Lost in a Good Book

Published:  April 24th 2010
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 340
Format: Book
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy
★   ★   ★ – 3 Stars

Hunger for nourishment.
Hunger for touch.
Hunger to belong.

Half-human and half-faery, Ani is driven by her hungers.

Those same appetites also attract powerful enemies and uncertain allies, including Devlin. He was created as an assassin and is brother to the faeries’ coolly logical High Queen and to her chaotic twin, the embodiment of War. Devlin wants to keep Ani safe from his sisters, knowing that if he fails, he will be the instrument of Ani’s death.

Ani isn’t one to be guarded while others fight battles for her, though. She has the courage to protect herself and the ability to alter Devlin’s plans and his life. The two are drawn together, each with reason to fear the other and to fear for one another. But as they grow closer, a larger threat imperils the whole of Faerie. Will saving the faery realm mean losing each other?

What do you do when you can’t sleep at 3am? You add a review, naturally. The one thing I really love is the titles of these books. There is always that wonderful moment where you find the line in the book that makes the title make sense. Love those moments. Anyway, as we near the end of this series it gets a bit intriguing. I started this book as soon as I finished the previous one, which was a first. I do not know whether it was anticipation exactly, but based on the conclusion to Fragile Eternity I think I just wanted to see if Marr added something extra. And, the review originally went up 2 Jan so we have finally hit the current year! Joyous times.

I feel a little guilty not giving most of this series more than three stars so far, but there is always a little something that stops me. Radiant Shadows offers yet another perspective into the world of Faerie and the Courts. What Marr does well is create an entire world that interacts and overlaps with one another. Each book focuses on a separate section and aspect of the story but it all connects to past events and connects everyone together, nothing is a separate tale. The reason I think I find fault is that sometimes the writing can be a little bit weak. There are certainly moments of brilliant and intricate narrative that is twisted and bled out at the key moments, they are wonderful. But then you have to deal with the very dramatic and sometimes annoying issue of relationships. Conflict is done well in Radiant Shadows, and the brutality and power is clear in the Dark Court which is fantastic as usual, but dealing with young love seems out of place and not as well written amongst this power and drama.

With this new side of the saga, Marr explores the Dark Court more fully, as well as the Hounds, who we were briefly shown first in Ink Exchange I think in some detail. Book four shows us the perspective of Ani, who is the sister of Rabbit and Tish, and daughter of the Hound Gabriel. The Summer Court gets minimal mention here as the Darker sides are given free rein, but trusty Seth is there through his connection to the Courts in question. There is a greater and clearer threat by War as a main storyline here, something that has been lurking in the background while other drama played out in the other books. Again Marr works her structure well as we see the gradual and more believable rise of these issues. War doesn’t just come in and wreak havoc, she likes to play with people and mess with people because she know she can and she knows what she wants. As a result we see how, when and why limits are stretched and broken, and see that the threats to Faerie are becoming clearer.

The ongoing conflicts and rising issues around the Dark and High Courts are all very well and good, but for such epic strength from these Courts and these faeries the writing doesn’t really reflect this. The Hounds seem to be the only ones who are the most consistent in terms of intimidation and power. Certainly there are flickers where you see moments of great power, and you can feel that you are on the brink of something and you wait for these grand fights and displays of strength, or just something that makes you believe that they are are strong and threatening as they claim, but then it just dwindles away and you feel let down.

As the drama comes to a head during the last hundred pages or so, this was when I finally had a moment where I went, yes this is more like it, a true powerful battle with everyone’s strength and true nature being set free. This does not last long but I am glad that those who let me down were the newbies rather than characters I have stuck with through previous books. Those powerful in the Dark Court, Irial, darling Niall, and even Hound Gabriel to a point, they do not let you down, there is no second guessing them as they are as ruthless and powerful as they always have been. The conclusion is certainly worthy and offers a real clifhanger into the final book. It was just a shame we had to wait an entire book almost to see any excitement.

The issue with this review is that there is no strong plot to review. It is so simple really and it just gets dragged out with car trips and waiting around it seems. I know this is probably completely misinterpreted, and I understand so much of it was based around secrets, hidden fates and new sensations and desires, but it felt off, nothing actually happened for most of the book. Perhaps I haven’t had time to adjust to the new characters, we are introduced to their lives and sent on an adventure with them all in one book before we know what is going on. They may return and thrive in the next book, who knows. One thing that annoyed me was Seth, he and Ani kept getting up my nose, they didn’t seem like real people in this book, kind of fake and unbelievable. Seth was doing so well too, he was improving.

As I say, not much of a review but I think it reflects the confusing nature of the book. I’ll say this: I understand why it was important, I understand how everything needed to happen and fix the issues, but the opportunity to turn it into a strong narrative failed. It’s like Harry Potter 7: the most important book with the epic finale, and most of it was camping. That is how I feel here. The next book has a lot to live up to to bring this series home.

Published:  April 21st 2009
Publisher: Bowen Press
Pages: 389
Format: Book
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy
★   ★   ★ – 3 Stars

Seth never expected he would want to settle down with anyone – but that was before Aislinn. She is everything he’d ever dreamed of, and he wants to be with her forever. Forever takes on new meaning, though, when your girlfriend is an immortal faery queen.

Aislinn never expected to rule the very creatures who’d always terrified her – but that was before Keenan. He stole her mortality to make her a monarch, and now she faces challenges and enticements beyond any she’d ever imagined.

This book had good and bad in it, it was a good read but there were just some bits in it that were strange. The original review of this book is from 20 Dec 2012 so another big gap between books but that wasn’t because I didn’t want to keep going. In this third book we return to the storyline surrounding Aislinn and her court, but the other courts play their part as well to varying degrees. Being back with the Summer Court drama and the connecting stories with the Dark and Winter Courts is great as usual, but they are not exactly the main focus of the story. The issue here though is that while the Court drama is there and you see emotional turmoil between these characters, it does also just come across as typical relationship drama in a faerie setting.

Through all of the faerie changes and introduction has been Aislinn’s friend and then boyfriend Seth. He may have been accidentally been excluded from the previous reviews but he was there helping and playing the supportive friend/boyfriend combination. He was also there in Ink Exchange despite it following Leslie, I liked that about him because it showed he was not just attached to Aislinn and he showed he had friends away from her and his own life pretty much. You can see in these previous books how Seth is trying to understand and how he is trying to help Aislinn with what she is going through and he does whatever he can to help their relationship as well. He is a likeable character and I quite liked him. Fragile Eternity gives Seth a much bigger role, something that was needed probably, we see so much of every one else that we only catch glimpses of the inner workings of Seth.

The story begins with us seeing how Seth and Aislinn are dealing with this relationship they have on the more personal level. There is a lot focused around the fact that Seth is struggling to enjoy and have the relationship he wants with Aislinn because of her power, as well as trying to be patient with Aislinn who is constantly trying to fight the pull she has with Keenan. I understand that they are supposed to be together and build Summer’s strength, and I get that both Summer King and Queen love other people, but what bugged me was the repetition. Similar to the mortality discussions from Wicked Lovely, over and over we must bring it up that this is the issue.

With no spoilers I will say Aislinn is a more likeable character in this book, her situation helps make her character stronger, but her reaction to circumstances is a nice change. There is no sudden acceptance on her behalf, and it gives you hope that she will stay true to wishes, despite the pressures around her. The writing around these events is well done also. It is strong and realistic and you can see the impact it has on everyone and it has been developed and described really well. Favourites of the Dark and Winter Court return in their own ways, but there is an introduction of another court, adding more intrigue and mystery. With the new court introduced we are shown more parts of the faerie world and how everything is connected, characters previously mentioned are suddenly explained in much clearer terms and everything begins to fall into order, though there are still a lot of gaps, just as Marr likes it. Compared with the others I think this book went slightly odd in terms of writing style, something that remains I discovered into the next book. Something about the new court is just not written about in the same manner as the others and it tends to go back and forth as the story changes focus. Perhaps it is the court’s nature I don’t know, but it was weird.

While Seth gets a much bigger role than sidekick boyfriend here, he also changes a little bit from the previous books I think personality wise, and then even further. This is where it falters. From the Seth we are shown in the first two books, he suddenly changes his personality to something I personally didn’t think suited him, especially where he had come from. Too much acceptance too quickly as well. Nothing bothers me more than huge changes that people instantly accept. Aislinn took an entire book to even begin to accept what was going on and she is still going, Seth does not have this issue. I do not know whether it was because he knew what was going on, and what Aislinn knew and experienced was very different, but it felt off; not rushed per se, but not believable I guess.

The fact this reads very much like a typical teenage melodramatic relationship drama rather than a faerie story gets very tiring, being set in a faerie world simply added different elements into the same old story. We are under no illusion that this is complicated and that there are forces trying to pull things in one direction while everyone pulls the opposite direction, that has been clear from the very beginning of the series. Somehow in Fragile Eternity Marr has decided to bring this up as often as she can and have it as the forethought of everyone about being with the people they love when they are so different. I can’t be too cynical as it does help bring it all together, you see cause and effect, and see new sides to the faerie world as you learn more about it because of it so I guess there is that.

Overall it was good, you see the next stage of the saga progress and holes are filled in and issues are solved while other are beginning to form. I like that we are being drawn along by the things we aren’t told, it is a very good tactic in my opinion, but it is overshadowed in this book I think by the teen angst feel. The other criticism, amongst the others in this rather long review, was that the end was a bit sudden. Not in a cliffhanger kind of way but it finished and left you a bit unsatisfied and confused. I suppose that is meant to make you go into book four to see the conclusion and reaction, who knows.