Review: Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr

Title: Ink Exchange
Author: Melissa Marr
Series: Wicked Lovely, #2
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: May 1, 2008
Pages: 325
Rating:

To 17-year-old Leslie, the tattoo is a thing of indescribable beauty, a captivating mark that she must make her own. But this subtle web of eyes and wings brings with it a transformation that no sweet young girl would ever imagine or welcome. Like its predecessor, this stand-alone sequel to Wicked Lovely plunges its youthful heroine into a faery world of almost constant peril. A tantalizing urban fantasy that won't let go.

INK EXCHANGE is very different from Wicked Lovely. It is much darker. Instead of Ash, Keenan, and Seth, this book focuses on the side characters from Wicked Lovely, Niall, Leslie, and Irial. I do admit I was hesitant to read INK EXCHANGE, because I knew that it did not focus on the main characters from Wicked Lovely. But Ink Exchange is a companion novel, where we get to see what is actually going on between the different courts. We don't just have the Summer and Winter Court, we also have the Dark Court.

In Wicked Lovely we were introduced to Leslie as Ashlinn's friend. Leslie has had a very rough life since her mother had died and at home it is really bad for her and she is drawn to the darkness. Leslie decides to get a tattoo and the tattoo that she is drawn too and immediately wants to get is the tattoo that will link her soul to the dark king, Irial. Niall cares for Lesley and tries all he can to keep her safe from Irial.

For some reason, I really thought that I was not going to like INK EXCHANGE for the fact that it focuses on the side characters, but it really wasn't that bad. It was an interesting and engaging read. I really liked that we get an inside look at the other courts and different players in the world. I wasn't as into the main characters as much as the ones in Wicked Lovely.

I sympathized with Leslie, because of what she has to come home to everyday. I felt like she got to be a stronger person by the end of the book. I admit that I love Niall and Irial. Irial is so dark and he is such a bad boy and mysterious in a way. We get to see a different side of Niall. I mean he turns into a different person by the end. And things between Niall and the Summer king and queen may never be the same again.

I liked this book, but I was not into it as much as Wicked Lovely, because I liked the focus on Ashlinn, Seth and Keenan and that storyline. I find those characters more interesting to me. But it was just nice to see what was going on in the other courts. But book 3, Fragile Eternity will be back on the Ashlinn, Seth and Kennan storyline, so I am very excited to find out what will happen in that book.