finally does get herself inked the changes seem to go so fast and then before you know it the book is over. I felt as though that there were parts of the story that were untold and these was no easy ending to it. Marr has obviously left the door open for a third book.Despite the fact that the 1st half of the book doesn't really mesh well with the last half (the 1st was slow and plodding and the ending had that rushed feel) the writing style was the same as in Wicked Lovely.....although of a darker quality to suit the darker aspects touched upon in this novel. I am still intrigued with Marr and the universe that she has created and since she has left things open for a return then I will sit back and wait for the next installment. For I do wonder what mischief all my new Faerie friends will come up with next.[...]

This is the follow up book after Wicked Lovely and it's quite different. It has a much darker tone than the first book but it is just as compelling. It centres on Aislinn's friend Leslie and the Dark Court, so we don't see very much progression in the story of Aislinn, Seth and Keegan, although they do feature in Leslie's story regularly.Leslie is troubled, afraid that her life and feelings are not her own. Without going into too much detail, Marr makes it quite clear than Leslie's homelife is frankly horrific and that she has suffered abuse. Small details emerge about this as the book goes on, but it is cleverly written. Leslie is determined for her abuse not to be the main marker in her life. She is trying to find her way, reclaim control over herself, not to be a victim. So she doesn't dwell on what happened for the reader to hear. She alludes to it more by explaining how it makes her feel, how she shuts those feelings out. I have been surprised by other reviewers complaints that this aspect of the story was not properly dealt with. Written any other way, it would have been dwelling too much on her past pain rather than her future and how she was going to move forward.Leslie is resolved to get a tattoo, something to mark her body as her own, but she keeps looking at Rabbit's designs and she just can't see something that draws her in. Eventually she sees something in Rabbit's design book that he doesn't normally show to people. She knows immediately that she must have it. It calls to her. Obtaining the tattoo begins Leslie's connection to Irial, the king of the Dark Fey. She is strongly drawn to both him and Keegan's advisor in the Summer Court, Niall. What connects the three of them and where will it lead? What are Aislinn and Keegan trying to hide from her/protect her from?The story of what happens to Leslie once the tattoo is completed is the most compelling part of the book. I found that I kept changing my mind as to where I wanted the story to go. Marr writes the characters from an unbiased point of view, so I never felt that I was supposed to favour one character over another or to want one outcome more than another. I just kept swaying between all the options. In actual fact, none of the things that I thought would draw the book to a close, actually happened. I was surprised and very pleased by the outcome. It was true to Leslie's original goal- to reclaim her life and to move on stronger and more in control.I would recommend that you read it, if you enjoyed the first book. Be prepared for the change in tone and the reduced roles of previously main characters. You will be compensated by the characters of Leslie, Irial, Gabriel and Niall coming much more to the fore. They are much more complex than they appear at first. That's one of the things that makes the book so interesting.

Ink Exchange is the sequel to Wicked Lovely, but following different characters. Leslie is one of Aislinn's (the girl from Wicked Lovely) closest friends, and the book follows her fight to regain control after a horrible and terrifying event. She decides that the way to do that is to get a tattoo. But unknown to her, the tattoo she chooses is that of the faerie king of the Dark Court, Irial.With the tattoo comes unexpected changes for Leslie. Her sight changes, the emotions she feels and the way she reacts. The pain, hurt and fear that had been consuming her, disappears. But at what cost?The more she changes, the more Niall, advisor to the Summer King and Queen Keenan and Aislinn, wants to help her. Having escaped the Dark Court himself many years ago, he's determined not to let them have Leslie. But in the end, can he himself escape their clutches again?Wicked Lovely was a really good read, but unfortunately this does not live up to it. The idea behind the story, surviving - not allowing someone else to rule your life, is a good one, but it doesn't work here. The writing tended to ramble on and got confusing at times. You could see what the end was going to be long before you got there, and when you did, it was over quickly. It didn't help that half of the book was from Irial's perspective. As the 'bad guy' I had no sympathy for him or his motives. I didn't like his character and even found him dull at times.On the good side, we saw some of Keenan's true nature and we got a better look at Niall, easily the most interesting, though least seen, character in the book. I intend to read the third book in the series, Fragile Eternity, because it focuses on different characters. But I don't feel this book really added anything to the series. Long winded, slow and dull at times it didn't do it's predecessor any justice. Hoping for more from the next one.

I wasn't sure how I'd get on with this after enjoying Wicked Lovely so much, mainly because it had new leadcharacters and I'd really fallen for Ash and Seth in the first book. However, melisaa Marr createswonderful characters and Lesley is another of these. We do have appearences from Ash and Seth and others fromthe first book. We get to know alot more about Niall and meet some other rulers of other fairie courts too.This book I found alot darker and definately not one for younger audiences. It was very enjoyable and showed usmore of the world that Melissa Marr has created and left me eagerly awaiting more. I have now ordered the 3rd bookwhich it seems takes us back to Ash again....... I can't wait.

It's nice to see the story from another character's perspective and it not being a novel that switched POV every chapter. Lesley's story shows how even best friends can hide terrible secrets if they're too scared to ask for help. I wish nobody could relate to her story, but the character handles things very well and proves that she is a strong, independant woman.

The second book in the series. This book shows how devious the fairies can be to get the mortals they want and use them for their own purposes. I found it really hard to put down, so dinner was late a few times! Now I'm reading book three "Fragile Eternity" and that's as good as the first two. I will definately look out for other books by Melissa Marr.