Wicked Lovely is a 2007 YA fantasy novel by Melissa Marr. The title can also refer to the Wicked Lovely series, which includes the novel of the same name, Ink Exchange (2008), Fragile Eternity (2009), Radiant Shadows (2010) and Darkest Mercy (2011). A short story, "Stopping Time", serves as a sort of postscript to Ink Exchange. Chock full of romance and a dash of political intrigue, the series is a Paranormal Romance set in Huntsdale, where three of the four Courts of Faerie currently reside.The first book deals with Keenan, the King of the Summer Court, courting a human girl named Aislinn, who he hopes is the missing Summer Queen, and her attempts to resist his advances. Subsequent books build upon the cast of characters established in Wicked Lovely, introducing readers to the movers and shakers within the Winter, Dark and High Courts. Further explanation of the plot would simply be too spoileriffic.The fifth book, Darkest Mercy was recently released, and a short story anthology is planned for 2012.
This series provides examples of:
Above Good and Evil: How Irial perceives the Dark Court. See also this page's entry for Blue and Orange Morality.
And I Must Scream: Shades [ghosts of faeries], 'trapped and silent for all eternity'.
Asskicking Equals Authority: the solitary fey work on "rule of might and will", which basically amounts to this. Unusual for this trope, and likely due to Fair FolkBlue and Orange Morality, this is a good thing, or at least works for the solitaries.
Author Catchphrase: "There are always choices", which doubles as An Aesop, is spoken by a different character every book, sometimes more than once.)
Author Appeal: Non-sexual, but several characters have similar tastes in music and fashion to Melissa Marr, not to mention the whole tattoo thing in Ink Exchange...
Blue and Orange Morality: Pretty much everyone. For example, Donia stabbing Aislinn might seem like a pretty harsh move, but due to her position as the Winter Queen, it was politically (and, arguably, metaphysically) necessary for Donia to take whatever measures necessary to limit Summer's ability to meddle in her Court.
Bodyguard Crush: Even though Niall kinda fails at the bodyguard part.
Break the Haughty: Whilst not quite an example, Iri tries to warn Devlin of this in Radiant Shadows.
"Pride comes before a fall, my friend. But then, you've already fallen, haven't you?"
Broken Bird: Leslie. Donia as well, who is arguably even more of a woobie, just the iron variety.
Brought Down to Normal: Keenan at the end of Darkest Mercy, after giving up his immortality to save Donia's life. He gets better in the epilogue, though.
By the Eyes of the Blind: Only some humans, like Aislinn and her grandmother, can naturally See faeries.)
Dark Is Evil: The denizens of the Dark Court. Subverted somewhat with Irial and Niall, who consciously hold their Court at least somewhat in check. Water fey as well, as glimpsed throughout the series and in Darkest Mercy previews. FAR more so than the Dark Court, they are borderline sociopaths to mortal standards, or at least completely, utterly alien. Even most 'normal' fey fear them.
Dark Is Not Evil: Also applies to the Dark Court. Both Dark Is Evil and Dark Is Not Evil can apply to them because of the Blue and Orange Morality of faeries. Death fey like Far Dorcha and the Shadow Court as well.
Deadly Decadent Court: Everyone, really, but most especially the Dark Court - again.
Dysfunction Junction: Everyone has issues of some kind. EVERYONE. Misery loves company and faeries, evidently.
Earn Your Happy Ending: Definitely. These characters go through a lot, and things get pretty bad for faerie as a whole at points, but it's worth it in the end.
Even the Guys Want Him: Oh, Irial. Niall too. Remember the scene with Seth lusting on him in Fragile Eternity?
Everyone Calls Him Barkeep: The Gabriel is always referred to as such. Marr has stated that he had another name before, and that it's not secret but it's not relevant either.
Face Heel Turn: Niall. Probably inevitable, but more interesting angsty.
Faeries Speaking English: Why Sorcha, who has been around literally forever, speaks perfect -if overly formal- modern English despite having never even been to the human world is the worst example, but it applies to several faeries. Mind you, it would be hard to write all dialogue in Gaelic, especially considering most readers wouldn't understand it, so this was probably a common-sense move on Melissa's part. Although faeries HAVE been said to possess the gift of tongues.
The Fair Folk: Pretty much the very engine of the series.
Horror Hunger: Negative emotions (fear, hatred, pain, lust, greed, etc) are the Dark Court's source of nourishment.
Idiot Ball: Aislinn in Fragile Eternity, Sorcha in Radiant Shadows.
Important Haircut: Niall had much longer hair in the backstory, but cut it very short when he left the dark court, both as a symbolic gesture of 'not looking back' and for more practical trauma-related reasons, according to Word Of God.
Knife Nut: Probably the way many fey fight, but special mention goes to Ani who states at one point "a girl can never have too many knives". Also her father Gabriel, and Bananach.
Land of Faerie: Where the High and Shadow courts reside.
Light Is Not Good: The Summer Court is far from perfect and the High Court is implied to be the villain in Radiant Shadows.
Making a Splash: Water fey, like Aobheall and Innis, have been mentioned throughout the series and according to the snippets on the author's website pay a big role in the final book. Namely, they're vital allies to the Courts in the final battle against Bananach.
May-December Romance: Due to the immortality of the fey, pretty much every couple except Aislinn/Seth and Niall/Irial.
Mayfly December Romance: What Irial and Niall's relationship with Leslie is, as well as being a major source of angst for Seth in Fragile Eternity. He gets better.
Nobody Thinks It Will Work: The general reaction of the Summer Court to Aislinn's relationship with Seth.
Not Himself: In Darkest Mercy, the shade of dead Irial persists in Niall's mind, and sometimes takes full possession of the body, causing the already-falling-apart-at-the-seams Niall to black out now and then, only to come to and realize that he's stabbed someone else without being aware of it, or something like that. Keenan figures out what's going on after realizing that Niall is not himself.
The Ophelia: If Sorcha wasn't one in Radiant Shadows, she was damn close.
Order Versus Chaos: High Court and Dark Court. Sorcha and Bananach. Reason and War.
Our Vampires Are Different: Not technically vampires, but needing others' blood is a result of Devlin being the balance between Reason and War.
Out with a Bang: Pity the poor innocent bystanders in Ink Exchange. Well, poor innocent quasi-bystanders.
Plant Person: Hawthorn (Winter) and Rowan (Summer) fey.
Polyamory: Niall, Irial, and Leslie are all totally cool with their emotional - though not physical - three-way. To a lesser extent, Ani and Rae don't appear to have any qualms about sharing Devlin either.
Sadistic Choice: Irial gives Niall one in their shared backstory, as revealed in Ink Exchange- "You entertain the court or they can, Gancanagh." Niall chose to give them himself.
Shown Their Work: Marr generally gets the folklore right, though, of course, faery lore is already old enough and varied enough that Marr can have quite a bit of wiggle room to make any new innovations she sees fit.
Single-Minded Twins: Ani and Tish act like this, despite not actually being twins.
The Symbiote: How ink exchanges are supposed to work.
There Are No Therapists: Subverted somewhat with Leslie, who is revealed to be having therapy in Stopping Time. Justified with anyone else as no sane therapist would believe them.
Title Drop: Once a book.
Wicked Lovely: "And he smiled at her, truly smiled- wicked and lovely..."
Ink Exchange: Frequently, but it's to be expected due to ink exchanges being the central plot device as well as the title.
Fragile Eternity: (Ask another troper to find one, but I'm sure it was in Seth's pov.)
Radiant Shadows: "Without shadows, the radiance was insufficient." and "Instead of being wrought of shadows like those from her own court, this faery had a tangled feel. Shadow and radiance."
Stopping Time: "It's okay to stop time every so often to be with someone you love."
Triang Relations: Of the polyamourous variety. Ani/Devlin/Rae is a type seven which turns into more of an eleven at the end of Radiant Shadows with the loyalty/friendship between Ani and Rae nonsexual in nature. Rae and Ani certainly don't seem to mind sharing Devlin. Irial/Niall/Leslie is a type eight.
Where the hell is Huntsdale?: It was actually assumed to be in Pennsylvania, until Melissa said she deliberately left it ambiguous.
The Wild Hunt: The Gabriel hounds, and possibly the shadow court.
Woman Scorned: Implied to be the reason for Beira turning all psycho (because of Miach). Donia also has her moments (because of Keenan). It must be a Winter Court thing.
The Woman Wearing The Queenly Mask: Sorcha by Radiant Shadows. Aislinn also has elements of this. Subverted with Donia, who adapts to being Winter Queen surprisingly well. Completely averted with Ani, who pretty much jumps at the call where the Shadow Court is concerned.
Word Of God: Plenty of it- Melissa pops up on the fan forums every now and then.
Year Inside, Hour Outside: Every month spent in Faerie is six months in the human world, which somewhat explains why the High Court's mannerisms seem so old fashioned.
0 reviews 