Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: chipper
  • Music: Marillion, 'Kayleigh.'

Book review: 'Wicked Lovely,' Melissa Marr.

Wicked Lovely, by Melissa Marr.
HarperTeen
352 pages, urban fantasy/dark fairy tale/young adult romance
Currently in print

***

I had managed to miss Wicked Lovely for the longest time, because, quite frankly, I am a picky bitch when it comes to my fairy stories anymore. You try spending all your time working on Toby and see how much you want to deal with another book full of giggling, effortlessly beautiful, magical, carefree fairy princesses. I usually wind up wanting to deal with it through use of a chainsaw, and I've been told that's antisocial. So I looked at the back of Wicked Lovely, saw 'fairy,' thought 'oh, God, not again,' and ran back to the safety of the horror section.

Never let it be said that I can't admit when I'm wrong.

Wicked Lovely is a sweet, sharp, unflinching vision of Faerie; it's not a nice world, and it's not a nasty world. It's just a world, and while its workings may not always make sense, there's a minimum of hand-waving and 'oh, it's magic, you have to let it work that way' from the author. (The book's mortal characters get that on occasion, mind you, but that's much more understandable.) It is, in fact, internally consistent and believably matched to aspects of known folklore. From me, on Faerie, that's the highest compliment there is.

Aislinn has always seen faeries, even thought she's never in her life wanted to, since she can never admit that she realizes they exist. To admit to Faerie is to be brought to Faerie's attention, and that's never ended well, for anybody. Sadly, Faerie can still admit that it sees her, and now Keenan, the Summer King, has decided she'd make the perfect girlfriend. That's sort of a problem. Especially since, once a faerie lord decides he wants you, you don't get all that much of a choice.

Spunky, believably heroine? Check. Dead-hot best friend-maybe-boyfriend? Check. Enthralling faerie politics? Check. The alternating point of view means we get a chance to see Aislinn's Faerie and Faerie's Aislinn, from a lot of different angles, all of which combine to give us one fabulous ride. It's very much a 'cusp of the age range book,' enjoyable for young adult and adult readers alike. The language is compelling, and the parts that feel predictable are predictable in the 'this is a classic story, you know this story' sort of a way, rather than because they feel like chiches.

I highly recommend Wicked Lovely. It's a very fun, beautifully involving story, and I'm looking forward to the sequels.
Tags: book review, reading things
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  • 9 comments

snowcoma

August 3 2008, 15:36:18 UTC 8 years ago

I listened to the first half of that on audiobook before my life went pear-shaped, and I'm dying to hear the rest.

Also, have you had a chance to pick up any of Holly Black's tales of faerie*? I think you'd really enjoy them.

* Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside

seanan_mcguire

August 3 2008, 15:38:03 UTC 8 years ago

Not yet -- I'm planning to at some point, but I literally have a hip-high stack of books I haven't read yet to get through, and that assumes I won't do any re-reading at all. Oh, and Autumn at work is loaning me Ink Exchange.

Deleted comment

seanan_mcguire

August 3 2008, 15:42:58 UTC 8 years ago

Looking forward to it!

rrie_selavy

August 3 2008, 23:12:20 UTC 8 years ago

I love that you're posting book reviews now!

Do you have any tips for the would-be book reviewer? You'd think that after having a book blog for a year and a half I would know better, but every time I sit down to one it's oh Bob what am I doing?

seanan_mcguire

August 4 2008, 03:00:10 UTC 8 years ago

Book reviews are super-fun. A little surreal, but super-fun. (What's really funny is that -- at the speed I read -- I would be posting a book review practically every day if I reviewed them all. Yeah, no.)

Tips? Well, one, determine what you're doing. I, for example, only review books I like, as a general rule. Unless I feel that reading a book will cause you permanent emotional or psychological damage, I don't tell you it sucks. I follow Thumper's Law, basically. On the other hand, I'm doing this because I want to, not because I've been asked to -- when I did reviews for New Witch Magazine, I never hesitated to savage something.

Pick a format you like and stick with it. I'm informal and make sure you know my biases, because it just seems fair to do things that way; I give the length and genre of the book, as well as whether or not it's in print, out of the same spirit of fairness.

If you're not getting paid, and it's not fun, and you don't have some awesome ulterior motive (like getting people to send you free books, which is always a good one), don't do it. :)

rrie_selavy

August 4 2008, 03:54:07 UTC 8 years ago

Thank you so much for your thorough, thoughtful reply!

I like doing reviews, for the fun of it, to share what I love, and to give a little bit back to the authors who gave their blood, sweat, and tears so I'd have a happy afternoon with a new favorite tome. It's just a bit of a personal stumbling block--looking at the blank page gives me a OH GOD WHAT NOW feeling, every time. Courage!

seanan_mcguire

August 4 2008, 04:24:13 UTC 8 years ago

I try to be thoughtful! Except when I'm not.

Honestly, that sounds like the best reason to do reviews. And the best thing about it is that if you do it regularly, people will learn how to tell what of the things you love can wind up being the things they love, too. It's awesome.

alethea_eastrid

August 11 2008, 02:11:31 UTC 8 years ago

I have to admit, the alternating viewpoints sort of made me want to hit things, as I felt they leeched most of the interest out of the plot. The general setting and treatment were good...