Wicked Lovely (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: summer fey, winter fey, court fey, Summer Girls, Winter Queen, Summer King (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From The Washington Post

Melissa Marr adds elegantly to the sub-genre of Urban Faery with this enticing, well-researched fantasy for teens. Wicked Lovely takes place in modern-day Huntsdale, a small city south of Pittsburgh whose name evokes the Wild Hunt of mythology. High school junior Aislinn and her grandmother have followed strict rules all their lives to hide their ability to see faeries because faeries don't like it when mortals can see them, and faeries can be very cruel. Only the strongest faeries can withstand iron, however, so Aislinn prefers the city with its steel girders and bridges. She takes refuge with Seth, her would-be lover, who lives in a set of old train carriages.

But now Aislinn is being stalked by two of the faeries who are able to take on human form and are not deterred by steel. What do they want from her?

One is Keenan, the Summer King, who has been looking for his Queen for nine centuries, bound by the rules and rituals that govern his quest. The other is Donia, a victim of those rules, consigned to the role of Winter Girl when she failed Keenan's test, yet still in love with him. Certain that Aislinn is the woman he must marry, Keenan shows up as a charismatic new student at her high school, unaware that she sees his true form. He's determined to court her and is puzzled by her rebuffs. Suddenly, none of the rules that have kept Aislinn safe is working anymore, but things aren't going as Keenan expects either. Both will have to change, make startling compromises and enlist surprising allies if they want to break free from the wicked game that has ensnared them.

Their greatest challenge will be to avoid the fatal traps laid by Keenan's mother, the Winter Queen. She will lose her power if Keenan finds his mate, and she will do anything to stop this. Unfortunately, she's a little too over the top to be totally threatening, a campy version of Hans Christian Andersen's Snow Queen -- part Disney witch, part Endora in "Bewitched." But this didn't stop me from devouring the book.

Marr creates a fully realized world that conveys the details and the politics of faery life. The suspense remains taut, as the point of view shifts between Aislinn, Keenan and Donia, allowing the reader to develop sympathy for all of them. Marr's lyrical language and sensual imagery capture both the confused emotions and the physicality of adolescence.

The romantic scenes are delicious. The fantasy of being pursued by two young men is alluring in itself, but when one is a pierced and tattooed sexy outsider and the other is a blindingly beautiful King of Faery, how much better can it get? Halfway through the book, I knew which characters I wanted to end up together, and that made me read greedily on. Readers will beg for a sequel.

Copyright 2007, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

Review

"A debut that reads like the work of a seasoned pro." -- Charles deLint

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

"A modern-day fairy tale, wherein the girl saves herself. Many fantasy readers will find themselves happily at home here. -- Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (recommended)

"Enjoyably sultry." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Melissa Marr adds elegantly to the sub-genre of Urban Faery with this enticing, well-researched fantasy for teens." -- Annette Curtis Klause

"Riveting and dark. I love this tale!" -- Tamora Pierce

"The unusual combination of past legends and modern-day life gives a unique twist to this "fairy" tale." -- School Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; First Edition. 1 in number line edition (June 12, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061214655
• ISBN-13: 978-0061214653
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (195 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #234,718 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 1 in The Wicked Lovely Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, June 12, 2007

By	TeensReadToo.com "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

Aislinn has always followed the rules. Her Grandmother has drilled them into her since she was a young child. Don't stare at invisible faeries. Don't speak to invisible faeries. Don't ever attract the faeries' attention. Aislinn has developed the skill to ignore them. She walks past them without flinching, even when the faeries are pinching or touching others around her like they love to do.

Faeries come in many shapes and sizes and Aislinn has seen them all. She's seen them in the glamours they wear in order to pass as humans and can pick one out of a crowd even when they are trying to blend in. Aislinn has never been surprised by what she has seen them do - that is, until they start breaking the rules.

Faeries don't like steel. It causes them pain and weakens them. Because of that, Aislinn's "safe" place has always been Seth's house. Seth is a long-time friend who happens to live in a converted steel train car. Aislinn always knew that if she could make it there she'd have peace, because the faeries could never follow her into the train yard. But, something has changed. They are creeping closer and closer and paying more attention to her. They are even gathering outside Seth's place.

Aislinn really begins to worry when two faeries, Keenan and Donia, approach her and speak directly to her. She gets away from them as quickly as possible, now hyper-aware of the growing number of faeries surrounding and following her. She hears them say things like, "Do you think she's the one?" Aislinn realizes that in order to figure out what they want from her she is going to have to break the rules she's grown up with all of her life.

Keenan is the Summer King. His mother, the Winter Queen, has limited his powers and is slowly taking over the elements. Days are colder and eventually everything will be covered in ice, unless Keenan finds the girl who is meant to be his Summer Queen. Together they would have the power to overcome the Winter Queen's chill. Keenan thinks Aislinn is the one and she is in danger because of it. The Winter Queen will do everything she can to prevent her son from getting the power he needs to overthrow her. Another problem, of course, is that Aislinn doesn't want to be Summer Queen. She has avoided faeries all of her life and she sure doesn't want to become one now. Especially when her feelings for Seth have developed into more than friendship - and becoming the Summer Queen would mean spending an eternity with Keenan.

Melissa Marr has written a wonderfully inventive story that incorporates actual quotes from books written on the subject of faeries dating back to the 1800's. Her ability to keep a complicated story with several important characters clear to the reader is phenomenal. The relationship she creates between Aislinn and Seth is heartwarming, leading the reader to fall in love right along with them. If you aren't usually a fan of faerie stories, you might want to give this one a try. The blending of the realistic world and the world of the fey is masterfully done. You'll almost believe faeries are all around you.

Reviewed by: Karin Perry

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Vivid world of faery, August 6, 2007

By	Kim Baccellia, YA author "Kim" (Southern California) - See all my reviews

Aislinn is used to following three rules: don't stare at invisible faeries, don't speak to invisible faeries, and don't ever attract their attention. But suddenly none of the rules that have kept Aislinn safe are working anymore. Everything now is on the line: her freedom; her best friend Seth; her life; everything.

Keenan, the Summer King, has sought his queen for nine centuries. Without her summer will perish. He is determined that Aislinn will become his Summer Queen at any cost--regardless of her plans or desires.

Similar to Holly Black's TITHE and VALIANT, this urban fantasy follows Aislinn as she fights against a persistent Keenan and the idea of turning into the very thing she'd fought against for so long.

Melissa Marr has done a great job of weaving into her tale the world of faery. One of my favorite scenes is the faery-run carnival that only Aislinn can see. I doubt I'll ever look at a carnival in the same way again without wondering if a faery lurks close by! The author has painted a very vivid world of 1800's style faeries colliding with our modern world.

The problem I had with this story is I couldn't connect with the main character. I wanted to see why Keenan had such an attraction to Aislinn and not someone else. Aislinn's tough girl character was believable but she just seemed to be going through the motions without any real emotion to what was happening around her. Seth, her best friend, also was hard to connect with. There is some chemistry later on between the two but the real tension and conflict is between both Keenan and Donia.

The strength of this novel comes from Donia, one mortal who pays a terrible price for her love of Keenan. I loved this character and felt her pain and anguish as she watched the one she loved go after another. I found myself turning the pages, following both Donia and Keenan. I almost felt this was their story and not Aislinn's.

WICKED LOVELY is for those that like urban fantasies and want an escape into the land of faery.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better than expected., March 9, 2008

By	callmebecks (Kansas City, USA) - See all my reviews

Maybe it's because I went in to reading this with low expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It's flawed - but not impossibly so. A good read, some interesting concepts, some decent characterization.

As a heroine, Aislinn isn't bad. I didn't hardcore connect with her, but I didn't dislike her either. I found some of the interchanges she was forced to have with people who couldn't see the fairies she was seeing pretty interesting, and as the book went on and she was forced to make some decisions and find some courage, I warmed to her a little.

Her lovetoy Seth is hard not to like because the author hasn't given him a single negative trait, and his perfection makes him hard to believe. He's not so much a character as the author's picture of The Perfect Boyfriend, and the fact that his cardboard cutout self is walking around in this story is a definite flaw. He's as much of a caricature as the villianess, the Winter Queen (who's too much of a cartoon to be scared of).

I found myself turning the pages primarily for the plight of Donia, the Winter Girl, and Keenan, the Summer King. All of the heartache and betrayal and love and loss behind the Winter Girls, past and present, was intriguing and probably the strongest part of the narrative. I confess I was routing for Donia more than Aislinn, and I'm glad we got to see some of her story. I'd be fascinated to read all of it and those of the other Winter Girls. I would argue with the author that THAT was her real story. As for Keenan, at first he seemed to be very shallow, but there was a lot of development along his front - desperation, single-mindedness, arrogance, and at the same time courage, longing, sorrow and, his most redeeming aspect, a keen desire and determination to do right by his people. He could've been developed even more, in my opinion, and sometimes was too obviously just a pretty prop in a love triangle that I already knew the answer to.

There's good writing in this, a decent plot with some clever ideas and some I've already read but didn't mind reading again. However, I'm pretty sure this book could've been 100 pages or so shorter. It was a little too slow-moving, and for a long time, there didn't seem to be anything going on except Aislinn being afraid, deciding that she really needed to do something about all of this, running off to Seth's to talk about how she really needed to do something about all of this, and then falling asleep instead (usually in Seth's arms, tucked under his chin to emphasize how little she is).

I'll be interested to see the author's next installment. I might not buy it, but I think I want to read it. At the moment, I find Holly Black's "Tithe" to be a better version of a similar girl-versus-urban-faeries sort of story, but this book may be more accessible to those who find Black's grittier world off-putting.