Customer Reviews
Wicked Lovely is a terrific urban fantasy 
2008-07-14
Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely completely escaped my notice when it was published in 2007. I only picked up on it when it arrived in paperback a couple of months ago and a bookseller friend recommended it to me. It was a good recommendation.
16 year-old Aslinn has been raised by her grandmother to follow three rules regarding faeries: 1. don't stare at them, 2. don't speak to them, and 3. don't do anything to attract their attention. Faeries are mercurial and occasionally maleficent creatures, and humans in the know do their best to avoid them. Fortunately, the vast majority of humans are aware of faeries only through legends and fantasy novels and Grandmother's house rules are typically easy to follow.
Aislinn's problem is that she's always been able to see faeries just wandering around and causing mischief. Her grandmother's rules have protected her, but as the book opens Aislinn notices that the faeries have begun to notice her. The plot really takes off when Keenan, the Summer King, takes an interest in her.
Wicked Lovely is a terrific urban fantasy. It's romantic, suspenseful and inventive. It's ostensibly for teens, but any fan of Charles de Lint, Holly Black or Emma Bull should find a lot to like here.
From J. Kaye's Book Blog 2008-07-06
Many books have claimed "If you like the Twilight series, then you'll love..." But this is the first I've seen to come close. If I hadn't found some of the story dragging, I've have rated this 5 out of 5. The story and characters have the same emotional pull as the Twilight books.
Even though the book is marketed to the teen crowd, it a wonderful read even for this ol' bat.
Drafted from the mind of a teenager? 
2008-07-03
How this book made it to press and then into the New York Times best seller list is seriously questionable. Wicked Lovely is not only written (mostly) from the point of view of an adolescent, the writing is reminiscent of an adolescent female. The characters' voices sound exactly the same, with the possible exception of the Winter Queen, who resonates like a classic Disney villain. At times the story leaves Aislinn's point of view (POV). Marr switches between POV without warning or suggestion of which character's mind the reader is entering. Lastly, the author assumes the reader is versed in faery lore. Furthermore, Marr fails to provide much needed details and descriptions regarding the different forms of fey, keeping the reader from experiencing the world of faeries as Marr sees it. Ultimately, if the book is suggested to students, it should be recommended for aesthetic purposes to readers who have a deep love of faery lore and can be forgiving for the many shortcomings of this novel and its writer.
Mostly mediocre, but has its moments 2008-06-30
Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely is a modern faery tale incorporating a lot of clearly well researched myths about the Sidhe courts, but a Holly Black (Tithe, Valiant, Ironside) she is not. Her heroine, Aislinn, is a young girl with the ability to see faeries. Instilled in her since childhood are three rules: don't attract a faery's attention, don't speak to invisible faeries, and don't stare at invisible faeries. Aislinn's beliefs about faeries are questioned when Keenan, the Summer King, chooses her to become his queen. The choice cannot be undone and Aislinn is given two options for her future: the first is to deny Keenan and become one of his Summer Girls (faeries dependent upon Keenan to survive), and the second is to choose him. If Aislinn decides the second option, she will discover whether or not she is the fated Summer Queen. But if she isn't, she will be forced to become the Winter Girl, an individual who chooses Keenan and fails the test and is then forced to warn future girls of the ill-fated possibility of Keenan's choice. Aislinn becomes unsure of whether to trust Keenan, who is certain she is his fated queen, or Donia, the current Winter Girl who is clearly still in love with Keenan. Either way, her life as a human is henceforth altered, and her love for her best friend Seth, is called into question.
"Wicked Lovely" is full of potential as a debut novel, but is riddled with problems in its development of characters and suspension of disbelief. Despite being the story's heroine, little is divulged about Aislinn. The two dimensionality of her character stems from the fact that hardly anything is shared about her past, and her character is hardly well rounded. She's the main character, and I'm still having a hell of a time remembering who she is. The story was told from her point of view more than any other character, but with little to no internalization.
The two men in the novel, Keenan and Seth, are even worse. Even after Keenan begins to be portrayed as a somewhat sympathetic character, I could not suspend my disbelief enough to trust him one damn bit. This is a guy who has spent the last however many centuries entrapping women with the belief that they are going to be his queen, with two choices that--however many ways you look at it--absolutely ruins their lives. And whichever ill-fated decision they make, they are stuck with him for eternity and forced to watch as he tries to convince other women to make the same choice. Regardless of the fact that his powers are bound by his villain mother, how am I supposed to summon any compassion for his character? And then there's the human Seth, and clearly the guy Aislinn loves. With a little (a lot?) more done to his character, I would have liked him. I could not force myself to be interested in his character because there wasn't much of a personality there. When he was in a scene, even his dialogue sounded contrived. He was so perfect that what substance was there became overshadowed by how wonderful Aislinn thought he was. And what imperfections were shared, like his sexual past, only became further added to his long list of ideal qualities. Seth was even calm and understanding when he found out that Keenan was actively after Aislinn. He doesn't protest about anything and is a "yes" man all the way. I would have liked to see some emotion there, some passion, ANYTHING.
Even Keenan's mom, the Winter Queen and the villain of the novel, was flat and undeveloped. I suppose this is nothing new as far as villains go--authors tend to spend a lot less time explaining the intentions behind their activities and showing any kind of vulnerability. The Winter Queen was one of those absolutely evil villains who does mean things without reason whenever she enters a scene. It's not only a tired idea of villains, it's kind of a lazy way of writing. It excuses any time spent showing who the villains are because it implies that they should not be at all understood. In this manner they exist simply to add conflict to the plot, laugh evilly on occasion, pointlessly cause destruction, and just generally and without reason make everyone's lives a living hell. But villains are characters too, and as such should be just as developed and rounded as the main character. Not admired, obviously, but understood nonetheless. They should not dwell in a novel "just because".
Probably the best written character in the book was Donia, who was also the only character who had depth. I felt for Donia, who had her life destroyed by Keenan and yet was conflicted by the fact that she still loved him despite everything. But again, I would have liked to see more shared about her past and how that was changed when Keenan chose her.
The reader gets glimpses into what makes each character tick from time to time, but those moments become overshadowed by the complex plot ideas. The problem with "Wicked Lovely" is that its page count is too short for the plot, and it actually needed something MORE than what it has. The entire plot revolved around Keenan's courtship and Aislinn's potential decision, but I would have liked to see more substance to the novel. It was all so superficial and simplified, that it could have done Marr well to throw some more conflict or some more ideas into the novel. As it was, "Wicked Lovely" is an example of how good ideas and potentially good writing can be made sub par by a considerable lack of character development.
Not your typical fairy tale... 
2008-06-16
I've been spoiled by the amount of fantasy regarding fairies! This is another one of the bunch, but strikingly different in some aspects.
Our heroine is tough. Rather than being swayed and enamored of the fairies following her, she's afraid of them. She has good reason! Those looking for a romance between fairy and human, beware: you won't get what you expect. She makes her own terms and bends the rules to her will--and in much more of a beneficial way. I found this surprising...but at the same time, a little depressing. The view of the fairy folk in this tale take it from the unseelie aspect: fairies are much darker in this book, and much more hostile. It's not a pretty picture. I did like the different take, though.
How did this get published. 
2008-07-25
I believe there was a time in history when an author had to actually write a good book, meeting basic parameters of writing and story-telling ability before getting published. Apparently, that time is long past.
There are many things wrong with this book. Here are some of them:
1) Everyone is beautiful. When everyone is beautiful, we common folk who are apt to be less than stellar and generally not model-perfect tend to not relate. Not very realistic, sorry.
2) The thought that all teen girls under 18 are, "LOL omg r we geting laid 2nite lol a girl has needs u kno lolol." Nope, sorry. Some of us do practice a little foresight before picking a sexual partner, even when we are rather young for promiscuous sex. Maybe the author was trying to be "hip", but her cavlier attitude is better suited for women in their 20s, not children in their teens.
3) The main character is terribly, terribly boring. She is also annoying and probably a pansy. She's constantly leaning on her perfect hardcore boyfriend in woe and female vapors. Not only that, but it is incredibly illogical that she walks among fairy folk, "observing" them, and not once was she startled by a random fairy outburst, which would alert the fairies of her "sight." No, I'm afraid that is simply not logical.
4) Suddenly, after years of witnessing fairy murders and cannibalism, as soon as the main character is turned fairy, everything is hunky dory? Ok. Ok. AND, Aislinn, the "heroine", is ok with being a fairy forever? For eternity? Ok? And Seth is ok with that, even though he's going to die and leave Aislinn there? The author doesn't even go into that. Seth is just like, "Oh, cool. You're immortal now, sweet. Let's make out. After I get my AIDS test voluntarily. I mean, I haven't slept with forty women since seven months ago." No.
5) The fairies were ridiculous. I was confused as to whether or not the author liked them. For a while they were crazy cannibals, and then they were techno lovers dancing at a club. What? What? No.
6) I don't know what else to say, the whole book sucked. I think Don was the only redeeming character, and even she was pathetic for still thinking the Summer King was a cool guy after he has a million other girlfriends and cavorts with the Summer Girls left and right AND lied to her about ruining her life. For eternity. Lame.
So does anyone else see the incredible similiarities between this and Stephenie Meyer's absolutely horrible books? I do. Weak-willed heroine, people who look like models, girls throwing themselves at guys, girls having no ambitions besides the guys they're throwing themselves at, etc? Yeah, this is like the non-Mormon version of Twilight. Barf.
Somebody save young adult literature.
Not for teens! 2008-07-24
I know that teen fiction is much more adult than it used to be when I was a teen, but this book is crazy! Parents be wary of this series (the 2nd book is Ink Exchange) and this author (Marr), especially if your teen is impressionable. There is a lot of sexual innuendo and murder in this book. Many of the characters are pretty demented as well and are depicted doing very messed up things. I, an adult, was actually so offended by the content that I got rid of the book. It really should be tagged as an adult sci-fi/fantasy. It should be a crime to market this stuff to kids.
Wicked Potential Falls Short in the End 2008-07-24
Wicked Lovely is an easy read and reminds me of a tv-movie. The storyline is simple with a small twist. The Summer King, Keenan has been searching for his Summer Queen for 900 centuries long, and once he finds his queen, he's able to gain full power to beat his cruel mother, The Winter Queen (who's also the murderer of his father). Aislinn is the potential candidate for Summer Queen. Ash (short for Aislinn) has always had the Sight which allows her to see Faeries and knew who Keenan was from the start. However, she has no intention of being his queen, because Seth is the better guy.
Seth is Ash's bestfriend and later boyfriend. Seth is a calm, intelligent, understanding, trusting, avid reader, and protective of Ash. His flaws would have been his past habits of one-night-stands, which is one of the reasons Ash doesn't want--to be another girl who has a one night stand with him. He doesn't seem to go to school, and spends a great amount of time at his home inside a steel train, remodeled and refurnished to be cozy and homey, a sanctuary for Ash to escape from the faeries who fear steel. Seth cares for Ash a great deal, when she's upset about the faeries, he always fixes her a cup of tea to relax her and holds her in his arms. Ash is very much attracted to Seth and vice versa.
Keenan - He's very implusive and hot-headed type of guy. I did not like him very much. I was glad Ash didn't choose him. I guess in the faerie world, you're allowed to court and dump hundreds and thousands of girls over the period of 900 years. Donia, the poor mortal girl who turned into a winter girl because she wasn't the right one and not the Summer Queen he has been looking for. In a modern mindset, I didn't like the fact that he had summer girls (harems) which can be shared amongst other faeries in his court.
Beira, The Winter Queen (and Keenan's mother and killer of his dad), She seems so bland for a villain. She didn't have much impact really. She seems like that evil queen from the old 80s movie called "Willow". Very two dimensional. Her dialogue as an evil villain was poor. She's one of the reasons this book reminds me of a tv-movie instead of a blockbuster-type movie. There's all this description and scenes about her freezing people off and then suddenly faking the Martha Stewart and baking cookies? Gee, I'm not convinced that she's the villain. Sure, she wants to ensure that she remains in power over Keenan and everyone else. But she doesn't seem to put much effort into stopping Keenan. Right, the rules! Well, there must be something that she could do that would make it less easy for Keenan. But no, I thought the big battle at the end was entirely too easy for Ash and Keenan.
And then....the ending left a lot to be desired. Sure, Ash got what she wanted, Seth and a somewhat normal life--going to college and what not. It just seems forgetful.
In sum, this book was a good and enjoyable read, however, the ending just came up short. Seth made it interesting to read and for once, Ash is not a weak girl. If you want an annoying heroine, read Twilight.
Melissa Marr is an okay writer. Although she seem to repeat herself sometimes.
The book kept me reading for hours, but I felt myself getting bored towards the end.
Good Read For Pre-Teens, but Older, Not Really... 2008-07-21
I picked it up, because I liked how the plot sounded... girl who has the secret power of being able to see fairies is suddenly being stalked by the Summer King, or whatever... but I was disappointed. I read it in two days, because it was too easy a read, and I was hoping for a redeeming, exciting, unexpected scene, but no. The writing style wasn't rich enough for me, and there was nothing thought-provoking about it. I already can't remember much about the storyline, because nothing really stood out for me. Because I was not tempted to put it down, however, I will say that it was okay. I just turned 18, by the way. I was 17 when I read this half a year ago. As much as it bores me now, I think I would have loved it in middle school. I will give Melissa Marr another try after she writes more. She has good ideas for characters and plot, but her way of execution needs a little more work to sate me.
A lovely novel... 4 1/2 stars 2008-07-16
Although I normally do not read young adult novels, I found this book to be an interesting and fun read. I passed on this book numerous times due to the abundance of negative reviews, but once I started reading the novel I didn't want to put it down. I don't understand the other reviewers' confusion with the author's use of POV changes - I found it very easy to follow the POV changes. Overall, the story flowed well and the characters were warm and inviting.
