Ink Exchange Review

Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr

Summary from Amazon:

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. . . .

My review:

This story was extremely complex. The plot weaved in and out and at the end, I had this massive headache. I keep getting headaches these days...hmmmmm

So, Ink Exchange is basically a companion novel for Wicked Lovely because it's not actually sequel but it still follows the main plot with very familiar characters. I honestly liked Wicked Lovely better because it was a lighter read and dark and morbid topics, I don't do well with them. :(

Ink Exchange is about addiction, rape, drugs and lust. So as you can, not really my forte of interest.

Though the plot was very dark and morbid, it was still quite captivating. It was interesting to see how exactly a tattoo affected Leslie's life.

I enjoyed the writing style. It didn't exactly flow but it wasn't choppy either so that an interesting thing to see.

Another thing I enjoyed was how Melissa didn't see that it was necessary to have a happy ending. In fact, it was a mix of both. Happy and sad. I liked that because it's different from other books.

The characters, Leslie, Niall, and Irial were equally fascinating. Leslie because of her courage to keep that facade especially after what happened to her. I still can't believe her family did that to her...However, the thing I admired about Leslie was also something I disliked about her. Because of her courage to keep a happy facade, she ended up being a coward because she couldn't trust her friends. That's what made me sad.

And Niall. There were times I couldn't tell if he actually loved Leslie or if it was the compulsion that was drawing him in. But I still believe that he loves her and would do anything for her, even leaving his "family" for the past few hundred years.

Irial made my head hurt. He confused me way too much. He said he cared about her. But did he really? Some of the things he did and the things he thought were two completely different things. Did he really want to keep her safe? And if he did, why the tattoo in the first place? And for some reason, I always thought he was the King for the Fall Court. I don't know how I got that but I did so when I found out that it was the DARK court, it only added to my confusion. xD

Overall, even though Ink Exchange isn't a sequel to Wicked Lovely, it's probably better for you to read that first and then Ink Exchange because the plot flows better. :)

My rating:

Plot: 7/10
Theme: 8/10
Characters: 7/10
Cover: 9/10
Recommendation: 8/10
Total: 39/50 = 78%

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