Fragile Eternity

Finally the thread of "Wicked Lovely" gets continued, and while this book is not action-packed, it is riveting in deeper ways.

The delicate balance between the faerie courts continues to waver dangerously; the numerous interrelationships between them becoming more strained by the day. Aislinn struggles to be a good queen to her people, trying to balance her love for her mortal best friend Seth with the inexorable pull toward her king Keenan, as summer approaches. Seth longs to find a way to escape his mortality so he can love Aislinn forever. The Dark and Winter courts are starting to itch for revenge, combat, retribution, and maybe war. Bananach, the monger of death and strife, lays bloody plans to set the entire faery world on one show more another. And the Unchanging High Queen Sorcha looks over it all, wondering at the future.

The best parts of this book were probably the characters and relationships. While intensely frustrating at times, I kept reminding myself how real these characters were. Some of the changes in character personalities threw me a little (why does Niall have to be so mean now?), but I continue to respect and appreciate them all in different ways. I really loved Sorcha as a newcomer character, and I loved how she grew and changed. I also continue to hold the highest respect and affection for Seth, who kicks butt in physical, verbal, mental, and emotional ways. I also loved all the different explorations of love in the novel. It really gets deep into the kinds of relationships and what defines them. What is real love, and what is just lust? What is necessary to have a true love for someone: friendship, trust, need? To what lengths do we go to to win and keep and force love? All fascinating questions that are explored in "Fragile Eternity." The ending was far from satisfying in terms of happy endings, but it left plenty of room for more to come. show less

Seth is dissatisfied with Aislinn’s attempt to have her cake and eat it too, which requires her to revel in pleasures with her Court (and Keenan) to keep them strong even as she tries to remain faithful to her mortal boyfriend. Keenan has his own love, new Winter Queen Donia, who he pines for but is prepared to abandon for the health of the Summer Court. Did I mention that Aislinn’s touch literally gives Seth sunburns? Keenan and Donia can’t touch for similar, mutually damaging, reasons. The attraction between Keenan and Aislinn is fated and sun-hot, but she nevertheless tries to resist in the interest of self-determination. Seth, being more practical, knows that the current situation will tear him and Aislinn apart…so he goes show more looking for his own solution.

This is my favorite book of the series for one reason: it introduces Sorcha, queen of the High Court. She is the creator of faerie and the embodiment of order and logic, and has her own artists’ colony in Faerie. She stands as counterpoint to her sister Bananach, the embodiment of Chaos agitating for war. show less

I can't say that I liked Fragile Eternity as well as Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange. I did enjoy Seth's story arc and what happened to Keenan (arrogant jerk!), but dear heaven, the middle was tedious! I felt as if I were reading one of Laurell K. Hamilton's books where the sex scenes are smothering the plot, only substituting angst and dithering for sex.

Diving right into the third installment of Melissa Marr's lush written Wicked Lovely series, I was immediately bombarded with the sense of barely controlled tension. After some tricky maneuvering in Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange, Aislinn, Keenan, Seth, Donia and even Niall have all reached a somewhat tenuous balance but everyone knows the least little provocation could set off a war none of them can afford. Aislinn is thankfully settling into her role as co-Queen of the Summer Court but finding it daily harder and harder to hold Keenan at arms length when every instinct tells her she should get closer as summer draws nearer. And Keenan, well, he's never been a faery to miss a golden opportunity and he's not gonna budge an inch where show more Aislinn is concerned. He knows the stronger their bond is, the stronger the Summer Court will be and he's not going to let anything, let alone a mere mortal, get in the way of his goals. The mere mortal in question happens to be Seth - Aislinn's human boyfriend who is becoming increasingly frustrated with his mortality. Knowing he's too fragile and weak to truly protect Aislinn against any faery wishing her harm, he's stuck waiting on the sidelines, watching as Keenan draws her ever closer. This little love triangle is further complicated by Donia, who is slowly turning into the Ice Queen she truly is as she watches Keenan woo Aislinn while professing he truly loves only her. I'd be a little bitter too. And Niall? Well, we can all just sit back and appreciate the Dark Lord in action, because frankly, if I was the betting type, my money would be on him.Melissa Marr has such a way with words, sending her readers into this convoluted world full of court politics and murky relationships. Each individual Marr introduces is more alive and solid than the previous with each adding their own spin to events. Often while reading this series, I've found Ms. Marr's faeries to be remarkably human. That could be due to the fact that the boundaries between faery and mortal are so thin in her world - they go to the same night clubs, the same parks - and not surprisingly, they often seem to have more human than faerie qualities. That said, when Seth travels to meet Sorcha of the High Court of Faeries, I was so entranced with her complete 'otherness' as a quintessential faery. I should have fully expected that someone embodying Faerie would be a little bit different but I was surprised by how imperial everything about Sorcha and her court appeared. Just loved the contrast.There are so many characters to love in Fragile Eternity but I found myself constantly irritated with Aislinn. How did she stray so far from being one of my favorites? The girl makes some seriously deluded choices that made me want to strangle her. Out of every single character that has set foot in a Melissa Marr book, Niall has to be the winner - hands down. Who else could have began as a bodyguard and adviser and in one decisive step taken up the role of the King of the Dark Court and no one doubts for a minute that's where he belongs? That's right, NOBODY. I love his friendship with Seth and I love even more his barely controlled violence. He's freaking awesome. show less

Summary: Seth exists in a position unlike any other mortal; he walks in the world of the fairies, and is friendly with three of the faerie Courts. Niall, King of the Dark Court, is like a brother to Seth; Donia, Queen of the Winter Court, treats him with respect if not close friendship; and Aislinn, formerly-mortal Queen of the Summer Court... Seth and Aislinn love each other, and Seth wants nothing more than to be with her forever - a word that has taken on terrifying new meaning since she became one of the Fae. Seth no that he doesn't really belong in her world - he's a mortal, and thus weaker than even the weakest fairy. But then there's Keenan, Aislinn's King, who knows that the Summer Court will be strongest if Aislinn and him are show more truly together - and not just as co-regents. Aislinn's torn between her love for Seth, and a growing, inescapable attraction to Keenan, and when Seth disappears in search of a means to make forever a reality, loyalties will be tested. And with fledgling rulers of three of the four faerie courts still testing the limits of their powers, shifting loyalties can easily spell disaster... not just for the faeries, but for the entire world.

Review: While I enjoyed this book more than I did Ink Exchange, neither of them has recaptured the magic of Wicked Lovely. Perhaps it's a case of shifting expectations - I expected Wicked Lovely to be rather silly and probably annoying, and so when it turned out to be really, really good, I was substantially more impressed. And then, when I expected the sequels to recapture that same feeling, they never *quite* made it. Don't get me wrong: I really enjoyed this book, and will absolutely be reading any more of the series that Marr writes. I just thought that Fragile Eternity didn't quite have the same spark that Wicked Lovely had.

One thing that may be contributing to the (slightly) reduced enjoyment is that Marr has a habit of taking characters who were completely sympathetic in previous books, and turning them into jerks. In Wicked Lovely, Keenan was intensely sympathetic... doing some unpleasant things, sure, but he was pretty torn up about it. But in Ink Exchange, he just seemed to turn into a pissy jerk, and that downhill slide continued through Fragile Eternity. Same thing with Niall - he's the "hero" of Ink Exchange, but by Fragile Eternity, he turned into kind of a nasty bully. But what really broke my heart was Donia... she was my favorite character in Wicked Lovely, so it kills me to see her acting so frostily (heh) bitchy here. Does this mean that Seth's next? (Say it ain't so!)

The thing is, though, that as busy as everyone is turning into jerks, it's hard to really blame them for it. Everyone is doing what they think best with the responsibilities they have, and Marr has done an admirable job of creating complex characters we care about, and putting them - with completely understandable motivations - into impossible situations. The power balance between the Courts, the love quadrangle... I don't see how these things can possibly work out to everyone's satisfaction... but I've got faith that Marr does see it, and that's the kind of complicated, intricate, character-driven plot that makes me guaranteed to keep reading. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Don't start here! (But do read the series! It's a very good teen paranormal romance, but it's also just very good.) Marr gives only very, very minimal background information, and the plot of this book is so based in the relationships between the characters that the books need to be read in order. (Also, ignore the fact that the cover says "Sequel to Wicked Lovely." It's true that Ink Exchange focuses on different main characters than books 1 and 3, but there's enough overlap that they really need to be read in order.) show less

In this one Fairy is on the precipice of war and when the book ends it definitely seems as though Seth is set to push them over the edge.

Okay, I love this series but seriously Ash and the whining were freaking killing me. She has a lot of good things going on and all she was doing was whining about Seth and Keenan. Seth and Niall are much more interesting characters.

**CONTAINS SPOILERS**
Okay, so same as with Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange, the date you see is not the date I first finished reading this book.
As Wicked Lovely’s focus was on Aislinn and the Summer and Winter courts, and Ink Exchange’s focus was on Leslie and the Dark court, Fragile Eternity’s focus is on Seth on the High Court.
Seth is not only full of sexy, but he is like the mortal of all faerydom or something. He’s been dating (banging) Aislinn, Queen of the Summer court, friends with Donia, the Winter Queen, and like a brother to Niall, the Dark King. And this all happened while he was a mortal. If that’s not an awe-inspiring feat, than I don’t know what is.
In Fragile Eternity, Seth is having a lot of doubts, mainly show more stemming from his relationship with Aislinn versus Keenan’s relationship with Aislinn, and the knowledge that as a mortal, he would inevitably die and Aislinn and Keenan would inevitably… well, you know.
The obvious solution to this problem? Become a Faery, of course.
Despite being warned that being a faery was a bad deal—by a couple of different people, mainly Niall—Seth went ahead to the High Court and asked to Sorcha make him be a Faery. Which she did, and in doing so, somehow (rather creepily) making him her son.
Now, once I had a conversation with a friend in which we determined that all good characters in YA books (and probably all books, but we focused on YA) is having a something wrong with their parents. Melissa Marr has the something-wrong-with-the-parents-of-characters down. Look at Aislinn. Mom’s dead, no idea who dad is (thank god we know it’s not Keenan. That would be so creepy). Look at Keenan. Dad got killed by his Mom, and his Mom basically cursed him. Look at Leslie. Mom left, dad’s a drunk. Look at Seth. Both his parents are gone, not dead, but apparently they just took off to go some grand adventure soon as he was old enough to look after himself.
The parental symbolism in this book is not lost on me, not should it be on anyone.
There’s also a lot of discord we see brewing in this book. This book is basically setting up every relationship between the faery rulers up for a fail. Keenan and Donia, Keenan and Aislinn… those are basically the only faery ruler relationships that mattered. Okay, this book is basically setting up everybody to be pissed at Keenan. Those who aren’t already pissed at Keenan, that is.
If I were Keenan, I’d about found a good place to hide. Under a rock, preferably. Or in a hole. Cuz things will not go well for him in future books, if this one is any indication.
Seth is full of sexy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! show less