| Ink Exchange | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 42 reviews)
Sales Rank: 3118
Category: Book
Author: Melissa Marr
Publisher: HarperCollins
Studio: HarperCollins
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
Label: HarperCollins
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.2
ISBN: 006121468X
EAN: 9780061214684
ASIN: 006121468X
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
Release Date: April 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Unbeknownst to mortals, a power struggle is unfolding in a world of shadows and danger. After centuries of stability, the balance among the Faery Courts has altered, and Irial, ruler of the Dark Court, is battling to hold his rebellious and newly vulnerable fey together. If he fails, bloodshed and brutality will follow. Seventeen-year-old Leslie knows nothing of faeries or their intrigues. When she is attracted to an eerily beautiful tattoo of eyes and wings, all she knows is that she has to have it, convinced it is a tangible symbol of changes she desperately craves for her own life. The tattoo does bring changes?not the kind Leslie has dreamed of, but sinister, compelling changes that are more than symbolic. Those changes will bind Leslie and Irial together, drawing Leslie deeper and deeper into the faery world, unable to resist its allures, and helpless to withstand its perils. . . .
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| Customer Reviews: Read 37 more reviews...
 Great Dark Fantasy Book November 5, 2008
After reading the other reviews on here I wasn't sure that I would like this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. I read it in one sitting, I couldn't put it down. I'm familiar with faeries from the Laurell K Hamilton books, but this is much better. I feel that the author did a great job of submersing us in a world seamlessly without needing to explain every detail of faerie life. Unlike other reviewers, I thought this was a great stand alone book. The ending was well thought out and fit all of the characters well. I will definitely be checking out Wicked Lovely by this author, I probably should have read that first since the characters carry over. I would suggest this to anyone that enjoys Dark Fantasy. Great book!
Angieville: INK EXCHANGE November 1, 2008
Wicked Lovely, Melissa Marr's first novel, was on my Best of 2007 list and I've been very excited about the sequel, INK EXCHANGE. The storyline follows Aislinn's friend Leslie. Leslie is surrounded by a fog of secrets and unable to break through the fog because of something that happened to her while Aislinn was caught up in her own set of the tumultuous events in Wicked Lovely. The gulf between the two girls only grows wider as they find themselves unable to talk about how they have each been irrevocably altered. While Aislinn negotiates a tricky truce between Keenan and Seth, Leslie is left to fend for herself, waitressing tables to pay the bills and avoiding going home for any length of time. She is also storing away a little cash to get a tattoo as a symbol of taking her life back and escaping the terror that's dominated it for too long.
Turns out she's not completely alone, though. Aislinn has commissioned Niall, Keenan's friend and right hand man, to watch over Leslie, haunting her steps in order to protect her from the Dark Court faeries who seem to have developed a sudden, unhealthy interest in her. Chief among Aislinn's worries is Irial, the Dark King himself. But, unbeknownst to any of them, Leslie has chosen Irial's tattoo to ink on her back, a process which will link the girl and the Dark King, allowing him to feed off human emotion through her, and thereby keep his people from starving. Add to that the complication that Niall is falling in love with Leslie. Irial is falling in....something....with Leslie. And Niall and Irial have A History. A long, dark, twisted, and surprisingly moving one.
The thing about INK EXCHANGE is, just when you think it can't get any worse, it does. With a vengeance. A sort of hazy, starbursty kind of worse. Until you want to run screaming onto the page, snatch Leslie (and Niall, and, yes, Irial, too) in your arms and stash them away somewhere warm and safe and dry until they're able to heal. Short of being able to do that, you keep reading. I liked Leslie. I liked her a lot. And I hated that she had so few choices available and that, for the majority of the book, she was being manipulated left and right. By those who loved her, wanted her, and hated her alike. It made me mad. At all the characters, even as I loved them. Even my beloved Seth who seemed to see clearer than anyone, except perhaps Irial. And it made the ending a very satisfying one. But it wasn't an easy read. And it wasn't a pleasant one. And I still, epilogue be damned, have the aforementioned urge to run in and save them all. But I will wait. Somewhat impatiently. For book three.
 Dark and Brooding October 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
After reading Wicked Lovely a few months ago, I was very excited to see Ink Exchange on the shelves at my local bookstore. I scooped it up immediately and hurried home to delve into another wonderful Melissa Marr book. Unfortunately that was not to be the case. I found the book to be slow, dark and unfulfilling.
The concept of the book seems to be exploring what happens when you lose yourself to your darker self or dark desires. While Ash, Keenan and Seth are all present in this story, they seemed flat, lacking in emotion and not as real as I found them in the first book.
Leslie, Ash's best friend from Wicked Lovely becomes a living conduit to Irial, the Dark King, losing herself completely in the process. She becomes almost zombie-like, as days and weeks fly by with her being barely lucid, struggling to simply separate herself by even one room from Irial. While she eventually breaks free with the help of Niall and her strength of will this story did NOT have a happy ending. Not even close. Unfortunately, I find myself in the category of reader that likes for the characters to at least get a semblence of what they want, you know?
This tale is well written, but heavy and weighty in its lesson to readers.
Darky Nuanced October 8, 2008
Ink Exchange is darker, more complex, and more nuanced than Wicked Lovely. Marr ups the ante in this beautiful tale of love, addiction and choice. It's a companion novel rather than a sequel, focusing on three characters briefly introduced in Wicked Lovely (Leslie, Irial, and Niall). The plot has everything to do with the previous book, specifically it deals with the repercussions within the Dark Court of the cease fire between the Summer and Winter Courts. Just as in Wicked Lovely the intersection of worlds (faerie and human) revolves around relationships between a human girl and faerie male, sacrifice, survival, and terrible necessity.
The novel remains as intense and tightly wound as the previous book. Marr has the marvelous ability to wind delicious threads of tension and inevitability into her novels despite all of the choices available. That's the thing that I love most about her books so far. The choices you want to make are never the choices available. Characters still have to deal with those choices, the decisions that they do and do not make, as well as the fact that sometimes they have no control over events except in the ways that they choose to respond. They make mistakes, poor decisions and there are repercussions. No one is all good or all evil, everyone, EVERYONE is a delicious shade of grey. Whether you like it or not, everything is about choice.
Ink Exchange is slightly divorced from the "human" reality in comparison to Wicked Lovely. Where Marr builds a great sense of space and location, here she re-treads old territory, adding a few new locations that introduce the decadence of the Dark Court. She continues to have a deft hand at showing and not telling, weaving the tension and teasing the detail of plot out of the story itself without falling back on straight exposition. A great sense of dialogue, character voice, and descriptive prose meld together into a beautifully fluid, tense and tragic narrative.
It's a more adult novel. Darker, grittier, more sexual, more violent and because we're dealing with the Dark Court it makes sense and is appropriate for the tone of the book. Some of the characterizations are a little off from the first book. Aislinn, who makes a very limited appearance, reads very differently in terms of age and personality. Some of that can be hand waved by the events that ended Wicked Lovely and the changes that Aislinn underwent, but it's jarring to read her in Ink Exchange. The ending is perfectly sad and bittersweet. Ink Exchange avoids the trite, pat close of Wicked Lovely and is all the better for giving us a sad, reflective ending that closes the book just as it should.
 Much better than Wicked Lovely September 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I enjoyed Wicked Lovely, but it wasn't the best book I have ever read.
While I loved Seth and Aislynn, I had a difficult time liking Keenan. Aside from his looks, there was nothing appealing about him. He was rather flat, as was the story, in my opinion. However, I chose to give Ink Exchange a chance, and I am so glad that I did.
I loved this story. My heart went out to all of the characters, especially Irial. He is written so well, that you find yourself falling in love with him despite the fact that his actions are at times, truly evil. I was touched by his humanity so to speak, as well as his selflessness towards Leslie. Leslie is an especially heartbreaking character. And while she is flawed, I felt that she demonstrated true strength.
While many may shy away from dark and dreary plot lines, I found the read rather beautiful in its rawness. And while the ending was heartbreaking, I felt content with its conclusion.
So, if you enjoyed Wicked Lovely, you should definitely read Ink Exchange and even if you didn't, give it a try. It's delicious.
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