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Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr
The Blurb On The Back:
Seth never expected to settle down forever – but that was before Aislinn. Unfortunately, forever takes on a whole new meaning when your girlfriend is a faerie queen ...
Aislinn never expected to rule the very creatures which had always terrified her – but that was before Keenan. He stole her mortality and now she faces challenges and enticements beyond any she’d ever imagined.
In Melissa Marr’s third mesmerising tale of Faerie, Seth and Aislinn struggle to stay true to themselves and to each other, in a world where one false step could plunge the Earth into chaos ...
This follow-up to WICKED LOVELY and INK EXCHANGE is a cleverly constructed love story that pits the love that Seth and Aislinn feel for each other against the complex politics of the Faerie courts and contains 3 three main strands:
(1) Seth’s attempts to find a way that enables him to spend eternity with Aislinn;
(2) Keenan’s attempts to separate Aislinn and Seth; and
(3) Bananach’s attempts to manipulate Keenan, Aislinn and Seth into starting a war.
These storylines draw in Sorcha (the Queen of the High Court of Faerie), Niall (the new King of the Dark Court) and Donia (the Winter Queen), each of whom has something at stake in how these events play out.
Marr’s focus is on relationships and emotions and she does well in drawing out the dilemmas that each of her characters face. Her depiction of each of the courts and their respective powers is evocative and absorbing, particularly those of the Summer Court’s revelries and Niall’s power as the Dark King.
There are times when Aislinn’s naivety and passiveness becomes irritating – most notably in a scene where she begs Niall for information and could ask Keenan for his help but decides not to. The resolution of the story points to this situation changing and for me it’s something that can’t come soon enough. Personally, Seth always comes across as a little bland for a reformed wild man but his love for Aislinn is well depicted and there’s something very appealing about the logic and determination he applies to his problem (even if he too displays some shocking naivety towards the end).
Fortunately Keenan is a much more interesting character – conniving and manipulative Marr nevertheless makes him strangely sympathetic and his relationship with Donia and Niall give him a great deal of depth. The only real criticism I’d make of the book is that a key scene between him and Donia happens off-page and the ramifications this has for the final events robbed them of their edge.
Marr sets up an interesting over-riding story arc and I was able to follow the events in this story despite not having read INK EXCHANGE. This is a series that’s growing in emotional depth and complexity and I look forward to reading the next book.
The Verdict:
An emotionally satisfying story that plays out against a politically complex backdrop, this is an absorbing read and well worth a look.
Seth never expected to settle down forever – but that was before Aislinn. Unfortunately, forever takes on a whole new meaning when your girlfriend is a faerie queen ...
Aislinn never expected to rule the very creatures which had always terrified her – but that was before Keenan. He stole her mortality and now she faces challenges and enticements beyond any she’d ever imagined.
In Melissa Marr’s third mesmerising tale of Faerie, Seth and Aislinn struggle to stay true to themselves and to each other, in a world where one false step could plunge the Earth into chaos ...
This follow-up to WICKED LOVELY and INK EXCHANGE is a cleverly constructed love story that pits the love that Seth and Aislinn feel for each other against the complex politics of the Faerie courts and contains 3 three main strands:
(1) Seth’s attempts to find a way that enables him to spend eternity with Aislinn;
(2) Keenan’s attempts to separate Aislinn and Seth; and
(3) Bananach’s attempts to manipulate Keenan, Aislinn and Seth into starting a war.
These storylines draw in Sorcha (the Queen of the High Court of Faerie), Niall (the new King of the Dark Court) and Donia (the Winter Queen), each of whom has something at stake in how these events play out.
Marr’s focus is on relationships and emotions and she does well in drawing out the dilemmas that each of her characters face. Her depiction of each of the courts and their respective powers is evocative and absorbing, particularly those of the Summer Court’s revelries and Niall’s power as the Dark King.
There are times when Aislinn’s naivety and passiveness becomes irritating – most notably in a scene where she begs Niall for information and could ask Keenan for his help but decides not to. The resolution of the story points to this situation changing and for me it’s something that can’t come soon enough. Personally, Seth always comes across as a little bland for a reformed wild man but his love for Aislinn is well depicted and there’s something very appealing about the logic and determination he applies to his problem (even if he too displays some shocking naivety towards the end).
Fortunately Keenan is a much more interesting character – conniving and manipulative Marr nevertheless makes him strangely sympathetic and his relationship with Donia and Niall give him a great deal of depth. The only real criticism I’d make of the book is that a key scene between him and Donia happens off-page and the ramifications this has for the final events robbed them of their edge.
Marr sets up an interesting over-riding story arc and I was able to follow the events in this story despite not having read INK EXCHANGE. This is a series that’s growing in emotional depth and complexity and I look forward to reading the next book.
The Verdict:
An emotionally satisfying story that plays out against a politically complex backdrop, this is an absorbing read and well worth a look.