Customer Reviews

Radiant Shadows (Wicked Lovely)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First, let me get this announcement out of the way: Radiant Shadows is not about Aislinn and Seth, or even Aislinn at all. Of course that's disappointing to those of us who want to know what happens next to our couple now that Seth is faery, but that story must wait until another story is told. Then I suspect we will know how it all comes together, but if you go into Radiant Shadows expecting not Aislinn and Seth, but instead a story that stands on its own merits, you will come away from the reading with a much more satisfied frame of mind.

That said, Radiant Shadows focuses instead on the halfling Ani and her importance to the land of Faerie and Devlin, the brother of Sorcha, Queen of Faerie. Devlin has always done his sister's bidding (and tried to get along with her evil twin Bananach as well) except in one slightly major thing: he did not kill Ani when she was a child as Sorcha instructed him to do. Oh, and one more thing: he allowed a mortal, Rae, to inhabit Faerie without his sister's knowledge or permission. Devlin's lapses have stayed hidden relatively well until Ani starts to come into her own powers, and Rae, who is now a dreamwalker, unwittingly supplies Sorcha with the power to watch her newly reborn son Seth in his mortal life. To say things deterioriate at this point is an understatement: Ani suddenly finds herself hunted, Devlin must determine where his loyalties actually lie, and the courts are all in disarray. The one mention we get of Keenan is that he's missing, which cannot bode well for Aislinn or Seth, or even Irial and Niall.

Radiant Shadows began as pure confusion for me; it had been a year since I'd read Fragile Eternity and the intricacies of the courts and the Hounds was lost on me totally. The absence of Aislinn and all that I'd come to know of Faerie at first left me cold, but once I started to sort out the situation, I found that Radiant Shadows itself was a well written labyrinth with twists that I could not predict. I can see now where Ms. Marr was leading us and that this story needed to be told in order to get all of the details set up for the final book, but I would very much have appreciated some sort of reminder of who the Hounds and the Hunt were and perhaps a diagram showing where all the courts reside. (This being an ARC I read, it is possible the final copy will indeed include these things). This book is gorier than the others in the series, and the darkness that permeates the world Ms. Marr created is definitely growing. Now that I'm done, I can appreciate the world of Faerie and its intricacies; I just feel the need to warn those who are hoping for a smooth continuation into the lives of Aislinn, et.al that that's not what this book is about. Still, it's definitely well written and gripping, and I can recommend it not just as a filler story, but one that stands strongly on its own if given the chance.

Hmmm. I'm not entirely sure how to go about reviewing this latest installment to the Wicked Lovely series. I suppose I'll begin by saying that Marr has done a fantastic job setting up the final installment to the series. Anything could happen and there is certainly going to be a lot of action and declarations of love to be had. With that said, I didn't enjoy Radiant Shadows as much as the others in the series, much to my dismay.

The premise was spot on. Ani, a halfling, has tendencies of both Hound and Dark Court fey, making her more unique than most know or could guess. However, there are a few who can "see" that Ani's uniqueness could change the shape of faerie forever, and as a result want Ani dead.

Devlin, is the son/brother of twins Sorcha and Bannache, possessing both light and dark qualities, and has sworn fealty to the High Queen since the time of his making. As such, his purpose is to act as the bloody hands of the High Court. Devlin has never violated an order, save for one and the repercussions surpass anything that Devlin could have foreseen.

Devlin is captivated by Ani, whom he allowed to live, despite his sister Sorcha's order. She has remained hidden for fourteen years, but has now caught the attention of his other sister, Bannache. Bannache is intent on using Ani as a weapon in her war. If such a thing were to come to pass, Ani would be discovered and killed by Sorcha. If Ani disregards the order, Bannache will have her head. The logical answer would be to flee, but is there another path?

While the plot of the story was intricate and intriguing, I could muster up any love or like for either Ani or Devlin. The best thing about Ani was her haircut (It is so refreshing to find a heroine who has short hair, not because she had to shave her head to look like a man, but because she likes short hair. Such a thing is very hard to find in literature.) as she often came across as a randy, petulant child. Devlin, on the other hand, was so controlled and borderline anal, that he fell flat, and just when I was beginning to muster up some like for him, I got hit with a ménage a trois. Now, I would like to note that I could care less about a person's sexual orientation and I thought it was a fantastic addition to have a love triangle between Irial, Niall, and Leslie in Ink Exchange, made even more interesting by the fact that they are all in love with each other. Oh the drama! However, seeing Devlin have his cake and eat it too by keeping both Rae (who you will meet in this installment) and Ani made me cringe. I lost all respect for Ani, and just wanted to slap Devlin. Not cool. I realize that there are all sorts of relationships in this world, but not all of them belong in YA, erotica yes, YA, no.

The saving grace of this story was two fold, well, three. I love Melissa Marr. I may not agree with what she wrote in this book relationship wise, but I have to give her kudos for writing it. There are all sorts of relationships in this world, and I give her props for including them in her series. Second, the plot was great, even though I didn't care for the two main characters. Lastly, Irial. He and Keenan are my favorite characters, perhaps because they are the most multifaceted, and thankfully, he has returned in Radiant Shadows. Oh how I love him and wish for his happiness. All I'm going to say is that he better be in the last one!

Devlin is caught between two natures. His sister-creators made him and because of their duality he is cursed to be ever conflicted. He is chaos and reason, the balance between the unbalanced. He serves his sister Sorcha, Queen of the High Court, without question save one choice he has made of his own free will. A decision that nows haunts him. Ani, the halfling he did not kill, has now grown to be a young woman. She is both part Hunt and not of the Hunt. Ani must feed on both touch and emotion but what she really longs for is to belong.

Now War and Order threaten the world of the Fae and only Devlin and Ani can put things to right. But will doing so unravel their world or can they save the whole of Faery and themselves in the process?

I know it's not a terrific synopsis I've provided there and for that I really am sorry. I wanted to like Radiant Shadows. I really, really did. Wicked Lovely was just such a terrific story and it was written so well! So naturally as part of that series it has to be compared to this one. For me it just did not deliver. I liked the basic plot idea and the characters conceptually speaking. I loved the Hunt and got very excited to see what would happen with Ani's role in and outside it. Devlin's part of the story didn't work for me so much. Aside from some kind of weird lust-at-first-sight type attraction I felt no chemistry between the two as romantic partners. If that had been left out of the story I think I would have actually liked it a little more.

What really killed this book for me was how slowly paced it moved along. So much talking and indecision and reflecting on boring stuff. I didn't care about any of the politicing with Niall and Irial. I began skimming these scenes out of sheer desperation for something interesting to happen. There's also Rae. She makes no sense to me. How did she get into Faery and why? What is the point of her other than to be a pivot point for Devlin? She's a likable character but so little is really explained about her (and her bit of story has no real conclusion) that it was hard to not think of her as pretty superfluous.

If you're a die-hard fan of the series you may like this one. I think Marr has written better stuff in her previous installments of this series but that's just me. I think I'm just gonna fence sit on this one. It wasn't horrid but there was a lot about it I did not like. Good story but not well executed.

This is the fourth out of five planned novels in Marr's Wicked Lovely series; I got this book as an advance reading copy through the Amazon Vine program. I will say right out that in general I have found this whole series to be kind of eh; just okay, nothing great. This book was no exception to that rule. If you loved the other books you will probably love this one; if you thought the other books were just so-so...well this one is the same. You definitely need to read the previous books to understand what's going on in this one.

This book is told mainly from the point of view of Ani (half-fairy whose father is Gabriel, Leader of the Hounds/Hunt) and Devlin (The Fairy Queen's assassin). Ani can feed off of mortal emotions which is unheard of in any fairy court. Iriel is trying to figure out what makes Ani special; her ability to feed off of mortal emotion could save the whole Dark Fairy Court. When the two main forces of Fairy, Sorcha (the Queen) and Bananach (Lady War), begin to suspect that Ani might be special they want her. Devlin is forced to choose loyalties when Sorcha's wishes contradict for his love for Ani. Sorcha is depressed at Seth leaving fairy and her inattention begins to unravel fairy. Devlin must choose Ani or Sorcha. Ani must choose if she will flee or fight.

There were a couple things I liked about this novel. I liked the inclusion of Iriel. I also liked that we finally get to learn more about Sorcha and Bananach; they are interesting characters. I liked Ani's character. Ani was a tough girl who could take care of herself; I liked her spunky attitude, she was one of the better heroines that Marr has written about. I unfortunately didn't like Devlin. I know he is supposed to be emotionless, but he was like cardboard through most of the book..mostly 2D with stilted language that sounded forced. The plot is pretty interesting and revolved more around what was happening in fairy than the previous books have. I liked the inclusion of the Hounds and their Steeds but wished that Marr had gone into deeper detail on the relationship between Hound and Steed.

There were also many things I didn't like. Marr's writing style is a bit too simplistic, she is light on description and the environment in the book suffers because of this...I always have trouble getting a good picture of both the characters and the surroundings. The dialogue between characters never seems as natural as it should. While there were some interesting differences in this story, much of it followed the general plotline of previous books...boy and girl fall suddenly deeply in love but their relationship just can't be for a number of reasons. Towards the end of the book I was a bit confused about how Summer and Winter Courts interact with the Queen's Court and the Dark Court; that whole interaction could have been made clearer.

The ending was different and interesting; I am still trying to decide if it really makes sense with the way the fairy courts are constructed...either way it was an interesting solution to the problems the characters were having.

Overall this was another mediocre entry in this series. These books are super quick reads, so I don't mind reading them too much. I want to finish the series, but I am struggling because I have trouble really caring about any of these characters. After this series is over I probably won't pick up an more books by Marr. There are just too many other really great authors out there to read. [...]

Overall, I was impressed with the newest edition to the Wickedly Lovely series by Melissa Marr. The story is engrossing. The characters are intriguing. Radiant Shadows has more action than the other books in the series (faeries are brutal fighters), and it has drama and love as well. I found myself not wanting to put the book down.

To be honest, I was hesitant to purchase this book. I really enjoy reading about Aislinn, Seth and Keenan. This book is about Ani, the daughter of Gabriel, and Devlin, the Bloodied Hands and brother to the High Queen. Who cares about them? They were just background characters, seen in brief moments in the story.

After getting through the first few chapters (introducing me to Devlin and Ani, characters I came into the story not overly caring about), my opinion changed. The Devlin and Ani character development made them just interesting as Aislinn and Keenan and Seth. In fact, by the end of the book, I grew to like Devlin and Ani very, very much.

I am very impressed by the way the author is weaving her story. With each book in the series, you learn more about the dynamics of Faerie, the courts, and the characters. A conflict is brewing, and each book brings us closer and closer to the climax. I am very excited to see what the last book has in store. I have some ideas.

I've kept up with Melissa's Marr's Wicked Lovely books since the beginning. Sometimes I wonder why I keep on reading because neither of the subsequent novels (Ink Exchange and Fragile Eternity) were as lush, captivating or enjoyable as Wicked Lovely. I suppose I kept reading in hopes that something would finally live up to the first book, but sadly none of Marr's other Wicked Lovely novels, including the newest installment, Radiant Shadows, can stand up to it.

Nothing really happens in Radiant Shadows -a problem that the book shares with its predecessors. Half-faerie, half-mortal Ani is the focus of the novel, but she seems to fade into the background of a Faerie court caught up in bloody violence (a little over the top in my opinion) and lust (there was a great deal more sensuality and adult content than I remember from previous novels, and I found it to definitely be on the heavy side for a YA novel). And, sadly, the plot also seemed to get lost in there somewhere. I have to admit that Marr's writing is as intoxicating as ever, and it did pull me through to the end, but the hope that something would happen/the book would get better also pulled me through. Sadly, it just didn't pan out.

Hard-core fans might be able to get into this one, but it's just so tough since Marr is capable of so much better....

The book was interesting.. but it was filled with mostly violence and lust. The best book so far in my opinion was definitely
the first one. After Wicked Lovely we seemed to go down a path to nowhere. Now the last book may give some resolve to the whole story, but I thought Fragile Eternity and now Radiant Shadows are mostly filler to get to the end of the series. I find that very tiring. Also I didn't really care about Ani, Rae and Devlin. I wanted to hear more about Seth, Ash & Keenan. I definately wouldn't recommend these books for younger age groups, they are filled with adult themes, bad language, and references to sex (although nothing explicit). Overall, I was hoping this book would be more satisifying than Fragile Eternity was but found it worse. I was very disappointed.

So I've been fairly itching to know where this series would go after the third book--Fragile Eternity--came out last year and utterly realigned my loyalties as far as the faery courts go. Well, that's perhaps not entirely accurate. They were already leaning heavily in that direction after Ink Exchange. But the developments in Fragile Eternity cemented the shift so firmly, I wondered if I would ever recover my early fondness for some characters or if, alternately, anything on God's green earth would be able to uproot my newly acquired devotion to others. Where Fragile Eternity was a more direct sequel to Wicked Lovely, RADIANT SHADOWS is a sequel to Ink Exchange. Given the way I loved Ink Exchange, I, for one, was definitely looking forward to a couple of fresh, new characters, a possible mention of how Leslie was doing, and being back in the Dark Court with less tiresome Keenan and Ash and more magnetic Irial and Niall.

Ani is a halfling. Daughter of the Dark King's chief enforcer and a mortal woman, she sits astride the precarious line between several worlds. Raised among the Hounds, along with her two halfling siblings Rabbit and Tish, Ani comes into her own when she makes a rather unsettling discovery. Like the Dark Court she feeds off emotions, but she is also able to feed from actual contact with both humans and faeries. And it's not just a desire, it's a compulsion. Restricting her impulses, following her father's innumerable rules, Ani is on the brink of wasting away. Only the form Dark King Irial truly understands what she is. He helps her when he can, occasionally allowing her to feed off his own emotions, as he searches for a way to use her powers to benefit their people and keep her alive in the process. Devlin is the High Queen Sorcha's brother and assassin. Known as the Queen's Bloody Hands, it has been his eternal task to negotiate a path betwixt his two sisters--Order and Chaos--and maintain the balance between their opposing powers and purposes. And Devlin has never shirked his duty or fallen short in any way. Except one. When he inexplicably spared a life he was ordered to take. Since then he's stayed away, shoved any treacherous instincts he's had aside, and worked tirelessly on behalf of the High Court. Until one day he encounters the mortal who's life he spared. And all hell breaks loose as a result.

This series is wreaking havoc with my emotions and that is all there is to it. The thing is, I thought Wicked Lovely was wicked fun. I thought Ink Exchange was impossibly dark and achingly good, despite leaving me feeling a little bruised. I found Fragile Eternity problematic in many ways, but was glued to the page for the last third of the book and emerged in deep smit with a couple of Dark Kings who shall so not remain nameless. And I do mean deep smit. My love for Irial and Niall is deep and wide and full of shadows. And, as far as I'm concerned, this book (and any other she writes in this world) is worth the hardcover purchase price just for the few scenes they are in together. I am dead serious, people. I don't know how she did it but Melissa Marr has me wrapped around her little finger when it comes to the former and the current King of Nightmares. Just tell me one or (preferably) both are going to make an appearance and I am there. Their tortuous, touching relationship slays me. And such was the case here. I never really connected with Ani or Devlin, despite the fact that I thought he had some crazy good potential after his role in Fragile Eternity. I mean I love the Gabriel Hounds and their awesome steeds and pack culture. And Bananach--the War faery--is deliciously heinous and I simply love it when she tromps through a scene, bloody feathers and all. But, for some reason, I didn't care that much what happened to Ani. Not like I cared what happened to Ash or Leslie or Seth in the previous three books. And the dream subplot just did not hold my attention at all. Now, I will freely admit the possibility exists that I am actually so far gone on my two Dark Court boys that I have become insensible to the charms of lesser fae. But I'm pretty sure I'm fine with that. As long as I get more Irial and Niall in the next book. Which, as it is also the final book in the series, is going to have to be enough to last for me a very long time indeed.

In order to understand the specifics of all the characters in this story, it would be best to read the other books in the series: WICKED LOVELY, INK EXCHANGE, and FRAGILE ETERNITY.

RADIANT SHADOWS picks up where FRAGILE ETERNITY leaves off. As per their agreement, Seth leaves Sorcha in Faerie so he can return to his life in the Mortal world. Everything starts disintegrating soon after and provides a backdrop for the rest of the story.

Ani, Gabriel's daughter, is struggling with her role in the Hunt and controlling the way she feeds. Unlike her siblings, Ani can feed from both mortals and faerie since she feeds on emotions. Life for Ani becomes extremely complicated when Bananach takes an interest in her and orders her to kill Seth. Not knowing what else to do, Ani decides her only option is to run.

Devlin, the brother of Sorcha and Bananach, is sent to the Mortal world to look after Seth. Sorcha is obsessed with what Seth is doing and worried for his safety. The trouble is, Devlin gets sidetracked when he runs into Ani at a night club. Devlin and Ani are connected, although the specific connection is unknown - all Devlin understands is that he can't resist Ani.

Melissa Marr continues to hold readers' attention in this, the fourth book of the WICKED LOVELY series. Aislinn doesn't play a role in this installment because Keenan is missing, forcing her to focus her attention on the Summer Court. Faerie is in danger due to Sorcha's actions, and it is up to Devlin and Ani to put it right - but Bananach (War) is determined to see death and destruction everywhere.

Can they save Faerie before War destroys everything?

Reviewed by: Karin Librarian

After reading some reviews, I was a little scared I wouldn't like this book. Not true! This is a really great series with dynamic characters and "out of the box" plots. My favorite part is that so many of the characters have very different, special and un-ordinary relationships. And things between all the characters just intensify within this book. Irial, Niall, Seth, Sorcha, Ani... and now, Devlin.

My only caution would be, try not to have any expectations when reading this book. Yes, it's different from others in the series. Yes, it centers around a different "main" character. Yes, we learn new things of other "main" characters. But take the book for what it is, "Ani's story"... try not to look at it as just another step in "Ash & Keenen's or Seth's" story, and I think you'll really enjoy it! <3