Darkest Mercy (Wicked Lovely) [Hardcover]

Melissa Marr (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 22, 2011 | Series: Wicked Lovely (Book 5)

The Summer King is missing; the Dark Court is bleeding; and a stranger walks the streets of Huntsdale, his presence signifying the deaths of powerful fey.

Aislinn tends to the Summer Court, searching for her absent king and yearning for Seth. Torn between his new queen and his old love, Keenan works from afar to strengthen his court against the coming war. Donia longs for fiery passion even as she coolly readies the Winter Court for battle. And Seth, sworn brother of the Dark King and heir to the High Queen, is about to make a mistake that could cost his life.

Love, despair, and betrayal ignite the Faery Courts, and in the final conflict, some will win . . . and some will lose everything.

The thrilling conclusion to Melissa Marr's New York Times bestselling Wicked Lovely series will leave readers breathless.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Complex and involving.” (New York Times Book Review )

“Marr has created a world both harsh and lush, at once urban and natural.” (School Library Journal )

“Sexy, charming, sometimes harrowing fantasy.” (Locus )

“Impossible to put down.” (School Library Journal (starred review) )

“A fully imagined faery world which even non-fantasy (or faerie) lovers will want to delve into.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review) )

About the Author

Melissa Marr is the author of the New York Times bestselling Wicked Lovely series, Carnival of Souls, and Graveminder, as well as a manga series (Wicked Lovely: Desert Tales) and various short stories. She is also coeditor with Kelley Armstrong of the Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions and Shards and Ashes Anthologies. When not writing, editing, or traveling, Melissa is buried under a plethora of books, dogs, and children in Virginia or online at  www.melissa-marr.com

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; First Edition edition (February 22, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061659258
• ISBN-13: 978-0061659256
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #372,637 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hmm, I'm never good at the bio bit. I used to teach college & bartend, now I write novels. I love to meet new people, to hear their stories, to walk through new streets and see new vistas. I enjoy art in all its guises--graffiti, surrealist paintings, classic sculptures, tattoos, interesting buildings, Renoir, photography . . . Art & nature, they feed my soul & thus my muse.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Too many POV's February 25, 2011

By Loves to Read

Format:Hardcover

I have really conflicting thoughts about this book! Parts of Darkest Mercy I really liked, and parts of it truly pissed me off!

I'm a big fan of Melissa Marr, and I have loved this series, but this book was by far my least favorite :(

I think one of the biggest problems I had with Darkest Mercy was that it had way too many POV's! This book switched around from Naill's perspective, to Donia's, to Seth's, to Ash, Keenan, we even heard from Gabriel, Chela, and Far Dorcha. At times the POV changed so rapidly I felt like I was reading a soap opera. Right as something juicy was about to happen she would switch POV! It was highly frustrating. I felt as if she was trying really hard to pack everything in, and rather than getting the escapist tragic romance I look for in Melissa Marr's books I felt as if I was reading the rushed conclusion to a faery war epic!

Granted, many cool things happened in this book, so it wasn't a total loss. One of the things I really liked, without giving too much away, was that I felt as if I got some closure with the Leslie, Niall, Irial relationship (which has always been a favorite of mine). And I appreciate that she really did wrap the book up with an ending that left few, if any unanswered questions. However...

WARNING *SPOILERS* ABOUT THE ENDING******

I felt the ending was way too happy! I'm sorry. I like a happy ending as much as the next gal, but when everything works out for everyone (especially after there has been a major battle- and when the inside of the book says that some people lose everything) it just seems a little forced and unbelievable. I like a little bittersweetness. And yes, the book had it's bad and bittersweet moments, and I get why she ended it the way she did, it just wasn't the type of ending I was hoping for. It was perfect! Everyone got what they wanted, and that was hard for me to grasp. She tricked us a couple times into thinking it ended badly for some, but then it all worked out in the end! I hate it when people come back from the dead!

I guess overall I just didn't like this book as much as I had hoped. I had expected it would focus more on Ash, Seth, and Keenan, but it was all over the place with an ending that didn't fit the rest of the series.

That said, I did give it three stars because at times it was entertaining, and if you've read the rest of the series you should pick it up, just don't have super high hopes. I do however, think that people who are fans of Irial and Niall might be happy because they are in this book more than was expected, which at times was also very cool. Other times, not so much. At one point Nail goes insane and it is a little painful and confusing to read.

Wicked lovely is still one of my all time favorite books, but I will probably never re-read this book and I won't recommend it to others who haven't started to series.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Angieville: DARKEST MERCY April 26, 2011

By Angela Thompson VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I was quite eager to get my hands on DARKEST MERCY--the final installment in Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series featuring the many wily courts of faerie. I've been looking forward to some desperately needed closure on this series for awhile now. I still remember running across Wicked Lovely what seems like so long ago and loving it. I fell even more in love with the darker Ink Exchange, which cemented my fascination with and unhealthy/substantial interest in His Uber Dark Lordliness Irial. And the fabulous short story "Stopping Time" sort of pushed me over the edge as far as my admiration for Marr's storytelling skills and my love for some of these characters went. The other two installments in the series fell a bit flat for me for various reasons. And so I held my breath as I opened up the last one, hoping it would resolve things in both a satisfactory and suitably complex way. High expectations much? Who me?

Nobody is where they should be. Keenan is missing by his own choice. Aislinn is grasping at straws trying to keep the Summer Court afloat in his absence. Seth is floating between this world and that, courting disaster with his various alliances. Niall is losing is grip on the Dark Court with every ragged breath Irial draws. And Bananach is ranging free, inciting death and destruction wherever she goes. Too much discord, too much uncertainty haunts the courts of the fae as their regents struggle to retain power and protect their people. Donia and Aislinn have taken to meeting on a semi-regular basis to discuss their options, though summer and winter have never been pleasant bedfellows. Seth and Niall dance dangerously around their loyalties. And the Gabriel Hounds are out in force as Bananach's trail becomes more littered with bodies. Then a stranger shows up in Hunstdale, full of foreboding and guile. And he seems to know more about each of the main players than should be possible. But one thing is clear, he is just one more unknown quantity in the path toward conflagration they all seem to be walking.

I really had no clue as to how things were going to pan out. I had hopes. Of course I had hopes. For Irial/Niall/Leslie most of all. And Donia. I have always loved Donia. Though I'm pretty sure she deserves better than Keenan--she loves him. And I wanted her happy. And, as long as we're confessing, I may have been harboring a few leftover leanings with regards to Seth and Ash. Because they were great in Wicked Lovely, and what happened to them could not strictly have been avoided. Though there are always choices. And you can choose happiness. And those are my two favorite messages from this series. Ones I won't forget soon. But, overall, this last installment was a letdown in so many ways. Everything played out expediently and essentially along the lines of what I was expecting. But, somehow, it did so with an utter lack of the feeling and emotion that characterized the previous books in the series. There were scenes and particular moments which elicited a smile or a sigh from me, but they were just too few and far between to balance out the strange sense of rote apathy that pervaded the rest of the story. I ended it very puzzled by this, as the strongest emotion I felt at the close was gratitude that this character or that hadn't died. That was it. No joy or relish in the way it came about or in the sacrifices people made. I guess it just wasn't my book. And the ending doesn't taint my love for my favorites of the others. I'm not angry or even too sad. I closed it with a vague feeling of regret at its low impact, and I moved on. Mine is rather an unusual reaction, though, it should be stressed. By and large, I feel certain fans of the series will think this last book closes things out with a bang.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not so lovely February 24, 2011

By A. Hillman

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was debating on giving this book two stars, but conceded that it was worth three - mostly because I wasn't left hanging at the end of the series. On the flip side, aren't the (minor) unanswered questions what makes a series really remarkable and worthy of discussion years later?

After finishing the book, a few things stuck out for me.

1. After reading and enjoying Radiant Shadows as much as I did, I expected this book to be fabulous. I expected the action to carry over. I expected a huge climax. I expected a revolutionary plot twist. I was disappointed.

2. Why include details if they do not contribute much to the story? At the start of the book, Keenan had been away from the Summer Court for six months, looking for allies. A whole chapter is devoted to this, so I expected it to be important. I was excited to read about a different king of faery. Sadly, it is mentioned again only briefly at the very end of the book.

3. Happy endings are good; I love them. But...really? A bit unbelievable. I caught myself rolling my eyes.

4. Maybe there were just too many characters that were developed in the last four books - some of them were sadly missed or just briefly mentioned. Or, as in the case with Seth (in my opinion), they seemed to just be plugged in as an after thought without any development whatsoever.

I remind myself that this book is written for young adults, and to be fair, the plot probably does play well to their thinking and my criticisms may be too harsh. It was written nicely, and gave closure to the story so I would recommend this for those readers who have been following the series, but not necessarily for readers who want a stand-alone story.