Review: Fragile Eternity (Wicked Lovely #3) by Melissa Marr

Publisher: HarperTeen
Published: January 1, 2009
Pages: 389
Source: Library
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Description: Seth never expected he would want to settle down with anyone—but that was before Aislinn. She is everything he'd ever dreamed of, and he wants to be with her forever. Forever takes on new meaning, though, when your girlfriend is an immortal faery queen.

Aislinn never expected to rule the very creatures who'd always terrified her—but that was before Keenan. He stole her mortality to make her a monarch, and now she faces challenges and enticements beyond any she'd ever imagined.

In Melissa Marr's third mesmerizing tale of Faerie, Seth and Aislinn struggle to stay true to themselves and each other in a milieu of shadowy rules and shifting allegiances, where old friends become new enemies and one wrong move could plunge the Earth into chaos.

In short: Though I didn't love Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr as much as the previous two books in the series, it was still a solid, entertaining sequel. I still hate Keenan.

I've never written a review for a sequel in a series before (Ink Exchange didn't really count) so I am going to do my best to try to make this as vague as possible to avoid any spoilers.

First off, let me say that I am glad I decided to read Ink Exchange instead of skipping it even though it wasn't technically a sequel. In Ink Exchange, the reader gains loads of information about the Dark Court. As the Dark Court is still integral to the plot in Fragile Eternity, I would have missed some significant developments had I chosen to skip it.

Right at the start of Fragile Eternity, there's a promise of action the likes of which we haven't seen before in the previous books in the series. Unfortunately, this turns out to be a false promise because there wasn't really a whole lot going down for the first half of the book. There was a lot of talk of the impending doom of the world, but very little danger actually takes place. The majority of the drama in the story occurs in the complicated relationships. Of course, this is true for the previous books in the series as well but I was able to overlook that because that was during the still early stages of the series. I'm getting a bit impatient for some real action now that I'm more than halfway done the series.

In case you were wondering, Keenan is still a selfish prick. He continues to manipulate both of his love interests for his own gain, blatantly leading them both on. He wants the total love and attention of both of them. And somehow they're both still forgiving and sympathetic towards him?! There were some hints that he feels bad for his actions, but I just don't buy his feelings.

Okay, okay. Enough of the bad. Now let's talk about the good. I enjoyed the new reveals in the faery mythology. Whereas Wicked Lovely focused on the Summer and Winter Courts and Ink Exchange focused on the Dark Court, Fragile Eternity focuses on the High Court. I've really come to enjoy and appreciate this slow reveal of the Faery World that Marr has been doing with each book, learning about it all in bits and pieces rather than all at once.

Although I didn't like Fragile Eternity as much as the first two books in this series, it was still a fairly entertaining read. I look forward to reading Radiant Shadows next!

Previously, My Reviews for Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange.

Other Reviews:

Novels On The Run

Musings of a Reader Happy

The Story Siren

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*Read as part of the YA Series Challenge
*The Letter F in the A-Z Reading Challenge

Note: I'm so sorry that it's been two weeks since I last posted a review! I'm feeling completely overwhelmed with school at the moment as I scramble to write up a research grant proposal for the summer. And it's only going to get worse as midterms are fast approaching... Sincerest apologies.