Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Ink Exchange


Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr

In this sequel to Marr's daring fairy tale, Wicked Lovely, the reader follows the life of one of Aislinn's friends, Leslie. Leslie, a minor character in the first book, is a troubled seventeen-year-old girl whose life has been turned upside down. Her mother has abandoned the family; her father is an alcoholic, and her brother is a drug addict who has even sold Leslie for drugs.

Leslie keeps her dark life secret from Aislinn, who has become more distant now that she is the Summer Queen (Leslie does not know this). Leslie believes that her way to free herself from her past is to get a tattoo. She feels that the marking of her skin will truly make her belong to her. However, Leslie is unaware that the Dark Court has been using the tattoo parlor she frequents to suck the emotions from mortals and that the Dark King himself has taken an interest in her.

Along with Leslie, the reader is given more background on Niall, another minor character from the first book. Niall is a former member of the Dark Court who possesses an unusual and dangerous talent. He also has a history with the Dark King, Irial.

Irial is the third main character of this book. In him, the reader sees not only the darkside, but the good trying to come through in some small way. We learn that being a king is not all that it is cracked up to be.

I found this book to be much more fast paced than the first one and actually even better than its predecessor. I highly recommend it to readers of the first book; it will not disappoint.

Warning: Contains drug and alcohol use, sexual references, references to rape, and foul language.